BOBBY BROWN

A Few Words from Bobby Brown

Photo at right taken in 1960 taken at the James J. Kreigsman studios in New York City.

I was born in Olyphant, Arkansas, a small country village 10 miles from Newport, the nearest town of 5,000 people. It was cotton country with farms all around, 1954 just before rock and roll was born. I was so excited when I started riding the school bus in to Newport where I went to school.

I started playing guitar then after hearing Elvis, Carl, Bill Haley and the others. My first electric guitar was a Silvertone flattop bought from Sears, and I began playing at parties, school shows, and had a radio show on each Saturday afternoon. This is where I met Chuck Comer who was a disc jockey at radio station KNBY and became friends. Sonny Burgess and The Pacers had a radio show that came on right after my show.

After high school I went to St Louis, Missouri. I formed a band working in the night clubs. Later we moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas and worked in the clubs there and trying to get a record deal in Memphis, Tennessee. We recorded 2 songs for Scotty Moore and they were never released. One of the clubs that we played, Arlen Vaden showed up and said he would take us to Cincinnati, Ohio and record us at the radio station WCKY where he was a disc jockey. That was our first record. "Down at Big Mary's House" with "I Get the Blues at Midnight" on the Vaden Record label (Trumann, AR) and the first Vaden rock and roll release. Arlen Vaden was our record producer and he paid for everything including food for the band. It didn't take but a couple of hours to record since we knew my songs really well playing them in the clubs regularly.


[size=7]We played every location possible, this picture was taken in Cornwall, Ontario in 1958
at an ice hockey arena at the half time show. We practiced the band 5 days a week, and
worked up routines with the help of Jack Nance and Conway Twitty.

That was our first recording and we went to all the radio stations we could to get them to play our record. In those days, you could just drive up to a radio station and walk in and talk on the air with the disk jockey and he would play your record. People could call in and they would play requests any time. We continued to play clubs and then Arlen Vaden called me and said he wanted us to record again. This time it was a big recording session with everyone there at KLCN in Blytheville, Arkansas. I recorded first "Please, Please Baby" and "Bobby's Blues", Teddy Riedel played piano, Larry Donn played bass. Teddy was next up, "Knocking on the Back Side", Joyce Green was up with "Black Cadillac", Chuck Comer with "Just a little More Lovin" and Larry Donn with "Honey Bunn", then Johnny Moore and others recorded on that same long session that lasted well into the night. Arlen Vaden recorded us all and gave us a start with our first recordings.

Live stage show at the Brass Rail Club in London, Ontario, Canada. Our first stop on a Canadian tour in 1958. Conway Twitty and Jack Nance were managing the band and signed us with Harold Kudlets Agency.

1958 show time at the Brass Rail Club in London, Ontario, Canada.

Arlen loved whiskey and women and was known to have a hot temper. A story told to me by Larry Donn was that one day Arlen got so mad at me about something he opened up his car trunk, took out a box of my recordings, and sailed them out into a farmers field. Larry said to Arlen, "Give them to me, I will sell them!"

The year, 1955, was a very exciting time in my life. I was going to high school in my 10th year. Music was the rage then it always had been for me. I grew up in a very musical family, 2 brothers and 4 sisters and everyone sang. My Dad played guitar, Mom pulled out her old washboard, yes the one she used through the week to wash clothes on. We all sang folk and religious songs while Mom beat on the washboard and Dad on the Guitar, a real family band.

At the Edison Hotel in Toronto, Ontario in 1958. Conway Twitty and Johnny (Baby Huey) Adams, (our bass player) He was giving Conway a singing lesson!. Note: Conway had the Number 1 record in the US and UK "It's Only Make Believe."

This is a picture (1959) of Bill Haley with one of the Comets and our drummer Johnny Welker who played drums on many of the Vaden recordings. Bill Haley and the Comets were playing in the ball room downstairs in the Standish Hall Hotel where we were staying in Hull, Quebec. We spent several enjoyable hours with them as we were playing in the same hotel

We always listened to the radio, sang every song with every singer. Then from a Memphis radio station, we heard something different. It wasn't blues like the black people sang, nor was it hillbilly, we knew all those songs and sang every word. They said it was Elvis Presley and he was singing something called Rock and Roll. We had heard Bill Monroe sing "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" and we knew every word. Now this guy Elvis was singing that same song differently, fast with a rhythm beat. I knew right then that I loved rock and roll and just had to sing and play it. My brother had brought a guitar home on leave from military and left it for me to learn after he showed me a few chords. The next time he came home on leave, not only was I playing and singing, but had teamed up with another boy and we had a thirty minute show on KNBY radio station every Saturday afternoon. The disc jockey and announcer working at the station was none other than Chuck Comer who aside from his job was a singer as well. We made friends and later he and I both recorded for Arlen Vaden who owned Vaden Records.


We had just bought this new 1961 Cadillac to carry the band members on the road tour.
This picture was taken just outside New York City, in New Jersey.