Carl Perkins

[JK]

Oh, while I'm here, this is my favourite Carl P song and one of my all-time favourite r'n'r tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYH_SS_aYtA

Probably my favorite intro in Rock!

Wow yes! For someone who's hardly a household name, Mr P has produced so many classics!

[NOLA BB Fan]

Ooh, so cool. Can't wait!!

[Lonely Summer]

706 ReUnion - A sentimental journey





Now, this is a release that's very dear to me. First, find out more about the story of it's evolution and the recording on this link. You can listen to some samples if you click on the link above the album cover.

Carl and Scotty Moore - Elvis' lead guitar player from '54 to '68 - go way back. Just when Elvis and Carl toured together during 1954/1955 and parts of 1956, Scotty and Carl also became friends.


Source: https://www.royalbooks.com/


Source: https://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1956-june-1.html

Carl and Elvis in Memphis on June 1st 1956


In 1975 Carl called Scotty, D. J. Fontana and the Jordanaires to back him up on his Elvis-tribute single E. P. Express (a re-recording is found on 706 ReUnion) backed with a re-recording of Carl's mid-60s song Big bad blues.


The album's concept and it's title might make one think that this is just another of those awful and cheaply produced albums of re-recordings with subpar performances. Well, in this case one would be very wrong.
The music tracks are interspersed with dialogues between Scotty and Carl and tell the story of how the album came to be in real time. That can get very corny, but not as creepy corny as us Beach Boys fans are treated with from time to time, but corny in a nice way; just two old guys having some fun.
The main focus of course lies on the music performances. Instead of tired note-for-note re-recordings, we actually get some great performances and a couple of new songs as well in a laid-back style. The musicians are some of the best for this kind of music and recording, including D. J. Fontana, Marcus van Storey, Johnny Black (son of Bill Black) and Carl's sons, Geg and Stan. Both, "Night train to Memphis" and "Milkcow blues boogie" are played in mid-tempo and giving Perkins and Scotty enough room to show their guitar skills without taking up too much space. Carl is in strong voice, although he was just declared throatcancer-free after getting treatment. Two instrumentals, "Black eyed Suzie Brown" and "Windy & warm", put the distinctive guitar styles of both center. For this album Carl wrote three new songs: "Damn Sam" (about Sam Phillips and the working atmosphere at Sun Records - co-written by Scotty), "The worst of her" (co-written by Stan and Greg Perkins as well as D. J. Fontana) and the funky "Pickup truck".
Recorded at the old Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennesse (the Sun Studio), the sound is very much alive. Eventually released on Scotty Moore's Belle Meade label, this may not be a commercial blockbuster project (it's much too laid back for that, anyway), but it definitely is everything but a cheaply produced, lackluster run through some old favorites. Everyone involved cared about the project and music and you can clearly hear this.

It used to be available through Scotty's website but I don't know if that is still the case. If you can get a copy of this album, I'd advise you to get it. It's one of those albums that I can't help but grab my guitar and try to play along.

I was lucky to get a copy of this album when it came out - and personally signed by both Carl and Scotty.

[Rocker]

It seems that the "new" private recordings were talked about in this article from 2017:


Discovering Carl

http://www.southerncultures.org/article/discovering-carl/  


BTW regarding the private recordings fom 1952, just for fun, here's Carl's later studio recording of "Good rockin' tonight":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=258nkJad4HQ

And although he never recorded it in the studio "Drinkin' wine ..." was always a possible choice for concert performances. And here's a peformance from very late, probably aroud the promotion for his latest album, "Go Cat Go!", and a documentary on Perkins from 1996/97,:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YAdeJHm5Hc

[Rocker]

Look at these two beauties:


Carl Perkins Epiphone 1962 Emperor Live at Folsom San Quentin For Sale The Spa Guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2wYRXPE9oA




Carl Perkins 1953 Les Paul Blue Suede Shoes For Sale The Spa Guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrk_N5oKn1w

[Rocker]

If you contribute to this public station, you get a remastered CD/DVD of the '86 Carl Perkins Special "A Rockabilly session" (feat. Clapton, Harrison, Starr, Edmunds, Rosanne Cash):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCrPOWNAn7M

[Rocker]

Carl Perkins: Live In Paris (2-LP+Flexi Disc, Limited Edition)
(Culture Factory) 20 Tracks, Double Blue Vinyl plus Flexi with Unreleased Track, Limited Edition (1.000)

Carl Perkins' last European concert in one of Paris' legendary venues, the Elysée Montmartre.

The concert was recorded on 30.03.1996 and will be released twenty-four years later to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the song 'Blue Suede Shoes'.

• Double Blue Vinyl LP's
• Flexi Blue Vinyl With Never Released Bonus Track
• Die-Cut Gatefold Jacket With Printed Inner Sleeves
• 12 Page Booklet







https://www.bear-family.com/perkins-carl-live-in-paris-2-lp-flexi-disc-limited-edition.html

[Rocker]

Carl Perkins - Country Boy's Dream, 1968





01 Country Boy's Dream
02 If I Could Come Back
03 Sweet Misery
04 Stateside
06 Detroit City
07 Unmitigated Gall
08 Shine, Shine, Shine
09 Dream On Little Dreamer
10 You Can Take The Boy Out Of The Country
11 The Star Of The Show
12 Home (That's Where The Heart Is)
13 Poor Boy Blues



So, it's been a while, but now I wanted to talk a little about this album and it's contents. I'm not gonna do a track-by-track analysis, though.
As you all know, probably thanks to his accident while "Blue Suede Shoes" was on the charts in '56, Carl never gained the popularity he deserved. Though he released strong material, he never got a big follow-up to that song. In 1966 it was eight years since his last charting record on the Country charts, the 1958 Rock'n'Roll song "Pink Pedal Pushers". It wasn't for lack of great material (that was never for a songwriter of Carl's talents), his records were just not selling. Back in the late 50s, due to his success with "Blue Suede Shoes", he was signed as a top star to Columbia. But after never hitting the big time again, in the mid-60s he signed with Dollie Records and in need of a hit. His first single for Dollie finally put him back on the charts. 1966's "Country Boy's Dream" went all the way to No. 22 on the Country charts. The song was written by Ernie Newton and Carl, though for some reason Carl was not credited. Carl mentioned his authorship on a live performance of that song on "Pop goes the Country" in 1977.

Once gain though, Carl had bad luck. He accidentally shot himself in the foot (literally), and couldn't promote the song. Yet a follow-up single "Shine, shine, shine" in '67 still reached No. 40. Who knows what could've been had he been able to promote the songs on television.
In 1968, Dollie released Carl's album "Country Boy's Dream". You probably heard about what Country music sounded in Nashville during this time. The "Nashville Sound" did take a lot of the edges out of the music in favor of a smooth, sugary sound. There were great recordings and songs, but after a while it became the norm and lost it's freshness. Carl actually had a hit during these years. In 1962 Patsy Cline recorded "So wrong" which Carl wrote with Danny Dill and Mel Tillis. The single reached No 14 on the Country charts for Cline. This recording is a great example for the beauty of the "Nashville Sound".


Carl with Gordon Terry, Luther Perkins, Patsy Cline and George Jones in 1962

So, knowing that, you would think that "Country Boy's Dream" would be a record of that sound, so to heighten the commercial potential. Thankfull you would be wrong. The album's production and instrumentation is actually pretty simple. No orchestras, no choirs, only what sounds like a quartet of backing singers and guitars, pedal steel guitar, bass, drums, piano. This probably shouldn't be misunderstood. When he was on Columbia Carl did record some songs with that big sound. I guess it was due to Carl's commercial losses that his records weren't given the treatment of the top stars.

It's this more or less sparse sound though, that makes this album sound so fresh to my ears. It's straight forward Country music played and sung by one of it's best - forgotten - singers. Indeed Perkins was a great singer and his matured voice only gave more depth to the tunes.
Usually, in Carl's situation at that time you would put your new single on the album and record a pack of cover songs, since he was not in the place where the top songwriters of the day would write material for him. And you got your bunch of covers on here as well. But Carl was also a great songwriter as we all know and so he could strengthen his album with new and strong material. He contributed five songs all in all to this album. His own "Poor Boy Blues" was a Top 40 hit on the Country charts in 1966 in a recording by Bob Luman.

That's not saying that the covers were throwaways. Oh no! Carl's version of "If I could come back" is one of my favorite performances. The interplay between Carl's soulful singing and the pedal steel guitar is beautiful. Plus the stripped sound of the album gives this song just enough room to breathe.
Carl even got to perform his "Lake County Cotton Country" on TV, when he filled in for Johnny Cahs's recently deceased guitarist Luther Perkins (no relation).
The album could be seen as a blueprint for things like "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" a. o. for it's lack of big Nashville production. It is a great album through and through. My only criticism is that Carl's lead on "Shine, shine, shine" is a little weak.
The title song still was popular enough for Carl to perform it in the 70s every now and then. Here's one such example from "Nashville on the Road".

Bear Family's "Dollie Masters - Country Boy's Dream" is a collection that includes the complete album plus other recordings from those sessions. Some released as singles, some unreleased. You can find more great stuff on there. Perkins' own "Dear Abby" has turned out to be a favorite of mine. Also his song "Valda" about his wife is touching.

Unfortunately Carl would never get the success he deserved. He had other hits like "Restless" which hit No. 20 in 1969, for which Mark O'Connor received a Grammy in the category "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" in 1991.

All I can say is, check this album out (see the link in the title). If you like authentic Country music you will love it. If you're into Country Rock, you will as well.

[Rocker]

AWESOME!!


Another great Sun artist doing special live sessions for British radio in 1964, backed by The Dominoes. From  Top Gear 16th June and Saturday Club 9th May, 1964.


Fantastic singing and guitar playing from a giant of rockabilly in his prime. Songs include:


The Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo
Matchbox
Mean Woman Blues
Help Me Find My Baby
Brian Mathew interviews Carl
I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9bX3QtrKw8

[Rocker]

Completely new to me!! "Honey don't" on TV from the 50s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDlFf_3cvC8


'tis the real deal....

[Rocker]

I never even knew this audio existed!!

Carl Perkins - I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry (Live 1956 Grand Ole Opry)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWC36vEfais

[Rocker]

Carl Perkins - This Country's Rockin' (live full concert)

Carl Perkins performs some of his greatest hits as part of a ten hour live country/blues/rock extravaganza, recorded in front of 70,000 people at the giant Pontiac Silverdome.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLw-rhLNtpc




Carl Perkins - TNN Monday Night Concert

Full live concert with Ricky Skaggs on TNN.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHt_KlJ0eis

[Rocker]

This is from the "Ol' Blue Suede's back" time. It features a young Dave Edmunds on rhythm guitar, I believe.



Carl Perkins live 'Blue Suede Shoes' + interview + 'That's Alright Mama' 1978


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcpPgcSHwOk



EDIT:


It looks like Carl's peformance at London's "The Venue" was released as a digital album about two years ago and I missed it. The show was broadcast on radio and if you haven't listened to the Silver Eagle show (the very first post in this thread) or his performance at Gilley's, let me tell you that you're in for a treat. Carl had a red hot band (featuring two of his sons) and each show they gave was bringing the house down. This show in London is no exception. Chek it out. You can hear to some snippets here:






One Night In London (Live 1982)


https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Night-London-Live-1982/dp/B084FH73QV



Great sound!
It featured - by request - a performance of "Put your Cat Clothes on", a song that Carl recorded while still on Sun. It was never relased until the 1970s when Shelby Singleton had bought the Sun catalogue and began releasing archive material. The original always sounded to me like a hit. I don't know why Sam Phillips didn't release it. But it's possible that he concentrated too much on his new star, Jerry Lee Lewis, to push Carl's record. Coincidentally Jerry Lee plays piano on "Put your Cat Clothes on" which may also have been a reason.

[Lonely Summer]

Thanks for sharing these, Rocker. I had no idea Carl had performed at the Pontiac Silverdome.