Friday May 1, 1959 : Busy times for MOON MULLICAN, who is
now contracted to Coral Records. After recording four tracks on
the previous day, he records "Moon's Rock" (Coral 62042) and 
three other tracks on this day, another four songs on May 5
(including a cover of Jan and Arnie's "Jennie Lee", Coral 61994)
and three more tracks (for Decca) on May 21, all produced by 
Owen Bradley at his own studio in Nashville. Personnel includes 
Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Bob Moore and Harold Bradley. All
tracks are on the Bear Family CD "Moon's Rock" (BCD 15607).

May 1, 1959: MELVIN ENDSLEY records his next single, "Oh 
Yeah Baby"/"Let Me Sing the Blues (Just One More Time)",
for release on MGM 12806 in June. Producer: Jim Vienneau,
location Bradley Film & Recording Studio, Nashville. 

May 6, 1959 : RAY CHARLES records six tracks with the Ralph
Burns Orchestra in New York City. All of these will be released after
Ray has left Atlantic for ABC-Paramount. "Don't Let the Sun Catch
You Crying" (Atlantic 2047) will become the B-side of "Let the Good
Times Roll" in December 1959 ; "Just For A Thrill" (Atlantic 2055) is
coupled with "Heartbreaker" from 1952 ; "Come Rain Or Come Shine"/
"Tell Me You'll Wait For Me" (Atlantic 2084) is released in November
1960 and "Am I Blue" (Atlantic 2106) in April 1961. "You Won't Let
Me Go" is the only of the six tracks that is not released as a single
and ends up on the LP "The Genius of Ray Charles" (Atlantic 1312).

May 7, 1959 : ROY BROWN has his final session for King Records
in Cincinnati. All four tracks will be released as singles : "Good Looking
And Foxy Too" is coupled with "Hard Luck Blues" from 1950 (King 5218) ;
"School Bell Rock" (King 5247) with "Ain't Rockin' No More" from 1954
and "Adorable One" and "I Ain't Got No Blues Today" end up back to
back on King 5333 in April 1960.

May 7, 1959 : MARTY ROBBINS records "Cap and Gown"/"Last Night
About This Time" (Columbia 41408) in Nashville, with Grady Martin on
guitar, Marvin Hughes on piano and a few others. Release date is May 25,
the same day on which Marty has another go at "Cap and Gown", this
time in New York City (Columbia Studios), his final session with Mitch
Miller. Also recorded on the 25th: "She Was Young and She Was Pretty"
and "Love Can't Wait". These three NYC recordings stayed in the can
until the release of the Bear Family CD "Ruby Ann" (BCD 15569) in 1991.

May 8, 1959 : JOHNNY BURNETTE is at Master Recorders in Hollywood
for one of his best post-Coral sessions. "Sweet Baby Doll"/"I'll Never Love
Again" is selected for single release (Freedom 44017). "Love Kept-A Rollin'"
saw its first release in 1980 on the Various artists LP "Let's Have a Party : 
The Rockabilly Influence 1950-1960" (Capitol CGB 1008, UK) and the 
equally excellent "That's All I Care" on the Johnny/Dorsey Burnette LP
"We're Havin' A Party" (Rockstar RSR-LP 1017) in 1988.
Personnel: Johnny Burnette, vocal/guitar ; Rene Hall, guitar ; Bill Pitman,
guitar ; Cliff Hills, bass ; Gene Garf, piano ; Earl Palmer, drums. Production 
probably by Jerry Capehart, who was in charge of Freedom at that time.

Monday, May 11, 1959 : RICKY NELSON records his next single, "Just A
Little Too Much"/"Sweeter Than You" (Imperial 5595) at Master Recorders
in Hollywood, produced by Jimmie Haskell. Personnel: Ricky Nelson, vocal,
rhythm guitar ; James Burton, lead guitar ; James Kirkland, bass ; Gene
Garf, piano ; Richie Frost, drums ; The Jordanaires, vocal chorus.
Also recorded : "I've Been Thinkin'", first released on the "Legacy" 4 CD-set
in 2000. The backing tracks to "Just A Little Too Much" and "I've Been 
Thinkin'" were issued without Ricky's vocal on the Bear Family box set in
2001. A very good idea in this case.

May 12, 1959 : JOHNNY HORTON records four tracks for his LP "The
Spectacular Johnny Horton" (Columbia CL 1362) : "Cherokee Boogie",
"The Golden Rocket", "Lost Highway" (also released as a single in 1965,
Columbia 43143) and "Sam Magee" (released on Columbia 43719 in 1966).
Personnel: Johnny Horton, vocal/guitar ; Grady Martin, guitar ; Harold Bradley,
guitar/banjo ; Tommy Tomlinson, guitar ; Joseph Zinkan, bass ; Buddy Harman,
drums. Producer: Don Law. Location : Bradley Studio, Nashville. 
The next day, May 13, three further songs for the LP are laid down: "Joe's
Been A-Gittin' There", "The First Train Headin' South" and "Got the Bull By
The Horns". Also recorded is a new version of "Battle of New Orleans",
with lyrics that were supposed to be more acceptable for British ears,
"blooming rebels" being substituted for "bloody British". Apart from the
Bear Family box-set, this version is available as a bonus track on the
2000 CD reissue of "The Spectacular Johnny Horton". 

May 14, 1959 : LaVERN BAKER is at Atlantic Studio in New York City to
record three tracks. "So High So Low"/"If You Love Me" is chosen for the
next single (Atlantic 2033, July) and "Tiny Tim" will become the single after
that (Atlantic 2041, October). Personnel includes Budd Johnson on tenor
sax, Mickey Baker on guitar and Sticks Evans on drums. Production by
Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler.

May 18, 1959 : First of three New York sessions by THE CRICKETS at
Bell Sound Studio, produced by Jack Hansen. On this day they record
"I Fought the Law" and "A Sweet Love" (both first released on the LP
"In Style With the Crickets", Coral CRL 57320, 5 December 1960 ; also
released as a single in September 1961 on Coral Q 72240, UK only).
On May 20 they record "Time Will Tell" and "When You Ask About Love"
and on May 27 "Why Did You Leave Me" and "Deborah". In September
1959 "Deborah"/"When You Ask About Love" is released as a single on
Brunswick 55153. The(se) Crickets are: Earl Sinks, vocals, rhythm guitar ;
Sonny Curtis, lead guitar ; Joe Mauldin, bass ; Jerry Allison, drums.

May 19 and 21, 1959 : BOBBY DARIN records eight tracks (plus three
unissued numbers) for his third LP, "This Is Darin", aimed at an adult 
audience. Release in January 1960 on Atco 33-115. Production by Ahmet
Ertegun and Nesuhi Ertegun ; arrangements by Richard Wess and Buddy
Bregman.

Wednesday, May 20, 1959 : BUDDY KNOX has a session at Norman 
Petty Studio in Clovis, New Mexico. The single "I Ain't Sharin' Sharon"/
"Taste Of The Blues" is released in August 1959 on Roulette 4179, while
the other two tracks, both instrumentals, remain unissued to this day : 
"I'm Running Late" and "Cloudy Days".

May 25, 1959 : In London, CLIFF RICHARD records "Apron Strings", 
which will be released as the B-side of "Living Doll" on 10 July, 1959
(Columbia DB 4306). Producer : Norrie Paramor. Allegedly, Cliff was
offered the song by Freddy Bienstock, after Elvis had turned it down
in Germany.

May 25-26 1959 : Two-day session for JERRY LEE LEWIS at the Sun
Studio in Memphis. "Let's Talk About Us"/"The Ballad Of Billy Joe" becomes
the new single (Sun 324), released on June 15. "Home" (written by Roger
Miller) will find a place on Jerry's second LP in 1962. The other tracks
(Night Train To Memphis, I'm the Guilty One, Sail Away, Am I To Be The
One - the latter two duets with Charlie Rich) were not released until Shelby 
Singleton had bought the Sun catalogue.
"Little Queenie" (Sun 330, released in September 1959) was probably
recorded on May 28, with Roland Janes (guitar), Leo Lodner (bass) and
Jimmy Van Eaton (drums).

May 29, 1959 : HANK BALLARD and his Midnighters are rushed into the
King studio in Cincinnati to cover Rusty York's "Sugaree" (King 5215, c/w
the previously recorded "Rain Down Tears"). The other four tracks ended
up on various LP's: Young Lady; Move, Move, Move ; I'm Crying Mercy
Mercy ; Leave That Fat. Personnel includes Jimmy Johnson, piano ;
Mark Patterson, trumpet ; and George DeHart, drums.

May 1959, unknown date : At Audio Recorders in Phoenix, Arizona,
SANFORD CLARK records his next single, "Run Boy Run"/ "New Kind 
of Fool", for release on Jamie 1129 in August. Producer : Lee Hazlewood.
Backing by Al Casey, guitar ; Corky Casey, guitar ; Buddy Wheeler,
bass ; Jimmy Troxell, drums.

Additions and corrections welcome.
 
Dik

In the can index