From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Oct 4, 2002  2:03 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Larry Collins
 
LARRY COLLINS (By Shaun Mather)

Born Lawrence Collins, 4 October 1944, Tulsa, Oklahoma

You could be forgiven for thinking that the Collins Kids were a gimmick,
who appealed to the public because of their very young age and very cute
demeanour. How wrong you'd be though, for Lorrie and Larry Collins were
a couple of red-hot rockabillies who posessed no end of talent. Lorrie is a
fine singer whilst Larry is an exquisite guitarist and a very successful
songwriter.
The family moved from their Pretty Water, Oklahoma home to Los Angeles
around 1953, intent on giving their siblings a fair crack at the entertainment
business. They landed a spot on the weekly Town Hall Party tv show where
Larry came under the guidance of guitar-whiz Joe Maphis. Like Maphis,
Larry got himself a double-neck Mosrite guitar, and preceded to blast the
hell out of it. Before he'd reached his teens he was playing some savage
licks and fills whilst Lorrie thrilled the young teens out front. Surving video
clips show the duo to be very visual with Larry flying all over stage,
duck-walking and all.
Strangely they were never able to hit the charts despite appearances on
national TV shows with Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen. They toured with stars
of the day like Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Gordon Terry. Highlights of
their brief recorded career include Beetle Bug Bop, The Cuckoo Rock, I'm in
My Teens, The Rockaway Rock, Just Because, Hoy Hoy, Mercy, Whistle Bait,
Party and Hot Rod. I would have thought that a number like Hush Money would
have been just cute and commercial enough to hit the charts but it wasn't to
be. Their career came to an abrupt halt when Lorrie eloped with Johnny
Cash's road manager Stu Cornell. As cheesed off as Larry must have been,
apparently Ricky Nelson was hurt even more as he and her had been dating.
I've seen photos of Cornell and Ricky - Cornell must have been a hell of a
nice bloke!
Larry did some solo stuff including some great instrumentals (Hurricane and
The Rockin' Gypsy) and began to concentrate on songwriting. He received
Grammy nominations for Delta Dawn (a # 1 for Helen Reddy in 1973) and
You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma. Among many others, his songs
have been recorded by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

Their music was issued on countless rockabilly albums during the rockabilly
revival and this raised the interest levels in them again, culminating in a
performance in the UK in 1993. They've played Europe and Vegas several
times since and never fail to deliver the goods. At the rehearsal in Hemsby
in 1998, the young bass player asked Larry a technical question about how
to play one of the songs. Larry looked him in the eyes and said, "Don't worry
about it son, just slap the shit out of it" - priceless advice! He blew the
crowd
away with a breathtaking display of guitaring.

Recommended listening:
The Rockin'est - Bear Family BCD 16250
Hop, Skip and Jump - Bear Family (2CD)
Rockin' On TV - Krazy Kat.
More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/CollinsKids.html