Since the article showed Connie as an older female, implying she’s seen rough times, I’d thought I’d send Mark Farner’s most recent photo. No freaking prize.

You can’t find current photos of the original members- those I found, beyond the years of the band, showed they weren’t aging too well either.

It’s a shame we readily discard older women for their looks but don’t look as harshly at older men.

The article shows Connie like “can we believe she was the girl they wrote about, sweet and giving blowjobs”.  Who can imagine women wanting to give blowjobs to the men, with how they look now.

Just saying.

Love your newsletter by the way.

Jayne Tansey Patron

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Hi Bob
Connie Hamzy was one of the most intriguing women I’ve ever met.
When we toured with Van Halen for six months on the F.U.C.K. Tour we got to know her and I can tell you she really was a sweet sweet woman and truly loved being out on the road offering her services. A real act of feminism in my view.
I would offer her rides to the next town on our bus and she travelled with us a couple of times.
I would grill her with questions. Why she did what she did,  many about her health and if she was being careful (she wasn’t).
One story I still share with people today was the time we arrived at a venue, our tour bus one of about 50 on that run, I noticed a line of guys waiting outside one of them.
I asked the band, “Hey, why are they lining up outside that bus.  Are they serving lunch in there today?”
They all just looked at me sideways. Connie was here!
She travelled to maybe four different states and some of the VH road crew paid for her to travel to Mexico City where she even offered to do our laundry!
I may have been one of the few women given the chance to see her in her glory and I’m really saddened by this news. None of us will ever forget her. Rock and Roll Sweet Connie

Suze DeMarchi
BABY ANIMALS

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Once I was at the RnRHOF and was able to get a visit of some of the items that are in the vault that aren’t on display. The Vault was like going to Nirvana for me. I saw so many awesome artifacts, Geddy Lee’s Green Sunglasses, the original Head that Alice Cooper chops off during the “Welcome To My Nightmare” tour, The Suede Leather poncho that David Crosby is wearing on the cover of The Byrds Turn, Turn, Turn. Ann Wilson’s purple suede dress from the Barracuda Video in 1977, and so much more. The one item that was absolutely hilarious to me that made me laugh out loud was a brief case that was owned by Gerald “Buffalo” Evans. Buffalo Evans was the long time road manager for The Allman Bros. This brief case had 30 or more stickers plastered all over it, mostly Backstage passes, but there was one Hot Pink circle sticker that said “Connie in Little Rock” with a phone number under it. When I saw it I laughed out loud and said, “Hey It’s Sweet Sweet Connie!” I then sang the lyrics and explained who Connie was. I just thought it was very entrepreneurial of her to have stickers made so she could pass them out to her “regulars” to call her when they were in town.

drmrsdad

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OMG!  Sweet Connie from Little Rock gone. So sad to hear. As best I can determine her first big band was The Allman Brothers Band. I remember it well. A Holiday Inn in Memphis. Her mom brought her on a weekend shopping trip to get away from boys. How ironic that was! She was so sweet and gorgeous, like a Seventeen Magazine cover girl. She became a school teacher and I used to get her Christmas card nudie shot with Christmas tree lights. Last saw her in mid-eighties with Gregg Allman solo band. The years were not kind to her looks, She once told me she was with the entire cast and crew of the Burt Reynolds move “Gator” except for Burt himself. RIP Sweet Connie from Little Rock.

Willie Perkins
Macon, GA

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She was my friend. I met her in Houston at a ZZ Top after party back in, probably 1973.  I might still, somewhere, have her sticker that said “Call Connie in Little Rock,” with her phone #. We kept in touch and I saw her whenever I was passing through Little Rock or Memphis.  At one time, she wanted me to help her write her autobiography, but I didn’t.  Probably hadn’t seen or heard from her in 30 years or so.

She was real, not a caricature. She was who she was.  She was a schoolteacher, so I’d think she had insurance, or at least Medicare, having turned 65.  She led a normal life, with one exception.

I do have a coupla Connie stories, but rather not type them.

Toby Mamis

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Connie was a sweet person, and she made people happy in her own special way.

I met her when the band I tour managed, Cry of Love, started a tour with  ZZ Top in Little Rock in 1994.  She burst into our dressing room while flamboyantly taking off her top and shouting “Welcome to Little Rock, boys!”

RIP, Connie.

Bob Davis
Retired Tour Accountant

p.s. Have you heard of the “Cookie Lady” in St. Louis?  She always brought cookies, along with 2 teenage assistants to handle “chores,” similar to Connie’s.  You can use your imagination.

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Reading your piece conjures up images of some distant and bygone backward era – like the roaring twenties or something – it just sounds so sexist, oppressive and utterly stuck in its time. Boomer men treated women like shit. Then (like both clockwork and Mark Farner himself) they “find” Jesus, denounce their sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll pasts (with a nudge and a wink) and act like the pious hypocrites that they really were all along.

Vince Welsh

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Having been a production manager of many notable bands of the era and knowing Connie well. (But never in THAT way) there is an untold story of a great teacher of special needs children, a truly kind heart and person that viewed her odd “hobby” as a service to lonely guys on the road.

She is to be remembered fondly by many who knew her as a person not just a legend.

RIP Connie, there will never be another you.

Mark Hogue

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We were visiting clients in Fort Smith, Arkansas in the early 2000’s. As we entered the large riverfront restaurant, I was asked if I knew the song, “We’re an American Band” by Grand Funk. Of course I did, and at that moment I was introduced to Sweet Sweet Connie, who was parked at the bar. She wheeled around and said hello, as did I. She was kind, but wasn’t there to entertain. It was a memorable dinner.

Billy Kinross

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Bob, If I might offer an addendum, Connie also serviced the road crews, drivers, and more if interested. Check out the roadie Facebook posts since Saturday and the chatter is she should be in the Hall of Fame. There is even a petition to do so.

Steve Lemon

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Thanks Bob for writing about Connie. Groupies like her always interested me, and I actually met her backstage in the ladies room many moons ago.  She had been on Stern that day so I knew she plan to go to the show. But for the life of me I can’t remember which band it was & what show, but I clearly remember meeting her that night in the bathroom. I remember feeling like I had met a piece of rock history. RIP to Connie.
Jc

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Another nail in the Coffin of Rock & Roll.

Sweet Connie was sweet, sweet and fearless..

What she wanted she got.

How many of us can say that? Miss Pamela, Miss Mercy & Sweet Connie, these girls were 3 chord revolutionary feminists.

Groupies Lives matter!

The history is fading. Charlie is incapacitated, Eric & Van went bonkers…Box sets & remixes, autobiographies & documentaries.

Sweet Connie made the news today, oh boy.

Michael Des Barres.

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The first time I saw Connie I was when I was with Capitol, covering a show in Little Rock.

A security guard had refused to let her in so she clamped her laminate to her tongue in an act of defiance.

There was blood everywhere. I don’t know how she fared that night with the other acts but the blood probably contributed to my act declining her services. It was right about when AIDS was becoming the big story in the press.

On the other hand, she was kinda hot at the time so I was going to ask her if my personal guitar prowess would have any impact on her.

Not that it would have but after further thought I decided not to ask. Even if I had talked her into it just to secure a story for the future (really, seriously!) it wasn’t worth taking the chance.

Frank Palombi

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Thanks, Bob, for your obit on Connie! I went early to sound check  in Little Rock as we opened for Amboy Dukes ( yes,Ted himself) and a bigger headliner in 1971. She was sweet alright.. with such incredible innocence that it was tough to believe when she walked up to me as I checked my kit on stage and she just turned, big smile and said… “the promoter doesn’t want me to do sex in the dressing rooms but I can give you head in the bus!”..later after the show back in Memphis the guitarist from the main headliner called and said to come up to his room… I walked in and Connie was doing everyone ,… she had already done the pilot on the private jet and then walked back to do the limo driver as we checked in. She was the happiest, carefree devotee of giving Rock musicians anything they wanted… One of a kind, young and stunningly pretty at that time.
Glad an obscure 21 yr old  like me had some fun , and great memories from the Renaissance era of rock music, all those years ago. RIP Connie.

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My “Sweet Connie” story comes from the summer of 1987. I was getting ready to move to Los Angeles to “make it” and had grown and boffed my hair up high and adopted an outrageous glam style of dressing and showed up in the VIP motor home at a local rock festival in Little Rock. Connie eyed me up and down and asked the program director of the local rock station (MAGIC-105) “Is he in a band? Are they signed?” and with the answer being a solid, “yes, but no”, my chances were ended.

25 years later I took Pamela (who is like a dear aunt to me and maybe the nicest person I know) to Little Rock on our way to Nashville with the Sin City crew. She visited with and interviewed Connie for a book project and we discussed the wide gulf between their lives and lifestyles.

Yes, access was different and when both those women, (girls at the time) started meeting bands. The rules and culture of “backstage” hadn’t even been established. And they helped write all that. There are certainly mixed feelings about those times and the relationship between men and women but Connie was as sweet as they come and no one will dispute that. I wish her well. I’ll bet a laminate was waiting at the gate for her.

Bryson Jones

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I lived in Little Rock for a number of years in the late 90’s into the early 00’s.  I was involved in the music scene and heard all the stories about Connie and would see her at various clubs around town as she truly wanted to support musicians which is the way she always felt about her relationships with musicians over the years.  I managed a Southern Hard Rock band for a short time called Go Fast.  We were working on marketing materials for a new album that we thought would be the biggest thing since Lynyrd Skynyrd so we called Connie and asked her to be involved in a photo shoot.  She was tickled to be included and was a great sport.  We went out of our way to treat her like the Rock legend she was with special wardrobe, a hairstylist and makeup.  All photos were PG, but she told us stories and answered every question about all her friends.  Of course many of her tales were X rated, but actually there were just as many stories about how she just took care of rock stars like cooking breakfast for Eddie Van Halen or sewing Pete Townshend’s pants.  I am sure we could dig in here and postulate on reasons why Connie sought this type of attention as a young girl going to the Barton Coliseum to see every show. It would be easy to dismiss and feel “gross” about her past as we look at it through woke eyes, but the Connie I knew was always full of joy, eager to share stories, and for one last time LOVED music. Hopefully the story of Connie’s life will not be solely focused on her potential victimhood, but also on her joy and love for Rock n Roll.

Michael Cusanelli

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I was raised in Arkansas..

I knew Connie in the 80s..She came out to see my band perform regularly, in Little Rock, whenever larger prey was not in sight..

Turns out, she lived down the street from me..And my wife..I was invited over, to “see her etchings”, but my wife was not so enthused about the prospect…

I did sneak over, and enjoyed the mini-museum..She wasn’t very attractive then, so it went no further..I had way better options, including even my wife..The bragging rights would’ve been great, but I wanted to “just be friends”..

LR WAS a backwater..But we were close enough to Chicago, that we were regularly visited by Styx, REO, Cheap Trick, Kansas, Chicago, and the like..A quick drive to Memphis afforded us quite a feast of touring national acts..And B.B. King, of course..

James Spencer

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When we were touring around 1993-94 we played Little Rock. I knew about Connie and never thought she’d ever show up at the venue but she did.

She looked pretty shop-worn by then and approached everyone during a soundcheck at the outdoor amphitheater we were playing near downtown. Her offer was a blow job plain and simple. It was so awkward everyone just sort of smiled and said they were busy and no thanks.

It was kinda pathetic. She finally got frustrated and yelled at the tip of her lungs for all to hear within earshot of the stage, “doesn’t anybody want a blowjob around here!?”

I think our truck driver took her up on the offer in his Peterbuilt because she disappeared and we were all glad cause it was really depressing to see what this woman had become.

Rumor was she had become an elementary school teacher and I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned in that memorial article.

Those days are gone now as Rock has gotten wrinkles, family ties and arthritis. Maybe the younger bands and hip hop acts are imbibing with the band-aides but I think that sort of behavior bordering on mental illness went into the halls of rock history along with poor Connie, RIP.

But we’re still an American band and we’re coming to your town soon…

Kenny Lee Lewis

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Your  incredible piece on Connie Hamzy brought me back so vividly to those glorious days of the 70s.  As Alice Cooper’s tour manager during that time, Connie “from Little Rock”, as we called her, graced our tour with her presence.  I’m sure that anyone who knew Connie is saddened by her passing and will remember her in the fondest of terms.. She was a sweet and kind person; not a mean bone in her body.

I wrote about her in my soon to be released autobiography, ROCK AND ROLL WARRIOR.  I thought you might enjoy reading the excerpt which is attached hereto.  Feel free to use any portion.  Thanks.

Regards,

David Libert

Excerpt:

Writing a book about rock ‘n roll touring dictates a certain modicum of discretion, a regulation not actually written in stone. It’s more like a rather ambiguous unspoken rule. That said, I would certainly be remiss to not mention Connie Hamzy, arguably the most famous groupie of all time. This gorgeous groupie was better known as “Connie from Little Rock” or “Sweet Connie.“ Her exploits of performing fellatio upon hundreds of rock bands and their crews are legendary and well documented, so I won’t bother going into any of that. 

Well… maybe just a little. When the Alice Cooper tour arrived in Little Rock, I was informed by the promoter that Connie had “set up a room backstage” for the sole purpose of providing head for any tour member desirous of such services. Needless to say, there was a line outside her door. I mean, what strapping young road rat wouldn’t want to take a welcome five-minute break from the rigors of touring for a nice, relaxing, well-deserved blowjob? 

But it was Connie’s activities aboard the good ship AC1 that stands out in my mind. We all decided to take her with us on the next couple of tour dates. After setting up shop in one of the lavatories on the plane, she proceeded to blow a good portion of the entourage, one by one. When she finally ran out of penises, I put on my Airline Social Director of Creative Services hat and went into the cockpit to ask the flight crew (by this time completely converted into the ideology of touring), if any of them were desirous of getting “serviced” by Connie. By now, the pilot, co-pilot, and navigator had become good friends with the tour personnel. Yet they were a no-nonsense flight crew when it came to piloting the plane. After all, they did hold our very lives in their hands. The completely humorless pilot replied in typical completely humorless pilot jargon, “Uhhh, negative, Dave. Uh, um, not while, unhh, operating the aircraft.” 

Fair enough. But I then queried if I could at least send Connie into the cockpit to give the passengers the impression that she was in there to do her “thing.”

“Uh, affirmative, Dave. That’s a big 10-4.”

So I got on the PA. “Connie, your services are requested in the Cock (pause) pit.” (Passenger chuckles.) 

Connie happily sashayed into the cockpit, not knowing, along with everyone else on board, that nothing was actually going to happen. A minute or two passes, and then the pilot makes an announcement on the PA. 

“This is the Captain speaking. Will you all please fasten your seatbelts? I think we’re about to encounter some turbulence.”

 

It was the only time I can recall Captain Kirk attempting to be funny. And it was. We were rolling in the aisles. This kind of crass, sophomoric humor was normal operating procedure for a rock tour. It rarely stopped. To be on an Alice Cooper tour, you’d better be a good sport. Everyone was a target. Even Alice, much to his delight. It was one of the glues that held us all together. 

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well, you didn’t let me down

exactly the kind of sexist white guy of a certain age celebration I knew was coming

…and hey, she should be grateful, right? you’re writing about her.

lets unpack this:

these young women were just random skaggs who’d do ANYTHING to be near rock stars

and Connie was a classic American red blooded girl, then woman who was actually pretty in an unfiltered, unmade up way

she LOVED rock & roll… the way it made her feel, the way it gave her life curves to navigate AND she had fun with it

did you know her specialty for birthday boys was to hum “Happy Birthday” while fellating them?

happened to a friend of mine as a young buck out on the road with Marshall Tucker —
she showed up with a pair of little kid’s pistols in a holster and went to town
…and he never forgot it.
probably 45 years ago, but he still tells the story like a badge of honor

because she brought magic to the backstage rompage

and before i unpack further, let’s be clear. Connie Hamzy was a SCHOOL TEACHER!

she wasn’t some dumb bunny sleezing to get lucky + get rich

she was living the life on HER terms, and having a higher batting average of massive rock stars than most labels

people for a very long time wanted her around… the Van Halen boys, Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr, etc

so when the school district let Connie go for conduct unbecoming, she took the school board to court — and WON!

if only Tom T Hall had written that sequel to “Harper Valley PTA”

see you forgot about the tedium back before cell phones, or satellite dishes
when people were trapped in crappy backstages, or dumpy motels, looking for pay phones to call home — or the next city where they might know somebody
these girls were legends because beyond being carnally inclined, they could talk about rock & roll, other bands, what was going on in the world

…and sometimes just being a female presence was a real gift in the stinky, sweaty dudefest of road life

these girls were experiencing the freedom that the Summer of Love — theoretically — provided

before it turned out men were still insecure and sexist, wanting the freedom to get down, but didn’t want their girls to cheat

a surprise baby, i remember all the tears my hippie babysitters shed over that

but the groupies? man, they were rocking and loving every minute of their freedom and their sexual liberty

were the competitive? you see/hear the stories about Sable Starr and Lori Maddox versus some of the GTOS

by the time I was old enough to be a baby rock critic for the MIAMI HERALD in college, the groupies in South Florida had figured out how to coexist
when I would go backstage for meet & greet or Aftershow Ratt or Motley Crue or even old guarders like Nazareth, you’d see all the same girls hanging out, waiting on the band, telling jokes, eating carrot sticks + looking at me in my tshirt and straight leg Levis like “isn’t she cute?”
I had friends who hooked up with Ace Frehley, not part of the “crew,” but they were cool with the girls cause I knew them

…and I’d often scare off the really young ones, who didn’t truly get the joke, and I wasn’t competition, so I got along with those girls, who just loved rock + roll & wanted to be near the music

AND when those guys would hit the room? the smiles on their faces were awesome. happier than when they were onstage… being worshipped.
i always thought because on some pre-verbal level, they felt understood. and they were. and isn’t that what we ALL want?

I don’t know if i met her on not in Memphis one night. might’ve been, might not have been. but it was one of those philosophical conversations about rock & roll, what it is and how it’s so much more than just guitars and how many decibels you’re pushing out, hair cuts and videos… it’s the spirit and it’s the place where the joy and the power almost explodes beyond freedom. it was fascinating, sitting in the bar listening… obviously, she was waiting on a later shift/second serving or she hadn’t been picked

when I saw the news — on Miss Pamela’s page — I called a few friends who were or are rock stars. told them the sad news, let them marinate for a few moments. other than the young’un with the “happy birthday” initiation, not one of them talked about what she did, they all talked about how she made them feel, how they could really talk to her, and she knew how to turn out a whole show + somehow never flinch or do anything but enjoy the process. “she was a friend, Holly,” said one of the Kentucky Headhunters. “You know, I didn’t go there… for a bunch of reasons… but she sure knew rock & roll, and talking to her, man, she had seen it all unfold. she could talk about bands and the blues and everything else with so much soul. we sure did lose a lot of history if she’s gone…”

to me, that’s the point. and yes, she got older. you don’t look like you did at 22, either, Bob.
people in the south don’t always trust medicine, or doctors. she had some miles on her. but something tells me — beyond the obvious “objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear” — she loved just about every single mile of it.

shaming her, or acting like the girl in that equation is less than is just flat crappy. she wasn’t embarrassed about how she chose to live. i know a lawyer who was rolling through Little Rock, early in his tenure with an act; lo and behold, Connie made him feel welcome, too. not to curry favor with the band, but because she thought he was a pretty okay guy

sexual license has to be a two way street…

you know that, just like you know how good “we’re an American band” sounds.

if she got some dazzle out of being “Sweet, sweet Connie,” well, good for her. what makes that capitalizing? that band had a huge hit on her inspiration?

so, hey, you’re smarter/better/theoretically more feminist than this…

or maybe your 14-year old masturbatory kid took over; those kids, who aren’t in play to girls like Connie, can be mean, belitting, cutting down what they can’t have
maybe you shoulda got to Little Rock a bunch of years ago

Holly Gleason
editor of WOMAN, WALK THE LINE: How The Women of Country Music Changed Our Lives, due in paperback 10/10/22

Six minutes or longer…

Tune in today, August 24th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

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1

“Out on the road for forty days

Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze

Sweet sweet Connie was doin’ her act

She had the whole show and that’s a natural fact”

“We’re an American Band”

Grand Funk Railroad was an American band on the decline. Controlled by Terry Knight, an almost made it rock star himself, the band made it on hype more than ability/songs/records, but for a moment there, around 1970, they were a big deal.

It started with their debut album “On Time.” Reviled by critics, Knight put money into something most other managers didn’t bother with, radio advertising. Knight spoke of Grand Funk Railroad’s triumphs in every burg but your own, you had to see them.

Now today you just go online and find out the band sucks. Then again, there’s not a single act today as big as Grand Funk was yesterday. That’s the world we lived in, one of concentration, where it was hard to get into the game and if you got on the radio people knew your name.

But radio was still regional. FM rock was still new in the hinterlands. There were still kids going to their first concert. In hamlets many big acts didn’t bother to go to. That’s where Grand Funk Railroad focused its efforts, and it worked.

Right after August ’69’s “On Time” came “Grand Funk,” just four months later. They were feeding the machine.

And then just six months after “Grand Funk” came “Closer to Home,” which actually had a good track, the closer, “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home),” so good that even New York City rock stations played it, whereas they’d played nothing by Grand Funk Railroad before.

And five months after “Closer to Home,” just in time for the Christmas season, Capitol released a double live album, creatively entitled “Live Album,” that became a joke, if you saw it in someone’s collection you realized they hadn’t gotten the memo, back in an era when your record collection stood for your identity.

But it was way too much too soon and Grand Funk started to fade from favor. Forget the RIAA certifications, those numbers were manipulated. “Survival” was laughable, and “E Pluribus Funk” and “Phoenix” were ignored in an era when Jethro Tull and Rod Stewart and other classic rock legends were breaking through.

And then came “We’re an American Band.”

Terry Knight was history. The band had a plan. They hired wunderkind Todd Rundgren to produce. They came into the studio with “We’re an American Band” already written. Todd cut it nearly instantly, knowing when you’ve got the goods you shouldn’t belabor a track, you’ll kill it. And then it came out and was all over the radio. Back in an era where most cars still did not have FM, and the game was to cross over. This is how Billy Joel started. Harry Chapin too.

So I’m driving over the Gap in my ’63 Chevy convertible, top down, hair blowing in the wind on a not quite crisp fall afternoon, and out of the dashboard comes the above lyrics.

And this was not SiriusXM. There was no readout. You oftentimes didn’t know who the act was. But I’d read about this record and now I heard it, it took only one listen, it was great. Yes, you’ve got to admit you love that which is discredited if it delivers. Think of all the rockers who came out of the woodwork and said they loved the Carpenters after Karen died.

But “We’re an American Band” didn’t sound quite like Grand Funk Railroad, which soon became just “Grand Funk,” because the song was not only written by Don Brewer instead of Mark Farner, it was sung by him too.

2

Ah, how to describe the concert scene fifty years ago.

Rock was still edgy and new. And the only place you could get that hit was at the show. At this point, there wasn’t even “In Concert,” never mind “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.” Information was scarce, and we hoovered it all up. Primarily in rock magazines, like “Rolling Stone.”

The San Francisco rock magazine did a cover story on groupies in February 1969. But this was before almost anybody subscribed, before the publication became the heartbeat of a generation read by everyone.

But realizing this, and knowing the titillation of the topic, Jann Wenner turned the article into a paperback book and sold that, just like he ultimately did with his John Lennon interview, although that came out in hardcover. And I immediately sent away for it.

By today’s standards I wouldn’t even call the book R-rated. This was not the era of Pornhub, where sex is just a click away, sex was still taboo, never mind the fact that the U.S. was and still is a puritanical nation. But the sexual revolution was beginning, as a result of the birth control pill, and it was in full blossom on the road. That’s one of the reasons you became a rock star, for the sexual peccadilloes. You can’t even sing about them anymore, in the #MeToo era that’s taboo, never mind smartphone cameras and AIDS. It was a golden era, and most of America was clueless, but not these groupies.

The first focus was on Frank Zappa’s troupe of groupies who made an album as the GTOs. But that was in Los Angeles, LaLa Land, where everything was ahead and different, quite free. But in the rest of America… Groupies? Who’d a thunk?

Well it turned out many. Women. Who used their wiles to get backstage and service the band. They wanted to get closer. To the music and the men who made it. Boys were excluded. They could not pass the barrier, no way. But girls? It was simple if you were free and easy, like Connie Hamzy.

Oh, that’s another thing about so many rock stars, they like ’em young. Maybe because their development is stunted and they don’t know how to talk to the opposite sex. Or maybe they’re predators, like Gary Glitter. But my point here is there was no age barrier to becoming a groupie. If you’d developed, and that’s one thing the rockers were into, breasts were king in this pre-implant era, you had the magic key. Musicians weren’t interested in your mind, all their focus was below the belt.

But it got even crazier. The bands came and went, but the groupies remained. And word got around, who was in each city. And there is a groupie in Little Rock?

Now Bill Clinton is from Arkansas, but you’ve got to know fifty years ago the state was seen as a joke by anybody on the coast. Viewed as a backwater full of the uneducated and ignorant. The fact that there could be a groupie in Little Rock?

And it was much easier to be a groupie than a rock star. Men had to sweat and slave and be talented and persevere and get lucky to get up on stage and then be serviced by these women. But the women? Mostly they just had to be game.

And they got stories to tell. And stories are everything. Talk about EXPERIENCES! And they knew the rock stars. Sometimes they were even picked up and traveled with them. They were EXALTED!

3

So it’s the fall of 1973. “Houses of the Holy” had been out for months, “Stairway to Heaven” was already a radio staple, the number one song in the land, and the just released “Free Bird” was on its way to becoming number two. In other words, rock was now established and heavy and self-referential and… The thought that there was a real Sweet Connie in Little Rock who was just a teenager but a groupie to not only Grand Funk Railroad and others was unfathomable. Most figured she was just made up. The song seemed a fantasy.

And then “We’re an American Band” went to number one. And as a result, all the rock magazines which had pooh-poohed Grand Funk Railroad deigned to do a story about the band, and the hook was “Sweet Connie,” who turned out to be Connie Hamzy, who looked just like a regular suburban teenager. She’d crossed the line, she’d become famous. There were women like this all over America, WHERE DO I SIGN UP??

Yes, it turned out groupies were patently real. The hormones of young males spiked. They could get laid, if only they became rock stars.

4

Now Connie Hamzy and the original groupies faded away, except for Pamela Des Barres, who made a career on that identity. But then came “Almost Famous” and the internet and now everybody seemed to know about groupies, the two most famous being Connie Hamzy and Cynthia Plaster Caster, who made plaster casts of rock stars’ penises, and testified about it. And ultimately got into a fight with Frank Zappa’s original manager Herb Cohen over possession of said casts.

And occasionally TV would do a story on groupies. And Connie would get a mention. But then women flaunted their assets for free online and then turned them into a personal business. Why service the rock star when you can become a rock star yourself?

So, the groupies of yore became seen as quaint relics of a time gone by. Fading in the rearview mirror like the generation that was wowed by them to begin with.

And then on Saturday Connie Hamzy died.

Time is not kind. Look up the obits and you might be stunned that this was Connie Hamzy. In her sixties, after a life of hard living.

And she passed away nearly instantly, from a stomach pain that was suspected to be either liver or pancreas disease. There’s that hard living. And a probably untreated medical condition. Did Connie Hamzy have health insurance? Did she have any money? Was she afraid of going to the doctor, could she just not afford it?

Turns out Connie Hamzy was just an average American. Except for this one moment of fame. Which she traded on forevermore. It was the peak of her life, performing sexual favors for rock stars, when rock stars were the kings of the world, as wealthy as anybody, if not even more rich, doing what they wanted when they wanted. They were free, which we wanted to be. Their music inspired us, we felt if we could just get closer, we’d be complete.

Connie Hamzy did get closer. One can ask if the flame burned her. Then again, what would her life have been like without this flicker of fame?

5

Groupies shoot higher these days. They want to be trophy wives. For billionaires. Musicians come and go and the truth is rock is dead. As for rap, the women get no respect.

Then again, there’s a constant debate about the attire of women, what signal they’re sending.

But one thing about Connie and her compatriots, they were willing!

“Now these find ladies, they had a plan

They was out to meet the boys in the band

They said ‘Come on dudes, let’s get it on’

And we proceeded to tear that hotel down”

Grand Funk Railroad sang about groupies years after the scene was exposed, made famous, Frank Zappa had performed and recorded his mudshark routine years before. But now everybody was clued in. And prior to AIDS sex was the currency to get to acts like Def Leppard, who said they were serviced underneath the stage during the show!

But music no longer drives the culture. Stars may be brands, businesses, what they sing and what they have to say are secondary. Money is nice, but why bother to sing, just be a Kardashian!

But fifty years ago it was different. They might be dying dinosaurs today, but they roamed the earth back then. And if you had the right charm and willingness you could have an up close and personal experience. You gained access to the inner sanctum when almost no one else could, when it wasn’t about private islands and security gates, but the beefy bouncer checking to see if you had a backstage pass so you could go behind the curtain to meet the wizards.

But it was no dream. It was totally real.

If you were there you know. And today you’re sad. Because the most famous groupie of all time, a woman who lived for rock and roll, has passed away. Does the dream still live?

YOU BETCHA!

When you drop the needle on that record and turn it way up high and your body is shaking and your mind is cleared and you believe you’re a powerful member of the largest cult of your life…

YOU’RE AN AMERICAN FAN!

You’ve got gray hair, maybe not even any hair, but you still go to the show. Tickets are your most important asset. Live is the only place you can get that hit. You remember the way it used to be, the way you still want it to be, and like Connie Hamzy you’re forever a teenager, living on your memories.

But she got closer.

“Sweet Connie, Arkansas native that was subject of hit songs, dies at 66”: https://bit.ly/3881eCM

“Joan Rivers Sweet Sweet Connie”: https://bit.ly/3D4ao1o

Gut wrenching it was …

I first saw Don & Phil in 62 at the London, New Victoria theater on a tour with Ketty Lester.  They were backed by the Crickets . It was the first time I heard records done right on stage. Oh, what a feeling …

In late 63 the Rolling Stones and Mickie Most were bottom of the bill on a 6 week tour of the UK promoted by Don Arden and headlined by the Everly Brothers . Bo Diddley, Jerome and the Duchess were also with us and Little Richard with Billy Preston were added to the second half of the tour. Keith later called that tour his university.

tour.

So many British songs you were weaned on were written by songslingers who warmed up on Don & Phil and Buddy Holly.

When the Everly Brothers sang they spoke to each other and they spoke for us.

With extreme and forever gratitude,

Andrew Loog Oldham

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The Everly Brothers were the reason I wanted to be a musician. I was sixteen, and I took a girl to what was called a “sock hop,” held in the gym of Amherst Central High School in the suburbs of Buffalo. It was hosted by a local popular DJ, Guy King of WWOL. They had set up a riser in front of the bleachers and Guy escorted the brothers up some make-shift stairs to a couple of waiting microphones. He introduced them to a crowd of probably 500 or so teenagers, many of whom had never heard of the Everly Brothers, since their first record had just been released. But when they strapped on their twin Gibson J-200s and pounded out the opening chords to “Bye, Bye Love,” the kids went wild. The girl I was with forgot all about me – she couldn’t take her eyes off the stage. I knew immediately that I needed to get up on that stage myself.

I knew a few chords on a guitar I had borrowed from my uncle, but I wasn’t serious. The Everly Brothers lit a fire under me that night: the sound of those two strummed acoustics and those amazing voices that were so perfectly in time with each other mesmerized me. And when Guy King talked them into playing “Wake Up, Little Susie,” which was to be their second single, I noticed that one of them put a capo on his guitar. I had never seen one of those and it made me realized how much I didn’t know.

A dozen years later, in the summer of 1970, I was in Linda Ronstadt’s band when she made a guest appearance on the Everly Brothers’ short-lived variety series on ABC. I finally got a chance to tell them how much they meant to me, and they were beyond gracious. Like everybody in the music world, I’m sad today, but pleased to see Don and his brother get all the accolades they deserve.

Best,
John Boylan

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It’s probably unnecessary for me to say this, but beyond having one of the most singular and amazing voices of recorded history, Don Everly was a soulful, gifted and prolific songwriter and his rhythm guitar playing was truly iconic. Regardless of their personal differences and difficulties, he and Phil were magnificent both in the recording studio and live. Their fraternal blend and lifetime of professionalism was astonishing.
I bailed on joining my collaborators and pals Dewey and Gerry of America onstage for a gig at the Universal Amphitheater one night to instead go see the Everly’s at the Greek. It was an absolutely great show.
Donald, who sang lead on every Everly recording, never really sang his solo
parts the same way. He always brought a new interpretation to those well crafted songs, night after night… decade after decade. He struggled with depression and substance abuse and all the trappings that can befall a star, but he left us a lot of beautiful music that surely endures. There’s an abundance of solo Don Everly recordings worth exploring beyond the Brothers fantastic catalogue.
Margaret Everly, mother of Donald and Phillip, now age 102, deserves a prayer. Or two.
R.I.P. Donald.

Peace,

Bill Mumy
Still in Laurel Canyon

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I teched for Paul Simon

Looking out from the stage a tremendous number of people would cry as they sang along with the Everly Brothers during their nightly segment in the middle of the show

When they showed for the first rehearsals, Donald’s guitar had a note woven through the strings from Robert Steinegger ( builder of their “ Ike Everly ” guitars ) it was dated some 16 years earlier
Phil’s guitar was in similar condition

…And when they walked on that stage they sounded exactly like the “Everly Brothers”

Cheers, Michael K

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1958 — in my Xmas stocking — Santa left my first 45 — “Bird Dog” b/w “Devoted To You” by the Everly Brothers on Cadence.

My life changed right then.

Jeff Eyrich

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Hi Bob:  My dad was born in 1940 and he LOVED the Everly Brothers . . . I have not heard these songs in decades, but I could sing along with every word today as they provided the soundtrack of the first decade of my life and you never forget those songs.  I always thought I was the only person in my age group who had ever even heard of the Everly Brothers, much less know their music . . . they just never came up in discussions throughout all my years at a label.

To your point of Europeans embracing American roots, I have a very vivid recollection of talking to my boss’ father one time and he asked what type of music I grew up with.  He’s from Denmark and moved to the States in the 80’s – he’s currently 92!  I said Beatles, Elvis, Johnny Mathis (thanks Mom!) and the Everly Brothers, saying that last name with a “you’ve never heard of them” in my voice.  He latched on to that and launched into how influential Phil and Don were.

Anyways, reading about Don’s death made me think of my father and the hours and hours we spun Every Brothers vinyl and sang along.  Lucky for me, I still have both parents – I bet Dad pulled out one or two of those records yesterday.

Vickie Strate

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NYC-based Cadence Records’ founder/owner Archie Bleyer, one of the sharpest indy label pioneers of all time, signed the Everly Brothers and produced their long run of hits.  Some of the tunes were the brothers’ compositions, other equally successful ones were written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant.      Paul Lanning

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The guitar playing impressed me. The rhythm guitar on “Wake Up, Little Susie” had an urgency and propulsive quality that was a complete break from folk-style guitar playing. It was a lot closer to Pete Townshend’s attitude than Peter, Paul, and Mary’s, that’s for sure.

Craig Anderton

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I was 11 when you were 5 so at 16 when I first heard Lennon/McCartney my first thought was Don/Phil. Seeing the brothers on “The Ed Solomon Show” as my grandmother called Sullivan, was every bit as thrilling as seeing The Beatles a few years later. “It’s back!” I told myself after having abandoned rock’n’roll at 15 for Monk, Coltrane and the MJQ. Now I had both! Though to fully grasp what “it” was took time.

Michael Fremer

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The great contribution of the Everlies is their approach to harmony…

A second singer, singing a counter melody, usually a third above the lead vocal..(Almost constantly, in their case)….

Which we take for granted, having heard the Beatles, Eagles, and every other act doing it, our entire lives..

But nobody did it much before them…(and Buddy Holly).

You’d hear Elvis sing a melody, but the background voices, usually a gospel quartet, would function as orchestration..Oohs and aahs, behind the vocal line..Which followed the template set by Bing Crosby, Sinatra, and the country crooners..

Part of the freedom of rock and roll is the self containment, the independence, the DIY spirit…

For me, it was hearing “Wake Up Little Suzie”, on “Happy Days”..How their voices BLENDED..Siblings can naturally match the tones..

The songs and the recordings hold up well, but it’s those harmonies that changed music forever…

James Spencer

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“The L.A. “Times” obituary went up almost instantaneously, it had obviously been pre-written, because at some point in the not too distant future, they knew Don was going to pass.”

I used to work in news (in the UK) and, believe me, all newspapers and news outlets have obits ready for everyone newsworthy – in print and film/video. On any slow news day, the news dept has writers updating the obits, some have journalists devoted to just the obits.

I did my fair share at the BBC and at first it was weirdly uncomfortable to do them while the subjects were still alive, but in the news business, sentiment doesn’t last long at all.

I’m also from Liverpool, where the Everlys were Gods. I was a life-long fan, bought all their records and suffered through British airings of The Perry Como Show to see them perform. I actually met Phil before he passed,  but never Don.

They were unique and their music still sounds as fresh as when it first came out of that transistor radio.

RIP Don and Phil.

Paul Flattery

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Nice Bill Medley reference there at the end! But if there’s a rock and rollheaven, it’s still just dust in the wind…Seriously, great tribute! I love all those old EB songs, but this just might be my favorite EB track from their Warner Brothers years when they recorded with those great LA session players…in this case the late great Clarence White, one of my longtime Telecaster guitar heroes

Chip Lovitt

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I used to sing “Let ’em In” on stage when it was on the charts but I didn’t know that Phil and Don was a reference to the Everly Bros. I guess I’m revealing my young age at 64? hahah..Well I guess you learn something new everyday,,,thanks to guys like you!… Cheers!

Randy Dawson

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Nobody was ever cooler than these guys:

Marshall Crenshaw

P.S. With all due respect, I was disappointed by this piece on Don Everly- you talked about a whole bunch of other people, said almost nothing about Don himself, or The Everly Brothers. They were one of the greatest artistic entities in the history of Rock, and hit-makers to an historic extreme. Plus, their music is more deeply-rooted in Americana than just about anybody’s: Next time you hear someone talk about a style of guitar-playing called “Travis-picking”, remember that it was Ike Everly who taught Merle Travis how to “Travis-pick”.

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In 1965 at the ripe old age of 10, my daddy took me to an automobile convention at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.  At some point, we wandered into a small tent where a band was setting up to play.  Suddenly, out steps The Everly Brothers, a singing duo I had idolized since I was a wee pup.  They held their guitars up to the mics and strummed them real loud and forceful, then out came those voices in perfect harmony… “Johnny is a joker (he’s a bird)… a very funny joker (he’s a bird)…” I thought I had died and gone to heaven, singing along to a record I had owned since I was 5 or 6.  This was the first time I had ever seen rock & roll performed live in person.  It was the first time I had ever seen a real drum set and was astonished to realize that the kick drum was actually played with a pedal (I had always supposed it to be ornamental).  It was also the first time I had ever seen an Ampeg amplifier (I thought everyone used a Fender).  This experience was a literal baptism into something that had been waiting for me since I was born.  I just needed to experience it in the flesh in order to crystalize what had already been forming in me from the time I became conscious.  The deal was really sealed at the end of the concert when the boys were side-stage, smoking cigarettes and signing autographs for pretty teenage girls.  It was then and there that I knew without a doubt that this was the life for me!  But none of this is as important as the sound of those two brothers singing their hearts out in perfect sibling harmony.  It was angelic and otherworldly, and it gets as deep down inside of my soul today as it did when I was a kid.  And those songs … so catchy, so beautiful, so rockin’.. with my guitar idol Chet Atkins playing lead and those Nashville cats laying it down like there was no tomorrow.  Maybe that’s just it.  When I hear that Everly sound, time stands still and there literally is no tomorrow — only yesterday, with those gorgeous harmonies washing over me like they did when everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.  Yesterday, we lost an elder statesman and architect of America’s great gift to the world of music.  There aren’t too many left alive, and Don’s brother Phil already left us years ago.  Without Don Everly and his great songwriting and musical vision, we would have not had The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and innumerable others to guide us along the way with their own musical statements.  We would have other things, but we wouldn’t have those harmonies.  I, for one, am so grateful to have grown up in a time when music like this was all over the airwaves.  It made my life worth living and gave me something to do with it that could maybe bless others similarly.  For now, so long Don – I really hope to see you on the other side so I can thank you for all this wonderfulness.  R.I.P.

Michael Roe

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When the plane crashed, Feb 2, 1959, I was 11 and in shock because Holly was so central to the music, and feelings that moved me. My understanding and appreciation of the Everly Brothers was magnified by the loss of Buddy.

In Spring 1959 I clearly remember thinking about the state of pop/rock music and how central the Everlys were, and would continue to be.

Top ten hits that were my faves:

1957 – “Bye Bye Love”

“Wake Up Little Susie”

1958 – “All I Have To do Is Dream” –  B/W “Claudette” (written by Roy Orbison)

“Bird Dog” – B/W  “Devoted To You” (#10)

“Problems”

1959 – “Take A Message To Mary” (peaked #16)

“(‘Til) I Kissed You” – with The Crickets

1960 – “Let It Be Me” – B/W “Cathy’s Clown” (#1 for 8 weeks!)

“When Will I Be Loved”

“So Sad (To Watch A Good Love Go Bad)”

When the Beatles arrived in 1964 I heard the Buddy Holly and Everly Brothers ‘sound’ again.

Paul Zullo

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I was born in1963 and I missed out on the first wave of rock and roll and the British invasion. My earliest memory of music is hearing CCRs “Looking Out My Backdoor” on the radio.

But when I was in third grade I met a guy on the playground that introduced me to the Beatles, Led Zepplin, the Doors and Dave Clark Five and I haven’t been worth a damn since.

Then comes along Christmas Eve 1978 and I received the best gift a boy of 15 could ever get. My aunt got me an 8 track of Buddy Holly and it just opened all kinds of doors. I then discovered the Everlys, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, etc. As for Elvis, he was always there through his movies for me.

These days it does my heart good when I hear of youngsters discovering historic music. Because a lot of what goes for music these days will be forgotten next week.

Peace

Tim Clary

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Bob,

A few other points to make about the Everlys:

1) Graham Nash and Allan Clarke idolized them.  In Nash’s memoir, Wild Tales, he writes about seeing them in Manchester in the late ‘50s and following them back to their hotel to meet them. There’s a direct line from the Everlys to the Hollies to CS&N.  That’s where those harmonies come from.

2) Donny Osmond covered “Wake Up Little Susie” on his first solo album when he was huge in the early ‘70s, introducing it to a whole new generation of teenyboppers almost at the same time Simon and Garfunkel were covering “Bye Bye Love”.

It’s also worth mentioning Foreverly, the charming album of Everlys tunes that Norah Jones and Billie Joe Armstrong did a few years ago.  Well worth a listen.

Tycho Manson

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You forgot to mention Fire & Rain’s classic version of ‘Devoted To You!’

Thanks

Rain

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When the LA Times stated Don was “survived by his mother,” I thought it was a typo!

Imagine having a child die—essentially of “old age”–while you’re still alive!

https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/3519328/who-is-the-everly-brothers-mother-margaret/

Mat Orefice

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I’m 63.  My mum (she was a brit, and I’m a half-breed brit) and I butted heads through most of my youth, but the one thing that we could relate to each other on was music.  I’ll never forget how she made a point of telling me that she and my dad went to a Bill Haley concert in London sometime in mid ’57, when she was carrying me (I was born December 10th).  She recalled how I danced inside her to “Rock Around The Clock”.

Another time she told me how she’d just delivered me, and as she held her first born she could hear, on a transistor radio, somewhere in the background, “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Bros.  It was momentous to her, and it still resonates with me to this day.  RIP, Don.

Hey, you forgot to mention that Donny Osmond pitched a version of this Everly tune.  I only know this ’cause my sister drove me nuts, playing it incessantly!  You want some cheese?

Joel Hile

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I was 12 when “Cathy’s Clown“ came out.  I immediately fell in love with the harmonies & the drumbeat. I was hooked to the Everlys.  A few years later  when the Beatles came out , something sounded familiar to me.  It took me a minute and I realized it was the harmonies.  I then realized the Beatles actually listened to the Everly Brothers.
It was ok to be influenced by other artists.  A nice lesson to learn at an early age.  I also remember seeing the Everly Bros on Shindig.
The same thing happed when I heard “ Sounds of Silence” for the first time.  The spread of the harmonies were familiar.
Thank you Don & Phil

Alan Childs

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I met the Everlys when I was sge 6. I was what was then known as a “crippled child”, healed completely 5 years later. But at the time, confined to the house, I was fascinated with their sound and spun the radio dial all day to scour the NY stations for their songs, once “Bye Bye Love” had hit the charts. My father was in the television business, noticed this, and arranged for me to meet with them at a rehearsal for the Perry Como TV show, where they picked up their guitars and sang their new song “Problems” to me, disrupting the rehearsal. Perry was annoyed until he turned around and saw the 6 year old boy on crutches and waved for everyone to stop working until the song was over. This began a lifelong association that included becoming one of their wonderful mother’s best friends after showing up unannounced at her house in Nashville about 35 years ago. She called me her third son, and for reasons most families can understand, got along with me better than with them. She is 101 and still lives in the house her sons built for their parents with the first royalty checks from “Bye Bye Love”. The Everlys had more enduring respect inside the music business than with the public, after their first 5-year string of hits. They were accorded immense appreciation for their innovation, and their master class in rock harmony that so many acts emulated as best they could. Keith Richards, in his excellent book, referenced Don Everly’s rhythm guitar playing 8 or 9 times.

One story. When Billy Joel met Paul McCartney for the first time, he went on at some length about how Paul was his inspiration, his foundation, the reason he did what he did. And He said “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m gushing, I sound like a drooling fan”. And Paul said “That’s OK, I did the same thing when I met the Everly Brothers.”

Preston Bealle

Darien, CT

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Bob, thanks for eulogizing Don and recognizing the Everlys’ influence, particularly on The Beatles, whom the British press dubbed “The British Everly Brothers”, and Simon & Garfunkel, whose first iteration — Tom & Jerry — was virtually an Everly Brothers soundalike. Jack Skuller and I perform as The Everly Set in theaters around the country, and our core demographic is older seniors, thousands of whom flock to our concerts to hear The Everly hits done well and to sing along like the teenyboppers they were in 1957 when Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie topped the charts.  I used to think everybody over 75 idolized Sinatra and the other crooners or only listened to symphonic music or opera, so hearing 1000 people in their 70s and 80s sing/scream the lyrics “Gee Whiz!” and “Ooh La La!” was a crazy eye-opener for me.  Rock has now been around so long that our oldest citizens were twisting, shimmying rockers from the getgo!  Phil & Don are sadly gone, but long live their music and enduring influence.

Sean Altman (NYC)
TheEverlySet.com

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For sure they had great songs.I heard them for the first time in New Zealand 1960,I was 12 years old.I bought their 45.

Tom Riviere

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Nice tribute Bob. I’m 69 years old.  But I was an Everly Brothers fan when I was still a kid.  I remember seeing them sing “Crying in the Rain” on the Ed Sulllivan show, on my family’s black and white TV, while they were still in the military, performing in their uniforms. Like you, I saw them with Simon & Garfunkel (twice: once at Staples and also at the Arrowhead Pond).  I had also seen them a few years earlier at the Greek, when Albert Lee was playing lead guitar in their touring band.  But nothing comes close to when I saw them many years before that, at the Troubadour, sometime around 1970, when they were first getting back together again.  Just the two of them onstage with their acoustic guitars, no band, playing dynamically and singing in perfect, brotherly harmony.  Like nothing else I had ever seen live up to that point and still one of the most stand-out musical experiences of my life.  I was riveted and couldn’t leave.  Stayed for the second show and saw the whole thing over again….back when you could do that at the Troub if the late show wasn’t sold out. What a memory!

Doug Knoll

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Phil Everly on singing with his brother Don:

“It’s like playing tennis with someone who is really great.

You can’t let your mind wander for even a microsecond, or you’ll be left behind.”

“Don and I are infamous for our split.

But we’re closer than most brothers.

Harmony singing requires that you enlarge yourself, not use any kind of suppression.

Harmony is the ultimate love.”

And a quote from Don that I’ve repeated many times:

“If they ever had an Olympics for singing, we might not win the Gold…but we’d sure as hell be in the medals.”

Hank Neuberger

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I’m no celebrity rock star but being older than you growing up in NY listening to Murray the K as well as Cousin Brucie, the Everly Brothers record that sealed the deal for me was “Wake Up Little Susie”. Some years later Simon and Garfunkle released  “ Dancin‘ Wild” and “Hey School Girl” under the moniker of Tom and Jerry. Those of us who loved vocal harmonies loved it all.

Jonathan Schneider

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This performance on The Midnight Special is one of my faves. If you haven’t heard “Stories We Could Tell” (the last studio record they made before breaking up in the early 70s) it’s really worth your time. A veritable who’s who of late 60’s/70s California folk-rock supporting them. It closes with the title track, and this video features a really great performance of that song – as well as a late career rendition of “All I Have To Do Is Dream”. The Everly Brothers were fucking great. Their best stuff ranks among the best ever made.

Stories We Could Tell:

Songs Our Daddy Taught Us (my fave EB record)

David Wallace

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Yes. The Everlys were untouchable in my opinion. Those harmonies could melt you. My sister gave me Don and Phil’s first album when I was 11 or so. I still have it. Later on, I freaked out when I broke the 78 of “Claudette” . It was a tragedy.

However I’d like to note another passing over the weekend, Tom T. Hall. The Storyteller. Listen to “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine”. He was a poet but called a country singer. Check him out if you don’t know him. He had a pop crossover called “I Love”, which I never favored. Interesting but a very simple song. He wrote “Harper Valley PTA”, which got right to the point. Delve into the catalogue and you find Americana at its rawest. And a sweet man as well.

M. Gormley

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Those brothers, the songs and their melodies influenced so many from the Beatles to The Rolling Stones. Remember what Keith Richards said: “I don’t think you will ever find another pair that can match them” and “I can never think of the Everly Brothers without thinking of the others who were involved. There were really four of them: the Everly Brothers and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote all of those beautifully written songs so well suited to the boys voices”.

Boudleaux and Felice Bryant wrote so many songs recorded by many different musicians become huge hits. The Everly’s All I Have To Do Is Dream, Wake Up Little Susie, Bye Bye Love, Take A Message To Mary to name a few of the Bryant songs they recorded… Roy Orbison’s Love Hurts, Buddy Holly’s Raining In My Heart and countless others. What Keith said rings true!!!

All the best,

Watt Casey

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I had the pleasure of promoting their record on Mercury Records… The song, “On The Wings of a Nightingale”… written my Sir Paul and produced by Dave Edmunds… how could you go wrong?

Well in “layman’s” terms it was a stiff! A brilliant record that that radio just didn’t get… their popularity had vanished. I went on a radio tour with Phil .. (no Don) and he was wonderful.. except his smoking was nauseating…

At their gig at the Greek Theater the backstage was like the “who’s who” of Hollywood… Linda Ronstadt  in arms with Gov. Jerry Brown.. quite a site… oh they had separate dressing rooms and were never seen together for pictures..

The part that I wonder most about is how brothers can go to the grave not making up?

Kindest Cheers,

Jeff Laufer

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As much appreciation as I do have for The Everly Brothers, I think it’s important to give credit where credit is due. Too often, songwriters who have created iconic songs that live through the decades are not given their deserved respect. To that end, I want to ask that you mention to your readers that, in addition to “All I Have To Do Is Dream” having been written by Boudleaux Bryant… “Bye Bye Love,”  “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bird Dog” and “Take A Message To Mary” were all written by Felice & Boudleaux Bryant, as were many other Everly Brothers songs. Oh, and, as a matter of fact, Boudleaux Bryant” wrote “Love Hurts!”

As iconic as The Everly Brothers sound was and is, I dare say much of their success can be attributed to the masterful songwriting team of Felice & Boudleaux Bryant. As you may have heard said, it all starts with a song. And without the song, there is nothing.

All the best,

Alan Brewer

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Hello Bob, I am Del Bryant former president CEO of BMI and one of the sons of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. My dear friend Cory Robbins sent me the article you most recently wrote on Don Everly‘s passing and primarily the importance of the Everly Brothers musical legacy. I found your generational view of the difference in the music and the ubiquity with which it was shared and consequently ingested by the culture most interesting. The time was right for something big and important and it happened in the 50s and early 60s, in black and white, at the time, as you stated, that everyone knew the hits and the people who made them. The Everly’s had an immediacy and an intimacy to their music that few matched. The seeds of their explosion fell upon the most promising artist to follow them and as you eloquently stated the fruits (SONGS) of that time are still fresh and enjoyed universally.

My folks were blessed to have a large share of those blessings not only as recorded by the Everly‘s but a wide array of others for which my brother and I are very proud. I manage the publishing of our copyrights and truly view them as siblings I was raised alongside of. I am a 1948 baby, and a man with approximately 4000 brothers and sisters. Raised backstage Grand Ol Opry, I saw rock ‘n’ roll grow from the inside out. I further worked on better understanding the puzzle after leaving my families publishing company and working with writers from all genres at BMI for 42 years. All along the way I was blessed to have the access and contact and often friendship with so many of the people you mentioned in your article, from Little Richard to Chuck Barry to Holland Dozier and Holland  to Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Keith Richards, Graham Nash, Donovan,Tim Rice and many more.

Some created the initial magic we are speaking of while others inspired by the magic created the new beguiling music of yesterday, today and tomorrow. And I would venture to say all of these Band of Merry Brothers would agree that tomorrow is always the target even though it starts today, (STANDARDS). Music, primarily songs have been the “LOVE OF MY LIFE” to borrow from one of my favorite songs the folks wrote for the Everly‘s.  😉
Kind Regards,

Del
Del, Carolyn, Thaddeus Bryant