RichardCYoung.com » Dave Hammer

Who Is Our President?

Dave Hammer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:14:30 +0000

Since I was born, there have been twelve U.S. Presidents. I’ve been in the homes of two, one has been in my home, and some have sent me personal, handwritten correspondence. They include JFK, Jimmy Carter, Eisenhower, and both Bushes.

Ever since I was a child, I knew quite a bit about our country’s current Presidents, as did most people. But, regarding our existing President, I know little. So, to tell the reader why that is, I will paraphrase an open letter to Obama sent to (but not published by) the New York Times from a well-known corporate executive.

Here are just ten things Dave Hammer does or does not know:

1) Although born in Hawaii, Obama did not spend his formative years in the U.S., so I question his ability to understand the “American Dream.”

2) I don’t know by what means he paid for his Ivy League education, since I don’t know anything about where he, or his family, earned income.

3) He was never in the military, but he is our Commander-in-Chief.

4) He never ran a company or had to meet a payroll and has had no training in economics but he and his appointees direct the country’s economic future.

5) He has never seemed sincere or humble, despite his talent for political rhetoric, and only blames his predecessors for the country’s woes.

6) He spent many years aligned with radical extremists and frequently blames America for many of the world’s problems.

7) He is a control-freak who, along with Pelosi, rammed socialized healthcare down the throats of a public when the majority was against government control.

8) He has shown all the evidence necessary to prove that he strongly believes in a bigger government sector of the economy and smaller private sector.

9) He seems to believe he is omnipotent and omniscient and won’t listen to intelligent people who know more about economics and world politics if they hold an opposing view.

10) He wants to penalize risk-takers and hard workers and reward those who are just, “along for the ride.”

Barack, Nancy and Harry’s “No Stimulus” Plan

Dave Hammer — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:17:38 +0000

There were three earth-shaking events in the year 1776: The American Revolution, the publication of Wealth of Nations and the invention of the “cocktail.” The latter was invented by my great-great-great-grandmother (originally from a small village in Denmark) who owned a New York tavern catering to Revolutionary soldiers and decided to decorate her alcoholic concoctions with a rooster’s feather.

As for Adam Smith’s book, Wealth of Nations, it was, and still is, the foundation of the economics behind capitalism. After its publication, economic theory went through a 150-year dry spell until John Maynard Keynes came up with the brilliant idea to smooth out the inherent economic cycles of capitalism by using fiscal policy. In other words, have the government spend more than what’s coming in from taxes during a recession and spend less (and repay the debt incurred during the recession) during prosperity. Keynesian economics is that simple.

Sounds great, so Franklin Roosevelt gave it a whirl in 1933 and 4 years later, despite the PWA, WPA and many other revival programs, it still hadn’t worked. By 1937, unemployment was just as high as it had been all throughout the Great Depression. FDR’s answer was “more stimulus.” But that didn’t work either. It was World War II, as we all now know, that got us out of the Depression.

Then, economist Milton Friedman came along and proposed using monetary policy (managing the supply of money) as a better alternative to fiscal policy (managing the federal budget deficit). When I was getting my degree in economics, the academic community was equally divided between the two theories. Until Obama came along, I thought Friedman had eventually won, based on Reagan’s and Clinton’s success in promoting business and/or reducing government deficits.

Here is the key. Government spending has no “multiplier effect.” For every dollar the Feds spend on creating wages, GDP grows by no more (and sometimes a lot less) than one dollar. But, if the Feds give business or other investors a dollar to add capital to the economic base, then GDP not only receives the immediate dollar shot in the arm, but also all the dollars (and jobs) that will be generated from the products that the new plant, equipment and research produce. That’s the “multiplier effect.” Reduce government spending to allow more money to go into capital, both to get the country out of a recession and to create more permanent jobs instead of increasing spending that, unfortunately, reduces capital and promotes the hoarding of non-productive cash.

Would you rather have the Feds give away money for temporary jobs and to people who might spend the gift on lottery tickets and fancy rims for their cars; or give it to people and firms that will actually invest the money in the capital base of our economic future? Remember, the former is accomplished by raising taxes and the latter by cutting taxes.

The 1970’s Most Underrated Songwriter

Dave Hammer — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:11:04 +0000

Sometime in 1971, I got home from work and found a case of expensive wine from someone named Bill Parsons at my front door. Well, the only Bill Parsons I had ever met was the guy who supposedly had written and sung the country/rock crossover hit All American Boy over ten years earlier. But, I didn’t think he’d remember me; and why would he be sending me wine from all over Europe? So, I tracked him down to thank him and we got talking about music. It turns out, Bill was not the person who sent the wine; more importantly, he wasn’t even the guy who wrote or sang All American Boy (he lip-synced it on American Bandstand). His buddy, country music legend (and story-teller) Bobby Bare had written and recorded the major hit. Because Bobby was going into the Army and couldn’t perform for a while, he let Parsons take credit for the whole thing.

The song All American Boy told the story of how easy it was to become a rock-and-roll star. “Git ya a guitar and put it in tune, and you’ll be rockin’and a-rollin’ soon.” That line of lyrics reflects my opinion of most pop musicians. Chuck Berry once told me backstage after complimenting him on his creativity, “There’s nothing new under the sun” (a quote from Ecclesiastes in the Bible, I think). Learn the basic drum beat or a three chord guitar pattern and a few guitar riffs, make yourself look different, add a few innovative movements on stage, copy some pop music every musician already knew, add a couple of new licks, and you could have a hit if you knew the right people.

Of the hundreds of famous musicians I’ve met over the years, I would only brag about meeting a dozen of them. Most knew nothing about the fundamentals of music, couldn’t even read a musical score, couldn’t trace their own name and wouldn’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain unless it were to get high. There are exceptions from the 1950-70’s like McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Fogerty, Willy Nelson, Bernstein, Ellington, Ernest Tubb, etc., who were very smart and talented.

But, I think the most overlooked is Kris Kristofferson. His melodies (that used some unusual notes for their time) and his lyrics are masterpieces. Sure, he’s probably best known for his hit Me and Bobby McGee, but just listen to the heartfelt lyrics of Help Me Make It Through The Night or Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down. Think about the words: “There’s nothin’ short of dyin’ half as lonesome as the sound of a silent city sidewalk and Sunday mornin’ comin’ down” or “Come and lay down by my side ‘til the early mornin’ light cause’ I don’t want to be alone…help me make it through the night.” A little more poetic than “wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-bam,” I would say!

Kris, whose parents didn’t approve of his musical career, was a college rugby star, graduated summa cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, then (like Bill Clinton) earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford where he earned a Master’s Degree in English. He served his time in the military as a pilot in Viet Nam while most of the music crowd was avoiding the draft. He was even a professor at West Point. The list of Kristofferson’s songs is immense and the percentage that was covered by other artists is extraordinary. He made a lot of musicians famous. He may not have been the best singer or movie actor, but he is a true American classic songwriter and citizen.

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Equity Risk Premiums Still too High

Dave Hammer — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:35:34 +0000

If the equity risk-premium (versus Treasuries) were to return to its historic average of 4.5%, the S&P would be 50% higher than it is today. Now, I don’t know when or if that will happen, but my numbers are based on real facts: the historic spread between corporate bonds and Governments, the least-squares regression of historic S&P earnings, today’s yield curve, etc. All of the inputs are FACTS, with NO subjective data whatsoever and no voodoo numbers regarding where the market might be next week (if the market is so undervalued, who cares where the market MIGHT BE next week?)

The equity-risk premium is still over 10% like it was when we loaded up on stocks a year ago when everyone else was running scared. I’m not even worried about a possible trend toward socialism, because the market may, already, be telling us about likely changes in Congress next November. Forget the technicians’ point about the market going up on lower volume. Volume has nothing to do with stock prices, since stock prices are NOT set by supply and demand (except in the short-term); they are a function of intrinsic value, unlike wheat, gold, oil, etc. After all, again looking at FACTS, a lot of money came OUT of the U.S. stock market over the past 12 months based on mutual fund redemptions), but the market still went to the moon.

I don’t know how much longer this bull market will last, but it seems to me that an equity-risk premium of more than twice the historic norm will not last forever. People are afraid of the new Congress (fear and greed are the only things that affect the equity-risk premium), but that won’t last forever because the same people have the capability to change (reverse) things at the ballot box. I only mention change in politics because that’s in the future; I do not mention economics because those numbers are in the past, and the stock market is a LEADING, not lagging, economic indicator.

The opinions expressed are the author’s.

Music of the 1960’s: What Was It???

Dave Hammer — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:51:30 +0000

In the four decades that followed the First World War, each calendar decade had only a couple types of music that were really popular, and usually one of those was so predominant that it defined the decade. But, by the time the 1960’s rolled around, there were so many genres of popular music, none became synonymous with the decade. It’s no wonder! The country was in turmoil due to racial strife and the unpopular Viet Nam War. Every major city was lit on fire and peace demonstrations were continuous. Even my very old high school, built next to the American Revolution’s Springfield Armory, was destroyed by racial violence soon after I graduated. Young folks around the country were burning not only buildings but also their draft cards and even the American flag. Hard drugs (including psychedelics) abounded. JFK, MLK and RFK were assassinated. This country’s individual beliefs were a mish-mash and so was the popular music.

The 1960’s began with Golden Rock-and-Roll and some big bands still doing well. I saw Duke Ellington once or twice a year and remember how his great tenor sax player, Paul Gonsalves, always knew me and let me stand three feet in front of him while he played (probably because I gave him a Camel cigarette between songs). I even spent a while talking with Cab Calloway one summer. I remember being invited to Bill (Count) Basie’s house in Connecticut for a weekend (as a result of being friendly with his nephew). What a thrill! My brother got a dirty look from Lionel Hampton for trying to imitate his antics while we were standing less than six feet from his vibraphone. I spent an hour, one-on-one, with Carl Perkins (of “Blue Suede Shoes” fame) before a concert. I was part-time stage manager at an auditorium where Dave Brubeck told me he was the only Jewish rancher left in California. In the same job, as a prank during a concert, I dropped a home-made stink bomb into the Boston Symphony’s cello section. I met many of the great Country musicians at the Bushnell Auditorium in Hartford where I stood next to Ernest Tubb when, during the break, he let a blind girl come back-stage and read a poem she had written for him. I met the Kingston Trio when they performed at my university’s student union, met Peter-Paul-and-Mary in Hampton Beach, met the Platters’ Herb Reed back-stage when my brother played with them, spent a long time with Glen Campbell in his dressing room (thanks to his drummer being my brother’s good friend), had dinner (at my parents’ house) with Gladys Knight’s guitar player, listened to Dave Van Ronk (the great, white blues singer) up close and personal in a Boston coffee-house, and so on. The point is: all the musicians I met during the 1960’s represented different music genres.

After the British Invasion in 1963, popular music moved in many directions. By the mid-60’s, audiences were applauding The Who’s guitarist, Pete Townshend, smashing his instruments on stage. By the end of the decade, Janice Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died from drug overdoses. When you think about the stars of the 60’s, they would have to include everyone from the Beatles (British rock) to Temptations (Motown) to Ray Stevens (humor) to John Fogerty (swamp-rock) to Marty Robbins (country-crossover) to The Beach Boys (clean-cut rock) to Bob Dylan (protest poetry) to Ray Charles (gospel-R&B-country crossover) to Loretta Lynn (pure country) to Miles Davis (free jazz) to The Mamas & The Papas (folk-rock). I could go on and on. The music of the 1960’s was as diverse, and sometimes as radical, as the country’s racial and political views.

The Liberals Are Still Whining

Dave Hammer — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:28:05 +0000

When the Republicans controlled the legislative, judicial and executive branches of our government, the conservatives always pointed out how the liberals were “whining” about everything. Now the Democrats are in charge and the liberals are still whining. But, this time the whining is coming from the top. Congress moaned about having to work on Christmas Eve. There are 10-20% of Americans without good jobs who would feel blessed for being able to work on December 24. Then there’s the president himself. He repeatedly claims he is faced with the biggest challenges since Franklin Roosevelt. YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!

Either Obama doesn’t know his history (maybe he’s too young and inexperienced to remember his predecessors) or, more likely, he thinks the average American is not as smart as him and his elitist crew. Here’s a president who has appointed 92% of his gang from the ranks of government-only backgrounds, compared to his predecessors of the past 100 years (including FDR) who appointed 50% from private industry. Obama’s elitists must think they can distort U.S. history and fool the rest of us. Not me!

Here are a few examples of what the presidents since FDR had to confront. The reader can compare these enormous issues with the relatively few problems of today:

1)Harry Truman- the problems of post-WWII Europe and Mid-East regarding those countries’ political and economic future, the Soviet total disregard of the agreements at the Yalta Conference, the creation of the United Nations and determination of the powers of its Security Council, Russia getting the atomic bomb, the creation of Israel, the massive labor strikes where the unions wouldn’t accept a 24% wage increase, the Korean War, etc.
2)Dwight Eisenhower- ending the Korean War, McCarthyism, the problems created by the earlier communist revolution in China including the protection of Formosa (now Taiwan), the communist infiltrations all over southeast Asia, the Suez Canal Crisis where France/England/Israel went to war with Egypt, the U-2 spy-plane fiasco, inflation during a recession, agricultural commodity prices sinking so far that farmers were going broke, political revolutions in most Latin American countries, desegregation of public schools, etc.
3)John Kennedy- the fight against corruption within the same unions that helped elect him, the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis that could have resulted in another world war, the steel industry (the backbone of economy at the time) being shut down by the unions, etc.
4)Lyndon Johnson through Jimmy Carter- the horrible dilemma of the Vietnam War, the Arab Oil Embargo, the unusual event of double-digit inflation while the economy was going nowhere, racial tensions all over the country, ending the Vietnam War, the proliferation of anti-American Americans, Watergate, etc.
5)Thanks to Ronald Reagan and his economic and political policies, life has been much easier for the politicians who followed him, including the “Whiners.”

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The Greatest Old-time Rock and Roll Songwriter

Dave Hammer — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:57:53 +0000

If we define (as I always do) “old-time” rock & roll as the period from the mid-1950’s to the “British Invasion” of the mid- 1960’s, then there is no doubt that the partnership of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller was most influential in terms of their proliferation of songs written and their contribution to the popularity of early rock and roll. After all, they wrote “Hound Dog” long before anyone heard of Elvis. They wrote the “Jailhouse Rock” and before that, “Kansas City” that was recorded by several artists. They wrote all of the Coasters’ hits like “Yakety-yak,” “Searchin’,” “Charlie Brown,” “Along Came Jones,” etc. They wrote “There Goes My Baby” for the Drifters as well as “Love Potion #9,” “Chapel of Love” and “Stuck in the Middle of You.” The list goes on and on. But, most of the songs written by Lieber and Stoller were more gimmicks than pieces of art in my opinion. I would call them great businessmen, not great musicians.

Consider the pioneers of rock like Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, and Elvis; then realize almost all their songs were written by others; and none of these guys were great instrumentalists (even Jerry Lee’s piano skills are greatly exaggerated, considering I could play better boogie-woogie piano in my teens). Who composed rock songs that had meaningful poetry for lyrics, wrote songs with chord patterns that were an enhancement over 100-year-old blues, had a vocal style as good as the best black or white singers, invented simple but catchy (now classic), unique guitar riffs for each song, and can still enthrall an audience with a 2-3 hour non-stop concert? My only answer is, John Fogerty.

Including his days beginning with Credence Clearwater Revival through his current solo days, his first real big hit was a cover of Dale Hawkins’ “Susie Q” that John didn’t write. But, the innovative drum beat and vocal style (both much different than Hawkins’) made the Fogerty/ Credence version a bigger hit than the original.

Fogerty was not a star during the era that I define as “old-time rock and roll.” His songs were written in the late 1960’s and thereafter. But, the music itself was far closer to the genre of the 1950’s than any decade since then. “Green River,” “Proud Mary,” and “Travelin’ Band” are examples. Then, there are all the songs that don’t belong to any rock decade but will be rock classics forever, like “Centerfield,” “ Bad Moon Rising’” “Lookin’ Out My Backdoor.” “Fortunate Son” and “Down on the Corner.” Every one of his songs has a unique beat, unique lead guitar (played by Fogerty) theme, and lyrics that have meaning. For example, when you listen to “Green River” can’t you just envision the cool water running by the log where catfish bite, or walking along a river road at night, or seeing barefoot girls dancing in the moonlight, or hearing the bullfrog, or seeing kids swinging over the river on a rope, or listening to the “advice” of railroad campers? Give Fogerty a lot of credit. He made listeners feel like they were in the Mississippi Delta with his lyrics and technique, even though Fogerty was from California. His poetry, vocal style, guitar licks, and drum-beats were innovative; that’s why he’s an all-time great.

Every time I hear him in concert, he comes on stage and says something like, “ Thanks for being here….I’m not much for making speeches….I’m about rock and roll….so, let’s get with it!” Then, even in his sixties, he’ll rock for 2 or 3 hours straight. Don’t miss him!

What Are Liberals Saying Now?

Dave Hammer — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:46:48 +0000

Do you remember the Liberals’ biggest complaints about George W. Bush? They were:

1) Bush spent too much of our tax money. Well, HELLO? Obama has increased the federal budget deficit and debt way beyond anything previously imaginable.

2) Bush had too many troops in harm’s way in the Middle-east. Well, HELLO? Obama not only hasn’t brought our men back from Iraq as promised in his campaign, but is now in the process of committing more soldiers to Afghanistan.

3) Bush tried to acquire too much power for a President, and many even referred to him as King George (even though he didn’t use his veto power). Well, HELLO? Our current President is trying to ram his programs (e.g., healthcare, cap-trade, etc.) down the throats of a public that doesn’t want them. He has also created a non-accountable “Cabinet of Czars” to help him run this country.

4) Bush gave an unnecessary and unfruitful handout (tax rebate) to low-medium income families. Well, HELLO? Obama plans to give Social Security recipients a handout because they didn’t get a cost-of-living increase this year, even though there is no inflation. Yet, retirees on private or government pensions (defined-benefit plans) have a guaranteed income, unlike now-ill-fated business owners.

5 )Bush had too many friends in industry (like Cheney’s Halliburton) that were reaping unjust rewards from the Government. Well, HELLO? Under Obama, we have witnessed more industries receiving handouts, and in greater amounts, than ever imaginable. The banking industry needed saving, but this has become absurd.

6) Bush used the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a way to gain popularity. Well, HELLO? Obama knows when the poll numbers are plummeting, there is nothing like a crisis to bring people around. So, why not create a few, like the global warming farce, health care, maybe Afghanistan and whatever will scare Americans? Public confidence is now lower than it was during the Great Depression. Thanks a lot!

7) Bush was a poor communicator. Well, HELLO? Even though Obama is a personable, excellent speaker himself, with good command of our language, he never explains what is really going on inside the White House and what his reform proposals will really entail. Plus, the other members of his crew, including his mumbling press people, sound insincere, uninformed or just devious.

8) Bush let the U.S. Dollar slide. Well, HELLO? Look at the drop in the Dollar since Obama became President! I’m sure a lower Dollar is part of Obama’s economic plan to encourage domestic spending. But, there will be a big price to pay in the future with horrible inflation, high interest rates and the disappearance of foreign governments as the financiers of our ballooning federal debt. That’s scary!

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The Greatest Old-time Rock and Roll Guitar Player

Dave Hammer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:06:43 +0000

No single person invented Rock-and-Roll, although Little Richard Penniman and Bill Haley, early on, had the right idea of how to combine the chord pattern of Rhythm & Blues (that used the chords of the earlier Blues) with the melody notes that came more from Country or Swing than from Blues, along with a rhythm that was more like Gospel but with a hard, steadier drive. But, the innovation that caused Rock-and-Roll to change popular music forever was the invention of the electric guitar (and the new techniques it allowed). Without the electric guitar, Rock-and-Roll wouldn’t have lasted long!

Around sixty years ago, the electric bass and the amplifier were invented by Leo Fender. About that time, Les Paul invented the electrified guitar. He also came up with the idea of an echo machine that led to an amplifier “reverb,” both very important in the early days of rock-and roll. Originally, the echo machine was a tape recorder that had both a recording pickup (head) and one or more playing heads. The guitar was plugged into one end of the machine and the amp into the other end; and each note would be recorded by one head and then played back again, one or more times, at a selected tape speed. The reverb (now electronic) originally was a spring (between two mechanical pickups) that could vibrate much faster and produce many more echoes than a tape recorder/player.

When I think of “The Greatest,” regarding any vocalist or instrumentalist, I think of innovation even more than technical expertise. Certainly, Chuck Berry was innovative with his two-string harmony solos, but even he admitted they were variations of older jazz piano licks learned from his pianist Johnnie Johnson (which is probably why Berry’s songs were recorded in keys like B-flat and E-flat, rather than the easier-to-play guitar keys of E and A). Carl Perkins, Joe Maphis, Danny Cedrone and Scotty Moore were among other great, innovative guitar players who helped shape the music of the 1950’s.

But, the picker that had the greatest influence on the popularity of Rock-and-Roll was Louisiana’s James Burton, lead guitar player for Ricky Nelson and Elvis (after Scotty Moore and up until The King’s death). Also, being an accomplished musician, he recorded albums with Bobby Darin, Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others, including famous Country singers (John Denver for many years) with whom he often played the slide Dobro guitar. He was one of the first to employ the echo machine like he had heard Scotty Moore use when the latter was playing guitar for Elvis in the Sun Records days. Then, he cranked up the amplifier and created licks that blew people away. I recommended going to YouTube.com and playing Ricky Nelson’s “Believe What You Say” or “Hello Mary Lou”) to see James Burton in his early days on the Ozzie And Harriet show. Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards and John Fogerty say the only reason they watched that TV show as kids in the 50’s was to watch James Burton play. Me too!

Burton was one the first to use light gauge strings so he could bend notes and also hit higher-than-normal pitches. He used a normal flat pick but added a pick to his middle finger so he could pick banjo style, then would dampen the lower strings with his pick-hand like Chet Atkins, except he would play new, creative, awesome-sounding licks that became rock-and-roll classics. He contributed as much to rock-and-roll music as anyone.

The Greatest Old-time Rock and Roll Duet

Dave Hammer — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:28:20 +0000

In the early days of Rock and Roll, there were dozens upon dozens of top hits sung by duets. In many cases, the duos were mediocre artists who simply recorded catchy tunes; and in some cases the duos were quite talented. But, there is no duet in the history of rock and roll that had the musical talent of the Everly Brothers.Here are some technical facts. When a person talks normally, the pitch of the voice is at the very lower end of his/her singing range. So, the higher the pitch of a note, the greater is the tendency for that note to be flat (slightly off key). Some singers compensate for this by using a strong vibrato or “aiming high.” The Everly Brothers sang in the upper register of their singing-range (like the blue-grass singers of their native Kentucky), used no vibrato, yet their pitch was dead-on accurate. I know this because I have run their music through the sophisticated equipment in my home recording studio and found virtually zero variance between the notes being sung and the intended pitch.

Their unique sound stems from the fact that they used a tight harmony, meaning the harmony note was close (on the musical scale) to the melody note. This harmony was so tight, that when I watched the Everlys perform, I couldn’t tell which brother was singing the melody note and which was singing the harmony note. Oddly, I contend that both notes combined represented the melody in many of their songs. Not only was their intonation perfect, so was their timing. In other words, the two singers sounded as one; and the quality of their voices was beautifully mellow, like my Steinway grand piano.

The final technical fact is regarding their guitars. They began by using big, thick, non-electrified Gibson guitars. Musicians call this type of flat-top, hollow-body monster a Dreadnought, a name originally coined by Martin Guitar Company after the HMS Dreadnought, the deadly British battleship built prior to World War I. Don and Phil sometimes used an “open-tuning” for their instruments, meaning some strings are tuned down to form a chord, (D-G-D-G-B-D), and may have used a banjo string (like high-G, as their father Ike did) to get a greater-than-normal two-octave chord range (thus, producing a full-sounding, very “open chord”). All this resulted in a powerful sound. Notice how Don frequently started a song with a series of highly rhythmic, big-sounding chords that would catch the listeners’ attention and hook them in to listening to the rest of the song. Think of the intros to “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake-up Little Suzie,” or “Bird Dog.”

I could recite much of the Everly family’s biography from the Kentucky coal mines to the years of moving from state-to-state singing for local radio stations before Don and Phil, on their own, hit the big-time in Nashville. I will detail only the most important fact. After taking their recording of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant’s “Bye Bye Love” to several labels and getting turned down (even by Columbia), Chet Atkins discovered Don and Phil and got them onto the Cadence label that had been formed by Archie Bleyer originally to record Julius LaRosa (of TV’s Arthur Godfrey Show). Who played lead guitar on the Everly Brothers’ early recordings? Believe it or not, Chet Atkins did.

RichardCYoung.com » Dave Hammer

Who Is Our President?

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