Search - Rudy Grayzell :: Let's Get Wild

Rockabilly Hall of Fame Inductee Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell

11/18/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"LET'S GET WILD - Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell Sideburn Records 1001 8 out of 9 stars Running time - 40:59This is Rockabilly as it was done back in the early days when it truly was a fusion of the country sounds coming from the people that lived in the countryside, and it is filtered/infused through the harder cadences of the black rhythm and blues genre. It is played at the frantic pace that mirrored the pace that was life lived under the theat of "The Bomb". This is the music of the very early Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and all those others who paved the way and helped create the music of today. These people are the people of legend and myth. These are the people who created the lifestyles that we come to expect from our outlaw rock ' rollers that pave the way. These are the people for whom the music was an extension of, and it was their way of living. Speaking of one without the other is like trying to separate the hide of a tiger from the tiger while he is still enjoying the use of it. This is the music of having a time that is exceptional, be it exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. Here we have this root music given to us by one of those who was a part of that explosion that changed every facet of life in America as no other revolution has. This is the music of raw emotions, primal needs and love and loss. The music has an urgency or freneticness to it that pounds into us and makes us aware of the now. Yet it can at times be soft and full of the tenderness that is love. Listen to the emotion on IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME CRY and then catch the feeling on DO THE RUDY "TUTTI" or THERE'S GONNA BE A BALL. The young lovers classic by Doug Sahm, WHY WHY WHY, who played with Rudy when Doug was an 11 year old living in San Antonio. Doug was, in 1952, considered a musical genius and was so young that Rudy had to pretend to be his guardian to pull him out of school. There is that wonderful slice of life from that time containing the humorous but also serious ideas of the importance of a man's hair, DUCK TAIL. These were the wild times in Texas music, no in all of America. Just read his biography as he writes it in the liner notes. It is called Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell: The Myths Behind The Legend. It alone is worth the price of the disc. If he did 1/8 of the things he says he did he is amazing, more than that and he should take his rightfully place in the Wild Man Hall Of Fame.Songs and writers (times are not given for the songs) YOU'RE GONE - Rudy Grayzell JUDY - J. Paiz/D. Ketner WHY WHY WHY - Doug Sahm DUCK TAIL - Rudy & Joe Grayzell ONE MILE - Eddie Dugosh IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME CRY - (Si Quires Ver Me Llorar) - Johnny Herrera (English lyrics by Rudy Grayzell) HEARTS OF STONE - R. Jackson/R. Eddy FBI STORY - Rudy Grayzell THERE'S GONNA BE A BALL - Rudy Grayzell LET'S GET WILD - Rudy Grayzell WILL YOU LOVE ME - Rudy Grayzell DO THE RUDY TUTTI - Rudy Grayzell BIG BLON' BABY - R. Roberts/K. Jackson TELL HER I'M GONE - Lou WhitneyMusicians Rudy Grayzell - lead vocals, guitar with the Skeletons Donnie Thompson - guitar, vocals Lou Whitney - bass, vocals Joe Terry - keyboards, vocals Bobby Lloyd Hicks - drums, percussion, vocalsProduced by Lou Whitney, Jim Bradt, Terry Currier"

Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell Revival

11/19/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Flag Waving: We don't know too many folks who picked up a nickname from Elvis Presley, so we are understandably a bit impressed by rockabilly ace Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell. As Grayzell--who will have his very first album, "Let's Get Wild," released by Portland, Ore.-based Sideburn Records on Tuesday (3)-tells it, he was playing a gig with Presley in Tulsa, Okla., back in 1956 when the King laid his handle on him. At the time, Presley had worked Little Richard's hit "Tutti Frutti" into his show. "He said, 'Rudy Tutti, you should have recorded that,'" Grayzell recalls. At that time, Grayzell was himself blazing a trail on the rock n' roll circuit. He recorded for, among other labels, Sun, Starday, and Capitol. One of this tunes, "Ducktail," was covered by fellow rockabilly Joe Clay, who brought the song back to life when he enjoyed a career renaissance in the early '80s in England. While Grayzell's records are much prized by rockabilly freaks, he may be as well-known for the youthful musicians he shared stages with in the old days as he is in his own right. As a young musician in the '50s in San Antonio, he worked with a talented 11-year-old named Doug Sahm. "That little son of a gun had talent," Grayzell says of the future Sir Doug. "He could pick up anything and play it... I'd jerk him out of school, say I was his chaperone." In 1960, when he was first hitting the lounge circuit that sustained him for years, he played the Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas, where his opening act was 13-year-old Wayne Newton. But don't sell Grayzell himself short: With more than 40 years of performing under his belt, he says in his live-wire style, "I'm a hell of an entertainer onstage--high energy!" That energy--on display in Portland lounges and clubs since Grayzell moved there in 1960--impressed Terry Currier and Jim Bradt, who made Grayzell the first act signed to Burnside Records' new subsidiary Sideburn. The label paired the singer with our personal heroes, the Springfield, Mo., band and former Flag Wavers, the Skeletons. The group's bassist, Lou Whitney, produced. On "Let's Get Wild," Grayzell and the band rip through remakes of his '50s classic, including "Ducktail," his stunning cover of "Hearts of Stone," "FBI Story," and the title track. Grayzell says, "I was never truly satisfied [with the old records]. I think my voice is better now than it ever was." Particularly striking is a pair of cuts sung partially or totally in Spanish-- "If You Want To See Me Cry" and the ballad "Jalisco," which Grayzell performs solo. "Lou said 'My dad had a favorite song, "Jalisco."' I didn't even know he was recording it.""