Saturday, July 11, 2020

Three more Stomp artists pass away

Three artists who I saw at the much missed Ponderosa Stomp have died recently.
The first is Rudy Palacios (pictured above), who was a guitarist and vocalist with San Antonio band Sunny and the Sunliners. The band began as Sunny and the Sunglows and came to my attention via a UK release on London of Little Willie John's 'Talk To Me', which was produced by Huey Meaux for his Teardrop label. Whether Rudy was a member at that time I'm not sure, but the band went on to record several records under the latter name including 'Put Me In Jail', 'Smile Now Cry Later' and 'The One Who's Hurting Is You'. Rudy later played in a number of local bands and his appearance at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2015 was as part of the San Antonio West Side Soul Revue with Rudy T Gonzales, Little Henry lee, Manuel Bones Aragon and Jack Barber. It was a pleasant set with included some soft soul, rock and Tex Mex flavoured pop.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnxYScrIfxE
Another Stomp singer to have died is Tami Lynn, who is best known for her reissued 1971 hit 'I'm Gonna Run Away From You'. Born in New Orleans, Tami met Allen Toussaint and Harold Battiste and recorded for the AFO label. She was heard by Jerry Wexler who recorded her on 'I'm Gonna Run Away With You' which failed to chart when first released on the UK Atlantic label in 1967 but was a big Northern soul hit when reissued on Mojo. She recorded an LP called 'Love Is Here and Now You're Gone', produced by John Abbey, and sang backing for many major acts, including Dr John, the Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett. I only got to see Tami perform once - at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2008 when she did a short set (pictured below).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeaZ3DEQEyo

It's farewell too to Max Crook, who was an early exponent of electronic music when he invented the Musitron, which can be heard to good effect on one of the greatest pop records of that or any era, Del Shannon's 'Runaway'. Max also recorded in his own right under the name Maximilian. His best known number was 'The Snake'. which was mistakenly issued as the B side of 'Runaway' on some early pressings.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO9zzJg1tw
Another reported death is that of Charlie Daniels, who is best known for his 1979 hit 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia'. He played fiddle with the Marshall Tucker Band and also formed his own band, having some success with 'Uneasy Rider'. He recorded some political songs and his views became increasingly right wing. He was 83 when he died.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBjPAqmnvGA
And now there's news of a third Ponderosa Stomp artist to have died - swamp pop singer Rod Bernard, at the age of 79. Born in Opelousas in the heart of Cajun country, Rod had a love of rock and roll and formed a band called the Twisters. He recorded one of the biggest swamp pop hits 'This Should Go On Forever' for Floyd Soileau's Jin label in 1958 and then recorded for the Hall-Way label with less success. He was a founder of local band the Shondells, along with Warren Storm and Skip Stewart (not be confused with Tommy James's band) and recorded for Huey Meaux's Teardrop and for Jin. He concentrated mostly on country music during the 70s but reappeared with a performance with the Li'l Band of Gold during the Ponderosa Stomp in 2007 and again at the Stomp in 2015 (pictured below).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAkSxyG9qXo


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