Sid King and the Five Strings
| Sid King and the Five Strings | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Country , rockabilly |
| Current occupation | |
| Sid King | |
| Billy Joe King | |
| Ken Massey | |
Guitar, steel guitar
|
Melvin Robinson |
| David White | |
| Ken Massey | |
Sid King and the Five Strings was an American country and rockabilly band . Some of their better known titles are Shake This Shack Tonight , Sag, Dragg and Fall, or Purr Kitty Purr .
Career
The beginnings of the band go back to the early 1950s. Sid Erwin (* 1936) appeared on the KDNT radio station with school friend Melvin Robinson. Erwin's brother Billy Joe later joined as guitarist and Dave White as drummer . The group was called The Western Melody Makers . Under this name they played country music in various honky tonks and bars in Texas until they signed with Starday Records in 1953 , where they released a single overall.
In 1954 the band switched to Columbia Records and played their singles there under the name Sid King and the Five Strings . Sid King was the band's front man; he played the guitar and did the vocals. During this time they toured all over America and Canada , in 1956 they were even considered one of the best show bands in the USA and could hardly save themselves from inquiries from various radio broadcasts up to the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride. On their tours they occasionally played with then rising stars like Buddy Holly , Elvis Presley , Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis in their shows when they were in the same city at the same time. Their success was limited to Texas , despite national appearances in the Opry and the Hayride , the band never made their national breakthrough.
In early 1958, the band bought their own club in Conrow, Texas and appeared on their own weekly television show in Houston . In 1959, however, the band split. In the following years, Sid King performed alone and was under contract to Dot Records for the next decade. In 1965, Sid opened a Sid's Hair Cutting salon in Richardson , Texas, which he still works at today. Billy joined the hair salon in 1975 after working as a sound engineer in Los Angeles for a few years .
Since the rockabilly revival in the early 1980s, the two brothers have appeared again in public at concerts in Europe and the USA.
In 1982 there was a reunion of the band's original line-up for a record recording.
In 2016, Sid and Billy recorded a new album whose title, From One Cut to Another, alludes to the barbershop.
Discography
| year | Title A | Title B | Record company |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Who Put The Turtle in Myrtle's Girdle? | If Tears Cry | Starday Records |
| 1955 | Put Something In The Pot, boy | I like it | Columbia Records |
| 1955 | Drinkin 'Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee | Crazy Little Heart | Columbia Records |
| 1955 | Say drag and fall | But I don't care | Columbia Records |
| 1956 | Purr, Kitty, Purr | I want you mom | Columbia Records |
| 1956 | Let 'he roll | Blue Suede Shoes | Columbia Records |
| 1956 | Ooby Dooby | Booger Red | Columbia Records |
| 1956 | Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight | Good rockin 'baby | Columbia Records |
| 1957 | When My Baby Left Me | It's true, I'm blue | Columbia Records |
| 1957 | I've got the blues | What Have Ya Got To Loose | Columbia Records |
| 1962 | Hello There Rockin 'Chair | Once Upon a Time | Dot records |
Web links
- Short biography and interview with Sid King
- Sid King and the Five Strings on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
- Discography with audio samples