when i was a teenager in the 50′s link came came to my high school in rockville, md, to do a sock hop. i had never heard anyone play guitar like link. it was a great time to be a teenager with all the good music was being played on the radio. then i hear this guy up there on stage playing stuff that just sent “chills” up my spine. rumble hadn’t been released yet but link told us it would be out soon on “cadence” records. milt grant was the “emcee” and link’s manager. it was a great night. they had a guy singing named ” buddy presley” who milt grant said was “elvis’s cousin. he was good looking and maybe he did look a little like “elvis”. i found out later after i got to know link that he was a local singer named buddy hopkins. buddy worked with link for a few more shows and then disappeared forever. buddy if your reading this where in the hell are you ?? link was playing various place’s in wash.d.c. and i began to go down to see him. at that time wash.d.c. was country all kinds of country artist played there. jimmy dean, patsy cline, and jimmy case played at the “famous”. jimmy case now own’s his own talent agency and record company just out side nashville. link played at the “rendezvous” i went to see him with my buddies you could get in at 15 i know i did it. you couldn’t get served beer or whiskey but you could get served “coke’. i made friends with link, ( vernon wray) links brother, his stage name was “ray vernon”. doug wray and shorty horton. bobby howard was always around he played guitar and sang. i used to pal around with bobby he was a fun person. barry sidell was another person who was always around and fun to be with. and who could ever forget the one and only barry richards dj at wdon where i later worked as a dj. the last time i heard barry he was working in new orleans as a dj. that was 25 years ago. with barry’s gift to gab he’s probably the president of some small country these days. roy clark played at “vinnies” and i’d go down and see him. there was a small sign in the window of “vinnies” written in hand “roy clark” appearing nightly. that was 1958. wanda jackson came into d.c. and needed a guitar player and roy got recommended,and you know the rest of that story. there was a saturday nite tv show called “the town and country jamboree” that was produced by connie b gay it aired on wmal channel 7. jackson weaver was emcee he was the other half of the morning comedy team on wmal radio show hardin and weaver, frank hardin was his team mate. everyone worked the town and country jamboree jimmy dean ,jimmy case, patsy cline, geroge hamilton the 4th, vernon taylor, clint miller, roy clark, dale turner, the palmetto ranch boys, which was ” link wray” and the wraymen, sometimes spelled “raymen”. the string dusters, bobby stephenson, buck ryan, ralph case, bill harrell and many, many others. when link played the “ozark club” he cut “rumble” in nashville and it sold over a million copies. he went on tour and i traveled with the band for some shows in the philadelphia,new jersey, and new york. it was wild. on one tour bobby darin, baby washington, jan and arnie, who later became jan and dean, jesse lee turner, the bell notes, fabian, frankie avalon, and jimmy clanton were all on the same tour, riding on a greyhound bus. it was nuts ,those were the days. link’s band backed up everyone and no one thought anything about it, and link got no extra money for doing it. link never received the proper amount of royalties due him from “rumble” link wray would be a millionaire today if he had been paid properly for “rumble” and “rawhide”. link worked the “ozarks” the”lions den” while charlie daniels and the jaguars played bennies rebel room along with big al downing. three years ago i saw charlie daniels at a state fair and asked him did he remember those early days in wash.d.c playing at the rebel room he said he didn’t remember playing there giving me a short answer. i guess some people don’t care to remember how they got started they just care about their present fame. while working a tour in madison, wi, with duane eddy link had recorded a instrumental called “lillian” link played it on stage and afterward duane eddy came back stage and asked link to show him the chords to “lillian”. link replied your a big name guitarist buy the recording and learn it for yourself. link is a gracious loving person and has many, many friends “eddy” was famous and working for dick clark and making five times much money as link. he could have said i’d like to record the song and you and i can both make a buck or two and believe me link could have used the money. the recording had some serious chord progressions in it and duane eddy would have needed to know those chords to properly record it. duane i still got my copy do you want to borrow it ? i have known link wray since 1957 we go back to his early days in wash.d.c. i spent a lot of time with link. there were the recordings at edgewood studios on vermont ave in d.c. where “rawhide” was recorded. the record factory which was owned by vernon ray up stairs from edgewood and later moved to accokeek and renamed wrays three track shack. when i got out of the navy in 1965 i went to the national academy of broadcasting in wash.d.c. and got a job as a dj at wdon which was then a country station. i got webb’s furniture to sponsor a show featuring link and ray. i went to work for ray’s record co as a talent for several years. johnny paycheck did some recording for ray along with the late great roy buchanan. the studio from the outside was nothing to look at but the inside where it counted produced some mind bending sounds. everyone has passed on except link. vernon wray took his own life in arizona several years ago. doug wray and shorty horton have both died and link is 75. i think “rumble” was the greatest instrumental ever recorded, it sounds as good today as it did in 1958. many have tried to reproduce the “chilling” sound that was a genuine masterpiece so many years ago, it cannot be done. link wray recorded the real article, and “rumble” has and will continue to be a “rock classic”.i can say with certainly i was there when it all happened ” i guess i outta know” link wray is a one of a kind special person who had the knowledge and skill to produce sounds on the guitar that no one else would ever be able to to do. i recommend all links early recordings on epic. it will bring you hours of enjoyment even though it’t only 12 songs 6 per side you’ll play them over and over and you’ll ask yourself why didn’t i do this thirty years ago. today link lives in denmark and travels to the usa to do shows very infrequently. i wish you could have been there back in the 50′s when all this was brand new. i can still heard the sounds of “rumble” rawhide” and “jack the ripper” as they remind me of a time in america when things were simple, fun, exciting and no had the answers to all the nutty questions beings asked today which don’t deserve an answer any way. it’s true, i’d trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday to go back and live 24 hours in those thrilling days when rock was young and link would say hey bobby i’m glad to see you sit down and listen to my new song. hail, hail, rock and roll and rock a billy.

~ Widmarc Clark