Category Archives: Dallas

Categories: Dallas, Fort Worth, Rona, Texas

The Velours “She’s My Girl” and “Woman For Me” on Rona

November 22, 2021 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Velours cut this one single, “She’s My Girl” / “Woman For Me” on Rona R-010. Both sides sound like they were recorded with a studio audience. “She’s My Girl” is uptempo r&b that only lacks a guitar break. I’d like to know who was the vocal group doing the background vocals, which really help the sound. I’ve seen December 1964 as the release date. The group was based in either Dallas or Fort Worth, Texas.

St. Romain wrote the songs, with Rona Pub. Co. handling the publishing. I believe this is Mike St. Romain, who was related to Kirby St. Romain, possibly his brother?

I can tie Michael St. Romain to the Velours from Jerry Zenick’s Disc ‘n’ Data column on November 23, 1972 in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which profiled the band Saint Romain:

Romain’s Club Style Is Conducive to Success
Formerly known as Quest, the group [Saint Romain] recently completed a stint at Dallas’ Club Climax, where the name switch was announced.
The new handle is very apropos because the driving force of the quintet is Mike St. Romain. A dynamic singer, forceful guitarist and consummate impersonator, the Dallas native has been a professional for over a decade. After touring with the Dick Caravan of Stars at 14, Romain formed his own group, The Velours. Long stints in the Virgin Islands and on the West Coast greatly widened and polished his style. After the unit disbanded in 1968, Romain put together Quest.
Present band members are bassist Phil James … drummer Gary Talbert, who played with the Human Beings when they released “Nobody Can”; pianist George Christopher, and side [sic] guitarist Michael Marchman, who handles the arranging tasks.

An early version of Quest included Darrel Howard of the Chants, and John Broberg and Neal St. John of the Upper Class.

This is not the same Velours as the group who cut singles on Onyx and Cub, among other labels.

Categories: Brownfield, Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas

Jerry Williams and the Epics

January 1, 2021 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

Jerry Williams and the Epics were friends and/or rivals of the Motovators.

Terry Hungerford’s scrapbook contains an ad for Jerry Williams at the Bayou Club, another venue that has disappeared to history. It was located at 5828 Calmont Ave in Fort Worth, now covered by I-30.

When the Motovators split up on September 1, 1965, Terry Hungerford joined the Epics on bass.

Jerry played lead guitar, for the other members I only have first names: James on drums, Mike on rhythm guitar, and Don was their manager. Sam Coplin handled bookings at some point.

They played five consecutive nights from September 7-11 at a spot called Suite 225.

In 1966 the Epics cut their only single: “Whatever You Do” written by Jerry Williams and Don Gilmore, backed with “Tell Me What You See” (the Beatles song despite credit on the labels to Williams and Gilmore). Georgia Lapping and Jerry Conditt produced the record on Brownfield BF-140, and Phil York engineered the session.

Jerry Lynn Williams was born on October 30, 1948 in either Dallas or Grand Prairie, and raised in Fort Worth. Around 1970 he moved to Los Angeles and joined High Mountain. Jerry composed the majority of songs for High Mountain’s album Canyon on Columbia Records, and also the High Mountain Hoedown album on Atco.

Jerry became well-known as a songwriter. Artists including Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded his songs. He died in St. Martin on November 25, 2005.

Thank you to Wm. Lewis Wms. and Andellyn Purvis-Hungerford for sharing this material.

Categories: Garland, Texas

The Catalinas from Garland area of Dallas, TX

June 29, 2019 Chris Bishop 6 Comments

Catalinas Fiestas Sceptors Garland Daily News, April 6, 1965 — The Catalinas, including Gary Nicholson front center and Rodney Wall at right

The Garland Daily News ran two announcements for the Catalinas at the Karavan Klub at the Community Center Annex, first with the Cherries IV on February 26, 1965.

On April 6, 1965 the Daily News ran a photo of the group, noting “Catalinas to play at Karavan Teen Klub and DECA Club Dance at Community House … with the Fiestas who won the Karavan Battle of the Bands contest, and a new group composed of South Garland High School students known as the Sceptors.”

There was a Catalinas group from Duncanville playing at the same time as these Catalinas. I believe they are different groups though, because that one featured a pianist and only one guitarist.

As far as I know, these Catalinas never recorded.

If you have any photos or info on any local Texas bands of the ’60s, please comment below or contact me.

Categories: Dallas, Texas

The Galaxies from Dallas, TX

February 23, 2018 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

This is a probably unrecorded group from the Dallas area called the Galaxies.

Members were:

Steve Connor
Frank Schefflier
Monty Oakley
Garry Ford – guitar

Garry’s father, Robert Ford wrote a profile of the group for AP which ran in the Garden City Telegram on November 10, 1965.

These Galaxies are NOT the Garland, TX Galaxies that recorded “Gitchy-Gitchy-Goo” on Limelight and were active throughout most of the ’60s. That group included Bobby Lake, Kenneth Pugh, Bubba Tomlinson, and Ray Windt.

Categories: Blacknight, Dallas, Texas

Theze Few

January 25, 2016 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

Theze Few formed in Dallas and cut one single for the BlacKnight label in 1966, “Dynamite” / “I Want Your Love”. Dan Seals wrote both songs, though the labels mistakenly list his name as D. Feals, published by Tall Pine BMI.

Members of the band were:

Danny Seals – saxophone
Larry Stevens – lead guitar
John Colley – piano
Mike Woolbright – bass
Buddy Lay – drums

By the 1968 Irving Teen-A-Go-Go, the band had changed their name to the Southwest F.O.B.

The blog …from the rear view mirror… quoted the Dallas Morning News from when Dan passed away in 2009:

Dan Seals, 61, was born in West Texas but moved to Dallas as a teenager. He graduated from Samuell High School in Pleasant Grove in 1966. He and classmate John Colley, who later changed the spelling of his last name to Coley, formed a group with three other Samuell students called the Playboys Five. That became Theze Few, which morphed into the legendary Dallas high school band Southwest F.O.B.
As the friendship blossomed, Seals’ brother Jim was emerging as a musical superstar. Jim Seals was part of the multi-platinum-selling duo Seals & Crofts. But Dan Seals and Coley would soon put their own stamp on music.
They formed England Dan & John Ford Coley and became the toast of 1976 when their single, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” and album, Nights are Forever, became gold records, meaning each sold more than 500,000 copies.

Lonestar Stomp covered the Seals family, including brother Jimmy and father Wayland.

Categories: Dallas, Texas

The Sensations

July 31, 2014 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

Mike Cooper sent in this photo of the Sensations, who were one of the bands on a list of groups playing the Texas State Fair in 1967.

Mike wrote to me about the band:

Roe Cree – lead singer, rhythm guitar
Mike Nelson – lead guitar and vocals
Mike Cooper – bass and vocals
Richard Schulze – drums and vocals
All alive and kicking. Played around Dallas from 1964 to 1968, Studio Club regular. We recorded three songs written by Mike Jones but they never went past demo [“Father Brown,” “The Kind of Girl,” “Gone Tomorrow”]. All of us did vocals and that was one thing that we felt set us apart from some groups was the harmonies. Roe sang lead but the others sang back up three and sometimes four part.
We played similar venues as groups like The Novas, The Briks, Kenny and The Kasuals. We never called them rivals because we were all friends. Mike Nelson plays gigs with Kenny yet today.
From the Sensations Mike Nelson went on to play with Gladstone who had a top 20 song “A Piece of Paper” in 1973. Later he became founder and owner of Boomerang Musical Products.
Roe Cree went on with Rose Colored Glass. They had a top ten hit “Can’t Find The Time,” 1971. They played American Bandstand. Roe said Dick Clark was one of the nicest guy he had ever met.
Mike Cooper and Richard Schulze did not continue to pursue music.

Roe Cree’s brother Joe was in the U.S. Britons with Mike Jones, Larry McNeny, Herman Drees and Larry Meletio.

Categories: Dallas, Irving, Karry Way, Oak Cliff, Texas

The Tortians and the De’Vells

April 7, 2012 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

The De’Vells from Irving, Texas, from left: Joel Reiner, Rick Surratt, Dicky McDonald, John Tincher, Carl Lowe and Little David.

To the long list of great 45s out of Dallas, add The Tortians’ “Red Cadillac”. The band lays down a chunky groove that never sounds rushed, as John Tincher shouts out the lyrics and plays some fantastic harmonica.

The band was actually from Oak Cliff, but this rare single was released on Karry Way Records, with an address of 4339 Jaffee, Dallas, 75216. The RCA custom pressing code, T4KM-9629/30 indicates it was mastered in the first half of 1966. Woodrow Pearson Baker wrote both “Red Cadillac” and the flip “Vibrations” (which I haven’t heard yet), published by Rightway Pub., BMI.

Guitarist Richard McDonald sent me a photo of his next group, the De’Vells, based in Irving but with some of the same members as the Tortians. Richard has a full bio on the bands at his site SpiritSteelGuitar.com, but I asked him some specifics about the Tortians and he kindly answered my questions.

My name is Richard (Dicky) McDonald. I was born and raised in a little suburb in Dallas, Texas called Oak Cliff. A lot of fine musicians and bands came from that area of Dallas like the Mystics, Kempy and the Guardians, the Jokers, Ray Wylie Hubbard, B.W. Stevenson, Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Micheal Martin Murphey and others.
The band formed in Adamson High School in Oak Cliff around 1965, our freshman year. I played lead guitar. The Tortians were James King (rhythm guitar), Johnny Congleton (drums), Carl Lowe (bass), Dick McDonald (lead guitar), Gary McDonald (backup vocals) and John Tincher (lead vocals and sax).
We all played what ever was being played on the radio and some older stuff that we grew up with: Ventures, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino. Duane Eddy. Most bands in Oak Cliff played pretty much the same stuff. That’s all we had besides country, big band, classical. Whatever band listened to the radio and figured out the songs first was the top band. It was Robert Farris of The Mystics who could figure stuff out fast.
How the record came to be. We were playing a gig at a roller rink I think the Shamrock in Lancastor, TX. Woody P. Baker was out listening to bands and asked if we would record some of his songs and we said yes. Woody set up and paid for the studio time. The Tortians were not signed by Kerry Way Records. I don’t remember the name of the studio but, it was the same studio where “Wine Wine Wine” was recorded by the Night Caps. Woody P. Baker wrote both “Red Cadillac” and “Vibrations”.
There are no pictures of the Tortians and I hope someone sees your website and has some.
I also played in a very hot band called the De’vells and I do have a picture of them. Most of the De’Vells played in the Tortians. The De’vells were Joel Reiner (drums), Rick Surratt (lead guitar), Dicky McDonald (lead guitar), John Tincher (lead vocals/sax), Carl Lowe (bass/vocals), and Little David (keyboards/vocals). This band won 2nd place in the 1967 Battle of the Bands at the State Fair of Texas, and got a trophy which We still have. I am surprised that we were not listed in the newspaper clipping on the website [see this page]. We were booked by an booking agency called Showco in Dallas.
Most of the original members still live very close to Oak Cliff. I have a pedal steel guitar shop in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Richard McDonald
Spirit Steel Guitar
Broken Arrow, OK

The DeVells to play at the Olney High School Homecoming, October 25, 1968

Categories: Dallas, Texas, US

The Kavemen

October 8, 2011 Chris Bishop 49 Comments

The Kavemen, Dallas 1965 from left to right: Roland Allen, Jimmy Allen, Rodney Vinyard, Tommy Fonseca, Bill Walden & Jerry Colwell

Roland Allen – vocals
Jimmy Allen – vocals
Rodney Vineyard – lead guitar
Tommy Fonseca – rhythm guitar
Jerry Colwell – bass
Bill Walden – drums

The Kavemen came from the southeastern section of Dallas, Texas. Jerry Colwell had discussed the Kavemen in a longer interview about his career with Kit and the Outlaws and other bands:

Later joined the #1 Dallas band The Cavemen [sic] and played battle of the bands against Jimmy Vaughan and his band, and the Royals and others. In 1965 the Cavemen was the home band for a Night club “Surfers A Go Go” in Dallas, where we played with Chuck Berry, Roy Head, the original Drifters, Jimmy Velvet and Johnny Green and the Greenmen. We played at clubs all over Texas, my favorites were the “Bamboo Hut” in Galveston, and “Panther Hall” in Fort Worth, a televised event every week. We also played at Louanns many times.

As it turns out, they recorded four songs at Sumet Sound Studios which were never released. Carlene Fonseca sent me the songs from their unreleased acetate and passed along this info from her ex-husband Tommy Fonseca:

The band got together first as an instrumental group playing at Twilight Time Skating Rink, in Dallas, TX and playing for high school dances at H. Grady Spruce High School and E. B. Comstock Junior High. Jimmy and Roland Allen were singers and they went to Spruce Hi and heard the band and offered to sing for them.
The recording was done at Summit [Sumet] in Dallas. The recordings were not released. The jumps & skips are because of a defect in the master dub. Tommy said somebody dropped it and it was chipped at the spot where the 1st song was on the 1st side and the 1st song on the flip side.
Rodney Vineyard, the lead guitar, left the group to play with Sunny Satin and the Mysterians. The Kavemen couldn’t find another lead guitar so they broke up. When the studio was ready to release it they declined since the group was no longer together.
Tommy recently spoke to Roland Allen. He lives in Gun Barrel City and he told Tommy that Jimmy had passed away the just the week before. We cannot locate Bill. He was the drummer. Rodney lives in Balch Springs, TX and he still plays for VFW Posts occasionally.

Because of the chip in the lacquer, my favorite song “Can’t You See” suffers from skips and drop-outs for the first thirty seconds. Same with the first song on the second side, “Why”. The other two, “Without You”, and “I Feel the Same” are fine. I’m hoping to get a photo or scan of the acetate labels. Despite the flaws, these are fantastic examples of mid-60s Texas rock ‘n roll!

The Kavemen – Can’t You See
The Kavemen – Without You
The Kavemen – Why
The Kavemen – I Feel the Same

Categories: Dallas, Knight (Dallas), Texas

Knight Records of Dallas, Texas

October 10, 2010 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

Knight Records discography:

1046 – Bob Haydon – “Suzanne” / “Gonna Go (Gonna Leave Ya)” (both written by Bob Haydon; July 1, 1964)
1047 – Abby Anderson – “(We Were) Sittin’ in the Balcony” (Lewis Lindsey) / “My Love”
1048 – Lewis Lindsey – “Girls Always Break My Heart” / T”he Promise” (written and arranged by L. Lindsey)
1049 – Jimmy Rabbit with Ron and Dea – “Pushover” / “Wait and See”
1050 – The Knights – “Stay” / “I Know It Now” (both by B. Kissell)
1051 – ?
1052 – Jimmy Rabbit – “Wishy-Washy Woman” / “My Girl” (both by Ron Price, arranged by Bob Rambo)

4121-31 – The Knights – “Only You Hold the Answer” (Dick and Bob Kisslle [sic]) / “Walkin’ The Streets” (Bob Kisslle [sic]) published by Pinent Music, BMI and recorded at Dayson Studio in East Syracuse, NY

Any help with additions or corrections to this discography would be appreciated.

Bob Sanders ran the Knight and Spectra labels, among others, during the mid-’60s in Dallas, Texas. The two Jimmy Rabbit singles are probably the best, though I haven’t heard the Abby Anderson 45, described as doo wop.

See the earlier articles on this site for more on Jimmy Rabbit, the Mystics (on Spectra) and the Knights.

Bob Haydon had the first 45 that I know of on Knight, released in mid-1964. “Suzanne” never made much impression on me, but “Gonna Go (Gonna Leave Ya)” has an easy mix of country and pop sounds.

Lewis Lindsey was either co-owner or had some position with the label. Jimmy Rabbit called the Knight label’s studio “Sand-Lin”, though I haven’t seen that name cited by anyone else.

Lindsey co-wrote “Sittin’ in the Balcony” for Abby Anderson, and co-wrote both sides of the Jimmy Rabbit 45, as well as being in Rabbit’s band at the time. For his own Knight single Lindsey wrote and arranged “The Promise”, a pop number with big production. Lewis Lindsey had another release on Vandan VR-7742, “Wish It Could Be Me” / “Is It Love” that I haven’t heard.

All of the above except the second Knights 45 (4121-31) produced by Bob Sanders with publishing by Fieldcrest Music, BMI, often the credits say “An Empire Production”. I would assume the Knights “Only You Hold the Answer” was their own production back in New York, however the logo is exact and their names are misspelled on the song writing credits.

There’s no connection to the Tampa, Florida Knight label that released 45s by the Tropics, Mods and Outsiders or the Wilmington, Delaware label with a release by the Spectrums, “I’ll Never Fear” (D. Stewart) / “Wine, Wine, Wine” recorded at Ken-Del Studios, or the Schenectady, NY label.

Many thanks to Brian Kirschenbaum for alerting me to the Knights 45, and to Tommy “MrTeenSwe” for his help with the Lewis Lindsey 45 info.

Garage Hangover