From:  "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Oct 22, 2004  1:31 am 
Subject:  This Is My Story : Danny Wolfe
 
DANNY WOLFE

Danny Wolfe was a singer, pianist and musical entrepreneur, but by far his
most important legacy is as a songwriter. During the second half of the 50's
he wrote some really good rock 'n' roll songs.

Wolfe came from a wealthy background. His family ran the Wolfe Nurseries
in Stephenville, Texas, said to be the largest seed business in the South.
By day he tended the family business, but when the skies darkened he would
descend to the basement of his home and bash out self-penned R&R songs
on an old upright. He had ambitions to perform in public as well, but he was
overweight and lacked the rockabilly image.

Gene Vincent recorded three of Danny's songs early in his career : "Gonna
Back Up Baby", "Double Talkin' Baby" and "Pretty, Pretty Baby". During the
summer of 1957, Wolfe met 17-year old rockabilly Huelyn Duvall, also from
Stephenville, and Danny tried to make a star out of him. He persuaded Joe
Johnson at the fledgling Challenge label to sign Duvall. This resulted in a
first recording session on September 27, 1957, in Nashville, with accompaniment
by such top session men as Grady Martin, Floyd Cramer and Buddy Harman.
Duvall recorded three Danny Wolfe compositions, "Pucker Paint", "Comin' Or
Goin'" (the A-side of his first single), "Teen Queen" (co-written with Johnny
Duncan), as well as the Dave Burgess composition "Boom Boom Baby".

Wolfe wrote many other songs for Huelyn, including the fantastic "Three Months
To Kill". Curiously, it was the other side of this great rocker, "Little Boy
Blue" (not written by Wolfe), that became Duvall's only chart entry (# 88), one 
year after it was released in June 1958. Further, Huelyn made many demos of Danny's
compositions, which were sent to various record companies. Examples of these
demos are "Life Begins At Four O'Clock" (recorded by Bobby Milano), "Modern
Romance" (recorded by Sanford Clark), and "Susie's House" (recorded by John
D. Loudermilk). Wolfe continued to manage and accompany Duvall for several
years.

Meanwhile, Wolfe had been signed as a vocalist by Dot Records. His first single
for the label, "Once With You"/ "Pretty Blue Jean Baby" was undistinguished,
but the next single, "Let's Flat Git It" (Dot 15667), was a decent rocker, which
got a favourable review in Billboard. Danny then decided to record his own song
"Pucker Paint" (Dot 15715, March 1958), which had already been recorded (but
not yet released) by Huelyn Duvall. Wolfe had no further releases after these
three singles, through three unissued tracks have since appeared on three
different compilations. In 1958, Wolfe built his own recording studio.
Wolfe's biggest success as a songwriter - in commercial terms anyway - was
not a rock 'n' roll song, but a ballad for a fellow Dot artist. "Sugar Moon" by
Pat Boone went to # 5 on the Billboard charts in mid-1958.

Danny Wolfe was also instrumental in the career of Tooter Boatman, another
Texas rocker, who died tragically in a road accident in 1964. The Collector CD
"Rockin' Tooter Boatman" contains 25 tracks, eleven of which were written by
Wolfe, including Tooter's best known number, "The Will Of Love".

According to Terry Gordon's website (Rockin' Country Style), Danny Wolfe died
in 1996. Huelyn Duvall told Stuart Colman "Danny's a little older than I am"
(NDT
206, May 2000, interview from 1985), so Wolfe was probably around 60 years old
at the time of his death.

Danny's two best rockers, "Let's Flat Git It" and "Pucker Paint" are available
on both "Dot Rock "n' Roll" (Ace 592) and "That'll Flat Git It, Vol. 5 : Dot
Records" (Bear Family BCD 15711). Most of the information collected here comes 
from the liner notes for these two compilations, complemented by Johnny Vallis's 
article on Huelyn Duvall for the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website.