Ronnie Hawkins - The Folk Ballads Of Ronnie Hawkins (1960)

Ronnie Hawkins is an American rockabilly singer.

Ronnie Hawkins' third album was an odd one. Presumeably it was Roulette Records' attempt to cash in on the folk boom and remarket him as a folk singer, but he was always going to be rockabilly at heart and so the outcome was quite odd. The album was recorded in Nashville with session musicians, and so didn't feature his usual backing band The Hawks. A couple of songs did have quite a hard edge to them and didn't sound too far from his rockabilly material (surprisingly one of these was a cover of George Gershwin's "Summertime"), but most of the album had a softer, acoustic-based folk-country-pop sound, and included a number of traditional folk songs. It was the sort of early 60s commercial 'folk' that had generated hits for other artists at the time but ultimately has not aged well.

It didn't succeed in re-inventing him as a folk star, and the experiment was short lived. But though his recording career was flagging, he was still putting on a great live show.

Mr Dynamo (1960) <|> Ronnie Hawkins Sings The Songs Of Hank Williams (1961)
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Ronnie Hawkins - Mr Dynamo (1960)

Ronnie Hawkins is an American rockabilly singer.

Ronnie Hawkins released his second album in 1960. His guitarist Jimmy Ray Paulman had by then returned home to Arkansas, and so was replaced by Fred Carter Jr., who joined fellow Hawks 'Pop' Jones (piano), 'Lefty' Evans (bass) and Levon Helm (drums). Mr Dynamo thus featured some excellent stinging lead guitar from Carter. Stylistically it was quite an odd blend of gritty rockabilly and a softer doo-wop / teen pop sound, and featured bizarre backing vocals and percussion on some songs. Nevertheless it was a fine record, Hawkins handling the pop material quite admirably (including a cover of "You Cheated (You Lied)", which had been a hit for The Shields in 1958). It also had covers of Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't" and Fats Domino's "Sick And Tired".

Two of the songs were actually written by a fifteen-year old fan called Robbie Robertson, who was waiting for his chance to join The Hawks as guitarist. Hawkins had taken him under his wing, and Robertson's chance to be a Hawk was soon to come...

Ronnie Hawkins (1959) <|> The Folk Ballads Of Ronnie Hawkins (1960)
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Ronnie Hawkins - Ronnie Hawkins (1959)

Ronnie Hawkins is an American rockabilly singer.

Ronnie Hawkins was born in Arkansas in 1935. It was in the 50s at the University of Arkansas that he began performing rockabilly, and formed his own group which he christened The Hawks. They toured around Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and Hawkins became known for his wild showmanship. He also owned his own rock & roll club in his hometown of Fayetteville. 

After a failed audition for Sun Records, Hawkins took the Hawks up to Canada in 1958 where they were enthusiastically recieved and were highly successful. In 1959 they managed to get signed to Roulette, and had a couple of modest hit singles, covers of Young Jessie's "Mary Lou" and Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" (retitled "Forty Days"). His debut album came out the same year, featuring both singles. At that point The Hawks consisted of guitarist Jimmy Ray Paulman, pianist Pop Jones, bassist Lefty Evans and a young drummer by the name of Levon Helm.

|> Mr Dynamo (1960)
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