Charles Feathers, (
June 12,
1932 -
August 29,
1998), was an influential
rockabilly and
country
music performer.
Charles
Arthur Feathers was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi
, and recorded a string of popular singles like
"Peepin' Eyes," "Defrost Your Heart," "Tongue-Tied Jill," and
"Bottle to the Baby" on Sun Records,
Meteor and King Records in the
1950s.
Feathers was known for being a master of shifting emotional and
sonic dynamics in his songs. His theatrical, hiccup-styled,
energetic, rockabilly vocal style inspired a later generation of
rock vocalists, including Lux Interior of
The
Cramps.
He studied and recorded several songs with
Junior Kimbrough, whom he called "the
beginning and end of all music." His childhood influences were
reflected in his later music of the 1970s and 1980s, which had an
easy-paced, sometimes sinister,
country-blues tempo, as opposed to the
frenetic fast-paced style favored by some of his rockabilly
colleagues of the 1950s.
He started
out as a session musician at Sun Studios
, playing any side instrument he could in the hopes
of someday making his own music there. He eventually played
on a small label started by
Sam
Phillips called Flip records which got him enough attention to
record a couple singles for
Sun Records
and
Holiday Inn Records. By all
accounts the singer was not held in much regard by Phillips, but
Feathers often made the audacious claim that he had arranged
"That's All Right" and "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" for
Elvis Presley and recorded "Good Rockin'
Tonight" months before Presley. He also claimed that his "We're
Getting Closer (To Being Apart)" had been intended to be Elvis'
sixth single for Sun. He did, however, compose one of Elvis' Sun
recordings, "
I
Forgot To Remember To Forget".
He then moved on to
Meteor Records
and then
King Records where he
recorded his best-known work. When his King contract ran out he
still continued to perform, although Feathers - perhaps typically -
thought there was a conspiracy to keep his music from gaining the
popularity it deserved.
In the
mid-1980s, he performed at times at new music nightclubs like the
Antenna Club in Memphis, Tennessee
, sharing the bill with rock-and-roll bands like Tav Falco's Panther Burns, who, as
devoted fans of Feathers, had introduced him to their label's
president.
He released his
New Jungle Fever album in 1987 and
Honkey Tonk Man in 1988, featuring the lead guitar work of
his son, Bubba Feathers.
These later albums of original songs penned
by Feathers were released on the French
label New
Rose Records, whose other 1980s releases included albums by cult
music heroes like Johnny Thunders,
Alex Chilton, Roky Erickson, The
Cramps, The Gun Club, and
others.
Colonel Robert Morris was one
of Charlie's drummers in the 1970s.
Feathers' song, "That Certain Female" was featured on the
soundtrack to
Quentin Tarantino's
2003 film,
Kill Bill Vol.
1. His "Can't Hardly Stand
It" was featured on the follow-up
Kill Bill Vol. 2 soundtrack.
He died on August 29, 1998 of complications from a stroke-induced
coma.
Feathers was known in his later years for making audacious and
unverifiable claims regarding his influence on the evolution of
rockabilly. In spite of this, the remarkable quality of his
recordings suggests that his assertions should be taken with at
least some seriousness.
Charlie Feathers' pioneering contribution to the genre has been
recognized by the
Rockabilly
Hall of Fame.
Bob Dylan has featured
Charlie Feathers on the second season of his
XM Satellite Radio Show
Theme Time Radio Hour, playing
Feathers' records "One Hand Loose" (on the "Countdown" show, Dec.
12, 2007) and "Defrost Your Heart" (on the "Cold" show, April 2,
2008).
Discography
Original Singles
- Flip 503 - I've Been Deceived / Peepin' Eyes (April 1955)
- Sun 231 - Defrost Your Heart / Wedding Gown of White (January
1956)
- Meteor 5032 - Get With It / Tongue-Tied Jill (June 1956)
- King 4971 - Can't Hardly Stand It / Everybody's Lovin' My Baby
(October 1956)
- King 4997 - One Hand Loose / Bottle to the Baby (December
1956)
- King 5022 - When You Decide / Nobody's Woman (February
1957)
- King 5043 - Too Much Alike / When You Come Around (April
1957)
- Kay 1001 - Jungle Fever / Why Don't You (June 1960)
- WalMay 101 - Dinky John / South of Chicago (as "Charlie
Morgan", July 1960)
- Memphis 103 - Wild Wild Party / Today and Tomorrow (December
1961)
- Holiday Inn 114 - Nobody's Darlin' / Deep Elm Blues (April
1963)
- Philwood P-223 - Tear It Up / Stutterin' Cindy (1971)
- Pompadour 231 - Wedding Gown of White / Uh Huh Honey
(1973)
- Rollin' Rock 45-025 - That Certain Female / She Set Me Free
(1974)
- Vetco 921 - Will You Be Satisfied That Way / It's Just That
Song (1976)
- Vetco 922 - We're Getting Closer / You Make It Look So Easy
(1976)
- Feathers 791104 - Blue Suede Shoes / We're Getting Closer
(1979)
- Feathers 791105 - Ooby Dooby / If You Were Mine to Lose
(1979)
- Feathers 3 - Cold Dark Night / Blame It On Time (early
1980s)
- Feathers 4 - Today I Started Loving You Again / Folsom Prison
Blues (early 1980s)
- Feathers 5 - Jungle Fever / Jewel Here on Earth (early
1980s)
- Feathers 6 - He'll Have to Go / Will The Circle Be Unbroken
(early 1980s)
- Feathers 7 - Honky Tonk Man / That's Alright, Mama (early
1980s)
- Feathers 8 - Roll Over Beethoven / Swinging Doors (early
1980s)
- Feathers 9 - In the Pines / I Must Move On (early 1980s)
- Feathers 10 - One Black Rat / Dig Myself a Hole (early
1980s)
- Feathers 11 - Lonesome Whistle / Cockroach (early 1980s)
- Feathers 12 - Who Da Say / Roll Over Beethoven – diff. version
(early 1980s)
- Feathers 13 - Working on a Building / You Believe Everyone But
Me (early 1980s)
note: the Feathers 45s were private releases, sold at Charlie
Feathers' concerts
Original Albums
Authorized Compilations
Charlie Feathers on film
NBC television special 1979
Broadcast on US television channel NBC as Little Old Show. Filmed
in Houston, TX, late 1978. Financed by Nautilus Inc. Professional,
multi-camera film. The 30 mins broadcast was edited down from a 4
1/2 hrs shoot.
London/England 1981
Semi-professional film made with a single tripod-mounted camera and
good lighting. Approx. 50 mins.
External links
References
- liner notes: Charlie Feathers: Uh Huh Honey (Norton
ED-225)
- Foster, D. Wayne. retrieved from 2008 audio interview
recording; http://www.HolidayInnRecords.com.
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