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Narvel on stage
(Click photo for larger view)
Read Narvel's April
News report which includes this show on
News From
Narvel
Narvel with Huey P. Long of "Huey's
Record Rack". Huey handles Narvel's
sales while Narvel signs autographs and
talks with his fans at concerts.
(Click photo for larger view) |
Local Board member
Bandy opened the show at the historic
Rialto Theatre in downtown Morrilton,
Arkansas, and entertained us with his
comic routine. After a brief
break, the six-member band Double Edge
opened for Narvel Felts. Members
consisted of Teddy Robbins, guitar; Judy
Webb, vocalist and on keyboard; Dave
"Sugar" Ray, steel guitar; Randy
Shields, drums; Don Carnel, bass guitar; and
lead singer and guitarist, Roy Wadell.
Highlights for me were a sizzling "Sea
Cruise", plus "Pick Me Up On Your Way
Down", a bluesy "I Can't Stop Loving
You", and "Sweet Dreams", all by
vocalist Judy Webb. Roy and Judy did a
great duet of "Jackson". The entire band
performed a great "Whole Lotta' Shakin'
Goin' On" as an encore.
Double Edge and Narvel began performing
together several years ago at the Dixie
Carter Performing Arts Theatre in
Huntington, Tennessee, where Double Edge
was the theatre's house band. They're a
fine group who now travel from many
states (Virginia, Mississippi, Tennessee
and others) to back Narvel.
After an intermission, Lendell Roberts,
local Board member of the Rialto, sang
"Somewhere In The Middle of Montana" in
a fine bass voice.
Narvel opened his performance with one
of his Top 10s "Funny How Time Slips
Away" followed by his 1973 break-through
song, "Drift Away" into the country charts. As Narvel
sometimes says, "After 30 records and 17
years in the music business, I became an
overnight sensation."
Another Top 10 followed, the classic
"Somebody Hold Me" (Until She Passes
By), then an unofficial theme song of
the early Rockabilly Days "Pink and
Black Days", the 1974 hit "When Your
Good Love Was Mine" followed by the B
side of that single, "Fraulein". Narvel
mentioned that his Fraulein's name was
Loretta and that on April 30th they will
be married 48 years.
He set the scene for us of his first
recording session at the historic Sun
Records, 706 Union Avenue, Memphis,
Tennessee, on January 23, 1957 and
shared with us that Roy Orbison was
there, Jack Clement, Harold Jenkins (who
later became Conway Twitty), Johnny Cash
and a new piano player (Jerry Lee Lewis)
who was yet to have a hit, "but it
wouldn't be long," as he and Double Edge
tore into "Great Balls of Fire".
In June of 1957 Narvel's early recording
of "Kiss-A-Me Baby" was No. 12 in the
Top 40 in Flint, Michigan, when he
performed there. It was No. 7 when he
performed at the Jewel Theatre in Poplar
Bluff, Missouri. In both places, Narvel
confided, he was mobbed and the girls
tore his clothes off, which he admitted
was quite a thrill for a young fellow
who had been picking cotton only the
year before!!
We were next treated to "Reconsider Me",
the Bill Board and Cash Box Single of
the Year in 1975, "My Babe", an early
Rockabilly recording, and the 1979 Top
10, "Everlasting Love", which Narvel has
sometimes referred to as his
"contribution to the Disco Era."
You could have heard a pin drop as
Narvel sang "Danny Boy". He first laid
his guitar down on stage and explained
that he had lost his only son Bub in a
car accident September 14, 1995, that
Bub had played drums for him and that
little did he know that when he and Bub
performed together in August of 1995 and
did an encore of "Danny Boy" that it
would be the last time they would ever
get to play together.
Narvel gives each performance and every
one of his songs a hundred and ten
percent, but when he dedicates a song to
Bub as he does in each show he pours his
heart into it and is unafraid to show us
raw emotion of a father who loved and
still misses his son. He had several
standing ovations, and this was, of
course, one of them.
"Lonely Teardrops" with "the Shooby Doo
Ops" followed, the 1963 "Mountain of
Love", closing with the beautiful "My
Prayer".It was a long show, but over
much too quickly.
Huey's Record Rack and Narvel's
autograph line were long, as usual, as
Narvel always vows, "I'll be here until
each of you come through the autograph
line," or words to that effect.
The good news is that a DVD recording
was made of Narvel's segment of the show
as well as a separate DVD for Double
Edge's opening segment. Wayne Everett is
the producer of the DVDs, and he has two
addresses:
1601 SE 7th Terrace
Lees Summit, Missouri 64063,
phone 816-246-0180
as well as
Cypress Creek Park, Post Office
Box 46, Adona, Arkansas
phone number 501-662-4918.
Each DVD is $22 ($20 plus two dollars
S&H).
Faye Huffman
Baton Rouge, LA
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