"Little Steven" Van Zandt, the E Street Band guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee member, was recently asked who will he push for induction into the Rock Hall later this year?
"Who's on top of your list now of bands that ought to be in?
Steven gave the nod to Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio.
Since then, we have been inundated with email inquiries:
"Who/What is the rock 'n' roll trio.?"
The Rock 'n' Roll Trio were pioneers of the early rockabilly sound -- Brothers Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and Paul Burlison. Together they set a standard that few could match.They comprised a strange mixture of musical influences and headstrong personalities.They lit up the stage three times in New York winning theTed Mack Original Amateur Hour and touring with Mack's traveling stage show.They also played a prestigious concert at new York's Madison Square Garden, but never went on to stardom and lasted less than two years as a recording unit.
Yet, they had a strong influence upon the burgeoning rock 'n' roll world.
By fusing country music, the blues and rhythm & blues music into a hybrid known as rockabilly, the Rock 'n' Rroll Trio helped to give birth to a new musical style.The atmosphere in and around Memphis was conducive to small rockabilly groups and they sprung up overnight.
"Mostly rockabilly music was the feeling that came from the blues," Burlison remembered.
He considered his early playing country music with a beat. "I combined some jazz and blues influences and never thought much about it," Burlison concluded.
After leaving high school, Johnny Burnette tried his hand at becoming a professional boxer, but after one fight with a sixty dollar purse and a broken nose or an encounter with Norris Ray, a top paycheck of $150 and a broken nose, he decided to quit the ring. He went to work on the barges traversing the Mississippi River, where brother Dorsey Burnette also worked. Johnny worked mainly as a deck hand while Dorsey worked as an oiler. Both of the brothers worked separately, but they would take their guitars on board and write songs during their spare time. After work they would go back to Memphis, where they would perform those and other songs at local bars, with a varying array of sidemen, including another former Golden Gloves champion named Paul Burlison, whom Dorsey had met at an amateur boxing tournament in Memphis in 1949. And at one time or another, Dorsey, Johnny and Elvis Presley all worked for the Crown Electric Company in Memphis. Burlison and the Burnette brothers worked in various aspects of the music business around Memphis and formed their group in 1953.
Paul Burlison had done some work with Howlin' Wolf, and it was Burlison's buzz-saw-like guitar work that gave the group it's distinct sound.They attempted to record at Sam Phillips' local Sun Records recording studio, but were turned down!
So for economic reasons, in 1956, the three young men moved to New York, where they managed to get an audition with the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. They won three weeks in a row, which gained them a place in the finals, a recording contract with Coral Records and they officially became The Rock and Roll Trio. They also gained a manager, band leader Henry Jerome, and a drummer, Tony Austin (who was a cousin of Carl Perkins).
They recorded the jump blues tune Train Kept A-Rollin' and Tear It Up, neither of which became big-selling records but both of which are regarded today as important recordings in the evolution of rockabilly music. Dorsey left the group later in 1956 and was replaced by an old colleague from Memphis, Johnny Black, whose brother Bill would reach the charts several times in the years to come with his instrumental group, Bill Black's Combo.
Johnny Burnette recorded solo on the Liberty label under the direction of producer Snuff Garrett.His single, Dreamin' released in 1960, made him famous to millions; It reached # 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next Liberty single You’re Sixteen was also released in 1960, did even better reaching # 8 on the Hot 100 and earned him a gold record and a featured spot among the all-star line-up of our ten-day Clay Cole's Christmas show at the Brooklyn Paramount. Johnny went quickly back into the studio and under Snuff Garrett’s direction recorded Little Boy Sad.
Johnny Burnette died in a boating accident in August 1964, while Dorsey continued to write songs and remained successful in the country field. He also continued performing and reached the U S country chart with 15 minor hits during the 1970s, before he too died of a heart attack in August 1979. Paul Burlison died in 2003. Johnny Burnette is the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.
Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and visionary lead guitarist Paul Burlison are the great lost rockabilly group of all time !
Their 1956 -1957 recordings contains the rawest, purest rockabilly ever made. Just ask Little Stevie Van Zandt
