Andy Starr

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My Father: Andy Starr
By Linda Hone (posted January 22, 2004).
My father was born Franklin Delano Gulledge in 1932 in Combs, Arkansas. He got interested in music at a young age. He joined the Army at the age of 17. He served during the Korean War, When he got out of the Army, he formed the group known as "The Arkansas Plowboys," which consisted of his two brothers, Bob and Clark. This was sometime around 1952/1953, and only for a short time. Dad also recorded songs in the early '50s through the early '60s, on record labels such as: LIN, MGM, KAPP and HOLIDAY INN.
Dad worked in Alaska at a night club from 1859 to 1965, and did very well. I was a little girl at that time. We were there in the 1964 earthquake. Dad decided to leave Alaska in 1965 and signed on with Hollywood International Talents, Deville Recording Company, HIT Talent along with it. This was out of Hollywood, California on El Centre Ave. He was booked in Santa Barbara, California. He also had a booking in Las Vegas, NV, but for reasons only known to him, he never showed.
Dad then settled in Kingston, Idaho, and took up working at a sawmill while trying to raise a family. He never gave up his music. He would always be picking his guitar at home, that was his passion. He had a show he did on the radio in Wallace, Idaho. The station was KWAL. The station manager at the time asked my Dad to write a song for the valley we lived in. The valley during that time period was known as "The Fabulous Valley" from the latter '60s and early '70s. Dad wrote the song and called it, "The Fabulous Valley." It is a very beautiful ballad. It was recorded on a "45" and I an unable to locate a copy of it. It is my most favorite song of all that my father wrote.

The Valley here in Idaho is now known as "The Solver Valley." In 1972 a disaster happened. There was a fire at the Sunshine Mine here in Idaho, where 92 men lost their lives. Dad wrote and recorded a song called "The Tragedy at the Sunshine Mine." Also in 1972 Dad made his only Gospel album, It was titled "You Can't Disguise Religion" - Frank Starr with the Wilson-McKinley Jesus Rock Band and Neil Livingston on steel guitar. Dad traveled around to various churches, preaching and playing his guitar, singing Gospel songs.
My Dad then decided to go back out and sing for the public. In 1973 he recorded the album "Frank Starr Live at Wanda's Club." The drummer (Richard Ochoa) who was a friend of my Dad, and was playing on that album, recently gave me a copy of it. I listened to it and I must say, it sounded as if my Dad was having a lot o fun while singing it.

Frank when he was known as "Frank Starr and his Blue Notes.
Then man in the niddle is Buck, 86 years old in 2003.
Photo is from the mid to late '60s

Frank and Neil Livingston when they were recording the Gospel album
with The Wilson-McKinley Jesus Rock Band.

I wasn't of age to ever see my dad sing in public like that. I did get to watch him record the Gospel album in Spokane, Washington at the Sound Recording Studio. I also received another album from the same drummer, that I never knew existed. The album is "Frank Starr Sings Patterson & Starr." It's a collection of songs that Dad and his friend Harry Patterson had both written (with my Dad singing all the songs). This is about all I know of my father's music career, except that he did record a CD in Nashville along with two groups in 2002 called "Starr Struck." Gail Lloyd of the Tricksters did a duet with my father. The only known duet that I know of. She was very kind to me after my dad had passed, although I never met her personaly.

I'll always remember my Dad having his guitar on a stand in the living room, ready for him to pick up and play if the mood hit him. He was a man with great talent when it came to picking the guitar. He never could read music, he learned to play by ear and that takes talent. I'd like to think my dad made some people happy with his music. My father had five daughters and two sons. We will miss him always!! If anyone has memorabilia related to my Dad, please contact me. Thank you.
Linda Hone
P.O. Box 924
Rathdrum, Idaho 83858
Email: loubug@earthlink.net

Photos in this block courtesy of Linda Hone

Posted: February 11, 2000 - by Shaun Mather

Born on a farm near Combs, Arkansas on 21st October 1932, Frank Andy Starr was never going to be any old southern kid, he was always destined to be a little bit different. Christened Franklin Delano Gulledge after the thirty second American president, he grew up during the height of the Depression, and from an early age showed he had a bit of fire in his belly. This kid was always gonna be more like Daniel Boone than Pat Boone! After pulling a gun on a teacher he decided perhaps school wasn't for him and left at the ripe old age of fourteen. After a couple of years riding the freight trains he was recruited into the Special Services and whilst serving in Korea, he formed The Arkansas Plowboys. After leaving the army he and his two brothers Chuck and Bob settled in California where the trio began a new band, again using the Arkansas Plowboys monikor. The band was short lived and Frank sold up and moved to Texas, stopping in Las Vegas for a long beer and a short wedding.

By 1954 the south was starting to hear the first strains of a new rockabilly sound, young hillbilly kids mixing their Wills and Williams with a bit of rhythm and blues. Along with Tennessee, Texas was at the forefront of this explosive revolution and it was only a matter of time before even the backwater towns got to hear it. Frank was now stationed in Denison, TX and found steady work in the many clubs which serviced the local Air Force base and also a daily spot on radio KDSX in Denison. The station manager persuaded him to audition for Joe Leonard, who owned the Gainsville based Lin label and KGAF radio. Leonard was impressed by the uptempo hillbilly stuff on offer and a session was arranged for early '55 at the Cliff Herring Studio in Fort Worth.

Dallas songwriters Mietzl Miller and Bill Baker were commissioned to write a couple of songs, the first The Dirty Bird Song is a catchy uptempo item, not a million miles from Marvin Rainwater. The second number, Dig Them Squeaky Shoes is a plodding country rocker, with some nice guitar work from Frank. The resultant single (Lin 1009) failed to click on the charts but was a more than decent debut. Tell Me Why is probably the best song from the session, a real chugger, Franks vocals still very rural at his stage and the band on top form. It was written by bass player Marvin Pace, a local car salesman whose band, including fifteen year old piano playing son Johnny Pace, backed Frank billed as the Rock-Away Boys. For The Want Of Your Love is a country weeper with backing vocals from the pen of W.D.Patty who supplied songs to other Joe Leonard artists, most notably the excellent Buck Griffin but when released as Lin 1013 both sides sank without trace.

Another session at the Cliff Herring Studio was arranged but sadly, neither song was released at the time, only seeing the light of day two decades later on Ronnie Weisers' Rollin Rock label. Do It Right is a nice hillbillish rocker and Rockin' Reelin' Country Style is a great mover complete with chicken picking and frantic vocals.

He was starting to show a real flair for the new rocking sound and if he was unsure what road to take with his musical future, his mind was soon made up following a local gig on April 14th 1955. The Elvis Presley freight train was building momentum all over the south including a week long whistle stop tour of Texas with the great Onie Wheeler in support. Joe Leonard, through Elvis' manager Bob Neal, put the duo on at the Gainsville baseball field Owl Park and arranged a spot for Andy Starr and the Rock-Aways. Arriving in town in a pink and white Cadillac, wearing pink peg slacks and an orchid shirt, the Memphis hot shot, just turned twenty, was pushing his new (fourth) Sun single, Baby Let's Play House/I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone but he was virtually unknown in Gainsville and only a handful of teens turned up. Those that did had a ball and both Elvis and Andy Starr went down well with the locals. Leonard lost money on the concert and Elvis, upset at the turn-out promised Joe that he would return and play for the original fee of $300. Elvis soon found Carny Tom Parker, who wasn't the type to let his boy do such a thing and the deal never materialised. Things calmed down for a while Leonard tried to get Starr hooked up with a lease deal. Via the influential Aberbach brothers, a deal was struck with MGM. From the outside it looked like a swell move, but MGM were still reaping the rewards of having Hank Williams stuff in the can and were therefore content to send out just 200 promo copies on new artists. Career wise the year with MGM was a flop, but musically it was anything but.

With Joe Leonard still in the producer's chair, four classics were cut, once more in Fort Worth. Definative rockabilly has barrels of bass, hot flashes of electric guitar and a squirrel headed singer - this session couldn't fail then. Rockin' Rollin' Stone, penned by Starr and Patty is pure rockabilly, a relenting double bass, Sun-style guitar, courtesy of Larry "Red" Adair, and energetic vocals, rounded off with nonsense lyrics - ah, heaven. Old Deacon Jones is a loping rocker with two more great guitar solos. She's A Going Jessie starts off with the immortal lines "I believe in girls 100%" before turning into more of the same. I Wanna Go South is a slower bluesy affair with Starrs vocal showing an Elvis influence and Adair again shining. Stone and South were chosen as the first single (MGM K 12263) and released at the end of May '56 to fairly strong reviews from Billboard who picked up on the Elvis influence and perceptively acknowledged that the sound could be limited to the southern states. No only did the Yankies show no interest but the sales in Dixieland weren't sufficient to hit the charts. Jessie and Old Deacon Jones came next (MGM K 12315) with more of the same from Billboard and more of the same from the public.
At the annual DJ convention in Nashville Andy was walking from his hotel to the Andrew Jackson Hotel, decked out in his best red and white stage suit when he was mobbed. The following ran in national press the following week: "(Nashville, Tennessee) - A group of squealing teenagers mistook a young country singer for Elvis Presley in Nashville, Tennessee Friday night. The youngsters nearly tore the clothes from the singer's back before discovering he wasn't their idol. The teenagers had congregated at a downtown hotel on a rumour that Presley would show up for radio station WSM's Annual Disc Jockey Festival. Andy Starr of Gainsville, Texas, came along. He has long sideburns and long black hair similar to Presley's. He promptly was mobbed by the screaming youngsters, male and female. The crowd ripped the pockets and buttons from his coat and shirt and even made off with his shoe laces. Policemen finally rescued him. Patrolman Ernest Castleman commented "This is the wildest thing I ever saw. If Elvis were here, I don't think these kids would be in any frame of mind to love him tender." Starr wasn't too upset by the publicity. As for Presley, he was rumoured en route to Las Vegas, Nevada - and not in Nashville at all."

Unshaken, not even stirred, Starr and Leonard headed back to Fort Worth on 9 September 1956 and cut four more crackers. This time Joe took his new Texan discoveries The Strikes as the back-up band and their sterling support maintained the standard. The first track cut was the moody mid paced Give Me A Woman complete with driving guitar and drums and plenty of oohs and aahs from the band. Round And Round is pure excitement, frantic vocals and the drums and guitars well to the fore. One More Time is a more controlled rocker, but none the worse for it. Although not the best of the MGM cuts it was perhaps the one with the most chance of commercial success. No Room For Your Kind was a rocker from the band but the strained vocals did little to hide the country side of Starr. Albert Branden Cornelius again plays some blinding lead guitar. Round And Round and Give Me A Woman opened the batting (MGM K 12364) and Billboard enthused that "Starr is one of the more noteworthy Presley disciples, and here he is blessed with a strong piece of material and a funky back shack backing that ought to inspire plenty of deejay play. The beat is solid and works on the nerves hypnotically". Of the flip it delared that it was "Also in the rockabilly vein and reminiscent of one of the Presley numbers". The pulses in the Starr camp must have been racing when Billboard finished the review with "He could break thru, if any of the Presley imitators can". MGM was so moved that they shipped 201 advance copies to the radio stations and again the failed to hit nationally. Strangely, Give Me A Woman clicked in Pasadena, California, and some TV and radio promotions were arranged. KXLA DJ The Squeakin' Deacon introduced him - "You've heard of Elvis The Pelvis. Now here's Andy The Dandy". Starr liked the sound of that and so he kep' it.
So after two sessions, four singles and eight glorious tracks, Starr and Leonard left MGM, proud that they had given more than they had received from the label. It had been a one sided love affair.

More for Andy Starr

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/AndyStarr1.html

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