From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Dec 28, 2002  7:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Dorsey Burnette
 
DORSEY BURNETTE (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born 28 December 1932, Memphis, Tennessee
Died 19 August 1979, Canogan Park, California

The name of Dorsey Burnette will forever be associated with the wildest
rockabilly band ever to grace vinylite records, along with younger brother
Johnny Burnette & the Rock'n'Roll Trio.
But there's more to the man than those wonderful 1956 Coral sides. Apart
from being graced with a great singing voice, he was an outstanding
performer and a bona fide songwriter.
The Burnette story started in Memphis, TN. Dorsey was the first to come in
1932, followed 15 months later by Johnny. The two brothers were reportedly
very tough and wild at an early age, often fighting each other. Apart from an
early interest in music, Dorsey also got interested in athletics and boxing,
a passion which later also passed onto Johnny.
Dorsey won the local 1949/1950 "Golden Globe" award and got to meet
another young trainee boxer from Brownsville, TN, named Paul Burlison.
Paul's family had moved to Memphis in 1937 and he was attending Humes
High School along with the Burnettes and Elvis Presley.
By this time, Paul Burlison was playing guitar in a band and already had a
steady radio show. He became close with Dorsey who introduced him to his
younger brother. The threesome shared the same love for music. Between
1950 and 1953, the Burnettes were regulars at the West Memphis Jamboree
along with Scotty Moore, Bill Black and Bud Deckelman.
Paul had returned from the Army in 1952 and by 1953 they had formed a band,
playing the teen dances, school hops and bars. They cut their first record in
1954, produced by Bill Bond (father of that other Memphis rockabilly great
Eddie Bond), and subsequently issued on Von.
Allegedly they were turned down by Sam Phillips at Sun and the trio decided
to try their luck in New York. Leaving behind their day jobs, they drove into a
snow storm up North where they won the Ted Mack Amateur Show 3 times
in a row. Through DJ Bill Randle and Henry Jerome, the trio was signed to
Coral Records, for whom they cut three sessions in 1956 and 1957.
The first in May 1956 yielded the classic "Tear It Up", while the second
took place over the following July 2/3/4/5 when the Trio made history by
laying down sides like "Rock Billy Boogie", "Lonesome Train", "The Train
Kept A Rollin" and "Honey Hush". Dorsey Burnette was the bass player
on most of the tracks and sang lead vocals on "Sweet Love On My Mind",
"Chains Of Love", "My Love You're A Stranger" and duetted with Johnny
on "Blues Stay Away From Me".
It was during a tour in late 1956 that Dorsey left the Trio following a fight
on stage with Johnny, over the fact that the band had been renamed
"Johnny Burnette and the Rock'n'Roll Trio". He got back to Memphis and
formed his own Dorsey Burnette Rock'n'Roll Trio, touring the South, though
they reunited for their last Coral session in March 1957, just before the
Trio split up for good, with Paul leaving to form his own Electrical
business.
Meanwhile, Dorsey had secured himself a recording contract with Fabor
Robinson. Sides were cut at Sun studios, with backing by Johnny and Paul,
and two singles were issued on Abbott, the best being "Devil's Queen" /
"Let's Fall In Love", the latter being covered by Bob Luman on Imperial.
At the same time, they also recorded a single for Bob Church (brother of
Terry Noland), the great rocker "Long Legged Linda" b/w "I'm So Lonely",
issued as by The Kids From Texas on Hanover.
Dorsey then moved to the West Coast, soon followed by Johnny and all the
Burnette family. They took day jobs to support their families (both Dorsey and
Johnny were fathers at the time) and continued to try their luck in the music
business. Dorsey recorded the superlative "Bertha Lou" and "Till The Law
Says Stop", but the single released on Surf was withdrawn as Dorsey was
still under contract to Coral. (Johnny Faire aka Johnny Fairchild aka Donnie
Brooks was brought over to record his voice on top of Dorsey's).
Los Angeles would soon prove to be the right choice as the brothers soon met
Ricky Nelson (they had waited for him in front of his house and demoed some
songs right in his driveway!). Anyway, this meeting proved fruitful, considering
the amount of Burnette's tunes that Ricky successfully recorded in the
following few years, "Waitin' In School", "Believe What You Say", "My One
Desire", "It's Late", "Just A Little Too Much" and "Long Vacation" to name
but a few.
The Imperial doors opened for the brothers both as writers ("Hip Shakin'
Baby"/"Be My Love Tonight" for Roy Brown, "Good Good Feeling" for Jackie
Walker) and as recording artists ("Warm Love" / "My Honey" as the Burnette
Brothers).
Johnny got a solo contract on Freedom and then Liberty, while Dorsey stayed
with Imperial, releasing several recordings without much success (compiled on
Rockstar's "The Burnette Brothers" CD).
In 1960, Dorsey signed with Era Records where he got his first hit with
"Tall Oak Tree" which made the Top 30, soon followed by "Hey Little One".
Two LPs were issued, "Tall Oak Tree" and "Greatest Hits", but by now Dorsey's
music had tamed a bit and did no longer feature the extrovert rockabilly style
of the Coral sides. His contract was sold to Dot in 1962 ("Raining In My Heart",
"Sad Boy"); he then moved to Reprise in 1962-63 with singles like "One Of The
Lonely" and "Where's The Girl" and a fine duet with Johnny, "Hey Sue".
1964 was a devastating year for the family with Johnny 's accidental death
in a fishing accident. By this time, Dorsey had returned to his country roots
with releases on Mel-O-Dy and Smash.
But it was his contract with Capitol in 1970 that brought some success,
with 10 country chart hits. Ironically, Dorsey was even voted "The Year's
Most Promising Newcomer" in 1973 by the Academy Of Country Music,
a newcomer with already 20 years in the business!
Dorsey had never really recovered from the loss of his brother and was living
on alcohol and pills. Playing a string of one nighters in bars and small venues
during the 1970s did not exactly help to kick those habits.
Some LPs were issued on Trip (1974) and Calliope (1977) and things seems
to brighten when he was signed to Elektra in 1979 by former Roulette artist
and now head of the label Jimmy Bowen. The first single was released when
Dorsey died of a heart attack on August 19, 1979.

Dorsey left behind a huge amount of work, either with the Trio or solo, and
has written more than 350 songs recorded by a slew of artists ranging from
Rick Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings and Glen Campbell to
Stevie Wonder, among many others.
Today, the Burnette family tradition is carried on by Dorsey's son Billy and
Johnny's son Rocky.

Recommended listening:

- JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO "Rockabilly Boogie"
BEAR FAMILY BCD 15474 (Coral)

- JOHNNY & DORSEY BURNETTE "Rock And Roll Toonight"
HYDRA BCK 27110

- JOHNNY & DORSEY - THE BURNETTE BROTHERS
Rockstar RSRCD 003 (Imperial/Freedom)

For more pop sounds:

- DORSEY BURNETTE "Great Shakin' Fever"
BEAR FAMILY BCD 15545 (Dot)

- DORSEY BURNETTE "Best Of ERA Years"
ERA (K-TEL) 5021-2 (Era)

For more info, visit:
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/DorseyBurnette.html
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/pBurlison.html
www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/4958/DorseyBurnette.htm