From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Jan 16, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Mac Curtis
 
MAC CURTIS (By Shaun Mather)

Born Wesley Erwin Curtis, 16 January 1939, Fort Worth, Texas


There's a small crowd of performers who cut some rockabilly records as kids,
went back to the real world before being rediscovered two decades later.
Considered legends over in Europe, they toured and in some cases started
recording again, bemused by the adoration. One such artist was Mac Curtis,
the affable Texan who made his mark with a string of rockabilly classics for
the King label.

Born in Fort Worth, Curtis was raised a hundred miles away, near Olney, TX,
on his grandparents' farm. In his early teens he bought a guitar and soon had
enough chords under his belt to play some of the country songs he heard on
the radio. In 1954 the family moved back to the Fort Worth area and Mac formed
a band with two brothers, Jim and Ken Galbraith. A year later they cut a session
at the Cliff Herring studio, which remained unreleased until Rollin' Rock put them
out in the 70's. In early '56 they were signed to the King label and on April 1st, cut
four songs at the legendary Jim Beck studios, augmented by Bill Simmons on
piano and the much in-demand Bill Peck on drums. Two top quality singles
resulted, full of slap bass, rockabilly guitar and Mac showing plenty of
Elvis mannerisms in his hiccupy vocals. A summer date saw another two
singles, followed by a prestigious spot on Alan Freed's Christmas Shower Of
Stars at the Brooklyn Paramount, where he shared the bill with the likes of
the Moonglows, the Cadillacs, Jesse Belvin and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

The big time was not to be though and Mac eventually wound up in California,
becoming one of the top country jocks in LA. In the early 70's he became
acquainted with Rollin' Rock owner Ronnie Weiser and was soon back in the
studio (living room!). His releases on the label coincided with a rockabilly
resurgeance in Europe, and in 1977 Mac together with Ray Campi
undertook the now legendary "Rollin' Rock Tour". Mac Curtis' friendly
demeanour and classic catalogue have ensured that has been a regular visitor
to Europe ever since.

There's not much on the official site http://www.maccurtis.com

A better bet for a more detailed overview of Mac's career is
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/MacCurtis.html
which also includes a list of his available CD's