Weldon Rogers

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Weldon Rogers (born October 30, 1927 in Marietta , Oklahoma , † September 13, 2004 in Perryton , Texas ) was an American rockabilly and country musician and producer . Rogers released Roy Orbison's first record on his JeWel label.

Life

Childhood and youth

Weldon Rogers was born near the city of Marietta in Love County . His family moved to Lamesa , Texas when he was eight years old. Rogers grew up in the neighborhood of the future country musician Johnny Bond and sang in the small church choir of the community. As a young man he was drafted into the army and was stationed in Italy until 1947 . During his military service, he began to sing and learned to play the guitar , but this was more out of an attempt to fight boredom.

Career

Upon his discharge from the Army, Rogers moved to California , where he worked for the Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica . He also performed in bars and clubs on weekends to earn money. From time to time Rogers traveled to Texas, where he finally found a job as a disc jockey on the radio station KSML in Seminole in 1954 . Roger formed his own band and it wasn't long before Rogers met Winifred "Wink" Lewis, owner of Queen Records, after one of his shows with the band. In July 1955 Rogers then traveled to San Antonio , where he recorded his first record in Bob Tanner's TNT studio. During this session he was accompanied by Shorty Underwood and his brushcutters, who also recorded some pieces. In addition, Roger's younger brother Willie accompanied him on the trip to San Antonio and is on the piece I'm Building A ??? with Rogers. (On The Moon) .

After Wink Lewis' departure from the region, Rogers opened his own record label JeWel Records. The name was derived from the first letters of the daughter of Rogers business partner and his own first letters. In April 1956, Rogers released a single by a young singer named Roy Orbison, who had recently signed with his band, the Teen Kings , to Rogers' label. However, the contract was declared invalid shortly afterwards because Orbison was not yet of legal age and his parents had not signed it. Therefore the record had to be taken out of the stores again. Sam Phillips , owner of Sun Records in Memphis , Tennessee , took the opportunity and signed Orbison instead and was able to produce Orbison's first hit with Ooby Dooby . Ironically, a year later, Rogers played himself with the Teen Kings at Imperial Records after Orbison had split up. Rogers recalled his time at Imperial as follows: “ I was signed to a contract. I went down to Wink, Texas, and got Roy Orbison's band, the one he had used on 'Ooby Dooby'. […] When I left [Texas] I had three songs written and on the way to the session with Roy's band in the car with me I said 'Well, if I don't get four songs to record to take back to Lew Chudd 'It's gonna be so long, good luck, goodbye!' “James Morrow, the band's mandolinist, said So Long, Good Luck, Goodbye were a good song title and, according to Rogers himself, he rode the rest of the way with one hand as he wrote the song with the other.

Together with his wife Wanda, Rogers recorded more records over the next few years until the couple divorced in 1968. One of her songs was Everybody Wants You , which was actually just a cover of Everybody's Tryin 'To Be My Baby . Rogers was under contract with K-Ark in the early 1970s and remarried in 1972. 1981 Rogers gave up his career as a musician; In 1989, after running various radio stations in Stamford , Texas and Grants , New Mexico , Rogers retired. In 1998, Bear Family Records released a CD of Rogers tracks called Tryin 'To Get To You .

Discography

Singles

year title Record company
1955 I'm Building A ??? (On The Moon) / Please Return My Broken Heart Queen Records
1957 So Long, Good Luck and Goodbye / Trying To Get To You 1 Imperial Records
195? Dim Lights, Thick Smoke / For Always; Yes Forever (with Willie Rogers as "The Rogers Brothers") Je-Wel Records
1959 Everybody Wants You / A Song Just For You (with Wanda Wolfe) Je-Wel Records
1960 Heaven's Back Door / Cimarron (with Wanda Wolfe) Je-Wel Records
1960 Lying Lips and Cheating Heart / If I Had One Day To Life (with Wanda Wolfe) Je-Wel Records
1960 Lying Lips and Cheating Heart / If I Had One Day To Life (with Wanda Wolfe) MGM Records
1965 Two Empty Glasses / Don't Steal My Style Chart records
Mr. Bullfrog / Wanna Buy a Cheap Guitar K-Ark 1024
Unpublished titles
  • The Sale of Broken Hearts
  • Trying To Get To You
 not published

1 Trying To Get To You (Imperial X5451) was really just a re-release of the Roy Orbison version.

Albums

  • 1998: Tryin 'To Get To You (Bear Family)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Adam Komowoski: From Boppin 'Hillbilly to Red Hot Rockabilly . Liner notes; P. 30
  2. ↑ Bob Millar: That'll Flat Git It !, Vol. 12 (1997), Liner Notes; Bear Family Records
personal data
SURNAME Rogers, Weldon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rogers, Weldon Nelson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country and rockabilly musician and producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH near Marietta (Oklahoma)
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 2004
Place of death Perryton (Texas)