Duck Tails: Not The Cartoon

Besides the clothing, hair is probably the most important part of any persons look. Some spend lots of money and time to get their dos just right, but surely no one has the same fervor, for their hair, that Rockabilly followers do.

Brill cream, pomade, pompadours, duck tail the terms may be foreign to most, so the easiest way to get a taste of the hairstyles associated with the Rockabilly culture is to have them defined.

Brylcreem:

This hair product is used to keep hair in place and shiny, but unlike gel, or hairspray it doesn't dry and harden. It is a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax.

Pomade:

Like brylcream this is another hair product for keeping the hair shiny and in place. The contents are similar, but pomade contains petroleum jelly as opposed to mineral oil. Pomades usually contain a fragrance as well.

Pompadour:

A style essentially created in the mid 1700's by Madame de Pompadour, this hairstyle has taken on a modern twist with the rise of Rockabilly. There are many different forms, but the essence of a pompadour is the hair on the top of the head, and in the front, being pushed up in a sort of 'bump' up look.

See John Travolta in the movie Grease. The style there is a sort of rip curl look, but the traditional pompadour is more of a slight crest moving backward. The style has evolved with the Psychobilly scene to what is called a quiff, seen here.
















Duck Tail:

The easiest way to explain a ducktail is to think about Stray Cats founder Brian Setzer. In his heyday he sported some of the biggest ducktails ever seen.



The ‘ducktail’ is a sort of cowlick coming out of the bottom of one’s hairdo that resembles a duck’s tail. However, in Setzer's case it almost resembles more of a mullet.

Mens hairdos aren’t something new, but these classic looks and styles are still standing strong today. All over the country you can find true and classic barbershops, who are certified separate from salons, and who are allowed to post the ‘barber’s pole’ outside their establishments.

What makes these shops different from a salon?

The main difference is their clientele. Salons serve mainly women and have newer techniques, while barbershops have mostly men who are looking for a haircut, shave, and some good ol’ conversation.

San Marcos is home to a barbershop which resides on the downtown ‘square.’

Lamar’s Barbershop has been in business since 1993, although the shop has been under other owners since 1912. Owned by Lamar La Caze, the shop contains quite a bit of John wayne memorabilia as well as other nostalgic surprises.

Rudy Soliz is a barber at the shop, and he says he hasn't seen much change throughout his history as a barber. He mostly does clip cuts as opposed to scissor cuts, but can do either at the customers request. "I can make more money this way...it's like mowing your lawn. You save time by using a lawn mower instead of using hedge clippers to cut it," says Rudy.

In the current economic status of the nation, Rudy has seen a bit of a decline, "some people who used to come in every other week, are now coming in about every five weeks." However, the majority of business is still steady, "there are still businessmen who come in steadily, as they need to look good for their business."

Whatever your style, hair is as various and open ended as Rockabilly.


All pictures courtesy of the owners' websites.

How Do You Grease Lightning...

Speed isn’t something for all of us, however, some of us crave it... or have a ‘need for speed.’ The music of Rockabilly is fast paced, but so are the cars associated with the culture. For years car lovers and ‘grease monkeys’ have been making cars faster or building their own speed demons. A car that is built for speed and usually a custom built car or a supped up machine is called a Hot-Rod.




Some amateur builders take on a more scrappy technique to building and create ‘Rat-Rods.’


Speaking of Rat-Rods in the first weekend of April Guadalupe St. In Austin hosts the Rat-Rod races, which isn’t a race really, but a gathering of Hot-Rod lovers and Rat-rod builders and everything associated. Even Rockabilly.

Austin has its own car gang too, but this gang is more interested in positive activities; like coffee, donuts, and long drives in the Hill Country.

The Donut gang was started in 2000 by Gene Davis, and has had members since. They meet in North and South Austin on Saturdays to show off their cars and gain new members. Each month one member will host an event for the group and they also participate in local car shows and events.

You can also find custom car shops in Austin who focus on building custom classic car jobs.

Hot Rod Jim's is a shop in Lulling, TX. Russell Alexander, is a designer, builder, and handles the paperwork of the shop. He got into Hot Rods when he was young, because, "they were cool and fast."

He picked up his knowledge, which was extensive, by working in shops and gaining knowledge from experienced folks.


Building has changed only in the process of initial design. Instead of mapping out by hand and using a lot of guesswork, Russell uses a high tech design program called Solidworks. The program allows him to see every single part of the car down to the nuts and bolts, and fine tune the car and the logistics before the actual building happens. This obviously saves time, money and frustration out of doing something that is the slightest bit off.

Jim's has clients from California to right here in Central Texas. "Some of the customers are on their third or fourth Hot Rod model, and they've had experience," says Russell. The love and fascination of hot Rods is still alive.

With the smooth look of classic Hot Rods combining new and better technology, Hot Rods will be on the road for good.

The Hot Spots

It is easy to find music, and info on the artists online, but it can be a bit challenging to find a live setting for Rockabilly. Yes, Rockabilly is here, even though it isn't a huge hit, and there are a few places that have frequent Rockabilly shows. They're even close to home!

Austin:








The Continental Club

The Austin Continental Club opened doors in 1957, during the heyday of Rockabilly. It was originally intended as a supper club featuring live music. A few years later, they also became the first club in Austin to feature a burlesque show. In the 70's it came under new ownership and featured a larger variety of musicians. Anywhere from Stevie Ray Vaughn to the Butthole Surfers. The current owner, Steve Wertheimer, took over in the late 80's, and has been booking traditional country acts, as well as a multitude of Rockabilly acts. Although the show list doesn't stick to just these types of music, you definitely can see that any band that plays at the Continental has some sort of tie to a southern sound.

Club Nasty’s

Located at 606 Maiden Ln Nasty's bar is more of a bar that occasionally features music acts. Mondays they have a DJ set, and you can usually find the Huns rugby team. They sporadically have Rockabilly sets, but you have to sort of be there to catch it as they don't promote there schedule online.


San Marcos:

Gray Horse Saloon



This venue used to be on the square, but is now located on Ranch Road 12. The name says it all as they do book acts and have an environment that calls upon the saloon days. but, the point is to offer a watering hole with live entertainment, and that's what they have. You will find numerous acts who play country, bluegrass, Rockabilly or a mixture of the sort.








Triple Crown

Boasting live Music for 13 years, the Triple Crown has literally had live music every night they are open for 13 years. Their shows are all over the place and you can even catch the local rockabilly acts there. The Skeletons, Flametrick Subs, Turbo 350 have all been on the stage.

Ol' San Anton':

The Mix


The Mix has a variety of weekly Rockabilly shows. But, they also have DJ sets and Surf rock etc. Definitely a hot spot for live Rockabilly shows.

Along with venues that still host the Rockabilly sound, there are a number of Rockabilly museums in the country as well as a few right here in Texas.


The Texas Music Museum is in Austin, TX. It features a selection of prominent Texas artists, and local Austin artists like the Leroi Brothers, Buck Owens, and Lefty Frizzell.


A little bit North East of here is the Brady, TX Heart of Texas Country Music Museum. Most of their memorabilia is of country artists, but as a lot of Country artists mingled with the Rockabilly sound you will find numerous Rockabilly artists in the mix.

So, there are numeours places, for those who seek, to view and experience Rockabilly old and new.

All Images courtesy of the club owners' websites.

The Bands

Rockabilly is alive and thriving in the country, but is also quite rampant in central texas. This post will give you a background on a few modern purveyors of Rockabilly.

Local Artists:

The Skeletons


Jeremiah Ingram, the frontman of The Skeletons, is from Georgia, but he came to Texas and finally got a band going. The Skeletons have the traditional trio ensemble, but also add a mandolin, a second guitar and numerous influences from punk to surf rock creating a unique twist on Rockabilly. They are soon to be in the studio recording their second album, and hope to have it completed by early 2010.

The Flametrick Subs


This band is almost too good to describe, they really need to be heard...and seen. Occasionally, you can even catch one of their shows with CHEERLEADERS.



The Moonhowlers


Simply put this band is, 'Rockabilly, damnit!' They imbue the classic look and sound of traditional rockabilly. The interesting thing is they are a trio consisting of a stand-up bass, acoustic guitarist/vocalist, and an lead guitarist...no drums. But, they keep the rhythm with bass slaps and taps, and a unique rhythm texture from the acoustic guitar.

Turbo 350


Formed in 2002, this Memphis band(Now in Texas) is legit. The founders, Adam Reynolds and Aaron Covington, got their starts working at Sun Studios, so their background is a strong root in Rockabilly music. They are currently working on their second full length album.

Modern Sounds Elsewhere:


Classic Rockabilly groups:

The Honeybees
The Hi-Qs
Straight 8's

Psychobilly: Psychobilly is an infamous sub-genre of Rockabilly. It is basically a mixture of Punk and Rockabilly, but not straight up punk with a stand up bass, as you will see further down.

The Reverend Horton Heat
The Quakes
Klingonz
The Meteors
Demented Are Go

Goth: A few of the current bands formed have mixed goth clothing, content, and makeup to make what I call gothabilly. These bands are sometimes borderline punk, but have their own unique style.

Nekromantix
Zombie Ghost Train
The Cramps
The Chop Tops
Trailer Bride

Rockabilly Origins:

Music is an ever evolving thing. All world cultures from all eras of time have experimented, enjoyed, and practiced music. Many times music takes or borrows elements and creates hybrid sounds. Rock ‘n’ Roll from blues and Heavy Metal from Rock, music is constantly growing out of a previous style. One of these hybrids that developed, Rockabilly, became an instant sensation then died out. However, it didn’t get completely lost and erased from the staffs of history. Instead, it sustained a cult following and has added members to its audience slowly over time. Throughout the years it has even added a few styles from other genres to create and establish new forms of its original theme. In fact these new styles, such as Psychobilly, Gothabilly, Punkbilly etc. have essentially kept it going and will most likely continue to captivate the younger audiences and continue to strengthen its place in the music world. Editor in Chief of ‘Rockabilly Magazine’, an Austin based magazine says that it is because of the changing sound of Rockabilly, like music, that keeps Rockabilly alive, "if you take that sound and blend with new music, such as punk, you'll get the younger crowd into it, and you know what? They'll go out and look for the classic stuff as well."

Now that you’ve seen a brief taste of where Rockabilly is going, let’s focus on where it came from.

The Rockabilly sound can have many different forms for different people, but the essence of Rockabilly that many people can agree upon is that it is music from the mid 50s era of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and from southern artists that play faster tempos, country sounding riffs and that sound prominently like the popular Memphis artist Elvis Presley. “It’s Rock ‘n’ Roll performed by a country singer,” says Terry Gordon who worked for the Country Music Hall of Fame. To get even truer to the sound, think of taking out any horn sections, adding a stand-up bass(and slap those strings like you mean it), add some echo effects to the wild, yelping vocals. Oh, and unless you’re Jerry Lee Lewis, take away the piano too...Little Richard comes pretty close.

It may help to see and hear some examples of Rockabilly songs and artists and with that, here is a brief list:

Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot
Bill Haley - R-O-C-K
Buddy Holly - That’ll Be The Day
Carl perkins - Blue Suede Shoes
Charlie Feathers - That Certain Female
Collins Kids - Whistle Bait
Dale Hawkins - Suzie Q
Elvis Presley - Mystery Train
Johnny Burnette - Rockbilly Boogie
Ronnie Dee(Dawson) - Action Packed
Rose Maddox - Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Low
Wanda Jackson - Fujiama Mama



The term Rockabilly is an obvious compound of Rock and ‘Hillbilly’, which is essentially a term for Bluegrass music. The term has a few different stories to its origins. The first time Rockabilly was ever in print on a record was in 1956 in Johnny Burnette’s single, ‘Rock Billy Boogie.’ You can trace this back to Alan Freed(the DJ who also created the term Rock ‘n’ Roll), says Burnette Trio’s guitarist Paul Burlison, “The first person I heard call it that was Alan Freed. He kept saying ‘all you rockabilly guys’-this was 1956-and ever since then we started calling it ‘rockabilly’.”

Some think that Sam Phillips, legendary Sun Recordings creator, created the term, however, he says differently, “I had nothing to do with it...I think it was a slam at country music and at Rock ‘n’ Roll and I still don’t like it.

Whether or not the term was originally a negative or positive term, it has become widely accepted. Rockabilly declined after its original heyday, but came back around in the mid 70s and 80 with revivalists who were eager to create something different than what was out in the music world.

The scene didn't break big until the band the Stray Cats hit. Although there were numerous other bands that came out around the same time that mixed Rockabilly with newer sounds and song structures to form what is known as Psychobilly. Bands like The Reverend Horton Heat, The Cramps, and The Meteors all created new scenes by blending the old with the new. These bands are still around today. They have continued to play numerous festivals and tours, and have a huge cult following to back them.

Even though Rockabilly has changed, there is definitely no sign of it going away. "There is enough cultural importance in Rockabilly music...there will be more opportunities to perpetuate it and preserve it in other ways," says Texas State Faculty member Dee Lannon. Dee has been in a few different Rockabilly acts and has traveled around the world playing Rockabilly, and brushing shoulders with the like of Rose Maddox, The Collins Kids and the Reverend Horton Heat. Originally from California, she says the rockabilly retro movement in that area originally intersected with swing music causing a multitude of shows to see and a variety of music to hear, which as Dee says, "we were really running the gamett." She also feels that with any form of art you always have a progression of precursor and developing art that feeds off of previous styles, "and that's where the real richness of looking at music as a measure of cultural history...is in that progression."

With the multitude of sub-genres of Rockabilly and the constantly changing nature of the music, as in any art, it won't fade out, but will echo the past and evolve to the future until the end of the road.

"Rockabilly is basically all about the energy," says Texas State Faculty member Dee Lannon.