From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Wed Sep 18, 2002 1:18 am Subject: Born To Be With You : G.L. Crockett G.L. CROCKETT Born George Crockett, 18 September 1929, Carrollton, Mississippi Died 15 February 1967, Chicago, Illinois Chicago was the place to be for blues singers in the mid-50s and Crockett was evidently keen to make his mark among the musicians who flourished in the city's West Side clubs. It was here that Crockett played with Freddy King and Magic Sam, another black blues musician whose work strayed close to rockabilly. In 1958, Crockett recorded "Look Out Mable" (sic) for Mel London's Chief label as G. 'Davy' Crockett. "Crockett packs a rocking wallop on this driving blues side", enthused Billboard magazine (6/23/1958). "Bright sight and good reading by the cat gives this a chance. Interesting wax". But in spite of this praise, the record didn't sell and Crockett's big break was still a long way off. He would not record again until 1965, for the newly-formed Four Brothers label. The first of his three releases on Four Brothers, the Jimmy Reed influenced "It's A Man Down There", went to # 10 on the R&B lists and # 67 on the pop charts. Mel London cashed in by leasing an alternate (and even better!) take of "Look Out Mabel" to Checker Records. And that's how this most rockiest, rolliest of anachronisms came to be released on a blues and soul label in the autumn of 1965. In a poll to a "New Kommotion" questionnaire of 1977, 31% of respondents thought "Look Out Mabel" was a rockabilly record. Gene Vincent's "Bluejean Bop" attracted a smaller percentage of votes! BTW, the hard-working pianist on "Mabel" is Henry Gray. Crockett died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 14 February 1967. "Look Out Mabel" has been reissued on many compilations, among them "That'll Flat Git It # 10" (Bear Family BCD 16123) and "Rockin' From Coast To Coast, Vol. 2" (Ace 715).