Neita And The Drifters

 

Introducing Neita and The Drifters

Joe Sixpack, San Francisco Bay Area DJ, has nicely, as usual,  reviewed this album here :

An archetypal custom-label indie album by an informal country'n'oldies band out of Lawrence, Kansas, featuring a middle-aged gal named Neita Bahnmaier on piano, organ and vocals, along with several local lads, several of whom also sing lead on a track or two: Harvey Boyd on drums, David Cloud (lead guitar), Lynn McKenzie (bass), Leo McMullen (harmonica), Mickey Penny (lead guitar) and Bill Smith (rhythm guitar).

 Born [Neita M. Atchinson] in 1929, Mrs. Bahnmaier and her husband Joe lived on the outskirts of town, in rural Lecompton, although it isn't hard to imagine that the younger bandmembers were in some local rock bands, and possibly were enrolled at Kansas University... (I'm speculating: for the life of me, I couldn't find biographical info about most of these folks, other than Mr. McKenzie, who lived in Oskaloosa and passed away in 2003...) Anyway, this is an amateurish album that's easy to be charmed by, with some easy-to-play oldies such as "All Shook Up," "Johnny B. Goode," "Kansas City" (of course!) and also a decent amount of country stuff, tunes like "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Paper Roses" and "Snow Bird" (with Mrs. Bahnmaier singing lead.) My personal favorite is their unlikely cover of Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour," which could be dismissed as too whitebread and too rock'n'roll, but which I hear as an unexpectedly groovy, guitar-heavy power-pop confection... And in case anyone's keeping track, they also cover "Proud Mary," in this version, a duet between Neita and picker Mickey Penny. I'm not sure if these folks did much in the way of live public performances -- I did find some show listings a decade later, circa 1986-86 -- but this is a pretty cute little album.

Johnny B. Good

 

The Wrench Dance

Bue-Cotts

The Wrench Dance

wr. Tommy Fulzenloger
Airspace Publishing Co. BMI

1965

DeadWax go further to inform you and answers the questions you have the right to ask yourself :

Who are they?

The “Bue Cotts” are Kerry Chastain, lead guitar; Ronnie Brown, rhythm guitar and vocalist; Tom Fulzenloger, organ; Mike Shelley, bass guitar; and Neal McGaugh, drums. 

Bue-Cotts, what does it mean?

The unusual name of the band was the idea of Kerry, although none of the boys seem to know exactly what it means. 

What is The Wrench?

“The Wrench,” Tom said, is a new dance which combines the Mashed Potato, Twist and Jerk. As the song says, “Baby do the Wrench” by moving your arms like the Jerk, hips like the Twist and feet like the Mashed Potato. It can be done, “if you’re coordinated,” according to Tom’s sister.

 

Source : Bue Cotts Singers Wax First Disc, Wichita Beacon, April 30, 1965, by Fran Kentling

He's The Law

Conny & The Bellhops
He's The Law

Artisan World Recordings AW 0001

Led by Conny (Edgar M. Conrad III), lead vocalist and saxophone player, this Pittsburg, Kansas group was the first real rock 'n' roll band in the region.  Formed in 1958, original members, in addition to Conrad, were Russell Pryer, rhythm guitar, Carl Sipes on keyboard, Tommy Schockley, lead guitar, and Clarence Sharp, drums. 

Three of their recordings are listed  at the Rockin' Country Style website. (on Damon Records and R Records)

 

This Artisan World release is unlisted.  Probably recorded in Memphis (their first 45s were recorded at the Sun Studios by Stan Kesler) as Beckie Publishing Co is the song publisher here.

The 'Beckie' publishing house, named after Sam Phillips' first wife Rebecca 'Beckie' Phillips was owned by Gene Lucchesi, a Memphis businessman and also perhaps partly by Stan Kesler.  Gene Lucchesi recruited Stan Kesler in 1962 and formed Pen Records.  It's on the first Pen release by The Skylighters that the Beckie (Becky) publisher was first in print (I think), hence, a probable 1962 date for this Artisan World release? Or later?

Jim Dale and the Comancheroes

TP

VW

Surf instrumental b/w Hot Rod vocal. Unknown Teen label unrelated to any others labels of the same name. Band is likely from Kansas.

Columbia custom pressed in Nashville (ZTSB).

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