Link Wray "Rumble Mambo"/Red Saunders "Hambone" - OKeh, 1963

It was just too difficult to pick one side of this 45! So we'll have a listen to both.

Theodore Dudley "Red" Saunders was a Jazz drummer and bandleader born in Memphis, Tennesee. Over the course of his long career he worked with such notables as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Woody Herman, and recorded with Big Joe Turner. There is an amazing write-up on Red and his discography here that I won't even try to touch: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/saunders.html

Promo for the original Hambone release

"Hambone" was originally released in 1952, and went #20 on the R&B charts for one week. The Hambone Kids' contribution of rhythmic practice is "hamboning" or "patting juba": slapping various body parts as a substitute for drumming and utilizing a traditional West African beat.
"More correctly, it's the 'patted juba' rhythm, which got it's first airing in this country as the popular "shave and a haircut, two bits" beat when it was popularized by black shoeshine boys. Kids would slap the rhythm, using their legs, stomachs and chests as drums. Because the hambone off the hog was a popular item in poor Southern households for flavoring and thickening a pot of greens, the name somehow got attached to the juba rhythm by the time it reached Southside Chicago's schoolyards."
- "What Was The First Rock N' Roll Record?", Jim Dawson and Steve Propes
By the way, What Was the First Rock 'N' Roll Record? is a great book and I highly recommend it for those you you looking to learn more about early Rock. Spoiler alert: there is no first Rock N' Roll record! Now back to Hambone..
After "Hambone" popularized the juba rhythm, it was famously used by Bo Diddley in 1955 for his "Bo Diddley" on Checker - openning the floodgates for juba-based Rock songs. To name a few: Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", Johnny Otis's "Willie and The Hand Jive", the Strageloves' "I Want Candy", and The Stooges "1969". And the kids still love that crazy beat!

The Hambone Kids with Red on the drums

This version of "Hambone" is actually a sparse, alternate take of the original version, in which the Hambone Kids and Dolores Hawkins are accompanied throughout by guitar, bass, and drums only; the rest of the band contributes nothing, except shouts of "Hambone!" at the beginning and end of the piece.

The other side of this record is a rather odd pairing - a version of Link Wray's "Rumble" titled "Rumble Mambo".  Since we already talked about Link a bit here, I'll skip the biographical info. Link Wray released a few versions of "Rumble" over his career in an attempt to capitalize on it's popularity.  This particular version has a great flavor that sets it apart from the others.

Flier for one of Link Wray's last gigs

Okeh (pronounced 'okay') was started by by Otto K. E. Heinemann in 1918, making it one of the oldest labels we've ever talked about. Okeh jumped in the "race" music market early, and released loads of Jazz from the classic era. Here's another interesting bit from Wikipedia: "Okeh Records pioneered the practice of "location recording" in 1922. Starting in 1924, Okeh also sent mobile recording trucks to tour other parts of the country to record performers not heard in New York or Chicago. Regular return trips were made once or twice a year to New Orleans, Louisiana, Atlanta, Georgia, San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, and Detroit, Michigan, recording a wealth of jazz and early country music artists." Columbia bought a controlling interest in Okeh in the mid-20s, but after the early 30s production began to slow. Okeh went through several small starts and stops before finally being deactivated by Columbia in the 70s.
And now, the clips!
Hambone (Alternate Take)

Rumble Mambo

Link Wray And His Raymen - Rawhide - Epic, 1959

I've been neglecting Rock in favor of R&B lately, so what better way to get back to Rock than with Link Wray. To say Link Wray is a legend is an understatement. The guy practically invented the distorted electric guitar sound and the power chord, thereby making punk and heavy rock possible. (note: OK, that's a bit of hyperbole - but he did popularize distortion and was one of the first to make power chords a central part of a song's composition.) He was scaring the shit out of parents in the 50's with nothing more than his menacing sounding guitar! Link Wray's first big hit, "Rumble", was actually banned from many radio stations for "glorifying teenage delinquency". Pete Townshend stated in unpublished liner notes for the 1970 comeback album, "(Link Wray) is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I would have never picked up a guitar." In other liner notes in 1974, Townshend said, of "Rumble": "I remember being made very uneasy the first time I heard it, and yet excited by the savage guitar sounds."

Jeff Beck, Duff McKagan, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan, Neil Young and Bob Dylan have all cited Wray as an influence.
How is Link Wray not a member of the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame yet? Is there no justice in this world?!?!
Today's song, "Rawhide", was the follow-up to "Rumble". It's a straight-forward blaster that wastes no time getting to frantic pace and staying there. Put this song in the jukebox and I guareentee the joint will explode.


"Rawhide" can be had be downloaded from Amazon for .99, but I'd also recommend checking out the rest of the album "Whistle Bait", a wonderful introduction to 50's Rockabilly.
The Epic record label was founded in 1953 and is still thriving today, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and operating under the umbrella of the Columbia/Epic Label Group. Here's the Wikipedia blurb:
Epic Records was launched in 1953 by CBS for the purpose of marketing jazz and classical music that did not fit the theme of the more mainstream Columbia Records. Its bright-yellow, black and blue logo became a familiar trademark for many jazz and classical releases.  By 1960, the label's musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records (which, at the time, had a reputation for releasing material by more established acts) from being overstuffed with newer artists. Subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July and Jeff Beck.
Perhaps the YouTube video makes this redundant, but here's a better quality audio clip recorded from my 45: