Charlie Feathers (June 12, 1932 – August 29, 1998) was an
influential American 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 favoured 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, get his name on one of Elvis' Sun records, "I Forgot To Remember
To Forget" when the writer Stan Kesler asked him to record a demo of the
song.
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.
When the rockabilly revival started up in Europe in the
early '70s, Feathers became the first living artist up for deification by
collectors. His old 45s suddenly became worth hundreds of dollars, and every
interviewer wanted to know why he never really made it big and what his true
involvement with Sun consisted of. Feathers embroidered the story with a skewed
view of rock & roll history with each retelling, to be sure, but once he
picked up his guitar and sang to reinforce his point, the truth came out in his
music. Never mind why he didn't make it back in the '50s; he could still
deliver the goods now.
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. During this time,
rockabilly icon Colonel Robert Morris played drums for Charlie. Charlie said
"Robert tore up a brand new set of drums, but the crowd was dancing on the
tables".
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.
With health problems plaguing him from his diabetes and a
surgically removed lung, Feathers continued on his own irascible course,
recording his first album for a major label in 1991 (Elektra's American Masters
series) and continuing to perform and record for his wide European fan base.
Truly an American music original, Feathers died August 29, 1998, of
complications following a stroke; he was 66. (Info edited from Wikipedia & All Music)
4 comments:
For Charlie Feathers – Jungle Fever go here:
http://www51.zippyshare.com/v/PzHb6n40/file.html
1. Charlie Feathers - Tongue-Tied Jill
2. Charlie Feathers - Get With It
3. Charlie Feathers - Bottle To The Baby
4. Charlie Feathers - One Hand Loose
5. Charlie Feathers - Nobody's Woman
6. Charlie Feathers - Can't Hardly Stand It
7. Charlie Feathers - Everybody's Lovin' My Baby
8. Charlie Feathers - Too Much Alike
9. Charlie Feathers - When You Come Around
10. Charlie Feathers - When You Decide
11. Charlie Feathers - Jungle Fever
12. Charlie Feathers - Why Don't You
13. Charlie Feathers - Wild Wild Party
14. Charlie Feathers - Today And Tomorrow
15. Charlie Feathers - Stutterin' Cindy
16. Charlie Feathers - Tear It Up
17. Charlie Feathers - Uh Huh Honey
18. Charlie Feathers - That Certain Female
19. Charlie Feathers - She Set Me Free
20. Charlie Feathers - Wedding Gown Of White
21. Charlie Feathers - Jungle Fever
Boasting a generous 21 tracks, Jungle Fever is the best available compilation of Charlie Feathers' original rockabilly recordings; all of his best-known songs are collected here.
Hi! Do you think you could reupload the album? I'd be so grateful.
Your in luck. Found the original data file. Here it is...
https://www.mediafire.com/file/5nmb7llta80h427/Charlie%20Feathers%20-%20Jungle%20Fever.rar
Regards, Bob
Thanks Bob!
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