BOOGIE BOUND

WELCOME…

She was just six when she first told her dad of her

THE WONDER OF WANDA

A crossover sensation, Wanda Jackson always did it her way. She brought glamour to country and rocked as hard as any male star. As the rockabilly queen decides to (technically) retire, we celebrate six decades of her rip-roaring, rollercoaster career

TELLING STORIES

We talk to biographer Scott B. Bomar, co-author of Every Night Is Saturday Night: A Country Girl’s Journey To The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, about what makes Wanda Jackson such a giant of the rockabilly scene

WANDA JACKSON 10 CLASSIC PERFORMANCES

Now that’s she’s retired from live work, we look back at the most electrifying performances from the Queen Of Rockabilly

Farewell Mr Big Beat…

R&B pioneer Dave Bartholomew has died

Celebrating 65 Years Of Rock Island Line

13 July marked the 65th anniversary of the day Lonnie

RARE ROCK’N’ROLL RECORDS

A red-hot cut from Wanda and a cracker from Charlie Rich are among this month’s offerings, courtesy of 7

Danny “O” & The Astrotones

Sharp threads, killer riffs, and a handmade guitar launch The Astrotones into the rockabilly stratosphere

Art Adams

He’s making his farewell UK appearance in November, but the 84-year-old was still full of fire when VR caught up with him

SINGLES AND EP REVIEWS .

Some ear-wowing rockabilly, psychobilly and blues on offer this month, including supergroup Tasteless, a welcome return from The Deltas and a sleazy re-imagining of the Twin Peaks theme…

Vinyl Lp Reviews

Plenty of raucous psychobilly, plus retro releases from Johnny Hallyday, Link Wray and Elvis Presley are on your serving platter this month

Cd Album Reviews

Included on your rock’n’roll platter this month is some sizzling Scandi rockabilly, a musthave rarity from the brilliantly-named Dickie Doo And The Don’ts, a sun-dappled compilation of summer-themed classics and a new album from the always-great Good Rockin’ Tonight

WILDEST DREAMS

Pioneers of r’n’r provided promoter Ritchie Gee with packed houses at the 19th Wildest Cats In Town weekender

STRAY CATS… ROCK LONDON TOWN

Forty years on from their formation, New York’s Stray Cats have returned to the country that first fell in love with them

A LIFE IN ROCK’N’ROLL

In this issue, Vince remembers his friendship with the late Freddie Starr, who passed away in May this year

AS TOLD TO VINCE EAGER SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Graham Fenton

Graham Fenton has been, for nearly half a century now, the frontman of Brit rockabilly revivalists Matchbox. Formed in Middlesex in 1970, the band notched up a string of hits in the following decade, including Rockabilly Rebel, Midnite Dynamos, a cover of The Crickets’ When You Ask About Love and Over The Rainbow…

Classic album: cliff

Released in April 1959, Cliff Richard’s debut long-player was a thrilling introduction to one of the UK’s first ever rock’n’roll stars and proved that we could rock just as hard as those across the pond…

PAYOLA 1959!

Alan Freed was one of the great champions of rock and roll, but would become engulfed in scandal in the late 1950s…

GoING oUT WITH A BANG

In 1959, a feisty American 15-year-old released Sweet Nothin’s, soon to become her breakthrough hit in both the US and UK. Six decades on, the inimitable Brenda Lee looks back at it all

RoLL oUT THE DARREL

Fans of Bill Haley And His Comets are treated to a revival of Rockin’ Through The Rye on the new Darrel Higham And The Enforcers album Bop Machine. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Higham may be more associated with his championing of Eddie Cochran and, thanks to last year’s meticulous and excellent Believe What You Hear album, Ricky Nelson, but he’s long been one of Haley’s staunchest advocates…

SLEEPING GIANTS

”Sleep Walk is not just a song,” insists 78-year-old Johnny Farina. “In my house it’s a shrine.” One half of sibling instrumentalists Santo & Johnny takes us back to their No.1 smash six decades on

THE LOWE ROAD

During his long career Nick Lowe has experimented with many musical styles and 2019 finds him collaborating with rock’n’roll instrumentalists Los Straitjackets, as Vintage Rock discovers

THE KING’S SCHILLING

When Elvis In Concert With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns this November, it will be in the company of Jerry Schilling. We talked to one of Presley’s closest confidantes