Additionally, Donegan was extremely charismatic as a performer, and not just within the context of his time -- he would have found some kind of audience at almost any point in the 1950s in England. John Cole - Harmonica 1958
Unlike a lot of American rock & roll of the mid-'50s, and even more British attempts at the music from the same period and after, Donegan's music remains eminently enjoyable and enlivening. In six months, "Rock Island Line" sold three million copies, 50 times the initial sales of the album it came from, an extraordinary figure in anyone's accounting. Grand Coulee Dam
He also gained access to more American records than ever before, courtesy of the U.S. soldiers serving in the city. The Ken Colyer Jazzmen, as they were called, specialized in Dixieland jazz, and built a formidable reputation, their shows popular in every club they played. Listen to Lonnie Donegan in unlimited on Qobuz and buy the albums in Hi-Res 24-Bit for an unequalled sound quality. And he did it in 1954, before Elvis was known anywhere outside of Memphis and before Bill Haley was perceived as anything but a Western swing novelty act. Donegan's attempt at a recording comeback late in the '60s was unsuccessful, but in 1974, a new boomlet for skiffle music in Germany brought him on tour and into the studio anew, and the following year he and Chris Barber toured together and recorded a new long-player, The Great Re-Union Album. ); Chris Barber (bass); Beryl Bryden (washboard). He was successful enough, however, to be brought over to America to appear on the Perry Como Show, followed by an appearance on the Paul Winchell Show. In 1978, however, he was back in the studio, recording the album that was his first chart entry in 15 years, Putting on the Style, an all-star skiffle-style album that teamed Donegan with Ringo Starr, Elton John, Brian May, Peter Banks, and other stars and superstars of rock who owed their entry into music to "Rock Island Line."
While Donegan was racking up hits -- "Bring a Little Water, Sylvie" (number seven), "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O" (number four), "Cumberland Gap (number six), and "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On the Bedpost Overnight?" It was during these shows, between sets by the full band, that Donegan would come on-stage with two other players and perform his own version of American blues, country, and folk standards, punched up with his own rhythms and accents, on acoustic guitar or banjo, backed by upright bass and drums. Donegan and his band eventually hooked back up with his old friend Chris Barber, who'd kept his band going throughout the previous two years, and eventually Barber and Donegan linked up with fellow jazzman Ken Colyer, into a kind of supergroup led by Colyer. For LP, just put in Title. How Long How Long Blues
Tops at Loving You 6. The album sold 60,000 copies in its first month of release, a huge number in England at that time for a debut album by a homegrown jazz group. He'd left the Barber band by then -- though Barber continued to play on his records into the middle of the following year -- enticed into a solo career by offers of huge amounts of money to embark on a solo performing career. Frankie and Johnny 5.
Golden Hour [UK] GH 514 Lonnie Donegan's' Golden Hour Of Golden Hits: Rock Island Line; Jack ODiamonds; Tom Dooley; Puttin On The Style; Im Alabammy Bound; The single had a 22-week run on the English charts, peaking at number eight. Donegan proved to be a popular performer in America, playing on bills with Chuck Berry, among others. In concert, the group's sound was fuller still, with Donegan and Wright sharing guitar chores with bearded, bespectacled Dick Bishop, who had played on Donegan's earliest records. It was an enormous hit in 1956 (which also later inspired the creation of a full album, An Englishman Sings American Folk Songs, released in America on the Mercury label in the early 1960s) but ironically, because it was a band recording, Donegan made no money from this recording beyond his original session fee. The name stuck. Nov 20/21, 1998 Whitla Hall, Belfast (The Skiffle Sessions with Van Morrison, Chris Barber, et al), I Know Where I'm Going unissued LD9 C C Rider (Going Down The Road) " LD9, She Was Big, She Was Blonde, She Was Beautiful " LD9. Subscription from $10.83/month Streaming plans In six months, "Rock Island Line" sold three million copies, 50 times the initial sales of the album it came from, an extraordinary figure in anyone's accounting. In concert, the group's sound was fuller still, with Donegan and Wright sharing guitar chores with bearded, bespectacled Dick Bishop, who had played on Donegan's earliest records.
Jack O' Diamonds, Lonnie Donegan Hit Parade -- Vol 5
Dead or Alive, SESSION: August 22/23, 1956
Anthony James Donegan [birth name], Tony Donegan, The King of Skiffle, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, Live 1957 The Complete Conway Hall Concert, I Wanna Go Home (with Van Morrison) [USA], Bring a Little Water, Sylvie / Dead or Alive, Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O / I'm Alabammy Bound, My Dixie Darling / I'm Just a Rolling Stone, The Grand Coolie Dam / Nobody Loves Like an Irishman, Sally Don't You Grieve / Betty Betty Betty, Lonesome Traveller / Times Are Getting Hard Boys, Lonnie's Skiffle Party (Part 1) / Lonnie's Skiffle Party (Part 2), Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?) . Donegan was suddenly a star, with a public that wanted more music from him. Have A Drink On Me, Pat Halcox - Keyboards, Vocals 1954
Decca gave up on Donegan soon after, believing that skiffle was a flash-in-the-pan fad. Donegan and his band eventually hooked back up with his old friend Chris Barber, who'd kept his band going throughout the previous two years, and eventually Barber and Donegan linked up with fellow jazzman Ken Colyer, into a kind of supergroup led by Colyer. They were successful enough that the National Jazz Federation asked the band to play a show at Festival Hall with American ragtime pianist Ralph Sutton and blues/jazz legend Lonnie Johnson. Bob Watson - Vocals 1955, Lonnie Donegan - Guitars, Vocals, Banjo
Suddenly, his manager was getting offers of $1500 a week for concert appearances in cities from Cleveland to New York -- that in a day when $800 was a year's wage in England to people of Donegan's generation. Ron Bowden - Drums, Denny Wright - Guitars 1956
2000, Jazz - Released by RevOla on 22 jul. He got something more valuable from it than money, however, for "Rock Island Line" was credited to "The Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group." BINGO! Two tracks were omitted from the original recording. Before long, he was working backwards from Josh White to Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, and Leadbelly, among others, and by the end of the '40s, Donegan was as literate in American blues as anyone born in England. By 1980, he was making regular concert appearances again, and a new album with Barber followed. Carter's "Wabash Cannonball."
Another compelling glimpse of the group can be found in the British jukebox movie The Six-Five Special (1957), based on the popular television series of the period, in which Donegan rips through a killer live rendition of "Jack 'O Diamonds," as well as a fine cover of Woody Guthrie's "The Grand Coulee Dam." WebLonnie Donegan Discography 1954 - 1961 Adapted from 'The Skiffle Craze' by Mike Dewe ~ Planet Books www.hillmanweb.com/rock/donegan/02.html New Orleans Joys - 1954
Times Are Getting Hard Boys. His next single for Decca, "Diggin' My Potatoes," cut at an October 30, 1954 concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, was banned by the BBC for its suggestive lyrics -- this hurt sales but also gave Donegan a slight veneer of daring and rebelliousness that didn't hurt his credibility with the kids. Carter's "Wabash Cannonball." Subscription from 12,50/month Lonnie Donegans Golden Hour Of Golden Hits, Lonnie Donegans Golden Hour Of Golden Hits Vol. It was country & western and blues records, especially those by Frank Crumit and Josh White, that really attracted Donegan's interests. They found the record's rhythm to be infectious and its sound alluring in a way that no record by anyone from England ever had before. To look at Lonnie Donegan today, in pictures taken 40 years ago when he was topping the British charts and hitting the Top Ten in America, dressed in a suit, his hair cut short and strumming an acoustic guitar, he looks like a musical non-entity. Currie was not only more folk oriented than Wright, but also wrote songs, although Wright would turn up on Donegan sessions as late as 1965. New artists, most notably Tommy Steele and, later, Cliff Richard, started out playing skiffle music and put their own stamp on the material before moving on to other sounds. WebInformation on Lonnie Donegan. Dick Bishop - Guitars, Vocals 1955
He had left the Barber band by then, and by the spring of 1955, Donegan signed a recording contract with Pye. above March 1958 sessions, Pye Studios, London, Baby Don't You Know That's Love unissued CD3, c.October 1958 poss Pye Studios, London (Les Bennetts, gtr), Lonnie's Skiffle Party - Pt.1 N 15165 CD3, Bewildered ("Relax with Lonnie") NEP 24107 CD3, c.November 1958 Scottish TV Studios, Glasgow, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour N 15181, P 2042107 CD4, My Only Son Was Killed In Dublin (Dying Rebel) unissued CD4, Battle Of New Orleans ("ruddy British") N 15206 LD2, Battle Of New Orleans ("bloomin' British") N 15206 CD4, c. early September, 1959 Royal Aquarium, Great Yarmouth, September 10/11, 1959 Pye Studios, London (Clyde Valley Stompers), October 22, 1959 Pye Studios, London ("Lonnie Rides Again"), Talking Guitar Blues (British version) N 15237 CD4, c.February 1960 Gaumont Cinema, Doncaster, My Old Man's A Dustman (alt) Polydor 2042 107 LD8, March 5, 1960 New York City ("Yankee Doodle Donegan"), Nobody Understands Me NEP 24127, Atl 2063 CD5, March 10, 1960 New York City (George Barnes, gtr), Sorry, But I'm Gonna Have To Pass NEP 24127, Atl 2123 CD5, Black Cat (Crossed My Path Today) N 15312 CD5, c.August 1961 Winter Gardens Pavilion Theatre, Blackpool, I'll Never Fall In Love Again N 15446 CD6, I'll Never Fall In Love Again (alt) unissued CD6, c.May 1962 Pye Studios, London ("Sing Hallelujah") (Denny Wright, gtr), Good News, Chariot's A'Comin' NPL 18073 CD6, Noah Found Grace In The Eyes Of The Lord " CD6, c.November 1962 poss Brighton, Sussex (w. Max Miller), Cajun Joe (The Bully of the Bayou) (F639) Hick 1345 CD7, Fisherman's Luck (F640) N 15679, Hick 1267 CD7, Louisiana Man (F641) N 15893, Hick 1299 CD7, Interstate Forty (alt) (F642) NPL 18126 CD7, There's A Big Wheel (F644) N 15679, Hick 1267 CD7, Lovey Told Me Goodbye (F647) Hick 1299 CD7, c. early 1965 IBC or Marquee Studios, London ("The Folk Album"), Where In This World Are We Going " , N 15993 CD7, c.June 1965 IBC or Marquee Studios, London, c.October 1966 poss London (Joe Brown, bjo), Who Knows Where The Time Goes " ,F12984 LD1, Come To Australia (Great Uncle Albert Is Dead) Intercord 145001 LP, Jump Down, Turn Around (Pick A Bale of Cotton) Ariola 12604 LD5, 1974 Peer Studios, Hamburg, Germany ("Lonnie Donegan Meets Leinemann"), Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour " LP, 1975 Peer Southern Studio ("Lonnie Donegan Meets Leinemann - Country Roads"), 1975 Bonn, Germany (Chris Barber Great Reunion Concert), June 5, 1975 Fairford Hall, Croydon ("The Great Reunion Album"), Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour Intercord 145 001 LP, Hit Me Across The Head With A Spoon Mama " LP, March 2, 1977 Air Recording Studios, Oxford St., London (Wrigley's Jingles), 1981 ("The Shakin' Pyramids & Lonnie Donegan" EP), June 5, 1981 ("Lonnie Donegan Jubilee Concert"), 1984 ("Hooked On Number Ones - 100 Non-stop Hits"), 1987 (Monty Sunshine - "Mama Don't Allow"), Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me Pinorrekk HB-P-7012, Issued 1998 ("Muleskinner Blues") (with Van Morrison *), This album was originally called Rock Island Line Rolls On. The three laid down four or five songs while the producer was away, and one of the songs chosen from among those five for the album was "Rock Island Line." WebIt was over half a century ago in 1958, as Lonnie Donegan was ruling the charts with Rock Island Line, that Joe joined his first band, the Spacemen Skiffle Group, at the age of 17. Shop for Vinyl, CDs and more from Lonnie Donegan at the Discogs Marketplace. The man extending the invitation was Chris Barber, himself an aspiring young jazzman. Donegan cut his first album, Showcase, in the summer of 1956, featuring songs by bluesmen Leadbelly and Leroy Carr, not to mention moody traditional blues like "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and A.P. The three laid down four or five songs while the producer was away, and one of the songs chosen from among those five for the album was "Rock Island Line."
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