Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: 50s/60s rockabilly bop +/- boogie

"No Good - Robin Hood"
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“No Good Robin Hood”: Top Rockabilly from Future Crime Fighter

From the liner notes of the Ace CD compilation, King Rockabilly: Delbert Barker was born on a farm in Frenchberg, Kentucky on 3 December 1932 and moved to Middletown, Ohio, near Cincinnati, in 1943.  During his teens, he began participating in amateur talent contests and eventually gained sufficient confidence to turn

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"Lucky Stars"
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“Lucky Stars”: Buddy Holly is Still Alive!

As DC Week heads into extra innings, Zero to 180 ponders the metaphysical with a song I always suspected to have been written with the spiritual assistance of a certain bespectacled singer-songwriter from Lubbock, Texas.   My instincts, as it turns out, were eerily prescient, for I later confirmed that

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"Stop and Go Boogie
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“Stop and Go Boogie”: It’s the Spaces in Between

Thanks to Dave Sax, whose liner notes from King Hillbilly Bop ‘n’ Boogie provide the back story on Louis Innis, a member of the “dream band” at King Records who had cut his first tune with the label in late 1947.   Prior to joining King, Innis had been a member

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"We Did"
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“We Did”: Herb & Kay, in fact, Did

“We Did” by Herb And Kay sure sounds like an A-side to me: “We Did“ Herb And Kay (1955) And yet, this song – recorded on August 19, 1955 at Cincinnati’s King Studios – ended up as the B-side to “I’ve Got a Right to Be Jealous.” (photo courtesy of

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"Rockin' in Baghdad"
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“Rockin’ in Baghdad”: Another Missed Opportunity for “Irony”

Speaking of old songs that take on a whole new meaning when considered against a modern geopolitical context (see previous post about Cat Stevens), Capitol US released a 45 in 1957 that featured “Rockin’ in Bag[h]dad,” a song that I very well could have imagined playing in the background during

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"Some of Them Bones Are Mine"
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“Some of Them Bones Are Mine”: Kinda Spooky

According to the authoritative Rockin’ Country Style website, Johnny and Jonie are Johnny & Jonie Mosby — he, born in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, and she, born Janice Irene Shields in Van Nuys, California.   Married in 1958, released two 45s that same year. “Some of Them Bones are Mine” — whose

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"TV Commercials"
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“TV Commercials”: ‘Mad Men’ Cautionary Tale

Don Bowman, in February 1961, presciently grasped the enormity of Madison Avenue and advertising’s outsized influence on American attitudes and marketplace behavior in his first single, “T.V. Commercials“: “T.V. Commercials” served as the B-side of “Coward at the Alamo” and, judging by its catalog number, appears to be among the last

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"Rockin' Red Wing"
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“Rockin’ Red Wing”: New Spin on an Old Tune

I first learned of the song “Red Wing” from Asleep at the Wheel‘s 1993 tribute album to Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys that features two original members of the Texas Playboys, Eldon Shamblin and Johnny Gimble, as well as Chet Atkins, Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, and Reuben “Lucky Oceans”

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"Bluebirds Over the Mountain"
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“Bluebirds Over the Mountain”: Reggaebilly?

If you’re like me (someone who didn’t have access to YouTube growing up), you’re probably familiar with this iconic photo of rockabilly singer, Ersel Hickey — But maybe not his big 1958 hit, “Bluebirds Over the Mountain“: Check out the loping guitar intro with the lead guitar and bass playing the

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