By any standard,
Rusty York
is an obscure early rock & roller, cutting a handful of singles on several labels during the late '50s and early '60s yet scoring only one hit single --
"Sugaree"
in 1959 -- and, at least according to
Billboard
, it wasn't even much of a hit, peaking at 77. Charts can be deceiving, and
was more popular than most singles that peak at 77, sticking around on radio and jukeboxes for many a year, and turning into one of the great one-shot
rock & roll
singles of the late '50s. But to define
York
's career merely in terms of
does him a disservice since he was quite active and versatile, playing with
Jimmie Skinner
in
bluegrass
groups early in his career and spending time on the road with
Bobby Bare
in the '60s, playing in his backing bands and taking the opening act slot. And, as
Bear Family
's 2004 set
Rusty Rocks
proves, he did a fair amount of recording, bouncing between
Jewel
,
Gee Dee
, and
Chess
during the '60s.
rounded up these sides, including unreleased takes, plus tracks he recorded as a member of
the Cajuns
and in an atypical
teen pop
vocal duet with
Bonnie Lou
. This isn't complete -- in the excellent liner notes by
Colin Escott
, there are some allusions to sessions that don't seem to appear on the disc -- but it's close enough for most listeners, and by concentrating on
's
rockabilly
and
(throwing in the
"Don't Do It"
and a couple of
country
-leaning tunes), it gives the sense of cohesion. Much of this is quite good -- nothing that tears it up like
"Sugaree,"
but there are a lot of little gems, from a bunch of effectively skeletal readings of
standards
(
"Mean Woman Blues,"
"The Girl Can't Help It,"
"Peggy Sue,"
"Great Balls of Fire"
) to originals like the rollicking, sax-fueled ravers
"Sadie Mae"
"Tore Up Over You,"
the swaggering
"Tremblin',"
and the terrific
"Goodnight Cincinnati, Good Morning Tennessee,"
an excellent fusion of
Johnny Cash
story-song and teenage
. Some of this is a bit generic, but in an enjoyable way, and those aforementioned highlights make this worth seeking out for hardcore lovers of pre-
Beatles
. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine