SID KING AND THE FIVE STRINGS Rare Rockabilly 45 Nice
$
50
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Description
Excellent and very hard to find 45 by Sid King And The Five Strings. Songs are: "I've Got The Blues" / "What Have Ya Got To Lose". Original U.S. issue on Columbia Records #4-41019-c. Matrix Numbers JZSP 42199/JZSP 42201. Released in 1957. Condition is VG++ (Excellent) (8) Nice clean glossy luster vinyl just a few very light marks, no deep scratches. labels are clean and free of any writing or stickers. Includes original company sleeve. Very well taken care of over the years. If you are not familiar with this great rarity you can hear soundclips of a lesser condition copy at the RCS website at the links below
listen to I'VE GOT THE BLUES
listen to WHAT HAVE YA GOT TO LOSE
Biography by Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder
One of the first white rock & rollers to record for a major label (Columbia), Sid King (born Sid Erwin) was also one of the first young Southern musicians to go from Western swing to rockabilly in the mid-'50s. Erwin grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He sang and played guitar at school, and while still in his mid-teens he began appearing on local radio with a friend, Melvin Robinson. The duo eventually took over the program, and Erwin and Robinson (who also played steel guitar and sax) formed a band, bringing in Erwin's brother Billy Joe on lead guitar, Ken Massey on bass, and David White on drums.
The group, by then known as the Western Melody Makers, stuck to playing country and Western swing in their gigs and radio appearances, but they were listening to lots of records by black artists. They were signed to Starday Records in 1954 and recorded a handful of songs, but these yielded no hits. They subsequently got a contract with Columbia Records and rechristened themselves the Five Strings. Erwin, in turn, changed his name to Sid King, all for the sake of a rhyming moniker, Sid King & the Five Strings.
The Columbia sessions show just how far afield from country the group's listening had gotten. Their harmonies, the high-compression beat of their playing, and their choice of songs, coupled with Jim Beck's hard, up-front mixing of the rhythm section, made them, for a time, one of the hotter rockabilly acts outside of Memphis. They weren't as wild as the Sparkletones, but within Columbia Records' stable of artists, their music (along with that of the Collins Kids) constituted a tiny corner of rockabilly validity. Hearing their stuff today, they could have been fair rivals to Bill Haley & His Comets or Carl Perkins, with a sound midway between the two.
Sid King & the Five Strings were featured on the Louisiana Hayride alongside Elvis Presley and Johnny Horton and inherited "Ooby Dooby" from Roy Orbison (competing head to head with the latter's Sun version), but they never had the success of those whose paths they crossed. Their success was still confined to Texas, and by the end of 1957 their Columbia contract ended, after leaving Columbia they recorded one last 45 for Dot and by 1958 the band had called it quits.
King saw recording activity on his own in the early '60s on the Dot label through his acquaintance with Pat Boone, a fellow native of Denton whom he'd met years earlier, but by 1965 he was out of the music business. He resumed performing part-time in the 1980s, drawn back to the stage by a new generation of Europeans eager to hear authentic American rockabilly.
Grading Scale
10: Mint Perfect record, clean gloss, no marks, beautiful in every way. Very few records will make mint.
9: Mint- Very clean, only a few light marks. A great record.
8: Excellent (VG++) Condition between 7 and 9.
7: VG+ Used, but not abused. Light scratches only. Should play, and look very nice with minimal surface noise.
6: VG Still a nice record. Looks a bit used, light scratches, no gouges, still plays well, some surface noise.
5: VG- A bit rough but will play ok. Fills the collection.
4: G Plays very rough. Has multiple scratches. What a bargain!!
3-2-1: It only goes down from here.
*** I'll gladly take any record back if not satisfied. ***.
Shipping is: $2.50 US/ Canada-air//$6.00 UK/Europe//$6.50 Rest of the world Overseas -airmail. Will combine shipping on multiple auction wins. Payment in form of Paypal/Bidpay/Money Order/Cashiers Check/Cash
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