Werly Fairburn, "My Heart's On Fire" c/w "Speak To Me Baby," Savoy 45-1509 (rel. 2/1957)

 

Werly Fairburn returns with another excellent rockabilly single released by Savoy Records, a label not synonymous with rock ‘n’ roll. He’d been recording since 1953, and was fresh from a run with Columbia Records, where he made the fan favorite “Everybody’s Rockin’”—which is no patch on his three singles for Savoy.

While at Columbia, he penned a much-covered honky-tonk ballad, “I Guess I’m Crazy,” and his move to rock ‘n’ roll was perhaps a survival tactic. That said, Werly had the earthiness and mood-setting skills to succeed at this souped-up new cat music. It’s a pity he didn’t get any hits for his trouble.

Recorded in New Orleans in early 1957 at Cosimo Matassa’s studio, it has perhaps my favorite of Fairburn’s rockabilly incursions in “My Heart’s on Fire,” a pile-driver with a medium-fast beat, excellent piano hijinks and a melody that wouldn’t seem out of place on an early LP by The Ramones.

This is in the same league as Billy Riley’s 1956 Sun Records B-side “I Want You Baby,” another stellar example of the melodic mid-tempo rockabilly sound. For their durations, both records bring the listener a certain bliss that is a gift from across the decades. 

In a shocking twist, both big music-biz mags reviewed today's single on March 2, 1957. For extra credit, compare and contrast the approaches of Cash Box (above) and Billboard.

“Speak to Me, Baby” is a country bopper in the early George Jones school but with some rockabilly trimmings. The piano, which takes a solo on this side, inclines towards country, and once it duets with the guitarist, a moment of heaven is achieved.

It’s a clever song and Werly delivers it with enthusiasm. This kind of material came easiest to him, and he goes for the gusto. While not rockabilly per se, it is close enough to do the trick and I wouldn’t change one note of it. (The Billboard reviewer would disagree with their haughty "material of substance" complaint.)

Bear Family Records issued a definitive CD of Fairburn’s music with their 1993 “Everybody’s Rockin’” (BCD 15578), still in print and worth your effort to acquire. The booklet offers a succinct account of Fairburn’s life and career. Highly recommended!

I hope to land a copy of Fairburn’s third Savoy single “Telephone Baby.” Who knows? Perhaps at tomorrow’s Olympia record show it may turn up. I’m sure to come back with yet more cool records. I have a backlog at present, and this and the following week’s Record Hawk show in Portland will guarantee new material well into the new year, which I hope will be a better one than this horrid span of 12 months has been.

Tomorrow: kid rock ‘n’ roll gone to earth with Little Buddy (Baker McKnight), who delivers a pair of wild, wonderful boppers for Atlanta label NRC. A 1958 twilight-zone delight!