(photo by C. Lester)

Narvel the Marvel
An interview with Narvel Felts
by
Elizabeth Welch


THE EARLY YEARS
Narvel Felts has been a citizen of Malden, MO for a long time. Seen locally at the grocery store, post office and other places, those who are lucky enough to know him speak of him highly.  People of all ages enjoy his music, and words like "nice," "friendly," and "seems like an ordinary guy" are often used to describe him. No matter how well you know this "ordinary" man, you may not realize just how extraordinary Narvel Felts is. His history in the music business is truly something to be admired.

Born to Albert & Lena Felts on November 11, 1938, Albert Narvel Felts entered the world in a farmhouse near Keiser, Kansas. He had one sister, Ogareeda, and moved with his family in 1953 to Powe, MO. His earliest interest in music came at age 13 when he traded his BB gun for what he describes as an "old, beat up, Gene Autry" guitar. The guitar was warped but Narvel did not let that deter him. He picked cotton on a farm near Powe, saved his money and ordered his first new guitar from Sears-Roebuck. At 17, Felts entered and won a talent contest when he was in the 11th grade at Bernie High School. That talent contest led him to a career which spans more than 50 years and includes his becoming one of the original Sun Records' recording artists, an original Rockabilly artist and a noted Country performer. 

Narvel was just 17 when Jerry Mercer hired him to join his band in 1956. "We were playing places such as the Four-Way in Dudley and Pop Smitzer's over by Risco and all of a sudden Jerry was getting people to say, 'I'll hire you at the Razorback in Blytheville' or 'I'll hire you in Osceola if you'll bring that kid along.'  I remember when school was out in '56, I remember chopping cotton for a few days and then I remember seeing Jerry Mercer's tan '53 Chevy coming down the dusty gravel road one afternoon to our house. He wanted to know if I wanted to go to work with him full time and I said, 'well sure.' All of a sudden I was working doing something that I love to do. You know, I didn't love chopping cotton too much."

At first, Felts had to walk every afternoon from Powe to Bernie to meet Mercer who would bring him home after the job, but "I would hitchhike," he explained, "and some days it was mostly 'hike' until he gave me a deadline and said, 'you've gotta get a car within a couple of weeks. I can't keep doing this.' They told me and the drummer both that. The drummer lived in Sikeston and so I got a car for like $85 or something and the drummer never did, so it became my job to take him home after we got done. I got to listen to a lot of all night radio. That was the beginning."

Narvel Felts, Roy Orbison and Eddie Bond worked a package show together on August 7, 1956. Without being asked, Orbison went back to Memphis and told them they should "give Narvel a listen," so he wound up with an audition in Memphis within a couple of weeks. "Just me and the guitar player for Jerry Mercer's band, Leon Barnett, drove down to Memphis," Felts said , where he sung and Barnett played guitar. After listening, Jack Clement told them to "go home, write some more songs and bring the whole band back."

Narvel's first recording session at Sun Records was January 23, 1957. "It was exciting," he said, "and at my first session actually in Memphis that day, just hanging around was Roy Orbison. He sat in the control room with Jack Clement. Sam Phillips was back and forth and Harold Jenkins pulled a chair over by the microphone and sat where he could hear me. In a few months, he (Jenkins) would become known as Conway Twitty. Johnny Cash was there that day and this new piano player who hadn't had a hit record yet, Jerry Lee Lewis."

Things began moving fairly quickly for Felts in early 1957 when the band starting getting booked in theaters with Rock & Roll movies. "We would kind of tour like that," Felts explained. "They'd do a movie and we'd do a show. I played the Fox Theater in St. Louis for a week when they were showing the movie "Rock Pretty Baby" which was a big leap in my career.  It was prestigious and we had really big crowds the whole week.  I wound up from Sun going quickly on to Mercury Records and Mercury signed me."

Felts regularly toured the United States and Canada until 1961. On April 30, 1962 he married Loretta Stanfield in her hometown of Steele, MO. The couple had two children, Stacia, and Narvel "Bub" Felts, Jr.

FROM ROCK & ROLL ROOTS TO COUNTRY STARDOM AND BACK
Felts' really big successes and his world-wide hits didn't come until the 1970's when he crossed over to the Country charts. Some of his biggest hits include, Reconsider Me (1975 Record of the Year), Lonely Teardrops, Drift Away, Everlasting Love, When Your Good Love Was Mine, and My Prayer.

Remember some of those Rockabilly/Rock & Roll classics: Mountain of Love, Kiss Me a Baby, Foolish Thoughts and Honey Love? Many of these would become big regional hits in different areas of the United States and Canada with several making top ten lists and some going all the way to number one. Felts' music would be played by Rock & Roll, Country, R & B, and Easy Listening disc jockeys scattered from New York to California, Canada to Mexico and around the world. Hailed by Cashbox magazine as "Narvel the Marvel," he has also been called the "King of Country Soul" and the "King of the Rockabilly Revival." He is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and is among the top 150 Country artists of the past century.

Felts toured full time from 1982 through 1990 and took his son, Bub, with him through 1986. Since his Country music breakthrough in the 1970's, Felts has been touring Europe and described his first Rock & Roll fest as something more like a Rockabilly fest. "They insisted on me playing my own songs," he said with a laugh. "I told them I hadn't sung some of those songs since the 1950's but that's what they wanted." He and Bub worked up the songs and "it was like it was in 1957" according to Narvel. "The audience went wild and all these years had passed and I was this much older but the audience was the same because they were all so young so it was quite an amazing experience. Bub came home from that and got into Rockabilly. He'd been a big fan of Van Halen and the metal bands but after that he got into my old records and took them back to his room."

On September 14, 1995, life's greatest tragedy struck the Felts family. Bub was killed in a car accident on a foggy highway near Campbell, MO at the age of 31. Although it's been over a decade since the loss of Bub, Felts still does a song for him at every show. "I played the Hemsby which is the biggest Rock & Roll festival in Europe. They refused to let me play any Country hits, but I insisted on one ballad and one song for Bub. It was a hardened Rock & Roll crowd but I did My Prayer which was a big country hit even though it was a Platters songs and that was met with rousing applause. The roof just came off the building. I did several more Rockabilly songs, then I told them about Bub. I did Since I Don't Have You. At the end of it the applause kept on and on. I looked out into the audience and through the floodlights I could see they had tears in their eyes. They had hearts and souls and they did care."

With a career rooted in Rock & Roll and flourishing in Country, Felts' talent and love for a variety of music has kept him working since his late teens and he hasn't stopped. In 2006 he received a phone call from the head of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio regarding their annual show, "American Masters" which honors a member of the hall for fame. For the first time they were going to honor a living member, Jerry Lee Lewis. They wanted Felts to be part of the show and invited him to "come sing a song or two or three." Not a bad way to spend your 69th birthday.

Felts still plays all kinds of music festivals-Country, Rock & Roll and Rockabilly but he has no favorite; he likes them all. "I wouldn't dare say a favorite," he said with a laugh, although he added that the Country audiences are a "little more accepting" of who he is.  Narvel plays to sell out crowds worldwide on a regular basis. View the official Narvel Felts website at:
www.mkoc.com/NarvelFelts.  And if you happen to see him at the grocery store, tell him "hi." He's just an "ordinary guy." 


Thanks to Elizabeth Welch for allowing me to post her 2007 interview with Narvel Felts on my websites
cfl

Singing For a Cure


Alison Davis & Chantal Blake of Campbell High School, recently performed at the "Singing for a Cure" benefit concert for St. Jude Children's Hospital held at Campbell.

Alison is a guitar & piano student of mine & has been playing guitar for a little over a year. She accompanied Chantal who sang several popular country songs. You go girls!!



Guitar on the Brain



An Interview with SEMO's

Bruce Zimmerman


How old were you when you first started playing guitar?

I started when I was 5. My dad showed me some basic open chord positions and I began picking out single note melodies. I started my first band when I was 9 with my brother Dewayne and my cousins Mike and Darrel. We called ourselves The Four Z's. Later we added Jere Swader on drums and changed our name to the Blazers. I was in that band until I was around 14. I have never been out of a band since I was 9.


Do you play any other instruments?

 Mandolin, harmonica, steel,a little piano and drums. I have several lap steels that I play in different tunings. I have a double neck Rickenbacker 8 string lap steel that originally belonged to Darrel in that first band. It's sound is great for western swing and old style country.


Are you self taught or did you have music lessons?

Self taught. My Dad showed me enough to get me started and I picked up from there. I never had band in school or any formal training. I have always played by ear.



Seems as though I recall your father was a musician with the Bootheel Jamboree-is this correct and tell me anything about that you'd like to add.

My Dad played bass in the house band for the Jamboree from the very beginning. The original Bootheel Jamboree was started by Jerry Foster and Bill Rice. They were DJ's at the radio station in Malden at the time. They didn't have a building for the show and they had it in a big circus tent in Malden. I started playing drums on the show when I was 12 and I use to play acoustic guitar and sing some on the shows also. They use to have stars come in from the Grand Ole Opry and do special guest appearances so I got to play with several when I was just a kid. There were some great musicians in the band. Billy Springer played pedal steel and Dale Hawkum played guitar. You had to back every singer that walked out on stage. I learned a lot just from being exposed to great players. Foster and Rice later sold the rights to the Jamboree and moved to Nashville and teamed up as song writers and wrote a string of hits. The Palmer family bought the Jamboree and built the building in Bernie and the show ran for many years after that. My Dad was in the band until the very last show.



What brand of guitar do you play the most?

 When I play blues I mostly stay with the Gibsons. My main guitar is a Gibson Firebird. I also have a Gibson ES335. I carry several guitars on stage when I am playing with the Waterstreet Band.
I have some other guitars on stage for slide in a couple of different tunings and a couple of Fenders. I also have a telecaster and a strat that I use when I need a brighter or twangier sound.


Your CD "Guitar on the Brain" was great; how can fans buy a copy?

I will have a way to buy my CD on line soon through my MySpace website. You can also buy it in Cape Girardeau at Hastings or P-Mac.



Your niece Christy Griffin who I work with at Bernie High School said that your daughter in law designed the very cool cover for the CD. Are other family members involved in your music in any way? 

My daughter in law Lisa is a graphic designer and she did the cover for me. All of my kids play instruments and sing. My son Eric plays guitar and saxophone. Brandi plays saxophone and piano and sings. I recently did a show where my band backed Kimberly Dahme. Kimberly is the bassist for the rock group Boston and has out several solo CDs. Almost all of her songs have a male and female back up vocalist so I brought Brandi in for that show to sing the female back up parts. She did a great job on that show. My youngest daughter Victoria plays clarinet and sings.  


Have you put out other recordings? 

Guitar on the Brain was my first solo CD although I have a played guitar on a lot of sessions for other people over the years.
I am in the process of recording another CD now but I don't know when it will be finished yet.



What are some of your earliest musical memories?

One of my first memories was when my dad had some musicians over and they were rehearsing in the living room. I was probably about 5 and I had a small bodied Gibson that my aunt's boyfriend had given me. It was cracked all the way across the back of it and it rattled when you played. He gave it to me just as a toy but I wanted to know how to really play it. My dad had showed me how to make an A chord by barring my finger across the second fret. They were playing a Hank Williams song in A with a simple 1-4-5 progression. I would play along with them when they were on the A chord and I would stop when they went to the 4 and the 5 because I didn't know how to make those chords but I knew it wouldn't sound right to play the wrong cord. I could hear the chord changes. After everyone left I asked my Dad to show me the other two chords. So he showed me the D and E. I think that is when it all really started for me. I don't really remember this part but when the family got together this past Christmas at my Mom and Dads, we were talking about this. I had told them that I wanted a guitar that didn't rattle and my Dad told me that when I could play a song all the way through he would buy me a better guitar. My Mom told him that he might as well get his wallet out. In a couple of days I was playing that 3 chord progression and he bought me a guitar that played a lot better and easier to learn on.



What is your personal favorite kind of music? Who are some of the artists you listen to?

I like everything. I still love all the old country songs and western swing. The Beatles of course and lot of music from the 60s and 70s like the Stones, the Band and CCR.  I loved all of the old Motown and the stuff coming out of Memphis from Stax and Hi records. Most of the music I listen to now is from strong singer songwriters like John Hiatt and some of the really hot guitar players like Albert Lee and Tommy Emmanuel. I also like the good slide players that work in different tunings like Sonny Landreth and Bonnie Raitt.


I remember Bernie musicians Junior Curtis, Butch Smith, Ray Doane, Stan Hathcoat, Bob Ash & others from way back when. Were you in any bands with them? 

Those guys are some my best friends in the world. I sold Junior Curtis his first set of real drums. I was around 17 or 18 and Junior was probably 12 or 13 I guess. I had pretty much gone to guitar all the time and wasn't really playing drums anymore. I wanted to sell them to buy a new guitar. Like most of us then we didn't have much money and Junior had a homemade set of drums. I remember his hi-hat was made out of paint can lids. Shannon Howe worked at the pool hall and Junior us to hang out there. Shannon saw Juniors potential and bought my drums for Junior. When I was in my 20s Junior and I put together a progressive rock band called Dirtywork. It was a great band and I still have people ask me about to this day.

Ray Doan was my neighbor and his was the only family that lived on our road that wasn't a relative. He use to hang out the house all the time when we were playing guitars. He talked his folks into buying him a set of drums and they ordered them from Montgomery Ward. I showed him how to set them up the day they came in and showed him some basics about drumming. We didn't have air conditioning at the house so we slept with the windows open. During summer vacation he used to practice until 2 or 3 in the morning and we could hear it plain as day at our house. He almost drove my mom and dad crazy but I liked hearing it. I think the first song he learned to play was a Lovin' Spoonful song called Six O'clock. When I was high school, Ray and I put a band together with Stan Hathcoat on bass. We played together for a few years and Ray and I went on the road together when we were in our early 20s with a band called the Next of Kin. That was my first experience with the world outside of Bernie.

Butch Smith was a great talent. We first met when we were 15 and his family moved to Malden. He had been living in California and playing with guys like Clarence White who later played with The Byrds and was the co-inventor of the B-bender that is used on half the country songs you hear today. He was so far ahead of the rest of us when he moved to town. He was the one who introduced me to slide guitar and different tunings. I have no doubt that if he had stayed in California he would have ended up in a major band. I still have Butch's old 63 Fender Tremolux amp that he use to play harp thru. I miss him a lot.

Bob Ash moved to Bernie when we were in the 7th grade. His dad was with Brown Shoe Company and got transferred to Bernie to be the superintendent of the factory there. The first time they came to Bernie to see the town I was playing on a flatbed trailer with The Blazers for the grand opening of a cafe there where the bus stop was. When school started he ended up being in my class and sitting beside me. He wanted to meet me because I played but he was kind of shy at didn't know how to approach me. He had just got his first guitar for Christmas and he got my attention by sitting at his desk drawing out guitar chord diagrams on a piece of paper. I saw it and asked him if he played guitar. We ate lunch together in the school cafeteria that day and that was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. He knew 3 chords when I first met him and could play Twist and Shout by the Beatles. We started going to each others houses and playing guitars together. He learned faster that anyone I  ever saw and in 6 months time it was pretty much an even exchange because he was figuring out stuff and showing it to me as much as I was showing him. We played in bands together off and on a lot throughout the years. In my late 20s and early 30s we had a band called Stampede with Earl Perkins and Scott Barnett that was together for about 6 years. The first year that band was together we played 320 nights. To this day there is no guitar player that I play with that our styles mesh together any better. We got together and played some gigs this past summer and it was like we had never stopped playing together.

All of us as well as Gene Hanners another great Bernie musician use to rent the JC hut at Malden and have these jam sessions that would last all night. We had great fun and learned a lot from each other.



I saw you warm up Buddy Guy at the Show Me Center last November-just you and a bass player and you two were absolutely astounding. I've rarely heard so much music coming out of just two people. Is this what you like to do best or do you prefer playing with a larger crew?

The bass player is Ken Keller and he is my bass player in the Water Street band and a tremendous talent. He is also a great engineer and owns IBS studios where I recorded my CD.
When we opened for Buddy Guy that was the first time that we ever played together with just the two of us. My CD had been sent to Buddy Guy'3
s people when they were looking for someone to open up for him. They liked the CD but did not want to have that large of band open because of the logistics of the equipment change over between acts. They asked if I would do a solo or duo. I wasn't going to do it at first but the guys in the band wanted me to so I asked Ken to play with me. I do some solo and duo gigs and I really enjoy them. When I play those it is usually in a small room like a house concert and some winery gigs. This is where I get to try out a lot of my originals. I will always like the energy of a full band though.


Do you have a "day" job or just play music? (every musician's dream)

I do have a day job. I work at the RapcoHorizon company in Fruitland. They make cabling systems for the Audio industry. I mostly work with sound contractors and touring sound companies helping put together the cabling for their tours so I am working with musicians on my day job too.



What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?

 I hope to be semi retired and just playing music again. I would like to do some road work again. To date I have played 38 states and 6 countries. I plan on doing some overseas tours again.


Looking back, what, if anything would you do differently in regards to your music if you could?

I would get more formal training. I don't think there is any substitute for a good ear but there have been some missed opportunity's because I was not a good site reader. If you have the ability to do both it can make a big difference.

What would you tell young musicians just starting out?

The main thing is to make sure it is always fun. The wonderful thing about playing an instrument is you don't have to be great to get enjoyment out of it. It can be enjoyed at many different levels. As far as young musicians who want to be in a band this is the advice I give them. Please yourself. You have to have somewhat of a thick skin because you no matter how good you get there is always going to be someone that doesn't like you. I don't know how many times I have heard someone say they hate the Beatles or they hate Elvis Presley. You are never going to please everyone. I know there are people that will hear me play and not like it or be indifferent to it. On the other hand I have had many people tell me that my music has brought great joy to them or touched there lives in someway.
The other thing that I tell them is the first rule of bands is all bands break up[except for the Rolling Stones] When you are in a band ,especially your first bands you can get to be like family and if the band breaks up its like getting a divorce. Don't let it stop you from playing. Find some more musicians and keep going. I would also urge them to play with as many different musicians as possible and to keep your mind open to playing all styles. Your musical taste change as you change. It's just a fact of life.


Thanks to Bernie native Bruce Zimmerman for taking time out of his very busy schedule to do this interview with me. I have listed his upcoming musical performances below. Bruce said he will keep me informed of any new gigs and I'll post them here so check back frequently. You can also look at Bruce's  page on MySpace.

cfl

Mason Curtis of Malden loves guitars-playing as well as collecting them.  He has an impressive ten electric guitars, two acoustics and an electric bass.  And he can tell you about every one of them.
I recently got to see some of his collection.  He doesn't keep all his instruments in one place, preferring to have one or two at home and the rest stored elsewhere for easy access.  At home, he plays a Gibson SG which he refers to as his workhorse.

Mason began playing guitar 13 years ago.  He took lessons for about six weeks until his school grades began to suffer and he quit the lessons.  He continued to teach himself how to play by reading everything he could find on guitar technique. He cites Slash, guitarist for Guns n Roses and Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist as big musical influences.  After a few years of self lessons, he joined his first band and says he's been in four or five since then, including FUBAR and most recently, INCOGNITO. 
The last two bands, especially Incognito, were starting to make a name for themselves in the SEMO area.  Incognito recorded 3 CD's and the latest one was getting airplay on local radio stations.  But due to band members having to pursue other non-musical interests, they have been on hiatus since last June.  When asked about his proudest moments with Incognito, he said one would be when the band was featured on the Cape Girardeau television show "Sound Scan" in March 2006.  They also were invited to participate in "Bonestock" in June 2006.  This was an outdoor music festival sponsored by radio station Z95, held at Poplar Bluff, which drew over 3500 fans.  During the FUBAR era, they were once an opening act for Hank Williams, III, when he did a concert in Malden.
During the months since Incognito has been on hiatus, Mason has been focusing more on a solo career, playing and writing songs.   He also said that learning to play the piano is something he'd like to pursue and his instrument collection may include a piano in the future.  His dream would be to some day tour as an opening guitar act.  So keep listening and maybe you'll hear this versatile musician hit the big time. 

cfl

       
                                                                                                           

 
My two favorite acoustic guitars, my Fender & Alvarez



Al Mewhirter & I performing at church

 Events Calendar
Go to:

www.maldenmusic.net





Gospel Musicians Wanted
Sonny Provance will host a weekly musical get together at The Pickin' Parlor on Highway 62 just west of McGuire-watch for the signs.  Music starts at 2:00 PM on Saturdays for anyone interested in gospel or old time country music.  Contact Sonny at 276-4302 for more information.

Memphis Music & Heritage Festival