Vintage Rock – September-October 2019

The closest he came to a hit was with

Love My Baby, taken, as was Elvis

Presley’s Mystery Train, from the

repertoire of bluesman Junior Parker and

given a rockabilly makeover. But it was not

to be.

The rest of the set concentrated on

classics like What’cha Gonna Do, Shake,

Rattle And Roll and You Win Again, but to

vary the pace, Hayden slipped in his recent

recording for the Finnish Bluelight label, of

Ivory Joe Hunter’s immortal ballad Since I

Met You Baby. It worked.

The biggest cheer of his set came when

one of the many drape-suited fans came

onstage with a long, velvet-collared jacket.

Hayden slipped it on and declared: “Now

I’m a Teddy Boy!”

Backing was spot on throughout, and

at one point the three US headliners were

on stage together, with Jimmy Van Eaton

on drums and Rip Masters on keyboard,

plus Hayden’s guitarist of choice, JJ from

Sweden’s Wildfi re Willie And The Ramblers.

IN HIS OWN set on Friday night,

Jimmy Van Eaton (who put the heartbeat

into rock’n’roll) offered just a fraction of

the many 50s hits that benefi ted from his

distinctive tub-thumping. Wearing a Sun

label cap and gold jacket, the slightly-built

81-year-old could pass for 50.

For Jerry Lee Lewis, he cut Down The

Line, High School Confi dential, Crazy Arms

and Whole Lotta Shakin’. He was on Charlie

Rich’s Lonely Weekends and Break Up, Bill

Justis’ instrumental Raunchy, Billy Lee

Riley’s Red Hot, Warren Smith’s Ubangi

Stomp, Billy Lee Riley’s Flying Saucer

Rock’n’Roll and more.

As anyone who has followed Jerry Lee

Lewis’ career and tours will know, he is

highly intolerant of poor drummers, and

has been known to push more than one UK

sticksman off his stool to demonstrate how

it should be done. The fact that Jimmy not

only survived most of JLL’s sessions, but

continued to be his drummer of choice says

a lot for his skills.

A tip of the hat to Shane Baxendale for his

fi ne vocals for the whole set. He had some

hard acts to follow but did a grand job.

The encore was Great Balls Of Fire, with

neither the title nor the chorus sung from

the stage. The audience supplied that.

The third US visitor was Rip Masters,

fast becoming the sidesman of choice for

numerous rock’n’rollers, but a mighty

talent on keyboards and guitar in his own

right. Not to mention composer, too. The

personable Californian had a Saturday

afternoon slot, which gave him the luxury

of a full 70-minute set, opening with Bare

Knuckle Piano, his own composition which

defi ned the tone of his whole, take-no-

prisoners up-tempo rocking act.

Big Red 57, another original, followed then

it was Carl Perkins’ Gone Gone Gone, and

Rip posed the question: “Who likes boogie-

woogie?” The affi rmative roar resulted in

Flight Of The Bumble Bee Boogie, a rocked-

up classic.

WEARING A SUN

LABEL CAP, THE

SLIGHTLY-BUILT

81-YEAR-OLD COULD

PASS FOR 50

Wildest Cats In Town

Darrel Higham (right) joined

Bob & the Bearcats on stage

Seasoned pros The Bobcats

return for the Cats’ Xmas party

Sun star Jimmy Van

Eaton was Jerry Lee’s

drummer of choice

Emma Grant

Ruth Archer John Howard