CONTAINS
Sun recordings can be heard on the playlists from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on > YouTube <
Sidney Louis Hardrock Gunter
"GONNA DANCE ALL NIGHT"
Composer: - Hardrock Gunter
Publisher: - B.M.I. - Tannen Music
Matrix
number: - U 113 - Master (2:20)
Recorded: - January 1954
Unknown Studio Location
Birmingham, Alabama
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance:
- Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single Sun 201-A mono
GONNA DANCE ALL NIGHT / FALLEN ANGEL
Reissued:
- 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-23 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Sidney Gunter - Vocal and Guitar
Ted Crabtree - Steel Guitar
Linda Lane - Bass
Bob Summer - Drums
Alvin Tunkle - Piano
Tony Duke - Saxophone
''Gonna Dance All Night'', sold to Sun in January 1954, is a fusion of rhythm and blues and country music, yet very different from the fusion that Phillips achieved later that same year with Elvis Presley. The reason are clear: Presley was drawing from hillbilly music and country blues; Gunter was drawing from uptown rhythm and blues and western swing. This uptempo side was very close to the sound that Bill Haley was peddling with increasing success on Essex Records but, despite the fact that the group had a nice feel for the rhythm. Gunters' vocal is unmistakably white. Gunter had recorded earlier versions of this song in 1950 for Bama Records, and, ironically, both the Sun and Bama records were numbered 201. Phillips' cheque register shows a series of cheques made payable to Gunter's then current band and the song was copyrighted with Tannen Music on June 24, 1954. (MH)
Sidney Louis Hardrock Gunter
"FALLEN ANGEL"
Composer: - Hardrock
Gunter
Publisher: - B.M.I. - Sheldon Music
Matrix number: - U 112 - Master (2:44)
Recorded:
- January 1954
Unknown Studio Location
Birmingham, Alabama
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single Sun 201-B mono
FALLEN ANGEL / GONNA DANCE ALL NIGHT
Reissued:
- 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-24 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
Name
(Or. No. Of Instruments)
Sidney Gunter - Vocal and Guitar
Ted Crabtree - Steel Guitar
Linda
Lane - Bass
Bob Summer - Drums
Alvin Tunkle - Piano
Sidney Hardrock Gunter made his name in and around Birmingham, Alabama, but in 1952 he moved to WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia. In July the following year he quit WWVA to return to Birmingham to resume his TV career. At the same time, he landed a disc jockey gig on an rhythm and blues station, WJLD, where the program director was Sam Phillips' brother in law, Jim Connally. Told by Connally that Gunter would record for Sun. Phillips asked Gunter to come to Memphis, but Gunter demurred. Instead he cut two songs at a Birmingham radio station. Only the sax break distinguishes ''Fallen Angel'' from the country mainstream of 1954, but the sax was very much in keeping with Birmingham's uptown blend of country music and swing (the same blend heard in Cuck Murphy's music). The theme is familiar (in fact, Bob Wills issued an unrelated ''Fallen Angel'' in March 1964) and Gunter's vocal owes a heavy debt to western swing balladry. This is a very straight performance with none of the off-the-wall character of Phillips' best work. It actually stood a fair chance of garnering some action in the country market of that far-off year. Gunter was a known quantity and the single was a strong double-sided contender by the standards of the time. It was probably Phillips' lack of promotional capital and his unfamiliarity with the market that doomed it. (MH)