Just like a flower I'm growing wild

Continuing my trip back through the 1956 album charts.

23/12/56 : Showcase - Lonnie Donegan

I know Lonnie was a skiffle dude and (I think) I can even tell you that "Rock Island Line" was one of his early tracks, but apart from that I'm in the dark here.

Well at 8 tracks and 26 minutes, it really doesn't outstay its welcome.  And I didn't mind it at all - you can hear the links with what Elvis was doing at the same time using their voice effectively over minimal instrumentation and how they both came to influence many acts over the coming years.  You can almost hear Elvis singing "Nobody's Child" - the internet suggests that a version by him might exist out there (without offering any actual evidence) but it has definitely been recorded by a load of other people including Hank Williams Jr, Billy Fury, a very early version of The Beatles and The Travelling Wilburys.  Back to the album, I can't say I'll be rushing back to it but I enjoyed it as a slice of musical heritage.

We're at #2 in the charts this week on his seventh week of a 22 week run which included seven weeks at #2, but it never made the top.  The rest of the top five are OSTs from TKAI, High Society and Carousel, with Bill Haley bringing up the rear - I wonder how long it will take us to meet a new entry?

Wikipedia doesn't have an entry on the album but has volumes on the man himself - he was born in Scotland and whilst it's not clear whether he invented skiffle, he was certainly THE skiffle dude.  I did actually know a couple of other of his tracks - "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" (I think I first heard this on Play Away!) and "My Old Man's a Dustman", with the latter being his last UK #1 (and the skiffle fans were not happy with his switch to music-hall style).  He got his break because Chris Barber, a British jazz bandleader heard he was a good banjo player and asked him to audition - Lonnie (or Tony as he was back then) had never actually played the banjo but bought one for the audition and passed on personality, if nothing else.  In 1952, he formed the Tony Donegan Jazzband and when they opened for US blues artist Lonnie Johnson at Festival Hall, he decided to change his name in tribute.  The height of his popularity didn't last much into the 60s, but he continued working here and there right up until his death (mid tour) in 2002.

"Customers also listened to" "no similar recommendations" - that feels a bit lazy from Amazon (or their customers).  There may not be many people that sound like Lonnie, but like Elvis's early stuff (and probably some other albums I'm going to hear this year) you can hear the link through to many, many things further down the line (and lots of people were very happy to acknowledge the debt they owed to him) and I enjoyed that aspect of this album, if not a lot else.

16/12/56 - Fun, if somewhat silly
30/12/56 - Very much of its time

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