Vern Pullens

Vern Pullens (* around 1929; † 2001 ) was an American country and rockabilly musician who released records regularly from 1956.

Life

Childhood and youth

Vern Pullens likely grew up in rural Bogalusa , Louisiana . According to other sources, Pullens is said to have been born in Picayne , Mississippi .

Career

During the week Pullens worked as a bricklayer, on the weekends he performed with a band and played in honky tonks . Through BJ Johnson Pullens came into contact with a small record label and in the summer of 1956 he was invited to Houston by Bennie Hess , owner of the Spade Records label . Hess signed Pullens and arranged a session on September 27, 1956, in Houston , Texas . Bop Crazy Baby / It's My Life and Mama Don't Allow No Boppin 'Tonight were recorded in the studio of the radio station KTRH with local musicians. To this day, these recordings are considered classic rockabilly titles. In early 1957, Spade released a country single from Pullens, which was only granted success in Texas and was rated only average by Billboard . Pullens' third and, for the time being, last Spade single was not granted a place in the charts.

In the next few years Pullens continued his career and made records with Big Howdy, Stop and D Records . He also released his pieces on his own label, Sun Down Records; his most successful title reached number 20 on the Billboard charts .

After living in Nashville , Tennessee for a short time in the 1960s, Pullens moved back to Mississippi. The rockabilly revival moved Pullens to return to his style of the 1950s, rockabilly, and switched to Hess' revived label Spade. In 1975 a record was released with the Huey Long song Elvis Stole My Gal and a new version of Pullens' Long Gone . The last time Pullens was in the studio in 1978 was holding a session for small label Rock-It that produced You Don't Mean to Make Me Cry / Jitterbuggin 'Baby . On these recordings he was accompanied by former Sun musicians Marcus Van Story ( bass ), Al Hopson ( guitar ) and Jerry Lee Smith ( piano ).

Until his death, Pullens continued to appear in public, especially in his home state of Mississippi.

Discography

Singles

year	title	Label #
1956	Bob Crazy Baby / It's My Life	Spade 1927
1957	Would You Be Happy / It Took One Moment	Spade 1930
1957	Country Boy's Dream / What Am I to Do (with BJ Johnson)	Spade 1935
1960	I Sent You the Pillow / Loving You (Means More Than Life To Me) (as Vern Pullen )	Big Howdy 785
1960	Beautiful You / It Hurts Enough to Cry	Big Howdy 786
1960	Country Boy's Dream / What Am I to Do (with BJ Johnson)	D 1107
	Long Gone / Rock On Mabel	Spade 11975
1975	Elvis Stole My Gal / Rock On Mabel	Spade
1979	You Don't Mean To Make Me Cry / Jitterbuggin 'Baby	Rock-it 105
	Dad and the Old Folks Home / Three More Miles to Heaven	Sun Down 013
Unpublished titles
	I talked to an angel Last night Mama Don't Allow No Boppin 'Tonight Old Folks Home
	I Forgto to Remember to Forget	[Status unknown]

Albums

• 1981: Spade Rockabilly
• 1985: Vern Pullens

Web links

• Vern Pullens . MySpace page
• Discography with audio samples