Turn your radio on in 2004 to a rock station you won’t hear rock n roll you’ll hear a lot of noise . rock n roll it not what it was, hasen’t been since 1960. frankie avalon fabian, bobby rydell, bobby vee along with, bobby vinton, brian hyland, james darren, paul anka, dion, joey dee and the starliters the chiffons,the shirelles, neil sedaka, carol king and a lot of help from dick clark turned rock a billy into a saturday night joke. we lost folks, gone are the get down and get dirty rock a beatin boogie stuff. no more joe bennett and the sparkletones, dale hawkins, gene vincent sanford clark and link wray. link wray could play more rock music in one rock instrumental than duane eddy could play all month. pat boone as good as he was with his early cover recordings “an’t that a shame” “love letters in the sand” decided to become a crooner. it was such fun while it lasted, elvis, johnny, carl, jerry lee, and gene summers. the great little record compamies sun, checker, ace, dot, abc paramount, jan, back beat, imperial, speciality, cadence, duke, ebb, gone, coral,del-fi, challenge, rita, hi, doo-tone,liberty, roulette and the list goes on gave us many artist we might never have heard of. we had buddy, the bopper, ritchie, eddie cochran, billy lee, ray smith, warren smith, johnny burnette, bobby darin, fats, little richard, bill haley, the platters and the del-vikings and for a short time tommy sands. the dj’s would play your records if you could get it to them. you could hear it all r&b, pop, rock a billy and country all on one station ah those were the days. marty robbins made rock a billy, webb pierce made a stab at it, sonny james “young love” was mixed in with rock a billy. guy mitchell had out “singing the blues” jim lowe and the green door, and a ton of groups with the platters at the top of the list. elvis was always at the top of the play list his records were played more than anyone however other artist did get their records played unlike today. today you can buy a package of old hits however it’s selective many of your favorites internet but again so many good songs get left out. for example buddy holly had many hits “rave on”, “think it over”, “it’s so easy”, “maybe baby”, all that is ever offered is “that’ll be the day” and “peggy sue”. from 1954 till 1960 were the days of great rock a billy and love songs .those soft lovely romantic love songs when played at a dance hop made you want to find your favorite girl get her out on the dance hold her tight melt all over her and run down her leg. now that was what the 50′s was all about, love, romance,and rock n roll where in the “hell” did those great days ever go?? when i look around my studio at all the great recordings i have acquired down through the years i ask myself was i lucky to be a teenager in the 50′s when those song were being played on the radio ?? yes i was very fortunate indeed to have grown up in the 50′s. those ole 45′s, 33 and 1/3 vinyls are collectors items today. try and find some sun recording’s especially one by “elvis” i have a 78 by “elvis” i forget to remember to forget” and “mystery train”. i wouldn’t part with it for any amount of money. no one would pay me the amount it would take to part with it anyway. the recording industry has changed,the way records are produced has changed, the songs have changed,the artist are different and the few record record companies that are left are very different from the 50′s. the magic that was the 50′s is gone lost in the record grooves forever. gone too are most of the artist who recorded those great songs. but the “thrill” when you hear the oldies is just alive as the day they were recorded. they had style, class, a good beat, meaning, and they touch everyone who hears them in a (special way). if they were played again today in the same way they were played back then with the dj adding his special touch to it we could start a whole new world. “ok” i’m dreamin’ and that’s a good thing. but i wish i could go back to just one tomorrow in the 50′s to relieve one day, i’d trade all my tomorrows for the fun we had back then. someone once said todays music an’t bad, “but” it ain’t nothin’ like we had in those good good ole days of rock a billy rock n roll. now let me see,where did bob timmers say that rock a billy revival show was? remember, you’ll never grow ole if you love rock a billy, rock n roll.

~ Widmarc Clark