Mac Curtis Rockabilly Uprising - The Best Of Mac Curtis (LP)

(1997/HMG) 19 tracks (Rollin' Rock master) This collection features 19 tracks that Curtis cut in the '70s for rockabilly collector Rockin' Ronnie Weiser's Rollin' Rock label with Ray Campi overdubbed on electric guitar, standup bass and drums. Curtis recuts a pair of his legendary '50s sides that originally were singles for King ('If I Had Me a Woman,' 'Granddaddy's Rockin'') and tips his hat to several other early Texas rockers like Johnny Carroll ('Wild Wild Women'), George 'Thumper' Jones ('How Come It?') and Rudy 'Tutti' Grayzell ('Ducktail'). But in the main, it's Mac coming up with several great new originals that are framed in the rawest of rockabilly tapestries. While this isn't truly the best of Mac Curtis (that appellation going to his brace of early 1950s recording for the King label), this is nonetheless one very nice rockabilly session, full of the sound and feelings of the times it chooses to revisit.

Mac Curtis

Rockabilly - King Records

Wesley Erwin'Mac' Curtis, Jr. (January 16, 1939 - September 16, 2013) was an American rockabilly musician born in Fort Worth, Texas, Curtis began playing the guitar at the age of 12 and took part in local talent competitions. In 1954, his family moved to Weatherford, Texas, where he formed a band with two classmates, Jim and Ken Galbraith. They played at school events, but during one of the events their show was stopped because of sexually stimulating movements on stage. Instead, the group played locally, and in 1955 they were offered a deal with King Records, who released their debut single'If I Had Me A Woman'.

Alan Freed and Sixties Country

Soon after, Alan Freed heard the group and invited them to play on his 1956 Christmas radio special. Curtis returned to Weatherford in 1957 to finish school and became a disc jockey in Seoul, Korea after joining the military. After his return in 1960 he continued his work as a DJ in the South and released several albums; his 1968 release,'The Sunshine Man', appeared at number 35 on the U.S. country album charts.

Rockabilly - Rollin' Rock Records

When Rockabilly became more and more popular in the 70s, he started recording with Ray Campi and signed with Ronnie Weiser's Rollin' Rock Records. In 1970 Mac Curtis had two hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs-Chart with'Early In The Morning' (#35) and'Honey, Don't' (#43). He was still active as a singer in the 1980s and 1990s. He was later inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

He died on September 16, 2013 at the age of 74 after being injured in a car accident a month earlier and subsequently rehabilitating in a nursing home.