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Jerry Capehart
Jerry Capehart		 Jerry Capehart was born in Goodman, Missouri in 1928, he died in Nashville June 7, 1998. Jerry Capehart was the producer and songwriter who, with Eddie Cochran, co-wrote the rock 'n' roll anthems 'Summertime Blues' and 'C'mon Everybody'. Capehart earned his first hit in 1951 with 'Beautiful Brown Eyes'. Rosemary Clooney took the song to No. 11 on the pop charts while Jimmy Wakely reached No. 5 with it on the country charts. Capehart was a music publisher when he met Cochran in October 1955 in Bell Gardens Music Centre in California. "I met him in a small music store," Capehart would tell journalists later. "I was in to buy guitar picks and he was looking for guitar strings. I had been searching for someone to make demonstration records of my songs and the store owner introduced me to Eddie, who I think was 17 at the time." Capehart pitched Dolphin the idea of cutting some Hillbilly sounds and came away with the promise of a one record deal although he had to give away his songs to get it – Dolphins name routinely appeared as the writer of any songs released on his labels. Backed by four black musicians with Hank and Eddie on guitars, Capehart recorded 'Rollin' and 'Walkin Stick Boogie' just before Christmas 1955 released on Cash 1021. Jerry Capehart became the manager of  Eddie Cochran and the two wrote 'Summertime Blues' in May 1958, and Cochran's rendition quickly reached No. 8. The song earned a timeless appeal with one of pop music's definitive teenage expressions of frustration: "I called my congressman and he said, quote, `I'd like to help you, son, but you're too young to vote." Capehart also wrote Glen Campbell's first hit single in 1961, 'Turn Around, Look At Me', and at times managed Campbell and impressionist Frank Gorshen. Jerry Capehart died in 1998, aged 69, at Baptist Hospital in Nashville from brain cancer. He had been in Nashville pitching a new song, 'Summertime Blues No. 2', to record labels on Music Row.
(This article is based on information from Wikipedia, the Remember Eddie Cochran Sessions pages, 'Don't Forget Me: The Eddie Cochran Story' by Julie Mundy & Darrel Higham and various sources on the internet).
   
Al Casey

Al Casey		 Al Casey, born Alvin W. Casey in Long Beach, California, October 26, 1936, died in Phoenix, Arizona September 17, 2006. Al Casey was a top session musician who worked with many leading American performers from the Sixties, including Duane Eddy, the Beach Boys and the Everly Brothers. He was raised in Phoenix, Arizona and began working at the age of 6 as a steel guitar player. Casey grew up with Sanford Clark and together they developed an interest in popular music. Clark sang in school productions, while Casey took guitar and piano lessons. In 1956, a local disc-jockey and wannabe record producer, Lee Hazlewood, started recording with him on his first productions and Sanford Clark's 'The Fool' was a US hit. Casey worked on several more of Hazlewood's singles as well as releasing his own instrumentals, 'Juice' and 'Guitar Man'. In November 1957 Casey went to Gold Star Studios to record 'Willa Mae', Al played lead whereas Eddie Cochran played rhythm. The song was released on Liberty 55117. Al Casey knew a schoolboy called Duane Eddy, and they worked out an arrangement for 'Movin' 'n' Groovin' and they recorded it in November 1957 for Eddy's first single. Casey wrote his hits 'Ramrod' and 'Forty Miles of Bad Road' as well as playing bass or piano on several others. In 1963 he had a minor hit with 'Surfin' Hootenanny'. In the mid-Sixties Casey became a session guitarist in Los Angeles, being featured on 'Sloop John B' and 'Good Vibrations' for the Beach Boys. He had sessions with Frank Sinatra and was part of the resident orchestra for Dean Martin's television series. He opened a guitar store in Hollywood before returning to Arizona in 1983. Casey spent his later years teaching and playing locally. Al Casey died in Phoenix, Arizona on 17 September 2006 .
(This article is based on information from Wikipedia, the Remember Eddie Cochran Sessions pages and Spencer Leigh in The Independent, Sept20, 2006).
   
Mike Clifford

Mike Clifford		 Mike Clifford signed with Liberty Records in 1959 and worked with Mark McIntire. Mark and mike got some some material together and as Mark was friends with Eddie Cochran, asked him to play on a session Of Mike Clifford. Mike Clifford himself was not on the instrumental session in the Summer of 1959; he sang to the track after it was laid down by the musicians with Eddie Cochran on guitar and Patience & Prudence providing the backing vocals. Mark Clifford: "I went down a few days later and listened to the track after they remixed it. That is when I met Eddie ... He was so nice to me. Singing on this track were Patience and Prudence ... Eddie was so gracious to me, so pleased to be on my record. He gave me such respect I didn't know what to say."
(This article is based on information from Alan Clark's 'Never To Be Forgotten' and the Remember Eddie Cochran Sessions pages).
   
Hank Cochran

Hank Cochran

Cochran Brothers (Hank Cochran and Eddie Cochran)

The Cochran Brothers		 Hank Cochran was born Garland Perry 'Hank' Cochran, August 2, 1935 in Isola, Mississippi, died July 15, 2010 in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Hank's parents divorced when he was nine years old. Hank moved to Memphis to live with his father for a while, but the hardscrabble post-Depression-era existence proved too much for them, and Hank was soon placed in an orphanage in Memphis. "I ran off two or three times," Hank recalls. "The last time I run off, he just took me back to Mississippi and took me to my grandparents. What little raising I had was from them." Hank's grandfather was a preacher who also filed saws for a living. At 10 years old, Hank was playing guitar and singing in church. He also had an uncle who played guitar, and like many young hopefuls, tuned in regularly to the Grand Ole Opry for musical inspiration. At 12 years old, Hank and his uncle hitchhiked from Mississippi to Hobbs, New Mexico, to work in the oilfields, working first as roustabouts, cleaning up after the drillers on the oil rigs, then roughnecking, drilling oil wells, for two years. Hank did return to Mississippi for a while, but was soon headed out to California, while still in his mid-teens. Once there he went to work at a Sears & Roebuck store in Los Angeles. With his additional education, a solid work ethic, and success at numerous amateur contests throughout the area under his belt, Hank began entertaining thoughts of forming a group to play at various clubs and events.
His search for a guitar player led him to one Eddie Cochran, who, though not related to him, certainly shared his passion for music. Hank: "Everybody knew Eddie; they said he was young, but he played really good guitar. My first impression was that he was fantastic." The two teens formed a rock 'n' roll duo called The Cochran Brothers. They appeared on KTTV's Town Hall Party and toured with country legend Lefty Frizzell. Hank: "We started off doing real country stuff like the Wilburn Brothers and people like that, then we wrote our own stuff like the Wilburn Brothers and people like that, then we wrote our own stuff which we later recorded for Ekko. Eddie was real easy-going and would run with just about everyone - he was easy to get along with. The girls all screamed and hollered and I just pushed him out there and let him have all of that." When the duo disbanded, Eddie found stardom in rock 'n' roll and Hank soon decided to make the move to Music City.
Hank arrived in Nashville in January 1960, and immediately began working with Pamper Music for a mere $50 a week. Along with his duties as a songwriter, he was also helping the company sign other writers and to acquire songs and get them recorded. Among those he brought on to the company's payroll was Willie Nelson. In April 1961 Hank was able to become a full-time songwriter, with the release of Patsy Cline's No. 1 smash, 'I Fall to Pieces', which he co-wrote with Harlan Howard. In fairly short order Hank was playing guitar with Justin Tubb on the Opry, touring some with Ray Price, had scored his first hit as a recording artist, with the Top 20, 'Sally Was a Good Old Girl', and earned three BMI Awards for songs he'd written on his own. “I always tried to make it short, make it sweet and make it rhyme,” Hank explained, discussing his approach to songwriting in an interview with Nashville’s City Paper in 2007.
Though known primarily as a songwriter, Hank Cochran made records well into his 60s. He released his final recording, 'Livin’ for a Song: A Songwriter’s Autobiography', on the Gifted Few label in 2002. Two of his fondest memories were working with Natalie Cole on a 2003 tribute album to Patsy Cline. Hank Cochran was suffering from pancreatic cancer when he died on July 15, 2010 in his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near Nashville. He was 74 years old. Hank Cochran is survived by his wife, Suzi; a daughter, Booth Calder; and three sons, all from his first marriage: Garland Perry Cochran Jr., James Lee Cochran and Daniel Cochran.
Hank Cochran's list of awards and honors include 1967: Walkway of Stars – Country Music Association, 1974: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2003: Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. Notable artists who have recorded his songs include: Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, Elvis Costello, Ella Fitzgerald, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Norah Jones, Loretta Lynn, Brad Paisley, Elvis Presley, Ray Price, Jim Reeves, Linda Ronstadt, Dinah Shore, Nancy Sinatra, Hank Williams Jr, Lee Ann Womack.
(This article is based on articles from www.hankcochran.com, Wikipedia, The New York Times, the Remember Eddie Cochran Sessions pages and 'Don't Forget Me: The Eddie Cochran Story' by Julie Mundy & Darrel Higham).
   
Riley Crabtree

Riley Crabtree		 Riley Crabtree was born in Mount Pleasant, Texas in 1912 on the farm of his parents. He was the youngest of eight brothers and sisters. At the young age of two he contracted polio and depended on crutches for the rest of his life. Riley was a big fan of both Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers. In 1945 Riley established his own band, The Hillbilly Ramblers, and in 1949 signed his first recording contract with the Talent label. His first two sessions constisted of Jimmie Rodgers songs with beautiful yodeling, later he seemed to be more impressed with Hank's style. He didn't copy any of the two. He soon developed his own country blues voice with such much feeling that the Grand Ole Opry wanted him as a regular in the early 50s. If he hadn't turned down that offer and not decided to stay near his home in the Dallas area to become a regular at the Big "D" Jamboree he might have been a 2nd Hank Williams. In 1955 he signed up with Ekko records and recorded 'Meet Me At Joes' and 'Don't Turn Away From Me' (Ekko 1019) with the Cochran Brothers as backing musicians. He recorded his last songs in 1965. Towards the end of the sixties Crabtree suffered a stroke and was confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. On April 1, 1984 an electric blanket caused a fire in Crabtree's house and took his life and two of his friends. His second wife Jane was able to escape the fire.
(This article is based on the CD booklet of Cattle Compact CD 317 Riley Crabtree 'When Hank Williams met Jimmie Rodgers', the Remember Eddie Cochran Sessions pages and various sources on the internet).