From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Dec 19, 2002  6:19 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Charlie Ryan

CHARLIE RYAN (By Tony Wilkinson)

Born 19th December 1915 at Graceville, Minnesota and thankfully still with us.


Let me begin by stating that I am a big time Charlie Ryan fan, period. When my
family and I visited Spokane, Washington State, back in 2000, we were fortunate
to spend time in the company of Charlie and his delightful wife Ruthie courtesy
of Don 'Poor Boy Paul' Weise. It is an experience that I shall treasure as we
caught Charlie on stage twice and I was provided with access to his numerous
scrapbooks, all of which were crammed full of fascinating data and photographs.


Charlie was born in Minnesota in 1915 but was raised mainly in Montana. He has
been treading the boards since 1931 when he started out as the Chicago Kid but
soon changed his name to Charley Ryan and formed his own string band The
Timberline Riders and based himself in the North West portion of the USA and
Canada. He also had a comedy alter ego in the name of Sylvester Slurp. Ryan was
also a disc jockey on stations such as radio station KYBE in Pendleton, Oregon.
As he learnt his craft, he came into contact with many artists, one of who was
Arkie Shibley and who had a hit record in 1950 with 'Hot Rod Race' on Giltedge
5021. This inspired Charlie to write 'Hot Rod Lincoln' around the same time but
he had been building hot rods and composing songs since the thirties. The song
itself came about from an actual incident when Charlie was driving a Model A
coupe body set on a 1941 Lincoln frame, complete with a hopped up engine,
between his home in Spokane and the Paradise Club in Lewiston and he got into a
race with a friend's Cadillac. The song itself is set in California but the
event took place in Washington State


However it was not until 1955 that Charlie recorded 'Hot Rod Lincoln' for his
own Souvenir label (#101), which was coupled with 'Hank Williams Goodbye' and
released under the name of Charley Ryan and The Livingston Brothers. It was sold
as a 'road' record at his many performances. In 1959 the title was picked up by
4 Star Records and was issued complete with the new flip side of 'Through The
Mill' (#1733). It proved to be popular and hit the hot 100, together with a
cover version by Johnny Bond, and stayed there for a little short of six months.
Four Star changed the spelling of his name to Charlie and it has stayed that way
ever since. Charlie and Ruthie hit the road and toured with the likes of Johnny
Horton, Ferlin Husky, Faron Young, and Country Johnny Mathis.


'Hot Rod Lincoln' was typical of Charlie's style and was followed in 1960 with
'Side Car Cycle/Steel Rock' (Four Star # 1745) and in 1961 with 'Hot Rod
Guitar/Hot Rod Hades' (Four Star # 1749). King Records became interested in
Charlie and issued the impossible to find album (and which sadly has not been
reissued) 'Hot Rod Lincoln' in 1961 (King # 751). However in 1963, Four Star dug
into the vaults and issued 'Hot Road Race/Hot Rod Lincoln' (#1761), probably in
an attempt to cash in on the then popularity of hot rod and surfing records.
Charlie continued to tour and play dates and in fact has never really stopped.
In 1964, the budget label Hilltop issued the album 'Hot Rod Lincoln Drags Again'
(#6006) and, in 1967, this was reissued on the parent company Pickwick label
under the title 'Hot Rod Lincoln' (#417). There has only been one further single
release by Charlie and this was 'Rocket Race/Walkin' The Streets' on his own
Lincoln Records (#1812) in 1969.


In June 2000, Charlie gathered together fourteen of his sides and issued them on
the CD 'Hot Rod Lincoln' on his own Lincoln label (#LRCD001). The song 'Hot Rod
Lincoln' has remained popular and was awarded a certificate by Billboard
Magazine a couple of years back for over 1,000,000 radio plays. Commander Cody
and The Lost Planet Airmen took it into the charts in 1972 whilst Ray Benson and
Asleep At The Wheel recorded a great version in 1988.


To conclude, let me relate an amusing incident that took place during our
aforementioned visit to Spokane. Charlie offered to take Don Weise and myself
out for a spin around the block in his Hot Rod Lincoln, it was an offer we could
not refuse. I sat in the front with Charlie and Don (who is around 6'0" tall)
wedged himself in the external rumble seat. Part way through the journey,
Charlie touched the brakes. My nose ended up about a ¼" from the windscreen and
when I looked around, all I could see was Don's legs sticking up in the air with
the rest of his torso buried inside the rumble seat. Charlie laconically
remarked 'I guess the brakes need adjusting'.


He is a wonderful human being and can sing real good too. I only hope that some
enterprising promoter will bring him to Europe for shows before not too long.


Recommended CD listening:


Lincoln LRCD 001 ' 'Hot Rod Lincoln' (2002).

Available from Lincoln Records, 104 West 30th Avenue, Spokane, Washington
99203-1719, USA.