Subtitled, "Arizona Rockabilly, Volume 1, " this cobbles together 30 examples of groundfloor rock & roll as it invaded the Phoenix and surrounding music scenes in the 1950s. Revolving around essentially two or three studios (Floyd Ramsey at Audio Recorders and Porter and Viv, on the other end of town), Phoenix came out with Duane Eddy and his guitar alter ego, Al Casey, and most of the offerings aboard either showcase how country music got boppin' in the mid-'50s or how everybody started making Duane Eddy records in the wake of his world-wide success. Along the trail of ducktail haircuts are some pretty impressive outings by black vocal group the Tads ("Mixed Up Mama"), piano pounder Rusty Isabell ("Firewater"), Chicano rocker Benny Banta ("Cry Little Girlie"), guitar scratcher Don Cole ("Stop" and the solos on Duane Turley's "Long Gone Cat"), and Cheek-O-Vass and Sola-Tears, making this a no hit, no stars compilation that still packs a potent musical wallop. Al Casey is all over these recordings, present on almost half of the assembled tracks, contributing high voltage solos on a number of them. An area genre retrospective that gets a deluxe treatment all the way.
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In 1999, Bear Family released a compilation of obscure rockers from the great southwest titled Rockin' And Boppin' In the Desert - Arizona Rockabilly Vol. 1. Due to the popularity of that album, Bear Family returned to the dusty boxes and shelves for this second volume. And it's even better than the first! The compilation includes ultra-obscure singles, many coining big bucks when and if they turn up for sale, plus six hot unreleased tunes. A few of these desert discs actually saw light on national labels but most are from obscure small Arizona label imprints. Several performers from Vol. One return for an encore here including Jimmy Dell, Gene Maltais, Jimmy Johnson, Lonesome Long John Roller, Rusty Isabell, and guitar greats Al Casey and Don Cole of course. Also featured are early tracks by Skip & Flip as The Pledges, writer/producer George Richey, western favorite Rex Allen and teen throb Curtis Lee. Buddy Holly fans will appreciate the previously unreleased track by one of the Crickets, Niki Sullivan, and a great rockin' version of Rave On by Waylon Jennings, both with that special Holly sound. Altogether, there are 30 more jumping and thumping tracks of Arizona musical history from 1955-1965.