Various

Rod Willis & The Chic Connection

Release date: December 23, 2022

Label: Bear Family Records

-Bear Family Records® presents on this 10inch vinyl LP the Chic Records catalog from a Georgia-based label founded in 1956. -After about a year it was over again - but a great rockabilly legacy justifies this splendid release. -Included are the 1957 singles Somebody's Been Rocking My Baby by Rod Willis and hot rockers by Pat Kelly, Don Johnston, and Cliff Crawford. -Under license, Chic Records released Freight Train by the British Chas. McDevitt Skiffle Group in the U.S., a financially successful coup. -Superbly remastered recordings, a stylish LP cover and an in-depth essay on the subject by Chicago expert Bill Dahl in the accompanying booklet round out this fantastic collector's LP! Thomasville, Georgia was a bit out of the way for a record company seeking national exposure to establish its headquarters, but that didn't stop Chick Thompson from situating his self-named Chic Records there in the summer of 1956. The diskery only existed for a little over a year but release several first-rate rockabilly platters--and they're all aboard 'Rod Willis & The Chic Connection.' Willis was one of Thompson's premier acts; his 1957 single Somebody's Been Rocking My Baby, waxed in Nashville with the vaunted A-Team in support, ranks with Chic's hottest rockers (his '59 NRC single is also here, both sides penned by Thompson). Chic entered the big leagues by snagging the U.S. rights to the British skiffle smash Freight Train by The Chas. McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey and thus scored its only national hit during the spring of '57. It's on this collection too, as are fine rockabilly outings by Pat Kelly, Don Johnston, and Cliff Crawford (better known under his legal surname of Crofford). In a brief timespan, Chic Records built an impressive rockabilly legacy given first-class treatment on this splendid LP.

Order vinyl: