Roy Tann, "Hot Rod Queen" c/w "Acapulco," Dot 45-15595 (rel. 6/1957)

 

For many years, the identity of Roy Tann was a mystery. One blurry promotional photo, poorly reproduced on our marquee, reveals a slender man who might play a funeral director in an episode of Dragnet. He made three corking singles for Dot Records and then vanished.
        Decades later, a music researcher dumb-lucked upon an obituary for one Willis Threats, Jr. The obit revealed he used the alias of Roy Tann as a vocalist. It's unfortunate this discovery wasn't made while Threats was still with us. Here is the second of his three Dots 45s--a disc that eluded me for years. Due to its hot rod theme, it's become a favorite of rockabilly collectors (despite its not being one percent rockabilly).
        Tann/Threats' voice straddles the rough and the smooth to delightful effect on "Hot Rod Queen," a bizarre rocker peppered with drag-strip sound effects; the music stops for two beats while rubber burns and engines rev. Given the record's red-hot Latin-mambo beat, these pauses are awkward, but they don't distract from his first-person account of a man who loves fast cars and hot babes. He combines both interests as he thwarts speed cops, flabbergasts passersby and adds to the toxic fug that filled the skies of 1956. (This, BTW, is the "good old days" the current corrupt and cruel administration longs to bring back. The substantial loss in air quality since the ogre stole its second term is saddening. May he soon drool in a memory care facility. And may his toadies see prison bars in their near-future.)
        The contrast of mild-mannered Tann and the wild subject matter makes this a record you need to hear more than once. Most artists would've hoked it up and matched content with context; Tann sings it as a mild aside--just part of his easy-goin' day.

"Acapulco" ups the Latin beat as Tann relates a sensual visit to Mexico; he samples the spicy cuisine and makes a play for a local lovely; the results have a happy ending.
        A highlight of both sides is the saxophone of "Plas" Johnson, he who's heard on the "Pink Panther" theme and on the exotica concept albums of Les Baxter, among many other West Coast recordings of the 1950s-'70s. He was LA's equivalent to King Curtis; both had fluid, graceful and easy-to-ID styles that lent themselves to a variety of musical settings.

Tann's other two Dots were played on the earlier incarnation of the Jukebox; you can find them if you visit F-Book.

Tomorrow: a polar shift to the roots of country rock, with The Dudes (featuring future members of The Flying Burrito Brothers) on a twangy pair of tunes for the Gaiety label, 1966.