Charlie Feathers Bio

Charlie Feathers
1932 - 1998

Charlie Feathers was born in the state of Mississippi, not very far from Slayden & Holly Springs, Mississippi in Marshall County. On June 12th, 1932, Leonard and Lucy Feathers were blessed with the birth of a boy whom they named Arthur Lyndbergh Feathers (a.k.a.Charlie Feathers).

He spent his childhood in and around the small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi where he played his first games and did his share in whatever work needed to be done in the fields and around the house of the Feathers'. With five brothers and one sister, times weren't easy, but there were a lot of happy moments.

By the age of nine, Feathers had become an adept guitarist:
"Let's see my first guitar; I was real young, about ten I guess. I had an aunt; she'd sit down, and she'd pick the guitar. She'd pull on the strings, which I could tell you right now; women have the greatest touch on guitar of any human being here on Earth to start with. A lot of people think you rap guitars… you don't! A guitar is really supposed to be picked on, like that. You can get some wonderful sounds out of rappin' it, but actually you pick upon a guitar string to get tones out of it. The old timers, they used to pick that thing."

One field hand in particular, Junior Kimbrough introduced Charlie to the acoustic guitar, providing him with valuable lessons, which he eagerly absorbed:
"There is an old colored guy down there in Mississippi; I played with him all my life, and he learned me a few things. He's still living there in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and I think he's the greatest musician in the world. I've heard Chuck Berry; I've heard Chet Atkins; I've heard them all but down there in Mississippi is the greatest guitar in the world!"

Charlie had become interested in music at a young age, singing in church and regularly tuning into WSM's Grand Ole Opry. The Opry offered Charlie his first fleeting taste of Bill Monroe, who would soon become a formative influence on him, along with the Negro sharecroppers who worked the fields in the Mississippi backwoods.

Honky tonk great Hank Williams' MGM recordings of the period also impressed Charlie greatly. He could understand and appreciate the feeling in Hanks' lonesome hillbilly whine, and it soon rubbed off on him. A few years later, Charlie would amalgamate all these influences, combining Monroe's high pitched hollering with the atmosphere expounded on a Hank Williams' record then adding a cotton patch twelve bar guitar riff to form a country music style unique to Charlie Feathers.

Charlie left school after the third grade, which would account for his illiteracy, and then during either 1948 or 1949, since he could not find full-time employment in Memphis, packed his grip and traveled to Cairo, Illinois to work the oil pipelines with his Father. This work later took him to Texas where Charlie, guitar in hand, hit the honky-tonks and juke joints in his spare time, providing him with valuable experience in playing the live circuit.
It was not until the early fifties that he made his final move to Memphis, Tennessee.Charlie married Rosemary Hardy at the age of eighteen, May 19, 1951, and soon took up work at a local box manufacturing factory. Soon after, he contacted spinal meningitis which kept him out of the Army. His stay in the hospital naturally gave him lots of free time and between the white sheets he got to think about all the wonderful songs people like Jimmie Rodgers and especially Hank Williams had written. It was during Charlie's stay in the hospital that 'Peepin' Eyes' (a fast country ballad with more than just a few Hank Williams influences) was born.

Backed by Quinton Claunch and Bill Cantrell, along with Sun all rounder Stan Kesler on steel guitar and Marcus Van Storey plucking the string bass, Charlie cut his debut record for Sam Phillips on February 17th, 1955. Held at 706 Union, Feathers launched the session with a hopped up boogie number titled "Peepin' Eyes," a song peculiarly similar to Bill Monroe's reading of "Rocky Road Blues." A further five cuts were waxed the same day, but are hitherto unissued and were presumably lost. "Peepin' Eyes" was slated for release and barely two weeks later, a bottom deck was recorded in "I've Been Deceived," a Hank Williams inspired country weeper that wove the story of a mistreating woman doing her man wrong. It took him well over a year to get the song out on record, as it became his first release for the Sun label in February 1955. Released in April as Flip 503, the coupling initially faired reasonably well on regional charts. It sold approximately 2585 copies with sales continuing strongly into May. However, shortly after the disc was launched onto the market, Sam Phillips was forced to re-release the record on Sun proper (Sun 503) as he was threatened with legal action from one Ed Wells, owner of the L.A. based Flip label, over improper use of label name.

Feathers spent hours every week in the small building on 706 Union talking with other Sun artists, helping them out, giving them advice, etc. Supposedly, Charlie helped Sam Phillips develop the slap back echo technique that he used in the studio. Apparently, Charlie's brother-in-law, KWEM program director Dick Stuart (a.k.a. Uncle Richard/Poor Richard), introduced Feathers to Memphis blues shouter Howlin' Wolf, who performed at the station daily on a local advertiser's bill. At the time, the Wolf was also recording at Sam Phillips' studio. Sam, in turn, was leasing the Wolf's sides to Chess. Howlin' Wolf may have spoken of Sun to Charlie, who then decided to head on down to 706 Union on a regular basis and most likely did assist Phillips with studio related and extracurricular work.

Sam Phillips brought Charlie back into the studio on November 1st, 1955 for a second session. With Claunch, Cantrell, and Kesler once again in tow, the rhythm section was bolstered by the addition of Blue Moon Boy string bass player, Bill Black. Only two titles were waxed during the November date, "Defrost Your Heart" and "Wedding Gown of White," both of which were paired for release in January 1956 as Sun 231.

Now, with one record under his belt and his local popularity rising, Feathers began cutting demos of his own material, with the assistance of Stan Kesler at Sun Studio. Consistent with available evidence, Charlie recorded his first demo session for Phillips on June 24th, resulting in four unknown titles that have since been lost; the tapes probably reused by Sam when dollars were sparse. This decision to use tapes over again proved to be the fate for a great portion of Charlie's early work at Sun. Luckily, at least a few of his demo recordings survived, notably his first rendition of "Bottle to the Baby," cut late in 1955 and a raw take of the Feathers/Kesler composition "I Forgot to Remember to Forget."

The Story of "I Forgot to Remember to Forget":

"I didn't start the song. Stan Kesler came while we were working on a song "I've Been Deceived" where he played steel on. He had a song called "You Believe Everyone but Me" he wanted me to do and then take it up and try to get Elvis to do the song. At that time he mentioned a song he had started "I Forgot to Remember to Forget." There was something about that title I liked and said 'Man, that title you mentioned on that song is great.' I went over to his house the next day, and we got in there, and we played a little, and I learned "You Believe," but that song didn't move me too well. So I said, let's get in this thing here, "I Forgot to Remember to Forget." We finished it up right there. I put the melody to it, and Stan put the biggest part of the words down. I took it up, but Sam didn't think much of it, and it stayed up there two or three months until he finally recorded it, and it then turned out to be one of the best things he had done at the time. I was up there when they cut it, and Elvis wasn't doing it right. He tried it several times, but Sam didn't think it was right. So we went downtown for lunch, came back and all the time I was sitting there; I'd hum the song; I was humming the song to Elvis, and I was showing him that he actually did the song wrong. He was doing the bridge in the song wrong. I got out there and when he came to the bridge, I motioned at him, kinda indicated, and he did it that way, and Sam said, 'Without a doubt, that's it!' He liked it then, and that was it. It won all kind of awards; it was the number one record at the time. Elvis had never had one in the top ten at that time, so it was his first. Also, "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" was the first million seller, but it was on Sun and RCA combined, you see. They re-released it when he went to RCA because they didn't know how to record him; they thought they had the wrong artist. "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" was real big, and I've seen a check down there at Sun records for $2000, which rightly belonged to Stan Kesler and me. Stan might have got his, cause he stayed on there way after me, but I haven't seen one lousy cent yet!"

Another one of Feather's demos, a tune called "We're Getting Closer to Being Apart," probably cut late in 1955. Once again from the pen of Feathers and Kesler, the song was intended for Elvis Presley, who was in the Sun studio about to record the tune when he and Sam Phillips had a disagreement and Elvis walked out, this was about the time his contract was sold to RCA in November 1955 and therefore the recording did not happen.
Talking about this period with Charlie is very hard because he still feels that by recording straight country music, Sam had him doing the wrong stuff. Despite his love for country music, especially the old Hank Williams' style, his heart was in rockabilly music:
"I was cutting stuff all the time. I'd go in there and cut some stuff, me and Scotty and Bill. Next time, Elvis was in or someone else, and they cut some stuff sounding just like it, exactly like it. Sam told me to get with some boys, who wrote a song called "Day Dreaming," which they had brought by, and Sam had turned down. Those guys came by again, and Sam told me: 'I'm gonna put you in the country field; Elvis into the R&B and rock.' So we got with these guys, Quinton Claunch and Bill Cantrell, and we worked, and we got Stan Kesler, and he came over, and we worked on some songs, and we got them ready, and we recorded them for Sun, but I felt it was a bad mistake. That wasn't the type of stuff that I wanted to do. That wasn't the type of stuff I felt, and me and Quinton every once in awhile we get over to his house, and we'd do a lot of this rock stuff, and we went down and recorded several of it."

Feathers approached Sam Phillips to cut another session and hopefully convince Phillips to extend his contract with Sun for another term. Booking studio time for January 31st, Charlie and his band headed to 706 Union where they cut four proto-rockabilly styled numbers. The shackles trying Feathers to a hillbilly stereotype proved difficult to break as two of the four cuts from the session, "Honky Tonk Kind" and "So Ashamed," were unbridled country. The backing, which possibly included Sun mainstay Johnny Bernero on drums, seemed sparse, further emanated a solid rhythm lending to a bare bones rockabilly sound that Feathers intensified for the final sides waxed at the session, the traditional blues "Frankie and Johnny" and Charlie's own "Bottle to the Baby." This early rendition of "Bottle to the Baby," the first to feature the support of a full band, eclipsed everything that Feathers had so far achieved at Sun. It was pure rockabilly, with an almost lazy backwoods feel.

Unfortunately, Phillips failed to recognize the propensity of the songs. In Sam's eyes, Charlie was not a rockabilly singer; he was a country performer, through and through. After listening to the demos, he passed the tape onto Feathers' manager, who in turn peddled the songs to various local labels to no avail. Unperturbed, Charlie once again reformed his band in an attempt to retry his hand at rockabilly. With Jerry Huffman assuming lead guitar duties and Jody Chastain switching from steel guitar to string bass, the group was rounded out by drummer Jimmy Swords. It was this line-up that Feathers' brother-in-law Dick Stuart booked to play gigs throughout the mid-South during the coming weeks, an opportunity that offered the young musicians a prime chance to lay down a solid repertoire and perfect their style with the new sound.

By this time, Charlie, Jody & Jerry wrote what was to become one of his best rockabilly songs, the ever famous "Tongue Tied Jill." Charlie took the song to Lester Bihari of Meteor Records, the South post for the L.A. based Modern label, who had a small studio on Chelsea Avenue in Memphis. With Jody Chastain on string bass and Jerry Huffman on guitar, they put the song on tape, using just one mike. The Meteor session which was held, according to Huffman, on April 1st and waxed two new arrangements, "Tongue Tied Jill" (an original composition based on a form of catch phrase that Charlie knew) and "Get With It," which was a simple reworking of "Corrina, Corrina." Acetates of the two songs were sent back to Phillips who was, by all accounts, uninterested in either song, but particularly "Tongue Tied Jill," which he considered degrading to the vocally impaired.

On the other hand, Bihari showed a keen interest and coupled both songs for release in June (Meteor 5032). Selling well throughout Memphis, Charlie's Meteor single became the record for which he would be remembered and revered. The Meteor single brought Charlie with Jody and Jerry local fame, plus his debut on television in the Wink Martindale Dance Party on Channel 13 and a one-off appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York. According to Chastain, "Tongue-Tied Jill was one of the biggest records Meteor ever had; it was on every jukebox in town. I've heard it sold around 100,000 copies, but we never got one penny out of the record. Les Bihari was a crook!" He also played a show at the Overton Park Shell with Elvis Presley, Wanda Jackson, and other famous rockabilly artists of the day. In spite of the local success, "Tongue Tied Jill" was not followed by a second Meteor single or even a contract.

When he signed up with the King label, it was his second recording contract. His first recording session for the new label was done on August 18th, 1956 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Huffman and Chastain had formulated their sound so completely by this stage that constructing arrangements to effectively parallel Charlie's vocals required little effort, a fact that is evident on the first cut from the session, the rockabilly anthem "One Hand Loose." Further songs recorded the same day highlighted Feathers' unique creativity and absolute originality, such as "Can't Hardly Stand It," a masterful example of his vocal trickery that so intrigued the engineer overseeing the session. His inventiveness was also brought to light on a severely reworked "Bottle to the Baby," an old Feathers' composition played by Huffman at a quick tempo and "Everybody's Lovin' My Baby," another fast paced echo laden tune.

All four King sides from this initial recording date were later released in October and December, at around which time Jody Chastain entered the Army. What could have potentially become a major setback for Feathers and his combo was thwarted when Chastain managed to pigeonhole a discharge, due to back injury, just in time to attend a second session for Syd Nathan in Nashville. Well, fact of the matter is, Chastain received that back injury after falling off of a tank he was working on when he heard one of their song come blasting over the airwaves, the excitement was a little too much. Cut on January 6th, 1957 and with Buddy Harman replacing Jimmy Swords on skins, another four titles were waxed. Louis Innis again oversaw the session and attempted to polish Charlie's sound by adding a vocal group fronted by Johnny Bragg and The Prisonaires, who are evident on "Too Much Alike," "When You Come Around," and "When You Decide." In Innis' hands, these songs, along with "Nobody's Woman," became simple pop arrangements, a style that certainly did not suit Charlie, whose isolated vocals contradicted the flush backing led by Huffman. Nevertheless, the four titles were released over subsequent months.

The dozen or so sides he cut as singles for King are the greatest 50s rockabilly tracks to escape the hegemony of Sun Studio and considerably the greatest rockabilly music ever committed to wax, with "One Hand Loose," "Bottle to the Baby," "Everybody's Lovin' My Baby," and "Can't Hardly Stand It" all becoming classics of the genre. Their territorial success got Feathers on numerous package tours and multiple appearances on Dallas' Big D Jamboree. However, despite those successes, the Musical Warriors did not renew their contract with King.

Charlie signed a one-off deal with Charlie Kahn's Kay label in Memphis early in 1958; the trio was virtually in tatters by that time. Feathers and his group traveled to WHBQ radio studio in Memphis to lay down four sides for Kay in December. Charlie's originality had not worn away, as "Jungle Fever" attests, which a trade publication described as "A rocker with African sound and a strange blues vocal, which has its charms." "Jungle Fever" along with its flip "Why Don't You" (Kay 1001) possessed more than just charming qualities; these songs radiated a raw intensity that only Charlie could bring to a performance.

Without a release forthcoming on Kay, Feathers and his cohorts moved on to Hi Records in late 1958, where Huffman was utilized to good effect as a session guitarist. Charlie brought a few of his compositions to Hi, including the Feathers/Huffman penned "Lovin' Lil" and the Feathers/Claunch/Cantrell original "The Man In Love." Charlie cut a demo of "The Man In Love" in November 1958 at the Royal Studio, which was owned by Hi Records, and both songs were recorded and released by Tonmmy Tucker in March 1959- Hi 45-2014.

"Dinky John" and "South of Chicago" harked back to Feathers' Bill Monroe influence and outshone the bland, typecast folk material of the day, yet he was unable to find a label to release the songs. Cantrell and Claunch approached Hi label boss, Joe Cuoghi to issue the record; unfortunately, he declined due to his distributor's unwillingness to push the disc. Not to be easily thwarted, Charlie hawked the songs to Walter Maynard, who eventually put the record out in July 1960 on his Wal-May label under the pseudonym of Charlie Morgan. "Dinky John" and "South of Chicago" proved to be Feathers' final recordings for the 1950s and also the last occasion he would perform, on record or otherwise, with Jerry Huffman and Jody Chastain.

Charlie ushered in the new decade by recording a handful of oddball records for various local labels, such as "Today and Tomorrow"/"Wild Wild Party" for the Memphis label and "Nobody's Darlin'"/"Deep Elm Blues" for the Holiday Inn label. His performance schedule dwindled, so his attention turned toward car racing and softball. Despite being inactive for a number of years, in terms of recording and performing, Charlie was never far from his guitar and tape recorder. This persistence held him in good stead when he was rediscovered by English rockabilly fanatic 'Breathless' Dan Coffey in 1967. Convincing Charlie that he should reactivate his career, Coffey organized a session at the Memphis Select-O-Hit studio on Lookout Drive where Feathers revived his heyday at Meteor and King when he cut an impeccable version of Hank Thompson's "Wild Side of Life." Johnny Bond's "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight" was transformed into "Where's She At Tonight," a song Charlie would later re-record as "Rain," with a Feathers' original "Don't You Know," a slow but driving country ballad, rounding out the session. This session was rapidly followed by further dates at Select-O-Hit into 1968, where Charlie churned out one tune after another like the old hand that he was.

Coupling a rendition of the Johnny Burnette Trio's "Tear It Up" with a "Tongue Tied Jill" spin-off, "Stutterin' Cindy," Charlie's Philwood single was fervently snatched up by his English fans, who considered his records to be the equivalent of gold. In 1974, he began playing gigs with a band that now featured his daughter Wanda and his son, Bubba as lead guitarist. It was also during this period that the pilgrimage of his European fans to Memphis commenced, an occurrence that Charlie was not entirely comfortable with at first:
"One night these two Frenchmen came in. Now I'm up there singin', and each of these guys pulls down one of my socks and starts kissin' my feet on the ankles, so I start kickin' 'em! Hell, I thought they was queers 'cept I come to find out later, I was their hero, and that was their way of honorin' me!"

Charlie must have been gratified by his achievements, though. The prosperity that he found during the seventies had long been due to him.
Over the next few years, Feathers continued to record and perform prolifically. One of the best Charlie Feathers' stories dates back to 1974: On his first trip to the West Coast, he recorded a single for Rockin' Ronnie Weiser's Rollin' Rock label. After spending most of the day working on one song, Weiser reminded Feathers that they needed another song and asked for something a little hotter. Feathers promptly grabbed a bass and slapped out "That Certain Female." Three minutes of powerful, unrestrained rockabilly madness, illustrating just how simple it could be for him to produce a classic.

Charlie extended his new found and much belated fame to an American audience when he performed on NBC-TV's Little Old Show in 1979. Charlie's appearance on the program, as released on the Lunar label, became the catalyst by which he finally received the respect and admiration of his fellow countrymen, an adoration that had eluded him since he made his first recordings for Sun over twenty years previously.

During the eighties and nineties, Feathers' career proceeded unabated. Records were issued on his Feathers label and after battling a diabetes- related disease, he cut a disc for the major label, Elektra in 1990. The release of this album, simply titled Charlie Feathers, was a turning point in Charlie's life. He was determined to set the history books straight when he sang "We Can't Seem to Remember to Forget," a tune that he probably included on the album out of stubbornness and more than just a pinch of malice towards his critics. As important as it was, the Elektra disc met a quiet reception, as did a Billy Poore produced album released by Sunjay a few years later.

Charlie's own story, rich with consummate acts that needed no embellishment, came to a sudden close on August 25th, 1998 when he suffered a stroke and was admitted to St. Francis I.C.U. in Memphis. Falling into a coma a day later, his condition deteriorated, and he passed away on August 29th.

Charlie was rockabilly personified. Feathers possessed an uncanny feel for rockabilly music, unmatched by few performers. His records, whether they be his early outings on Sun, Meteor, and King, or his later efforts for Philwood and Pompadour, are testament to the true genius of the late, great Charlie Feathers, rockabilly's main man. His music will remain as his legacy; a legacy that could not possibly be copied, as he was so incomparably original.

He said it best when he said:

"I don't copy when I sing. I'm Charlie Feathers, and I guess
I'll be singing like that until the day I die."

Charlie, you will never be forgotten, and may you rest in peace.

Charlie is survived by his lovely wife, Rosemary
and his three prized children:
Wanda, Bubba, and Ricky.

An interesting observation below from a fan and student of the history of music
and its roots, Don Capron:

"Rock and Roll is the hybrid of two kinds of southern music: rockabilly and blues. Rockabilly was the phenomena of White southern men, after World War II, in the deep south, and these men came from rural areas and also, essentially, came from poor or impoverished backgrounds; while the blues originated among equally destitute Black field hands in the rural Delta area of Mississippi. Elvis is correctly acknowledged as the "King" of rock and roll. No one in their right mind would contest that Charlie Feathers was the "King" of rockabilly as he did more to define that genre than any other interpreter of that era. Indisputably, the "King" of the blues has always been "Muddy" Waters. Now, here is the irony in all of this: these three men were all within 15 years of each other in age, and all grew up within 100 miles of each other in northern Mississippi. That is no coincidence. "

Bio Credits:
Marijn Raaijmakers
Wanda Feathers
Phil Davies
Adriaan Sturn
Randy Fox
Jim Ridley
Sheree Homer
Shaun Mather