JERRY LEE SMOOCHY SMITH
For years, Rock-a-Billy nuts and “Sun” Sound freaks knew than most of the credits given to Jerry Lee Lewis, the Ferriday fireball, as session musician on 706 Union Avenue were fakes
ERRY LEE SMOOCHY SMITH - THE REAL ME
TIMES AND LIFE OF A ROCK-A-BILLY PIANO PLAYER OF THE 50’S
For years, Rock-a-Billy nuts and “Sun” Sound freaks knew than most of the credits given to Jerry Lee Lewis, the Ferriday fireball, as session musician on 706 Union Avenue were fakes. We knew than most of that session work was done by underage Jerry Lee “Smoochy” Smith and, for Musician Union policy, old Sam Phillips had to make up his files books. In 1986, Smoochy came in light worldwide as member of the Sun Rhythm Section with Stan Kesler, J.M Van Eaton, Marcus Van Story, Sonny Burgess and Paul Burlison. But what about his early years with Carl Perkins and Kenny Parchman? What about his work with the Mar-Keys in the early 60’s or with George Jones in the early 80’s? So his book accurately titled “The Real Me”, published few months ago by Blink Publishing Company (Bartlett –TN) is a welcome addition on any Southern Country and Rock and Roll music lover’s library. You can’t have records on “Sun”, “Lu”, “Jaxon”, “Hi” and miss that book. If you are a fan of Carl Perkins, Kenny Parchman or Jerry Lee Lewis, you better had to find that book while you can.
To give you the taste for reading, I just wrote that little report on that 88 keys wizard rambling life and times. A life made of up and down, success and fail, churches and jails, true love and cheating, rockabilly and gospel, money and misery …
Jerry Lee trial started on November 13, 1939 in Missouri from a Dad who played guitar, fiddle, harmonica and a little on piano. He was a good story-teller and could play a lot of Ozark Mountain songs. From there the family moved to Arkansas where Jerry’s Dad owned a restaurant and later a Funeral Home. That what you can call to be versatile … Around 1945, the family settled in Jackson (Tn) and when reaching the fifth grade at county school he was fast to join a group a tough guys and to start to smoke. At nine years old, his Dad bought a piano to his sister but he was quick to get his kicks under the stool and to start to make music with his Dad. Around 1952, Howard “Curly” Griffin asked to his Dad to play fiddle with his band on his radio show on WDXI located in Jackson. Roy Lee Smith agreed only if his son could play the piano with them. Carl Perkins and his brothers played that very same show and, later, Jerry Lee will join them band. Around that time Jerry Lee may have hear the same radio another great Jackson singer named Ramsey Kearney who hosted a Saturday morning show from 1948 to 1952. Then, long before Elvis, Carl used to play “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and another R’n’B ditty from Stick McGhee “Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee”. Curly Griffin, born in 1918, will stay close to Carl Perkins and co-authored with him “Dixie Fried” and “Boppin The Blues” having himself several records on “Atomic” from 1955 to 1957.
On a bad day of January 1954, the fate hit the family when Jerry and his Dad were involved in a car crash with a truck near Dyersburg (Tn). His Dad was killed and Jerry got his legs trapped under the engine for four hours. Jerry Lee saved his legs from the Doc, Thanks to a high patrolman who pulled him up. So the family beginning life without Dad and Jerry Lee had to get a job. After playing with some small combos, Jerry Lee joined again Curly Griffin’s band on the Jayhawk café to play on Friday and Saturday night. Being a regular on that night club Jerry Lee meet, around 1955, Kenny Parchman another local musician who had lost his Dad in tragic conditions too and Carl Perkins. Carl Perkins offered him to join his band for $ 5.00 a night plus tip so Jerry Lee moved from that place where he earned $ 2.50 a night and enjoyed to be in a band with a drummer.
Soon Kenny, leading the Dixie Blues Boys, asked Jerry Lee to come back for $ 10.00 a night and even hired a drummer called Elmo to please him.
A month later, Carl offered a raise to $ 15.00 if he agrees to play with him at the Supper Club. There he soon realized that the life he was living was not the Christian life he had been taught. Soon cames the drinks and the morning headaches. Carl asked to Jerry Lee’s mother to bring him in Memphis for a forthcoming session but she won’t being afraid because the car accident. That session was probably the one who gave life to “Blue Suede Shoes”. Soon Carl Perkins will be on the road and Jerry Lee will start playing again with Kenny Parchman. Jerry Lee’s mother may had save him his life ‘cause few months later Carl and his band were seriously injured in a car crash in Delaware.
Kenny’s band was mostly playing hillbilly, bluegrass, country song and a few R’n’B songs from Piano Red or Joe Turner speeding it up and putting a strong drums beat. That sound close to Rock and Roll, but with no horn, will be soon definite as Hillbilly Bop or Rock-a-Billy. They play on WDXI Radio in Jackson and moved them act from the Jayhawk café to the Pine Ridge Club, in Jackson, before goin’ to “Sun” records in Memphis a week-end on August 1956. They played “Love Crazy Baby” and “Treat Me Right” for Sam Phillips who agreed to set up a session the next week-end. That first session will produce the great “Love Crazy Baby” and “I Feel Like Rockin’”, two ultimate rockers who should have been issued on Sun 252 if Sam Phillips had not made up his mind for some unknown reason. That will cost the band them work at the Pine Ridge Club because the owner filled the hole with Rayburn Anthony and his band. Without place to play, Jerry Lee played for a while with Rayburn.
Kenny will later bring his band on The Humbolt Club (Humbolt – Tn), Slick’s Pit (Ripley – Tn) and on movie theatres in Kentucky, Texas and Louisiana. That’s on one of those theatres than Jerry Lee came to be called “Smoochy” after being late on stage for that activity backstage with a cute little smoocher. Nothing coming from “Sun”, Kenny decided to book his band near Memphis for a three months stunt at the Navy Officer Club in Millington (Tn). Here Ace Cannon, a sax player, joined them band and later moved with them to a club named The Broken Drum in Memphis. Kenny went to record more songs at “Sun” and Sam asked to Jerry Lee, now living in Memphis, to play on some records he will cut for others artists for one dollar for each year of his age. Smoochy was not in the Musicians Union and the Union scale was $ 45.00 so Sam had to pay under the table and to fill the session work under Jerry Lee Lewis name. Other regular piano player at “Sun” was Jimmy Wilson and sometime his name was also used instead Smoochy. Smoochy remember playing with Warren Smith and some other cats.
Still with Kenny, Smoochy started to write a few songs among them the ultimate “Tennessee Zip” who stayed in the Sun vaults for years. That song was just issued as Sun 252, the missing single, a couple of years ago and is yet a collector item. He also wrote a song titled “Hey, Hey, Little Girl” for a singer in need for a song at “Sun”. It could be Tommy Blake who came from Shreveport (La) for various sessions. Somewhere in 1957, Smoochy get married and was back in Jackson, with Kenny, at The Pine Ridge Club again. With Kenny he recorded, in Jackson, two fabulous sides “Treat Me Right”/”Don’t You Know” issued on Jaxon 504. An extremely rare record and a much sought after collector item. He will also pump that 88 keys on Kenny’s “Lu” recordings from 1958 “Get It Off Your Mind” and “Sattellite Hop”. Jerry Lee remember Kenny like one of the best he had the pleasure to work with. And among the one he worked or rubbed shoulders you can add Curtis Hobock, Billy Wayne, Eddie Bush or Carl Mann. Not small caps!
That rambler was soon back again in Memphis working for Eddie Bond and, later, for Gene Simmons, from Tupelo (Ms), who recorded “Hey, Hey, Little Girl” in 1964 for “Hi” records. He also worked again with Ace Cannon at the Starlight Club in Memphis before moving to California and coming back penniless because he was underage to work there. He quickly started to work with Chips Moman before teaming steadily with Danny Taylor, a drummer, and doing comedy routines at The Castaways in Memphis. He will made some recordings for Roland Janes “Sonic” label and Chips “Stax” records with Rufus Thomas or Otis Redding. He worked also with Jim Stewart “Satellite” records and co-wrote and worked out “Last Night”, under the name of The Mar-Keys. That song became a huge hit and they started to do shows with Ike & Tina Turner, Dion, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wanda Jackson from Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia to Michigan until early 1963.
Then he became manager of the “Smoochy’s Sho Bar” who closed in lass than one year for gambling in a place of business. Hard times started with a move in Florida who will end with 15 days in jail and a $ 100 fine. Flat broke Smoochy headed back to Memphis and started over working at the Airport Lounge and the Castaways before reopening The Tropical Club. Next move, in 1967, will be to work with Holiday Inns who started booking bands in them hotels all over the USA. In 1971, a new project lead him to run the “Smoochy’s Steak House and Lounge” in Raleigh near Memphis for four years. There are more very enjoying adventures until Smoochie joined the Sun Rhythm Section. His rambling will bring him and that band in Karthoum, Koweit City, Norway, France or England. In 1989, at Hemsby (in England), he meet Bo Bergling, the editor of “American Music Magazine” in Sweden. That magazine offered in 2005 a superb feature about Kenny Parchman (number 105) and the last issue (number 116) brings a mind blowing paper about The Stewart Brothers, another Jackson band, who cut a fabulous record for “Lu” in 1959. That paper was cooked by Jimmy Stephenson, from Jackson, who was also a helping hand on various Tennessee Rockabilly CD’s issued by Stomper Time records from England. If I have been waiting since years to have infos about those Jackson’s “foot soldiers”, I feel like having found the pot of gold on the end of a rainbow. So took out some golden coins from that bucket and buy Jerry Lee “Smoochy” Smith’s great book at:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~47634.aspx
Here I told you about the first part of the book and the end tells of the changes he made in his life. After reading this very entertaining book, Jerry Lee says, “You will discover The Real Me.”
Enjoy those memories of one all those rockin’ cats who was there when it happened in Tennessee and who never stopped to pump those 88 keys until now. If you only know about Jerry Lee Lewis … you will learn there was another Jerry Lee who could play piano laying on the floor to look under petticoat! It was in the 50’s when the rock started to roll!
Dominique “Imperial” ANGLARES
www.americanmusicmagazine.com
www.stompertime.com
LINK TO THE SITE
http://bartemon.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=278&PHPSESSID=059c9aa60e2be89db10f9f860726c1c4
Sujet: JERRY LEE SMOOCHY SMITH