rick nelson’s first attemp at rock n roll was weak at best. he recorded fats domino’s hit “i’m walkin”. the be-boppin-teens of the rockin 50′s got a watered down version of domino’s smash hit. the recording was released on verve records run by barney kessel in los angles. ozzie nelson rick’s dad set up the one record deal with kessel. by the time “i’m walkin”, became a hit, ozzie had already made a recording deal with lou chudd of imperial records also in los angeles. kessel made the most of his one record deal with “ozzie” by hiring merle travis and earl palmer to play on “i’m walkin” and “teenagers romance”. earl palmer had played on the orginial “i’m walkin” for fats domino. palmer had just moved from new orleans to la. the recording of both songs took place in los angeles at bunny robyns “masters sound studio”. the same studio that rock star “gene summers” recorded “school of rock n roll” and “straight skirt” which became a nationwide smash hit for gene. robyn was a motion picture sound mixer and had recorded big bands for the army air force in ww2. his studio was used by almost every producer of rhythm & blues in la. johnny otis, lieber and stoller included. the “masters sound” as the studio was referred to was “the sound” everyone in rock ‘n’ roll wanted. ozzie nelson kept up with things like that and planned to give rick every edge he could find. ozzie nelson believed in perfection if a project was worth doing it was worth doing right. no matter what ozzie nelson set out to do he planned to be the best at what he was doing. as a former band leader ozzie had heard a lot of singers he knew rick had a weak voice and his first try at rock n roll would be no match to “elvis” or “pat boone” but he had the right studio and that was a step in the right direction. and later when rick moved to imperial ozzie would make sure rick had a good producer. ozzie hired jimmy haskell the best rick would ever work with “jimmy haskell would produce many “hits” for rick nelson. in a very short time rick nelson would rock at the top of the charts with the biggest names in rock n roll.when rick signed with imperial the law suits begin to fly. ozzie sued verve for $34.000.00 in back royalties, verve sued ozzie $2.2 million claiming rick never signed with verve, and for a time both parties battled it out in court. the law suits went for several years until the courts ordered verve to pay around $40.000.00 to rick in back royalties. when all was said and done “i’m walkin”, sold five hundred thousand copies. rick nelson was on his way to becoming a teen idol. rick was just around the corner from having the best rockabilly band in the usa. a very young guitarist named james burton was laying down some famous tracks for a young blues artist that would later become an american icon in rock music named dale hawkins. burton working with his buddy dale hawkins in shreveport and bossier city doing gigs at nite spots when they were fifteen. they were so young in fact they they rode bicycles to where they were preforming. dale and james made rock n roll history when they recorded suzie-q at at radio station kwkh in shreveport. james burton played the most famous opening riff of any song ever recorded in rock ‘n’ roll when he started out playing dat dat da dah dat a dah dah do on his vintage 50′s fender telecaster. they made real history that day in 1956 when they mixed some foot stomping belly crawling, whiskey and gin blues with country music. that’s the kind of stuff that becomes legendary. and it still stands to this day as the best blues country swamp boogie recording ever made. suzie-q went on to become a monster hit for dale hawkins. james left dale to work for bob luman. luman was a regular on the louisiana hayride. luman without a doubt had the best band on the hayride. james burton on lead guitar, james kirkland on stand up bass, and bruce white on drums. luman got a contract with imperial records and left the hayride for the west coast. rick nelson heard bob luman and the band jammin one day and offers the band more money to come to work for him. of course ozzie had final approval, however, when he heard rick sing with them he knew rick had stumbled into one hell of a good rock band. not just a good band rick nelson had the best rockabilly band in america. johnny and dorsey burnette had written a song called “believe what you say” when they went into the studio to record the songs james burton played blistering solo’s on both sides. burton played guitar riffs at the break that get right to the core of what rockabilly is all about. burton bends pushes and pulls the strings till they scream with the best rock a billy rcording rick nelson ever made. the “b” side was “my buckets got a hole in it”, probably the best rockabilly vocal of all rick’s recordings. with that recording rick nelson now rocked with the best of the southern rockabillys. and, was about to become the best rockabilly star in america. rick made other great rock a billy records” hello mary lou”. “travelin’ man” “poor little fool” “milk cow blues” from 1957 till 1962 he placed twenty six singles on the charts. “poor little fool” and “travelin’ man” went to no. 1. he signed with decca in 1963 for a million dollars and moved away from rock a billy music. by the middle 60′s rock a billy was gone from the turn tables and america had a new brand of music.the times were changing. rick tried country music but his heart wasen’t in it. in the 80′s out of frustration and desperation rick came back to his roots. doing rockabilly shows at state and country fairs. nelson was on some what of a come back and seemed to be happy singing the rockabilly songs that made him famous. on new years eve 1985 rick nelson was killed in an airplane crash in dekalb, texas. we’ll always remember ricky nelson the little tow headed kid who grew up and made some great rockabilly records.

~ Widmarc Clark