In 57 I was 12 and had been playing in an Officers Club in Fairbanks, Alaska (Ladd AFB)for a year. Pop tunes were mainly by former country artists...Ferlin Husky...Bill Haley...Carl Perkins...Marty Robbins...the tunes, like Rock Around The Clock and many others were just slightly altered country pieces.

Truth be told, even though I make a claim as a jazzer, I've put many years on the country bandstand.


Russ (Buck) Lay