Dean Barlow

Much hoopla has been made about Buddy Holly & the Crickets winning over the black audience at the Apollo in Harlem, but many roots rock fans aren't aware that the venue actually thought it had booked Dean Barlow & the Crickets, a popular doo wop group of the era. Dean Barlow, originally named Grover Barlow, was the one constant through several different versions of the Crickets. He also sang in several other groups and attempted a solo career with a series of singles on the Jay Dee label. Label proprietor Joe Davis was a strong supporter of Barlow, hiring recording engineers time and time again to point microphones in the direction of his hauntingly expressive voice. The original Crickets came out of the intense vocal music scene of the Bronx in the '50s. In 1952 the group was introduced to Davis, a recording pioneer who had run the Beacon label before going to work for MGM as a rhythm and blues A&R man. In early 1953 the Crickets were signed to MGM, releasing a debut record within only a few weeks later and causing many a stomach ache for any listener who took the group's advice about mixing "Milk and Gin." While this record did quite well for a rhythm and blues side, the label's apparent lack of interest in promoting a follow-up was one of the main reasons Davis went back into the indie record scene, starting up Jay-Dee and taking a fine roster of artists with him including the Blenders, Paula Watson, and Barlow's Crickets. In 1953 Barlow changed the entire lineup of the group, bringing in Robert Bynum, William Lindsay, and Joseph Diaz to replace Harold Johnson, Gene Stapleton, Leon Carter, and Rodney Jackson. By the beginning of the following year, the group was experimenting with covering pop tunes such as "Changing Partners," seeking the same kind of record sales...