Frank Evans (musician)

Frank Evans (* approx. 1940) is an American country musician . Evans was a child star of the Florida country scene in the 1950s .

Life

Frank Evans was born around 1940 and appeared on the radio as a child. At the age of 13 he was already a "veteran" in Tampa's music scene and could be heard on WHBO and WALT, but they had only a limited reach: " [the signal] just barely made it over the tree tops, " was Evans' comment in Hillbilly Researcher magazine . He had his own show that was sponsored by the Velda Ice Cream Company. In 1956, as television began to grow in popularity, Evans followed the trend and made regular appearances with his band on WSUN-TV in St. Petersburg , Florida. He also shared the stage with stars like Red Foley .

In the same year Evans made his first recordings with the Western Hayriders , a band very popular in the region. At Burdette Sound Studios in Tampa, Evans (vocals / banjo ) recorded with this group I'm Different / Another Love Like You . The musicians on these recordings included Pete Howell ( guitar ) and Dusty Robbins ( steel guitar ). The single was released in January 1956 via Starday's Package Deal on the Starday label.

Again on Starday Evans released a second single in June 1956. He founded his own band, the Top Notchers , shortly after the release of his first record . In addition to Evans, these consisted of Arnold Newman (guitar), Roland Newman ( fiddle ), Pip Studenberg ( bass ), Colin Thomas (steel guitar) and an unknown drummer . Go On and Be Carefree / What Is It (That I'm Too Young to Know) were recorded at WHBO Studio. While the A-side was a simple country title, the B-side was heavily based on bluegrass .

Discography

year	title	Label #
1956	I'm Different / Another Love Like You	Starday 540
1956	Go On and Be Carefree / What Is It (That I'm Too Young to Know)	Starday 567
1956	Barrel of Heartaches / If You Knew	Starday 602
1957	Pull the Shades Down Ma / Would Me Believe Me	Starday 645

Web links

• Frank Evans on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)