Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight: Juke Joint Johnny

by Red Sovine

Overview

Red Sovine's 2012 installment in Bear Family's ongoing country boogie & rockabilly series is called Juke Joint Johnny after the 1957 single that may be the high-water mark for Sovine's wild side. The other 30 songs on this cracking little compilation usually follow this path, collecting jumping, swinging boogie he cut in the '50s for MGM and Decca, songs that are a far cry from the honky tonk and truck-driving anthems that brought Sovine fame in the late '60s and '70s (Ace's 2005 compilation of this period is called Honky Tonks, Truckers & Tears, which gives you an idea how these singles are perceived). There are a fair number of weepers and shuffles in the vein of Hank Williams -- Sovine was an adept mimic of Hank's phrasing, something he played to his advantage later on his hits -- but a good chunk of the sides here are jubilant country boogie, Red riding the rhythm with an evident grin on his face. "Juke Joint Johnny" is the place where it gets wildest thanks in no small part to the crackling, kinetic guitar, but he sounds supremely sly lying back on the shuffle "Wild Beating Heart," exuberant on "Don't Drop It" and "How Do You Think I Feel" (later to be covered by Elvis Presley in a very similar arrangement), barrels through Gene & Eunice's R&B rocker "Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)" and gets thick and swampy on "The Cajun Queen." Very little of this material has shown up on CD -- the breakthrough "Why Baby Why," which he cut with Webb Pierce just after George Jones released his original (the pair wound up besting Possum on the charts) often pops up -- so this is valuable historically but better still, this is simply thoroughly entertaining: Sovine may still have been finding his commercial niche but as he tried on different styles he not only demonstrated his diversity but he cut some of his most lasting music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	10/12/2012
Label:	Bear Family Records
UPC:	4000127172686
Rank:	115059

Tracks

1. Okey Dokey
2. When I Get Rich
3. Sundown Sue
4. You're Barking Up the Wrong Tree Now
5. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away the Key)
6. The Intoxicated Rat (My Little Rat 1)
7. I'll Worry You Out of My Mind
8. Billy Goat Boogie
9. Don't Worry
10. Till Today
11. It'd Surprise You
12. Farewell, So Long, Goodbye
13. Sixteen Tons
14. Juke Joint Johnny
15. I Hope You Don't Care
16. My Little Rat (2)
17. No Thanks, Bartender
18. You're Calling Me Sweetheart Again
19. Why Baby Why
20. Wild Beating Heart
21. You Used to Be My Baby
22. Don't Drop It
23. How Do You Think I Feel
24. Down On the Corner of Love
25. Poor Man's Riches
26. Are You Mine
27. Courtin' Time in Tennessee
28. Hold Everything (Till I Get Home)
29. Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)
30. Four Arms
31. The Cajun Queen

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Red Sovine   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Goldie Hill   Primary Artist,Vocals
Webb Pierce   Vocals,Choir/Chorus,Featured Artist
Farris Coursey   Drums
Ray Edenton   Guitar
Owen Bradley   Piano
Hoyt Hawkins   Vocals
Floyd Cramer   Piano
Henry Strzelecki   Bass
Thomas Lee Jackson Jr.   Fiddle
Hugh Gordon Stoker   Vocals
Ernest Ernie Newton   Bass
Walter L. "Hank Sugarfoot" Garland   Guitar
Sonny Burnette   Guitar (Steel)
Ike Inman   Bass
Neal Matthews, Jr.   Vocals
Allen Dale Potter   Fiddle
Thomas Grady Martin   Guitar
Charles R. "Charlie" McCoy   Harmonica
Harold Ray Bradley   Guitar
Murrey M. "Buddy" Harman Jr.   Drums
Cecil Bailey   Sax (Baritone)
Raymond C. Walker Jr.   Vocals
Ted Rains   Guitar
The Jordanaires   Vocal Group
Chet Atkins   Guitar
Floyd T. Lightnin' Chance   Bass

Technical Credits

Lattie Moore   Composer
Roger Miller   Composer
Benny Barnes   Composer
Ben Trace   Composer
Fred Rose   Composer
Webb Pierce   Composer
Gabe Tucker   Composer
Merle Travis   Composer
Wayne Walker   Composer
Robert Riley   Composer
Owen Bradley   Producer
Red Hayes   Composer
Red Sovine   Leader,Composer
Leon Payne   Composer
Hank Williams   Composer
Clem Watts   Composer
Richard Weize   Discography
Buck Owens   Composer
George Jones   Composer
Stefan Kohne   Reissue Producer
Eunice Levy   Composer
Jim Amadeo   Composer
Buddy Dee   Composer
Pat Twitty   Composer
Andreas Merck   Photo Scanning
Jimmy Dale   Composer
R.A. Andreas   Photography,Illustrations
Happy Wilson   Composer
Forest Wilson   Composer
Christian Zwarg   Mastering,Disc Transfers
Dee Marais   Composer
Don Grashey   Composer
Myrna Petrunka   Composer
Jake Porter   Composer
Tommy Coley   Composer
Fred Shoemaker   Composer
Randy Fox   Liner Notes,Biographical Information
Frank Decker   Composer
Darrell Haden   Composer
Dave Miller   Composer
Dick Spottwood   Photography,Illustrations
Jimmie Eaton   Composer
Joab Jones   Composer
Joseph Raffsale Jr.   Composer
Kenny Manges   Composer
Sam Martin   Composer
Terry Shand   Composer
Chet Atkins   Producer
Curly Kinsey   Composer
Ed Lay   Composer
Terry Fell   Composer