as the Premiers in 1956. Their name came from the brand of Skeet’s drums — an indication of the importance of equipment in the mind-set of these youngsters. When Skeet left, the Premiers had to find a new drummer. Larry Graves bought his guitar from Sears after Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” inspired him and started a band called the Nomads. When Bo Reynolds asked him if he wanted to be in the Premiers, Larry brought his guitar for the audition, but ended up playing the drums. Pat Thornton had learned to play piano at Fairfield High and he also got an invitation to join the Premiers. The band practiced the garage below his house in Fairfield, and this explains where the term “garage band” originated: “We had a ball! There were only four or five bands when we started out, but everything was changing.”
The life of a garage band revolved around rehearsing. Record producer Ed Boutwell remembers this conversation with a concerned parent: “I am just so worried — they are spending so much time doing that, and I am afraid that they are going to go out and work at these nightclubs and all, and get in trouble. I said, ‘Pardon me, but where are they every afternoon?’ ‘In the garage out back playing that darned music.’ I said, ‘Yeah, every afternoon, seven days a week right?’ ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Where do they go then, once or twice a week? — they will go work a gig, right?’ ‘They are there for two or three hours and then come home and they will get right back out in the garage and start rehearsing again.’”
The Premiers were acknowledged as the leading rock band in Birmingham. Ned Bibb: “They were powerful for one thing. Dale Karrah was a powerful lead player for the times. I would go to Duke’s and just stand in front of him in awe. He played a Fender Duo Sonic. That was the kind I had to get, because that is what he played. My wife tells me that I started looking like him … They were all football players, and one time they came out on stage in their football sweats. They played really loud. They were older than us, so naturally they were all role models. They did mostly Bo Diddley songs — that was their big thing.” Henry Lovoy: “Dale was before his time. He was like Jimi Hendrix before Jimi Hendrix. He was doing all this whacking off the guitar and that stuff. He also had experimented with feedback, which nobody did. He was just wild.”
The Ramrods were formed by a bunch of students at Woodlawn High School in 1959: “We all went to Woodlawn together, the ones that started the band. We had Joe Lackey [vocals, guitar], myself [Larry Wooten, guitar], and we all went to Woodlawn. Jim McCulla [drums] that went to Banks [High School], Joe and I and Paul Newman here, and Harry Looney went to church together. That is really how we got started, and Joe bought a guitar and I sort of got interested in playing the guitar after watching a program at Woodlawn High School that featured a band that was already there. That is what motivated me to go out and buy a guitar. I couldn’t sing very well but I could play the piano. So I went out and bought a Silvertone [an electric guitar sold by Sears], a double-pickup Silvertone and an amplifier. Joe and I would practice in his living room: rock ’n’ roll songs. We were a rock ’n’ roll band. We played songs like ‘Suzie Q’ by Dale Hawkins, Chuck Berry stuff, but it was mainly rock ’n’ roll, and not much Elvis. Mainly Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and folks like that, and some Little Richard rock ’n’ roll stuff.” High school garage bands were in a constant state of flux as trends in popular music changed: “Then we picked up some other folks. See Joe was in a choral group at Woodlawn, the Warblers, they sang barbershop harmony and they put on a minstrel show. It was a big group … So they started doing some doo-wop stuff. So we went from rock ’n’ roll to doo-wop when doo-wop became popular. We had a couple of girls that went to Banks High School that did songs like ‘In the Still of the Night.’” The Ramrods’ name was inspired by a record by Duane Eddy, the king of the guitar instrumentalists, which had become very popular —“the stuff came back in that featured a lot of instrumentals like Freddie King, the Ventures, and groups like that.” Guitar instrumentals were perfect for garage bands, requiring a minimum of musical expertise and doing away with the lead singer altogether — the group was now the thing. Duane Eddy’s “Rebel-Rouser” in 1958 started the trend, and it continued with a guitar band from Seattle called the Ventures. Their big hit “Walk Don’t Run” of 1960 encouraged numerous other guitar-based bands to emulate their twangy, echoing electrified sound.
Phillips High School produced the Epics. Rick Hester played lead guitar, Terry Ryan played guitar and bass, Ross Gagliano was on the drums, and Joe Ardivino was the vocalist. Rick was the lead guitarist for the band, and Joe was the lead vocalist. The Churchkeys started around 1962 with a group of students from Ramsey High School: Tommy Allison on drums, Mike Easter on bass, Rob Hackney on guitar, Bert McTyer on sax, and Tommy DeBuiys on piano. After Bert and Tommy left, Charles Feldman and Chuck Butterworth joined and the band was renamed the Bassmen. Again, their name came from their equipment, in this case the name of a Fender amplifier. Ramsey High School produced the Ramblers around 1961. This was formed around the guitar-playing talents of Tommy and Eddie Terrell, Van Veenschoten (on lead guitar), and Chip Sanders, with Johnny Robinson on drums. True to form, the Ramblers practiced in Robinson’s garage. The Romans had members from Ramsey and Shades Valley Schools — this group was managed by Buddy Buie, who was to have some influence on southern rock ’n’ roll. The Counts were formed around 1962 in Robert Alexander’s basement. Robert and Ned Bibb played guitars and teamed up with Bobby Marlin on drums.
As with many other Birmingham teenagers, Ned Bibb’s introduction to rock ’n’ roll came from the movies: “My inspiration was Chuck Berry from when I was thirteen years old [in 1958]. I had gone downtown on the bus on a Saturday. I decided to go see a movie. I went in to see a rock ’n’ roll movie that had Chuck Berry playing the guitar [probably Go, Johnny Go!]. This was the first time that I had seen how music was made. During that time there was no television that had rock ’n’ roll … I decided that I wanted to play the guitar, but I didn’t have any idea how to play one. I didn’t even know how to tune one. I think the insurance guy came by the house one day and tuned it for me. I would just play the record and learn the notes … The first live band I saw was the Road Runners … We were going to the movies and the band played after the movie was over … I just flipped out over their music. They played mostly Little Richard and Buddy Holly songs. I saw them play at the West End Theatre. They were a very big influence on me. I moved to West End in 1959. I met up with Rob and Bobby and them. I was in high school in West End and they all went to Ensley High. My cousin had a boyfriend named Jack Kelley, who turned out to be a musician was well. Robert [Alexander] invited me to come over to his basement one day to play. I was the only one who could play lead guitar. I was really shy the first day. They wanted me to play a song. I asked them if they knew anything from Buddy Holly. They didn’t. They wanted to know what key it was in. I didn’t know, I just told them to start on a certain fret. I started to play the lead part, and they had never seen anybody do that. They thought I was fantastic! Robert Alexander was the spark plug. He was the one who wanted to have a band. We got rid of Jack because he wanted to play country music and didn’t like me playing the lead. We recruited Bobby Marlin on drums. We played a little show. Our first little gig was at Calico Corner. We played at the Southern Steak House on Bessemer Highway. We were not of drinking age, but that wasn’t a problem. They were not nearly as strict back then. The fraternity parties were a lot of fun. At first we played for high school parties and sororities. A year later, as our band progressed, we played at Tuscaloosa [University of Alabama] and at Auburn [University]. It was a very important market. Those were the good paying gigs.”
The Counts later added Jim Larusa, on bass. They started playing Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley songs and recruited young Henry Lovoy as vocalist: “As I grew older my interest in music grew even higher to higher expectations and I knew that entertaining would be my life … When I was fourteen I played football at Ensley High School. If we won, I would sing Bo Diddley on the football bus. One day a fellow player knew some guys who were putting a band together and needed a lead singer … My first job in a nightclub was when I was fourteen years old. I became a lead singer in a rock ’n’ roll band. I could also play drums too when the drummer was not around. The first group was called the Counts, and my first break came when we played for Duke Rumore’s record hop at Duke’s in Ensley. That is when we got radio time, and that was important for local bands. I played in and out of clubs
