ROCKABILLY
Charlie Feathers - Way in the Night
Charlie Feathers, Rockabilly's Main Man http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/feathers.htm
Charles Arthur Feathers, born June 12, 1932, was rockabilly personified. Although popular myth and Charlie's own tall tales sometimes clouded the truth surrounding his career, one fact is certain, Feathers possessed an uncanny feel for rockabilly music, unmatched by few performers. This ambience that he embued each of his records and live shows with placed his music within a focal position from which rockabilly music has since been judged. But this is only a retrospective view begging the question of Charlie's lack of success. Why did Feathers not reap the benefits of a million selling record? Colin Escott may have the answer, \"In a very real sense, Charlie Feathers has been his own worst enemy\", which he substantiated by stating \"...a mixture of impatience, bad luck and misjudgment brought him back to the bitter reality of playing the lowlife bars and eking out an existence on the fringes of the local music scene\". Peter Guralnick, in his work 'Lost Highway', drew a similar conclusion, \"Most of all, though, what seems to have held Charlie Feathers back was an absence of polish, an inability to adapt, the same forthright and unsophisticated manner that creates a wall of isolation around him even today\". It was probably this 'wall of isolation' that prevented his name from ever appearing on Billboard's Hot 100, let alone receiving a mention in any of the other trade papers of the day. Nevertheless, his records, whether they be his early outings on Sun, Meteor and King or his later efforts for Philwood and Pompadour, are testament to the true genius of the late, great Charlie Feathers, rockabilly's main man.
Charles Arthur Feathers was born in Slayden, Mississippi, just outside of Holly Springs and around fifty miles southeast of Memphis on June 12, 1932. Growing up on his parents farm, he became interested in music at a young age, singing in church and regularly tuning in to WSM's 'Grand Ole Opry'. The Opry offered Charlie his first fleeting taste of Bill Monroe, who would soon become a formative influence on him, along with the Negro sharecropper's who worked the fields in the Mississippi backwoods. One field hand in particular, Junior Kimbrough (and not Kimball as previously stated) introduced Charlie to the acoustic guitar, providing him with valuable lessons which he eagerly absorbed.
By the age of nine, Feathers had become an adept guitarist. He then began developing his unique vocal style which, no doubt, was strongly patterned after that of Bill Monroe whose seminal bluegrass records for Columbia from the late forties were probably well known to him. Feathers was also fortunate enough to glimpse Monroe at close range who, on more than one occasion, toured through nearby Hudsonville with his tent show. These live performances left an indelible mark on Charlie and would remain with him for the rest of his life, as he mentioned to Peter Guralnick, \"And Bill Monroe, he used to come through Hudsonville, set up tents and all, man I thought it was the greatest thing I ever heard. Well, you see, I loved bluegrass all my life, but I never did know how to play it\"... more here: http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/feathers.htm
Label: Norton
Country: USA
Catalogue: 45-015
Date: 1992
