From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jan 8, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Luther Perkins
 
LUTHER PERKINS (By Shaun Mather)

Born 8 January 1928, Memphis, Tennessee
Died 5 August 1968, Nashville, Tennessee

When Roy Cash introduced his appliance selling, young brother, Johnny, to a
couple of colleagues at the Automobile Sales garage in Memphis, the
unlikeliest band in rock history was formed. Bass player, Marshall Grant
and guitarist, Luther Perkins became the Tennessee Two and with the
twitching genius of Johnny Cash fronting them, they played local picnics,
church socials and the like before plucking up the courage to audition for
Sun records owner Sam Phillips.

All three were limited in their musical abilities and Cash's vocal range
didn't exactly get the needles on the sound board working overtime. Cash
all but apologized to Sam for their inadequacies, but Sam pulled a master
stroke by emphasizing the groups sparseness, introducing the unsuspecting
radio listeners to the world's only boom-chicka-boom band. Whilst virtually
every producer across the country would have shown the trio the door, Sam
got them to turn their attention from gospel to secular, turned the recorder
on and sat back and grinned. Simple is best. Early film footage show the
band in all its weird glory, Johnny chomping his jaws, and Luther and
Marshall blinking away in some other world - beautiful.

To me, the song that sums up Luther's playing, is the guitar break on
Get Rhythm. The first part is superb, all jangly and hypnotic, whereas on
the second part of the solo, it's single string plonking that sounds for the
world like he's going to miss the next note. The overall result is perfect.

I also love his intro to Home Of The Blues. It's simple, but it gives the
feeling that he's walking down the street to the home of the blues, side by
side with Johnny.

Even when Jack Clement sweetened the sound with the addition of backing
vocals in '58, they still wisely chose to retain the sparse backing - with
Johnny's rhythm and Luther's picking, there was no need for pianos and
saxes. The addition of Fluke Holland on drums, did nothing to sophisticate
the sound, and thankfully kept Luther way up front.

As the 60's wore on and the band was augmented by the guitar work of Carl
Perkins, Luther and Carl formed a tight ensemble, perfectly demonstrated on
the newly enhanced CD, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Unfortunately, it
marked the end of the road for Luther as he perished in a house fire, caused
when he fell asleep with a lighted cigarette in his hand. Such was Johnny's
love for the man that he continued to send his widow Luther's pay cheque for
six months after his death.

"Now did Luther play the boogie strange!!"

Recommended listening:

Any Johnny Cash Sun compilations.
Any early 60's CBS albums.
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.