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| Lee Garnett : his only surviving picture |
Lee Garnett was a 1950s rockabilly singer who burned bright and fast, only to vanish into obscurity before the decade was out. Born in 1935 in a small Texas town, Jimmy grew up on a diet of Hank Williams, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and the raw energy of southern juke joints. He taught himself guitar on a beat-up acoustic his father left behind and started playing at local dances while still in high school. By 19, he had formed a three-piece band called The Lonesome Tones and cut a handful of singles for a tiny independent label out of Memphis. His voice was a wild, snarling mix of Elvis’s swagger and Johnny Cash’s melancholy—but with a ragged edge all his own. Tracks like "Cat Scratch Fever"and "Red Hot Mama\" got some regional radio play, but never charted nationally.
Lee’s big break came in 1957 when Sun Records producer Sam Phillips reportedly listened to one of his demos and said, "That boy's got something, but he's too raw" A session was scheduled, but Jimmy never showed. The truth? He had been arrested the night before for a bar fight that wasn't his fault. The stain of that arrest followed him. Radio stations that once played his records dropped him, and the label dissolved.
By 1959, Jimmy had quit music entirely. He moved to California, worked odd jobs, and never spoke of his rockabilly days. A few obscure acetates found their way into collectors' hands over the years, and a cult following grew around his lone surviving footage—a grainy, two-minute clip from a local TV show where he shakes his pompadour and howls into the microphone like a man possessed.
His music lives on as a dusty treasure for rockabilly purists who whisper his name: The Howlin' Cat.
Lee Garnett acetates & oddballs
A Notron Records Special Release
A big thank you to Mark Lee Allen
