From the Jasmin site: Two major figures in the development of southern rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll – bound by being cousins of Jerry Lee Lewis, no less – Carl McVoy and Mickey Gilley may have gotten started a little later than their high profile relative but they made their mark among R ‘n’ R collectors in much the same way as the late great ‘Killer’ has and always will. Like Jerry Lee, both men played a mean piano and both sang with gusto and commitment. The fact that neither scored a major hit during the period covered by this Jasmine collection is in no way a reflection on the quality of the (mostly) supercharged rock ‘n’ roll and R&B contained within!

Carl McVoy recorded for two of Memphis’ prime imprints in Hi and Sun, and a cross section of his music for both labels can be heard here. Mickey Gilley hopped from one Texas and Louisiana label to another and again there’s music herein from most of his recording homes from 1956 to 1962. Many of the original singles are as collectable now as they were when the first rockabilly revival hit around 50 years ago!

Carl McVoy’s career did not extend much further than 1962, but from the mid-70s onwards Mickey Gilley became a country music superstar, his success rivalling that of his most famous musical cousin. 

The CD starts with the fourteen tracks from Carl and the first song is his best known track “Tootsie”. It’s a great rocker from 1958 that appeared on the Phillips International and Hi labels in the States and it came out in the UK on London. “You Are My Sunshine” is more of a pop record with some slightly over the top backing vocals, but these are offset with some nice honky tonk piano from Carl. “Be Honest With Me” rocks along nicely and has a some great sax playing as a highlight. “Lonely Heart” is more of a stroller with some nice “Lewis Clan Ivory Tinkling”. “That’s Just Too Bad” has Johnny ‘Ace’ Cannon on sax and it rocks along nicely. ”Little John’s Gone” is one of the wilder rockers here. “Daydreamin’” is a ballad with Carl’s voice almost taking second place to the backing singers. “Born To Lose” is a gentle rocker and Carl’s piano playing takes centre stage. The same can be said of “It Makes No Difference Now” and “There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight” although the sax player features more. “Little Girl” starts with some Chuck Berry style guitar playing and Carl sounds even more like Jerry Lee with some wild piano playing. “A Woman’s Love” is a straightforward ballad and then the tempo picks up with “You’re The Only Star”. The final track from Carl is “I’ll Be Satisfied” another nice rocker.

Track fifteen was thought by some to be by Carl but is now understood to be by Wally Jeffery, it is much more rockabilly than anything by Carl and I’m glad it’s included here as it is new to me.

Mickey’s first track is the rocking “Tell Me Why” with piano playing that has definite touches of The Killer. The tunes keep rocking with “Ooh Wee Baby”, “Call Me Shorty” and “Come On Baby”. On the original 1959 Khoury’s label release of Mickey’s version of the Ron Hargrove song “Drive-In Movie”, Mickey is billed as “Mr Excitement” and you can understand why when you listen to this collection. This version rocks more than Ron Hargrove’s! “Grapevine” is an up-tempo pop rocker as is track twenty two, “That’s How It’s Got To Be”. The tempo drops a notch with “Is It Wrong”, but Mickey’s piano is more prominent. “Everything Turned To Love” is a good stroller and reminds me a bit of some of Fats Domino’s work. It’s back to full throttle rock and roll with “ My Baby’s Been Cheating Again” and Mickey’s “Rocking Piano” features strongly as it does  his version of “Slippin’ And Slidin’”. “It’s The End Of The Line” and “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights” are ballads very much in the style of Jerry Lee. With track twenty nine, “I Need Your Love”, you can hear Mickey’s left hand playing some nice boogie woogie while his right hand adds some nice touches. “Valley Of Tears” is a nice pop version of the Fats Domino/Dave Bartholomew classic. “Caught In The Middle” was written by another singer to achieve more success with country than rock and roll, Charlie Rich. The song does lean more to the country style of things. “I’ll Keep On Dreaming” and “I Still Care” date from 1962 and are evidence of the move away from rock and roll to more pop/country recordings that was common at the time. The final track of this very enjoyable and interesting compilation is Mickey’s remake of “Drive In Movie”. 

Although I was aware of both these artists before getting this CD, I didn’t know how many good recordings they had made. I fully recommend this collection to anyone who likes rock ‘n’ roll and especially, all fans of Jerry Lee Lewis (so they can sit down and try and work out who influenced who!) 

Buy direct from Jasmine – Carl McVoy & Mickey Gilley – Buzzin’ Cousins! – Jasmine Records

Jailhouse John Alexander