B
orn in a log cabin in Locust,
Kentucky in 1935, but based
since his teens near Indianapolis,
Indiana, Art Adams cut just two classic
rockabilly singles in 1959 and 60, but
what records they were! Released on the
Scottsville, Kentucky label Cherry Records,
Dancing Doll and Rock Crazy Baby may have
received scant attention at the time but they
were embraced by rockabilly revivalists in
the 80s and have set dancefloors aflame
ever since.When did you first get into music?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t sing.
I used to get a broomstick and get up on the
hayloft in the barn and pretend I was on the
Grand Ole Opry. My mom bought me a
banjo when I was about 10. I loved
bluegrass, which we listened to all the time,
but I also loved Hank Williams, so I gave up
on the banjo and my parents bought me a
Harmony guitar. One of my sisters married
a kid from Central City, Kentucky and he
and I and a few other guys practised every
night. We kind of hacked around but I don’t
think we put a band together until after I’d
done my military service. We formed a
country band called The Kentucky Drifters,
just four of us, with no drums, and we
played mainly parks and picnics because we
still weren’t quite old enough to play in bars.How did you move from country
to rockabilly?
I liked up-tempo things like Ernest Tubb’s
Walking The Floor Over You and I used to
take some Hank Williams songs up-tempo.
Then Chuck Berry came out and I learned
Maybellene. I added a drummer. I went to
see Little Jimmy Dickens and he had twin
lead guitars, and I really liked it. Dave
[Logston, his brother-in-law] wanted to do
more country, so he left and I brought in
two lead guitarists, Roy Robinette and
Eddie Weil and it was a good combination.
A lot of good musicians don’t realise I had
two lead guitars on my records.How did Dancing Doll come about?
We played a lot of teen dances and there
was this girl called Betty Stone who wanted
to start an Art Adams fan club. We started
calling her Dancing Doll and that’s how the
song came about. She came in one day with
a verse and I took it and finished it up.Did you audition for Sun at one point?
When I was calling the band The Kentucky
Drifters, before I made all these changes
and it became The Rhythm Knights, I had a
song called She’s From Tennessee that I
wrote with my brother-in-law and another
song called Down In Tennessee. They were
both very country. We drove down to
Memphis with these songs on an old tape.
Sun Records sat right on the sidewalk, and I
walked in and said, “Is Sam here?” The lady
said, “Do you mean Mr Phillips?” I said,
“Yes, ma’am.” I had the tape in my hand
and she said, “Well, Mr Phillips isn’t here,
but Jack Clement is and he’ll listen to it.”He was very nice. He gave me some tips and
told me to come back. It was probably my
mistake that I didn’t, but being 700 miles
from where I lived, and being young and
not having any money...So you wound up on Cherry?
We were playing a little club in Indianapolis
and a guy down the street who I used to
hang out with told me there was a guy
called Joe Dyson who had a company called
Cherry Records in Scottsville, Kentucky.
We had Dancing Doll and Rock Crazy Baby,
which we’d recorded at a radio station
called WIBC in Indianapolis and I can’t
remember if it was my friend who took
them to Joe, but he liked ’em and set up a
recording session for us at the RCA studio B
in Nashville.What brought you back to the music
business after a long absence, in 2003?
I actually gave up music in 1967. I’ve been
married since 1951, I had had three children
and I’d never quit my day job. I was working
for a national vending machine company
and a couple of the other managers talked
me into going into business. After I sold my
vending company in 1997, I picked up my
guitar and thought, now I have the time, I’ll
just sing and play a little bit for my own
amusement. An old friend asked me to do a
reunion show and before I knew it I got a
call from Tom Ingram to play Viva Las
Vegas, and calls from promoters in England
and calls to make records. I’ve actually
been to England 12 times since 2003 and
recorded four CDs, plus an EP called
Memphis Dream on Bear Family. People
seem to like me. I don’t know if it’s because
I play hardcore rockabilly and sing
hardcore country, but I’m a friendly guy
and I try to connect with people. My father
taught me you can catch more flies with
honey than vinegar. 9
Art Adams plays his UK farewell show at
the Wildest Cats In Town Xmas Party,
29 November – 2 DecemberHe’s making his farewell UK appearance in November, but the
84-year-old was still full of fire when VR caught up with him“I used to get a
broomstick and get
up on the hayloft inthe barn and pretend
I was on the GrandOle Opry”
LEGENDS
OF
ROCKWORDS BY DOUGLAS McPHERSON
Art Adams