Bobby Lee Trammell

If Bobby Lee Trammell never became as well known as Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard, it wasn't for lack of trying. In a time when Elvis was tamed and Jerry Lee was on the outs, Trammell kept gyrating shamelessly and doing loud, raw rock & roll and staying away from ballads. Born in the early '40s, he was one of four children of Wiley and Mae Trammell, who owned a cotton farm near Jonesboro, AR. He came by his musical ability naturally -- his father had played the fiddle professionally and his mother was the organist at the local church. He was drawn not only to the music of the church, however, but also to country music, and he listened to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio religiously; more than that, he had an interest in black gospel music, and occasionally sneaked out to the local black Pentecostal church, to watch and listen to their music and dancing. Trammell was playing country music in high school and aspiring to a singing career, but that remained a far-off dream until one day when Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins performed locally, and he was permitted by Perkins to sing a song with the band, and then advised Trammell to pay a call on Sam Phillips at Sun Records. His contact with Phillips was very brief, owing to what Trammell himself freely admitted --in an interview with Ian Wallis -- was his own immaturity. He ended up heading west and taking a job at the Ford plant in Long Beach, CA, and was still trying to get signed when he attended a carnival where Bobby Bare was performing. He managed to convince Bare to let him on-stage to sing a couple of numbers, where he showed off a gyrating style that was in the same league with the early Elvis Presley. He was seen by Lefty Frizzell, who invited him to try out for a performing venue called the Jubilee Ballroom in...