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DUCKTAILS, DRIVE-INS AND BROKEN HEARTS
An Unsweetened Look At 50s Music
Hank Davis / Excelsior Editions / 337pp

How I missed this when it was first published in
2023 I really don’t know, especially with a title
like that. Still, better late than never I suppose,
and it was the title of the book that drew me to it,
I’m so glad it did.

The author, Hank Davis, is a professor emeritus
of psychology whose interest in music began as
he grew up in 1950’s New York. Over the past

forty years he has compiled, annotated and
produced over one hundred LPs, CDs and box
sets, as well as writing numerous magazine
articles about ‘50’s music.

Although the Sun Record label and its artists
feature quite heavily, there are other stories
and labels included. For instance, have you
heard of Huelyn Duvall or Rockin’ Eddy Bell?
How about Ben Hewitt? No, me neither, so I
consulted my mate Trevor who collects rare
and hard to find rock-a-billy discs and at-
tends many of the revival gigs around the
country. Yep! He’d heard of them of course.
Their stories are all here and believe me, it’s
wonderful to read about them. I was around in the early ‘50’s sure,
but American youngsters were producing that style of music first. My introduction to rock and
roll came a couple of years later. Hearing “Lucille” by Little Richard on a juke box in Belgium
changed my world.

Right, back to this fabulous book and tales from backstage, motel rooms and on the road, the
kind of stuff you probably won’t find in many other publications. The author has ‘lived it’ as
they say and we can enjoy every moment of these people’s stories from so long ago.

Hank Davis is a great writer, with humour throughout, especially the chapter on Doo-Wop
groups.

It was difficult to put this book down, possibly because it’s the kind of music I also grew up with,
O.K; maybe a couple of years later, but I still love hearing songs by the likes of The Five Satins
and of course Little Richard. So, as Bobby Ball might say “Rock on”.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bob Pearce