Hank C. Burnette - "Boogie Woogie Country Girl"A pretty medium paced effort as far as yours truly is concerned (did I hear someone shout 'AT LAST', lol), but nevertheless one that I've grown accustomed to likeing at long last. Written and originally recorded by R&B shouter 'Big' Joe Turner way, way back under the somewhat unlikely name of "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" (country ain't exactly what 'Big' Joe was all about!). The best ever version though has to be credited to NA Stevenson's fantastic rockabilly slanted outing, a pure epitome of what great rock'n roll/rockabilly is all about! Give it a try if you can find it! My own version is a pretty 'laidback' one that's never been released on record before. So why do I upload it then if I don't seem to like it...well, I'm tryin' to find all the tracks I can that the hard disk crash didn't totally damage and this is simply one of 'em. Taken at a somewhat nice, steady beat, with a pretty neat vocal on top and that Gretsch semi doing it's best to liven it up a bit. I hope I'll be able to do myself more justice than this as I go along and I think I have a few ravers lurking around the corner that'll put things straight again! Meanwhile, take a stroll on the dancing floor and (hopefully) enjoy what you hear, thanks! And for High Quality definition click on the HQ button on the lower side of the YT screen, that ought to give you at least a better video quality so you (gents) can spot those guitar slinging cuties better, lol!!
Duration:2.23 min.
User rating: 4.876033

Hank C. Burnette - "The Wild Side Of Life"Another one of those '50s type rocked up country classics that's been spinnin' around in my head for quite some time. It's got quite a nice melody line attached to it, which I like and which somehow just begs you to rock it up, which obviously more artists than I have discovered throughout the years. The most obvious band here in Europe that's been tracking it down is, of course, Status Quo. But the best version in my book was done by the Pirates Of Mississippi way back in the beginning of CMT and all that. What got me stucked was that they had a terrific singer, which lifted each song they recorded immensely. Without him they would've been just another country band tryin' to make it, I'm sure! Anyway, as some of you may remember, this was a huge hit in the '50s for both Kitty Wells and Hank Thompson and also goes by the name of "(I Didn't Know God Made) Honky Tonk Angels". My own version is yet another instru that I throw in for good measure during that 1997 session I've mentioned so many times (Goddammit, seems like every track I've ever recorded was cut in '97...hm...will concentrate more on some real old ones for my next uploads, if nothing else just to show you how I sounded in the '60s and early '70s!). Found some nice EP clips to go along with this one (I'm no expert at makin' vids, so I take whatever stuff I can find and throw it in. And these clips suited the track remarkably well, I think, especially the live part after the guitar solo). So, put on your dancin ...
Duration:3.48 min.
User rating: 4.8152175

Hank C. Burnette - "Hot Wheels Boogie"My humble tribute to the era of REAL cars, burning rubber and roaring V8's!! Backing was cut way back in the late '70s and lead guitar was added more than 10 years later on a borrowed custom made Ibanez Artist guitar. Love Muscle Cars (can't you tell?!). Blast off-- PS PLEASE remember to click on the HQ button on the lower right side of the YT screen to get a HIGH QUALITY STEREO sound, which is absolutely necessary to do this track justice, thanks!! DS Original Composition by Sven-Åke Högberg (alias Hank C. Burnette). Copyright 1988 - All Rights Reserved.
Duration:3.75 min.
User rating: 4.710145

Hank C. Burnette - "Hank's Guitar Boogie Special"I recorded this one in my parents living room as far back as sometime between Xmas and New Year's Eve 1966, just two guitar dubs and no drums. Those were added several years later (no, I'm not kiddin'!!). I didn't realise it at the time that the whole track does somehow bear a striking resemblance to the stuff Les Paul was doin' way back in the early '50s (aka speeded up lead guitar and all that), at least that's what people have told me. And that's probably also the reason why some media folks from time to time has bestowed me with the rather awkward nickname "the Les Paul of rockabilly"!! A real quickie this one..took me only app. a quarter to record (to my parents relief, lol!), just rhythm and lead guitar and totally improvised all the way in one take only (I've never ever been a fan of doing retakes! If things doesn't happen the first time around, I'd rather throw the whole damn thing away instead of wasting time on something that obviously wasn't meant to be in the first place, period!). The flanging bit in the beginning and end was added at the same time as the drums and the guitar throughout is that treble happy Hagström 'plank' again. Start tapping... Original Composition by Sven-Åke Högberg (alias Hank C. Burnette). Copyright 1984 - All Rights Reserved.
Duration:2.22 min.
User rating: 4.9076924

Hank C. Burnette - "Red Cadillac & A Black Moustache"Another request I've had for quite some time is "Red Cadillac & A Black Moustache". Originally done by Bob Luman on the Imperial label, with the immortal James Burton on guitar..a guy that (together with Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup) was hugely vital in getting my own butt off the ground as far as rock'n roll guitar was concerned, especially after he left Bob Luman's band and was handpicked to join Bob's Imperial neighbour Rick Nelson to form one of the greatest guitar driven rock'n roll band's ever, period!! Like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page in the UK I used to drool over those fantastic solos he made on stuff like "My Babe", "It's Late", "Believe What You Say", "Shirley Lee", etc. (the list goes on and on) and couldn't for my life figure out how the hell he was getting such a great sound, until I years later discovered that he strung his guitars (usually Fenders) by skipping the heavy E-string and went A - D - G - B - thin E - and a super thin BANJO string of unknown gauge as a replacement for the 'normal' thin E-string. How the heck he managed to keep those guitars in tune is still a mystery to me! Anyway, back to my own dabble in the wonderful world of music...as some of you may remember, "Red Cadillac.." was part of my 2nd Sonet release called "Rockabilly Gasseroonie", but the version here is a revitalised one that I did in the '80s, leaving only the vocal from the original one and erasing the backing and adding a totally new 'back-up' with more guitars to get a fuller ...
Duration:2.43 min.
User rating: 5.0

Hank C. Burnette - "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky"As I've told you before, I'm a big fan of western type theme instrus, ever since I first heard the guitar drenched "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" by The Ramrods, or possibly even earlier. So, since I've been mentioning that particular tune a few times now (when I uploaded "Desperado" and "Tequila Sunset", for instance), why don't I just upload one of the two different versions I did of it myself during that 'infamous' August, 1997 session that I've been mentioning to you quite a few times by now, when I cut no less than 62 instrus in a row, using a 6-track cassette recorder, a couple of guitars, a pre-amp and a Alesis SR-16 drum machine triggered by a bunch of live played drum pads. Oakie dookie, here goes.... PS (Oh no, not again! Somebody's gonna strangle me soon (lol!), but the same procedure still counts, aka...click the blue URL link for better picture and STEREO sound, thanks!!) DS
Duration:3.70 min.
User rating: 4.7727275

Hank C. Burnette - "Mystery Train"Nobody and I mean NOBODY has done this Junior Parker classic more justice than a certain Mama Presley's Boy from Tupelo, Miss. So why even bother to give it a try then, you might add? Well, I've always been a fan of Scotty Moore's early guitar playing (really derived from a mix of blues and Travis pickin', to be honest!) and have even dabbled in it myself in my own special way from time to time. And as I've always been totally against any of the 'copy cat' tries and retries flourishing all over the place, especially these days (let's face it, rock'n roll and rockabilly music nowadays has really nothin' to do with the real thing of the '50s, if you look upon it from a major scale of view, but is merely more or less based upon how well you're able to COPY the sounds and arrangements of days gone by, which eventually will more often than not get you nowhere fast!), instead of going for your own vibes and pointing at some originality in your music, whether it be cover stuff or your very own original material! I mean, what's the point in tryin' to cover the sounds of yesterday note for note when it's already been done so brilliantly in it's original form?? It sounds more like a trend to me than anything else - "Hey, why don't we go back in time and do some rock'n roll"? Yeah, sure, why don't we 90% out of a 100 make total fools of ourselves, to put it bluntly! One example that immediately springs to mind is if someone get the outragious idea of doin' a cover of "Jailhouse Rock ...
Duration:3.40 min.
User rating: 4.927273

Hank C. Burnette - "My Girl Josephine"The best version ever of "My Girl Josephine" (also known as "Hello Josephine") must surely be credited to Jerry Jaye and his brilliant HI label version featuring session ace Reggie Young on guitar. Whatever happened to Jerry Jaye after this smasharoonie is a mystery, cause most of the stuff he cut afterwards was pretty blatant in comparison. Penned by Antoine "Fats" Domino, who's own original version is unbelievable lame (the best and most outragious rocker that Fats ever cut in his entire career is undoubtedly "I'm Ready", at least in my book!), but then I've never been a fan of the New Orleans side of 'rock', with it's pre-arranged brass arrangements and often 'sound-a-like' results. The only label that really hit the target in that department was undoubtedly Specialty with it's huge rooster of screamin' rockers with a certain Mr. Penniman leading the way! Watch out for the intro and outro on this one, it may surprise you (in a funny kinda way, I hope, lol!). Rock on...
Duration:2.58 min.
User rating: 4.87234

Hank C. Burnette - "Bop, Bop Baby"The rockin' continues...this time I'm strolling down the lane of the world's most important roots music label EVER, the Yellow SUN Label out of Memphis, Tenn. The home and starting place of the most amazing rooster of roots music talent on the face of the planet!!!! Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee, Charlie Rich, Carl Mann, Rufus Thomas Jr., Dr. Ross, Charlie Feathers, Warren Smith, Billy Riley, Ray Smith, Bill Justis...the list goes on and on!! Not to mention the truckload of blues greats that Sam Phillips recorded (such as Howlin' Wolf, Sleepy John Estes, BB King, Walter Horton, Honeyboy Edwards, Little Walter, Earl Hooker, etc) and licenced to independent labels like 4 Star, Modern, RPM, Chess, Gilt-Edge, Trumpet, Duke, Checker, JB, etc. Not bad for a small independent one man operation that once was described as (quote): "A hole in the wall completely surrounded by Cadillacs"!! The track I've pulled out of my tape library for this upload is yet another little toe-tapper that I recorded in (you guessed it!) the '70s, the College Kids' (Wade Moore & Dick Penner) SUN rockabilly jumper, "Bop, Bop Baby"! Straight ahead one take only (on all accounts) and a fun one to stick your teeths into! Hope you get as much pleasure out of it as I did recording it! Get with it...
Duration:1.98 min.
User rating: 4.854839

Hank C. Burnette - "Boppin' The Blues"Since Carl Perkins has always been a guiding light for me as far as Rockabilly is concerned and that I consider him the greatest artist ever in this genre, it's about time I upload one of his SUN offerings in my own specific 'trademark' style. Carl co-wrote "Boppin' The Blues" with his neighbor in Jackson, Tenn., Curley Griffin, perhaps better known in die hard Rockabilly circles for his "Got Rockin' On My Mind" on the Atomic label. The year was 1956 and Sam Phillips must've had certain hopes for "Boppin' The Blues" (SUN 243) as a follow-up to "Blue Suede Shoes" but sadly enough it didn't even touch the edges of "...Shoes" sales wise! So after four more releases on SUN that lacked even more commercial potential, Carl eventually left for Columbia and later on down the line found himself incorporated into Johnny Cash's road crew as a lead guitarist and back-up singer! Yours truly's version of "Boppin' The Blues" was cut around 1978 and issued in 1979 as part of my 3rd release for the Sonet label, "Hot Licks & Fancy Tricks". Hope you enjoy...
Duration:1.80 min.
User rating: 4.857143