Rayburn Anthony, Still in Business!
Rayburn Anthony was born in Humboldt , Tennessee in 1937. He came from a large family, 5 brothers and 3
sisters. His brother Bob who is a few years older than Rayburn is a fine guitar player and Rayburn picked up
his own playing skills from Bob. Rayburn was asked to play rhythm guitar in a little band Bob played in and
pretty soon became the vocalist as the band kept getting requests for vocals and they were mainly playing
instrumentals.
Rayburn played at a little club near Jackson, Tennessee on a regular basis and as it was one of the few
clubs to stay open late the other local artists would drop in after their gigs. among them were W.S. Holland
drummer for Carl Perkins and Carl Mann who W.S. had discovered and recorded at Sun. They liked what
they heard when Rayburn sang and W.S. took him over to Sun. Rayburn thought the other musicians who
went with him were going to play with him but Sam just told him to sing a couple of songs accompanying
himself on piano. Sam was impressed and signed Rayburn up and they recorded a couple of weeks later.
His first release "St. Louis Blues" (Sun 333) was getting lots of local play and they were going to send him to
St. Louis to get some reaction there but the payola scandal was breaking and the trip was cancelled. Over
the next year or so Rayburn cut more than twenty songs for Sam producing three single releases. Rayburn
felt that Sam could see the changes coming in music and tried to steer Rayburn into the lighter side of rock
'n' roll. His second release "There's No Tomorrow" (Sun 339) showed the direction they were taking with a
strong melody but still that rocking feel. Rayburn has in his possession a tape of one of the last things he
cut "Moon Over The Mountains" on which Sam overdubbed some strings onto. The song has a great guitar
solo by Eddie Bush who played on most of Rayburn's sessions, as did T. Willie Stevenson on bass and
Tony Austin on drums. Rayburn and Tony would go on to write quite a few songs together. The final release
"How Well I Know" (Sun 373) followed the ballad pattern. Rayburn had he arrived at Sun earlier might have
followed into the same format as Warren Smith with country weepers and rockabilly but those couple of
extra years had music changing.
After the Sun contract ran out Rayburn began to write more and with a friend Gene Dobbins he wrote two
songs recorded by Sandy Posey one of them being the B side of her hit record "Born A Woman ". At this time
Rayburn was writing for Bill Black's music company and he later moved to Nashville where Scotty Moore
employed him at his recording studio which gave Rayburn time to write and develop his studio skills. His
songs began to be recorded by established artists and his impressive resume includes cuts on Charlie
Louvin and Melba Montgomery, Charley Pride, Vern Gosdin, Conway and Loretta and Jerry Lee Lewis. He
also worked at this time with Billy Walker as a front man and Billy recorded several of his songs including
"Sing Me A Love Song To Baby" which hit number one.
After this he worked on the road with Melba Montgomery. He recorded on Pete Drake's Stop label covering "I
Walk The Line" as a duet with Joyce Reynolds and providing a song "A Hundred Yards Of Real Estate" for
The Jordanaires Stop album. He did some more recording himself cutting 3 songs for Pappy Daily, one of
them a Tony Austin song was to be the first release on him for Musicor but a similarly titled song was out by
another artists and this stopped that.
His next road job was with Bobby Bare a happy 4 year stint and Bare got him a chance on Polydor Records.
This led to several chart records including "Maybe I Should Have Been Listening When You Said Goodbye."
He switched labels to Mercury and was produced by Jerry Kennedy and scored his highest chart record with
"Shadows Of Love." Around this time Rayburn visited Britain and toured with Scottish band Colorado who cut
some of his songs. He started to visit Sweden in the eighties and has averaged two trips a year there over
the past ten years. He has released four cd's in Sweden, but his latest recordings done on vintage
equipment with Wildfire Willie and The Ramblers veered back into rockabilly.
He also recorded his own version of "Sing Me A Love Song To Baby" and it sounds as though it was cut in
the fifties. Another of the recordings "Jackson Was Jumping" gives a name check to all those famous cats
who came from the area such as W.S. Holland, Carl Perkins, Kenny Parchman and Carl Mann. Rayburn
sang the song at the Rockabilly Festival in Jackson reunited with W.S. on drums and Dave Rowe of the
Johnny Cash band on bass and Jerry Elstrom (ex Perkins band) on guitar. Old pal Tony Austin was
backstage too.
Rayburn has also recorded some great new country songs and hopes in the near future to get to play some
dates in Britain and Europe. He just needs a call. You can e mail him at: rayburn@rayburnanthony.com
Rayburn has recorded a great new CD "Jackson Was Jumpin'" with Wildfire Willie & The Ramblers backing
him, read all about it!
Rayburn Anthony on the web: http://www.rayburnanthony.com
Courtesy of Jim Newcombe,
jnewcombe@oicanada.com
Rayburn Anthony was born in Humboldt , Tennessee in 1937. He came from a large family, 5 brothers and 3
sisters. His brother Bob who is a few years older than Rayburn is a fine guitar player and Rayburn picked up
his own playing skills from Bob. Rayburn was asked to play rhythm guitar in a little band Bob played in and
pretty soon became the vocalist as the band kept getting requests for vocals and they were mainly playing
instrumentals.
Rayburn played at a little club near Jackson, Tennessee on a regular basis and as it was one of the few
clubs to stay open late the other local artists would drop in after their gigs. among them were W.S. Holland
drummer for Carl Perkins and Carl Mann who W.S. had discovered and recorded at Sun. They liked what
they heard when Rayburn sang and W.S. took him over to Sun. Rayburn thought the other musicians who
went with him were going to play with him but Sam just told him to sing a couple of songs accompanying
himself on piano. Sam was impressed and signed Rayburn up and they recorded a couple of weeks later.
His first release "St. Louis Blues" (Sun 333) was getting lots of local play and they were going to send him to
St. Louis to get some reaction there but the payola scandal was breaking and the trip was cancelled. Over
the next year or so Rayburn cut more than twenty songs for Sam producing three single releases. Rayburn
felt that Sam could see the changes coming in music and tried to steer Rayburn into the lighter side of rock
'n' roll. His second release "There's No Tomorrow" (Sun 339) showed the direction they were taking with a
strong melody but still that rocking feel. Rayburn has in his possession a tape of one of the last things he
cut "Moon Over The Mountains" on which Sam overdubbed some strings onto. The song has a great guitar
solo by Eddie Bush who played on most of Rayburn's sessions, as did T. Willie Stevenson on bass and
Tony Austin on drums. Rayburn and Tony would go on to write quite a few songs together. The final release
"How Well I Know" (Sun 373) followed the ballad pattern. Rayburn had he arrived at Sun earlier might have
followed into the same format as Warren Smith with country weepers and rockabilly but those couple of
extra years had music changing.
After the Sun contract ran out Rayburn began to write more and with a friend Gene Dobbins he wrote two
songs recorded by Sandy Posey one of them being the B side of her hit record "Born A Woman ". At this time
Rayburn was writing for Bill Black's music company and he later moved to Nashville where Scotty Moore
employed him at his recording studio which gave Rayburn time to write and develop his studio skills. His
songs began to be recorded by established artists and his impressive resume includes cuts on Charlie
Louvin and Melba Montgomery, Charley Pride, Vern Gosdin, Conway and Loretta and Jerry Lee Lewis. He
also worked at this time with Billy Walker as a front man and Billy recorded several of his songs including
"Sing Me A Love Song To Baby" which hit number one.
After this he worked on the road with Melba Montgomery. He recorded on Pete Drake's Stop label covering "I
Walk The Line" as a duet with Joyce Reynolds and providing a song "A Hundred Yards Of Real Estate" for
The Jordanaires Stop album. He did some more recording himself cutting 3 songs for Pappy Daily, one of
them a Tony Austin song was to be the first release on him for Musicor but a similarly titled song was out by
another artists and this stopped that.
His next road job was with Bobby Bare a happy 4 year stint and Bare got him a chance on Polydor Records.
This led to several chart records including "Maybe I Should Have Been Listening When You Said Goodbye."
He switched labels to Mercury and was produced by Jerry Kennedy and scored his highest chart record with
"Shadows Of Love." Around this time Rayburn visited Britain and toured with Scottish band Colorado who cut
some of his songs. He started to visit Sweden in the eighties and has averaged two trips a year there over
the past ten years. He has released four cd's in Sweden, but his latest recordings done on vintage
equipment with Wildfire Willie and The Ramblers veered back into rockabilly.
He also recorded his own version of "Sing Me A Love Song To Baby" and it sounds as though it was cut in
the fifties. Another of the recordings "Jackson Was Jumping" gives a name check to all those famous cats
who came from the area such as W.S. Holland, Carl Perkins, Kenny Parchman and Carl Mann. Rayburn
sang the song at the Rockabilly Festival in Jackson reunited with W.S. on drums and Dave Rowe of the
Johnny Cash band on bass and Jerry Elstrom (ex Perkins band) on guitar. Old pal Tony Austin was
backstage too.
Rayburn has also recorded some great new country songs and hopes in the near future to get to play some
dates in Britain and Europe. He just needs a call. You can e mail him at: rayburn@rayburnanthony.com
Rayburn has recorded a great new CD "Jackson Was Jumpin'" with Wildfire Willie & The Ramblers backing
him, read all about it!
Rayburn Anthony on the web: http://www.rayburnanthony.com
Courtesy of Jim Newcombe,
jnewcombe@oicanada.com
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| Dixie Fried Music |
Rayburn Anthony
Jackson Was Jumpin', Rayburn Anthony
Vampirella Music, 2001
Rayburn has been around for a long long time, starting off at Sun
Records in 1960. Since then he became a respected songwriter
and singer-performer with a fabulous voice. And now we write the
year 2001 and Rayburn, aged 64, has recorded a new CD that
beautifully displays his abilities as a songwriter as well as his
superb capabillities as a vocalist. This brand new CD was
recorded in Sweden with no one less than Wildfire Willie & The
Ramblers backing him. Wildfire Willie have made quite a new for
themselves on the European rockabilly scene and it's great to hear
them perform with a legendary voice like Rayburn's.
The CD contains 14 great tracks, both country and rockabilly music, 10 of which were written by Rayburn
himself. The album starts with the title track "Jackson Was Jumpin'". Rayburn tells the rockabilly story of his
homestead Jackson, Tennessee, in a Sun style rockabilly rhythm.
I don't really want to compare Rayburns music with other great performer, but Johnny Cash undoubtedly
comes to mind when you listen to this song. "Dance" is another great rockabilly song and Wildfire Willie &
The Ramblers make it sound as if it were recorded on 706 Union in the late 50's, you just gotta love it.
Rayburn can sing and play all different styles of rockabilly music, just listen to "Since You've Gone" and tell if
you too hear some authentic Carl styles of rockabilly music, just listen to "Since You've Gone" and tell if you
too hear some authentic Carl Mann in this Anthony original? No time to set your feet at ease, bop right on
thru with the fast paced "On My Way To Gothenburg". Fats Domino's rhythm & blues classic "Let The Four
Winds Blow" is set to a Sun Rhythm too and you'll surely love Hank Williams' "Fraulein", sung in a Johnny
Cash style.
Rhythm too and you'll surely love Hank Williams' "Fraulein", sung in a Johnny Cash style.
Simple, but beautiful just because of that, is "If She Looked At Me", you could swear this was recorded 40
years ago. Somewhat strange, but nevertheless catching, is Jay Epae's "Puti-Puti", with some great steel
guitar. Time for a ballad, time to catch your breath, with "Sing Me A Love Song". The traditional "Rollin' In My
Sweet Baby's Arms" is credited to Monroe on the inside cover, although I thought it was a Roy Acuff song.
Anyway, it sounds great with the uptempo rockabilly beat.
"Redneck Crowd", Rayburn being the redneck in this song, is a rockabilly autobiographic lovesong and the
fabulous closer "Joe's Place" is sure to rock your socks off, with the Ramblers playing their best! If you love
the original Sun Sound as much as I do, this Rayburn Anthony album - recorded in Sweden, not in
Tennessee - is a must for you! Let's hope we can enjoy much more of Rayburn music in the near future.
E-mail Rayburn if you wish at: Rayburn233@aol.com
Reviewed by The BlackCat, 2001
Vampirella Music, 2001
Rayburn has been around for a long long time, starting off at Sun
Records in 1960. Since then he became a respected songwriter
and singer-performer with a fabulous voice. And now we write the
year 2001 and Rayburn, aged 64, has recorded a new CD that
beautifully displays his abilities as a songwriter as well as his
superb capabillities as a vocalist. This brand new CD was
recorded in Sweden with no one less than Wildfire Willie & The
Ramblers backing him. Wildfire Willie have made quite a new for
themselves on the European rockabilly scene and it's great to hear
them perform with a legendary voice like Rayburn's.
The CD contains 14 great tracks, both country and rockabilly music, 10 of which were written by Rayburn
himself. The album starts with the title track "Jackson Was Jumpin'". Rayburn tells the rockabilly story of his
homestead Jackson, Tennessee, in a Sun style rockabilly rhythm.
I don't really want to compare Rayburns music with other great performer, but Johnny Cash undoubtedly
comes to mind when you listen to this song. "Dance" is another great rockabilly song and Wildfire Willie &
The Ramblers make it sound as if it were recorded on 706 Union in the late 50's, you just gotta love it.
Rayburn can sing and play all different styles of rockabilly music, just listen to "Since You've Gone" and tell if
you too hear some authentic Carl styles of rockabilly music, just listen to "Since You've Gone" and tell if you
too hear some authentic Carl Mann in this Anthony original? No time to set your feet at ease, bop right on
thru with the fast paced "On My Way To Gothenburg". Fats Domino's rhythm & blues classic "Let The Four
Winds Blow" is set to a Sun Rhythm too and you'll surely love Hank Williams' "Fraulein", sung in a Johnny
Cash style.
Rhythm too and you'll surely love Hank Williams' "Fraulein", sung in a Johnny Cash style.
Simple, but beautiful just because of that, is "If She Looked At Me", you could swear this was recorded 40
years ago. Somewhat strange, but nevertheless catching, is Jay Epae's "Puti-Puti", with some great steel
guitar. Time for a ballad, time to catch your breath, with "Sing Me A Love Song". The traditional "Rollin' In My
Sweet Baby's Arms" is credited to Monroe on the inside cover, although I thought it was a Roy Acuff song.
Anyway, it sounds great with the uptempo rockabilly beat.
"Redneck Crowd", Rayburn being the redneck in this song, is a rockabilly autobiographic lovesong and the
fabulous closer "Joe's Place" is sure to rock your socks off, with the Ramblers playing their best! If you love
the original Sun Sound as much as I do, this Rayburn Anthony album - recorded in Sweden, not in
Tennessee - is a must for you! Let's hope we can enjoy much more of Rayburn music in the near future.
E-mail Rayburn if you wish at: Rayburn233@aol.com
Reviewed by The BlackCat, 2001
| Jackson was Jumpin |
| Dance |