JOYCEFUL NOISE
Ian Shirley catches up with veteran rockabilly/r&b singer/songwriter Joyce Harris, whose singles of the 50s and 60s are now classic collectables
Ihave an American 7” on the Domino label by an artist called Joyce Harris. Interesting, as I see that Domino is a UK label but this is an American pressing. The tracks are No Way Out/dreamer. It’s a ballsy slice of R&B that sounds great. I wonder if you can provide any more information on Harris – she does not seem to have recorded and released many records despite having a phenomenal foghorn vocal style. Martin Jones via email Joyce Harris hailed from Kentucky but moved to New Orleans with her parents and first began singing with her sister, Judy. They signed to Dot Records as Judy And Joyce and their debut 7”, He’s The One/hey Pretty Baby, was released in March 1958 (4515729, US, £20). The follow-up, Washboard Sam/nursery Rock (Decca 930729, US, £15), was issued in August. Finally, Hey Pretty Baby/rock And Roll Kittens on Seville (45101, US, £10) came out in November 1958.
When her sister decided to get married and settle down, Joyce Harris went solo. Though she cut her teeth playing R&B in New Orleans, she went down to Mexico where she fronted a big band. She released her first single – The Boy In School/it’s You (UT 4004, US, £35), which sold poorly – on the UT label in 1959. While in Mexico, she was seen by a talent spotter at Domino Records, based in Austin, Texas. This was the first Domino Records; there have been many labels with the same name and it had nothing to do with the Domino Records formed in the UK in 1993 which still thrives today.
The original Domino, Stateside, had been set up by Lora Jane Richardson with other investors in 1957 and its roster included artists such as Ray Campi, Joyce Webb, The Slades and The Daylighters. With a powerful voice and material based on R&B and rockabilly, Harris wrote a lot of her own material, including her first Domino single I Cheated/do You Know What It’s Like To Be Lonesome, which came out in October 1960 (R 903, US, £30). The follow up – No Way
Out/dreamer (R 905, US) – became such a regional hit that it was licensed to Infinity Records in California (INX 005, US, £20). Harris also got to appear on the famous American Bandstand, beamed live into nearly every living room in the
US. Her next single, Don’t Knock It/nobody But Me (Serock 2003, US, £100), was released in 1963 under the name Sinner Strong. On it, she changed musical gears and was backed by a gospel choir though vocally she still tore it up. There was one further single – Baby Baby Baby/how Long (Can I Hold Back My Tears) (Fun Records 305, US, 1965) – which is more soulful and a highly sought-after record on the Northern soul scene, changing hands for up to £300. There is also (we think) In Love Always/hey Sweet Daddy (Stewart 620 O 4205, £40), though some believe this to be a different Joyce Harris. Your copy of the classic No Way Out is worth in the region of £40.
In 1997 Ace Records released The Domino Records Story which contained two unissued tracks by Harris and The Daylighters. These were versions of I Got My Mojo Working and Your Kind Of Woman. Showing that classic music still has legs, I Got My Mojo Working has just appeared in the new film Drive-away Dolls directed by Ethan Cohen. Its American premiere was in February and it opens in the UK soon. Finally, to give you some real Value Added Facts, I was able to talk to Joyce who has fond memories of her career.
How did you and your sister first get your record contract?
We used to sing together and they had a competition judged by couple of men from New York: Danny Kessler and I can’t remember the
“I’M STILL MAKING MUSIC, I STILL SING, I STILL PLAY GUITAR”
other man’s name. They asked for all kinds of talent to come to Cosmos recording studio down in the French Quarter and my sister and I went down there. We were trying to sing and see if they might like what we did. We were the ones that they chose out of many other contestants and that is how it all began. They offered us a recording contract and we recorded for Dot and Decca records.
How did you come to write He’s The One? They wanted to know if I had original material and I did not even know what that meant. They said that means any songs that you have written yourself. So, I wrote a song called He’s The
One and I was still in high school. I just wrote it about a guy there in school: “He’s the one in the tight blue jeans standing in the corner by the jukebox.”
What was it like recording for the first time? That was in Nashville at the Owen Bradley studios and they kind of considered us rockabilly. Like
The Everly Brothers and some of the other people like that. It was amazing. We’d never been on an airplane, you know. It was very interesting and we sang in the studio with the Anita Carr Singers and it was magical. We loved it.
And what about promoting records such as He’s The One and Nursery Rock?
It was great. When we had a record out they flew us around and we went to different record promotions to meet different DJS… and it really was unbelievable.
Why did your sister leave the duo?
She got married and that sort of took care of that as she wanted to be a homemaker. Then I just went out on my own and that is the beginning of my history.
How did you end up in Mexico?
I went down there and played at this huge place and I could not believe it. I did not speak Spanish and they did not speak too much English and I had a big Mexican band behind me, not some small goofy little band. They did not understand the music that I was playing so I had to sing a little bit to teach them so they could understand it. Anyway, it was a wonderful experience and I was down there for quite a while.
Can you tell me about signing with Domino records? While I was in Mexico I was approached by someone and they wanted me to come to Domino Records in Austin, Texas, which I did and I auditioned for them. I told them I was a writer. They were not sure. They had The Slades there and they had a record out called You Cheated and I said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll write an answer to that song tonight and I’ll bring it to you tomorrow morning.” Which I did. I wrote I Cheated and they signed me immediately because it was a good song, you know. It was my first single.
What was it like at Domino?
I enjoyed that because Sara Jane Richardson and the ladies who owned it were really great people. The Daylighters were signed to them and The Slades and they had a number of other artists under contract. It was great because I lived at Sara Jane’s house as I did not have any place else and I worked in the studio with the other groups and stuff. It was just a wonderful experience.
Do you remember recording No Way Out? That was one big single, yeah. I actually wrote that song before I left New Orleans. At the studio in Austin, The Daylighters were available. The song had a New Orleans rhythm and in the studio they did not know what I was talking about. It was very hard to get them to play the music and learn the rhythm that went with No Way Out. I wrote the song originally about show-business because it was so hard – “I don’t wanna go and I don’t wanna stay” – but I changed it around into a love song. The Daylighters were in the studio with me and they tried to do their best but it was not the same as if I had musicians from New Orleans. But it worked because of Clarence Smith [the vocalist] who was with The Daylighters. When I was about to sing, I said, “Come in here and answer me. Whatever I say, you just answer it.” He said “What?” I said “Come on!” So he did and that is how we did that great track in a small little studio
down in Austin, Texas.
It sold well enough for you to appear on American Bandstand, didn’t it?
I was on American Bandstand. Dick Clark was a great person but when I got on there they only put the camera up to my waist because they said I was too sexy. All I was doing was dancing, you know? I had just a sweater and skirt on and it was very strange to me that they would only put me on from the waist up. I was just dancing like you would normally dance at a sock hop. But it was great. The kids were all around that and I wish I had a copy, but I don’t think they saved anything [on tape] they broadcast back then.
What was the reaction like when you sang live? Very strange. Because then they did not have a lot of girl [rockabilly] singers and a lot of times when they saw me they could not believe that I was for real. I did not look like I sounded because I had red hair and was very voluptuous. I don’t know what they expected but I was never what they thought I was going to be.
You had a striking look, didn’t you?
That is right. I don’t know what happened to all the pictures of me. We did not have cameras; I mean, we had cameras but the newspapers used to take all the pictures and I don’t even know where they are as there were thousands of pictures taken of me.
How did the Sinner Strong single, Don’t Knock It, come about?
After Domino, I went to California with that one. That was under the name of Sinner Strong. The name Strong was my granddaddy’s name so that was a family name and it started out being spelt as Cina but they mispronounced it and made it Sinner! Strange! But it was too late to do anything about it when they had pressed the record so they just left it.
What was it like recording that?
I was there in the studio with Ed Townshend and a 25-piece back choir singing with me. It was great. Florence Greenberg [who had formed Tiara Records], she called me in Hollywood at the Columbia studios where we were recording and she told me to come straight to New York [to see her]. At the time I had not been home in a while so I decided I was not going to go to New York or anyplace else. I was going to take a break. Anyway, if I had gone they may have signed me as she told me that I was like a female Jackie Wilson because that was the way I sang – hard.
Can you recall what the recording of Baby Baby Baby, issued on Fun, was like?
That was Eddie Bocage. I worked with Eddie Bocage for a while, he was a great friend of mine. He wrote that song as well as the B-side, How Long (Can I Hold Back My Tears). I recorded that at his studio in the quarter in New Orleans. I sang with so many people there. Dr John, before he travelled all over the world, I used to work with him as I grew up with him. The Night Trippers and Earl Stanley, all those great musicians we had in New Orleans. The musicians I knew most about were the ones we met in New Orleans like Dr John and Fats Domino who were a sort of mixture of rockabilly and rhythm and blues.
Your version of I Got My Mojo Working was recorded but not released, wasn’t it?
Sexy Ways and Mother He Treats Your Daughter Mean, those kind of songs, and Mojo, were just songs that I did. There were a lot of songs that I recorded that were not released and I don’t even know where they are.
What do you think about your version of I Got My Mojo Working?
Mojo and all that stuff it is all part of that kind of music history. It belongs in a movie. It is very colourful. If you listen to the words, “Black cat boots”, and all the good lyrics in it. I never heard anybody else sing it just like me and when I was in Austin, they had a little gasoline station on one of the highways and on Saturday nights all the people would gather there. I always have a very gravelly voice and I used to sing the Mahalia Jackson stuff and blues and gospel. I don’t know where Janis Joplin got what she got but I think it’s because she heard me singing the way I did because I came before her!
What are you doing now?
I’m still making music, I still sing. I am the director of music for a little church here in this area and I sing every Sunday. I still play guitar. I’ve always being singing. I quit for a while as I got married and I have a son who is in show-business and he is known from Mississippi to New Orleans. I still sing but not with a band. I use an acoustic Martin guitar that I still play when I sing.
I Got My Mojo Working/no Way Out (Ace NW 518, 7”, £10) is out now.