Charlie Feathers - His Complete King Recordings (1999)
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Eventually, Phillips granted the wannabe rock 'n roll star his wish.
Unfortunately, the pioneering studio owner was never enamored with the records
the quite determined singer-guitarist made at Sun.
The highlight of his Sun years came when he demoed a song at the request of
the label's engineer, Stan Kesler, who wrote "I Forgot To Remember To Forget"
for Elvis Presley. For this, Feathers was rewarded with a composing credit on
the record.
Despite Phillips' reticence, Feather's Sun work was good enough to get him
noticed elsewhere, and he eventually moved on to other record companies
including
King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio where he recorded eight songs released on four 45 rpm
singles in 1956 and 1957. They were eventually compiled on a brief,
nineteen-minute album, His Complete King Recordings in 1999. These are
the sides that earned Feathers his reputation as rockabilly royalty among
those people who discovered him many years later.
Feathers never hit the bigtime, but he continued to make records and perform
into the 1980s. It isn't clear why he never had the success many of his
contemporaries enjoyed. If you listen to his King singles you'll discover they
are excellent. To my ears he was just as good as many of the more famous, '50s
rockabilly stars, and he was considerably better than others. Bill Haley and
the Comets immediately come to mind.
As part of the '70s nostalgia craze that gave the world Happy Days, American Graffiti and eventually Brian Setzer's Stray
Cats, he was one of the early rockabilly acts to be re-discovered and
eventually revered by the revivalists.
Eventually, Feathers' reputation grew enough that Quentin Tarantino featured
his songs in both of his Kill Bill movies with "Can't Hardly Stand
It," - considered the gem of the King releases - making the sequel. The song
was also included in Grand Theft Auto V video game.
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