J.B. Brinkley

J. B. Brinkley was one of the top session guitarists in Texas during the 1950's and 1960's, and got to play on recordings by Andy Starr, Jerry Fuller, and The Chuck-A-Lucks, as well as cutting a his own songs. He was one of those journeyman figures whose career in country helped pave the way for rock 'n roll, even if he never had a hit himself with the newer music. Brinkley was born and raised in Texas, and started singing with the Crystal Springs Ramblers ("Fort Worth Stomp" etc.) in 1937. He got his big break at the end of the 1930's when he joined the Light Crust Doughboys as a guitarist and singer. He was the featured vocalist on the group's 1941 sides. Not much of the Doughboys' music from that period in their history is available on CD, but his performance on an unissued Vocalion single, "It's Funny What Love Will Make You Do," can be heard on Columbia- Legacy's Roots & Blues: The Retrospective 1925-1950. Brinkley had made further records after World War II, but he was primarily known as a top session guitarist, based in the Dallas area and playing regularly on numerous sessions for other artists. Along with his fellow guitarists Paul Buskirk and Lefty Perkins, he became a mainstay of Joe Leonard's Lin Records label, very much that label's answer to Scotty Moore. Brinkley's bluesy western swing licks adapted easily to rockabilly and mainstream rock 'n roll as it evolved, and he played a big part on such hot-rocking sides as the Chuck-A-Lucks' "Disc Jockey Fever" and Andy Starr's "Do It Right Now." Brinkley not only played lead guitar but usually led these studio bands as well. The 1950's saw Brinkley turned into one of the mainstays of the Lin label and one of the busier guitar players in Dallas-Fort Worth, although he did cut one single of Dot Records in the...