Sleepy LaBeef
Sleepy LaBeef (* 20th July 1935 in Smackover , Arkansas as Thomas Paulsley LaBeff ; † 26 December 2019 in Siloam Springs , Arkansas) was an American rockabilly musician. He started his career in the mid-1950s and performed regularly until his death. His repertoire ranged from country music and rockabilly to blues and gospel .
Life
Childhood and youth
LaBeef was born in the community of Smackover, Arkansas, founded by French settlers, hence his family name, which was originally LaBoeuf. He grew up on his parents' melon farm, where he was mainly influenced by country and blues. Another strong influence was gospel, which he later cited as inspiration again and again in interviews. On Saturday evenings he regularly listened to the Grand Ole Opry shows , broadcast live from Nashville on WSM . He got his nickname "Sleepy" because his eyelids drooped badly and he looked like he was about to fall asleep.
Career
Beginnings in rockabilly
In 1953, at the age of 18, he moved from Arkansas to Houston , Texas . After getting through odd jobs, he began performing as a gospel musician on local radio and playing with his own band in bars and honky-tonks . Shortly thereafter, he made his first appearances in the shows Houston Hometown Jamboree from Houston and the Louisiana Hayride from Shreveport , Louisiana .
From 1954 the "rockabilly boom" began to spread in the southern states . LaBeef recalled the first time he heard Elvis Presley's version of Blue Moon of Kentucky : “[I] heard that old southern gospel beat. They just put secular lyrics to that same beat. And even without the gospel lyrics, it still had so much power, it just overwhelmed people. ”LaBeef's voluminous and deep voice seemed to fit this new style perfectly, and in 1956 he made demo recordings at Gold Star Studio . The first tracks he recorded were the gospel pieces I Won't Have to Cross Jordan Alone and Just a Closer Walk with Thee with Bill Quinn on the organ. Towards the end of the year he recorded the song All the Time with Charlie Busby ( electric guitar ) and Wendall Clayton ( bass ) , which was only released almost a year later. With his new guitarist and manager Hal Harris , he recorded I'm Through and All Alone , which were released in May 1957 as his first single on Pappy Dailey's Starday Records .
After his second single was released by Starday in September 1957, LaBeef began to record current country hits for some time at Dixie Records . Between 1960 and 1964 he was under contract with various small labels such as Gulf Records, Crescent Port Records, Wayside Records, Finn and Picture Records.
1964–1968: Nashville Sound
In 1964, LaBeef took a call from Don Law at the Wayside Inn , who offered him a contract with the major label Columbia Records . He signed and moved to Nashville in 1965. There his first recording session took place in the Columbia Recording Studio in March of the same year. The band consisted of the experienced studio musicians Ray Edenton (guitar), Deam Needham (guitar / bass), Joseph Zinkan (bass), Hargus “Pig” Robbins (piano) and Virgil Hammer (drums). Of the four recorded songs in this session, only the ballad Completely Destroyed was released two years later. His first single with Columbia was You Can't Catch Me / Everybody's Got to Have Somebody , released in 1965. Only his sixth single with Columbia, Every Day from 1968, made it into the charts at number 73.
LaBeef's repertoire at Columbia consisted mostly of contemporary country pieces as well as some old rhythm and blues numbers, a number of which were never released. While LaBeef had mainly played straight rock'n'roll before 1964, his style changed towards country during this period. This mixture of rock and roll, country and pop was difficult to market. LaBeef later said in an interview as follows: "[...] But so many times, I've had people say, 'We don't know how to market you, we don't know what to call you.'" Due to the poor success, Columbia did not renew LaBeef's contract.
1969–1980: Plantation and Sun Era
After LaBeef switched to Shelby Singleton's label Plantation Records, he made it to number 67 on the country charts with the Frankie Miller song Blackland Farmer . It became his biggest hit. In the mid-1970s, he moved to the Sun Records label , which now also belonged to Shelby Singleton. Sun had brought out style-defining records with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins , Roy Orbison , Johnny Cash and other singers in the 1950s and founded rockabilly.
LaBeef returned to his musical roots and had other small hits with songs like Thunder Road , There Ain't Much After Taxes or Boogie Woogie Country Girl . These songs formed the basis for his later fame within the rockabilly scene. At Sun, he also had far more artistic freedom than at Columbia a decade earlier. He was allowed to play guitar himself during his recordings and was able to record some gospel songs, even if they were not published.
Rockabilly Revival
The rockabilly revival, which began slowly in 1977, gave LaBeef a new audience, especially in Europe. Although he had already had an intense touring activity before, it was now his energetic performances that made him popular. He played at events in the US and Europe such as the Hemsby Rock'n'Roll Weekend and signed a contract with Rounder Records in 1981 . There he released his album It Ain't What You Eat , followed by the live album Nothin 'But the Truth , which gave the listener an impression of his stage presence.
In the 1990s, other albums followed such as Strange Things Happening (1994), I'll Never Lay My Guitar Down (1996) and Tomorrow Never Comes (2000), which was recorded with Maria Muldaur . In the same year, LaBeef made it back into the charts with Detour . LaBeef remained an integral part of the international rockabilly scene and continued to give concerts all over the world. More recently he had played at well-known events such as the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Festival , the Rockabilly Rave and Rocker's Reunion .
In March 2009, LaBeef released a studio album after four years, which was entitled Roots . Contrary to his usual style, he interpreted songs here that influenced him in a certain way. He gave up his hard rockabilly style and worked a lot with acoustic instruments. In April 2013, the documentary Sleepy LaBeef Rides Again premiered at the Nashville Film Festival . Produced by bassist Dave Pomeroy and commented by music journalist Peter Guralnick , the film documents LaBeef's career as well as excerpts from a concert in Nashville and a recording session at RCA Studio B. The film was released on DVD along with a CD on Earwave Records. Sleepy LaBeef died on December 26, 2019.
Discography
Singles
| year | title | Record company |
|---|---|---|
| 1957 | I'm Through / All Alone | Starday 45-292 |
| 1957 | I'm Through / All Alone | Starday-Mercury 71112x45 |
| 1957 | All The Time / Lonely | Starday-Mercury 71179x45 |
| 1958 |
|
Dixie 530 |
| 1958 |
|
Dixie 533 |
| 1960 | Found Out / Can't Get You Out of My Mind | Gulf G-62760/1 |
| 1961 | Turn Me Loose / Ridin 'Fence | Crescent Prod. 102 |
| 1962 | Ride on Josephine / Walkin 'Slowly | Wayside 1651/2 |
| 1963 | Goals Up / Lonely | Wayside 1653/4 |
| 1963 | Drink Up and Go Home / Teardrops on a Rose | Finn 1690/1 |
| 1963 | Ride On Josephine / Lonely | Picture 1937 |
| 1965 | You Can't Catch Me / Everybody's Got to Have Somebody | Columbia 4-43452 |
| 1966 | A Man In My Position / Drinking Again | Columbia 4-43709 |
| 1966 | I'm Too Broke / I Feel a Lot More Like I Do Now | Columbia 4-43875 |
| Schneider / Sure Beats the Heck Outta Settlin 'Down | Columbia 4-44068 | |
| Go Ahead on Baby / Completely Destroyed | Columbia 4-44261 | |
| 1968 | If I Go Right I'm Wrong / Every Day | Columbia 4-44455 |
| Asphalt Cowboy / Got You on My Mind | Plantation P-66 | |
| 1971 | Blackland Farmer / Got You On My Mind | Plantation PL-74 |
| 1974 | Thunder Road / Thunder Road | Sun 1132 (Promo) |
| 1976 | There Ain't Much After Taxes / There Ain't Much After Taxes | Sun 1134 (Promo) |
| 1978 | Good Rockin 'Boogie / Good Rockin' Boogie | Sun 1137 (Promo) |
| Unpublished titles | ||
| 1956 |
|
Starday |
| 1957 |
|
Starday |
| 1963 |
|
|
|
||
Albums
- 1974: The Bull's Night Out
- 1976: Western Gold
- 1978: Rockabilly 1977
- 1978: Beefy Rockabilly
- 1979: Early, Rare and Rockin 'Sides
- 1979: Downhome Rockabilly (Sun Records)
- 1979: Downhome Rockabilly (Charley Records)
- 1979: Rockabilly Heavyweight (with Dave Travis)
- 1979: Sleepy LaBeef and Friends (Ace Records)
- 1979: Sleepy LaBeef and Friends (Ace- Chiswick Records )
- 1980: Early, Rare and Rockin 'Sides (re-release)
- 1980: Downhome Rockabilly (re-release)
- 1981: It Ain't What You Eat
- 1992: Nothin 'But The Truth
- 1994: Strange Things Happen
- 1995: The Human Jukebox
- 1996: I'll Never Lay My Guitar Down
- 1996: Larger Than Life (6 CD box, work edition)
- 1997: A Rockin 'Decade
- 1999: Flyin 'Saucer Rock'n'Roll: The Very Best Of Sleepy LaBeef
- 1999: The Bulls's Ride Out & Western Gold
- 2000: Tomorrow Never Comes
- 2001: Rockabilly Blues
- 2001: Road Warrior
- 2008: Sleepy Rocks
- 2009: Roots
- 2013: Sleepy LaBeef Rides Again (DVD / CD)
Web links
- Sleepy LaBeef on Allmusic (English)
- Sleepy Labeef at Discogs (English)
- Sleepy LaBeef on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
- Sleepy LaBeef in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Discography with audio samples
- LaBeef's website
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Sleepy LaBeef (1935-2019)" , Encyclopedia of Arkansas , accessed on 27 December 2019
- ↑ Rockabilly Hall of Fame
- ↑ Martin Hawkins: Sleepy Rocks . 2008, p. 20; Bear Family liner notes
- ^ Roots - New CD out Now . ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sleepy LaBeef
- ↑ https://amarketnews.com/2019/12/26/sleepy-labeef-death-obituary/ Sleepy Labeef Death, Obituary
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | LaBeef, Sleepy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | LaBeff, Thomas Paulsley (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American musician (rockabilly, country, blues and gospel) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 20, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Smackover , Arkansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 26, 2019 |
| Place of death | Siloam Springs , Arkansas |