Glenn Reeves Rock A Boogie / Betty’S Bounce

Glenn Reeves. Born in Shamrock, Texas, on December 29, 1932. Died in
Jacksonville, Florida, on November 19, 1998. Despite an interesting bunch of
recordings that show his good manners as singer and relevant songwriter, Glenn’s
place in History was firmly secured when he cut a raw demo of a slow-paced track
titled “Heartbreak Hotel”. Written by Mae Boren Axton – with whom he co-wrote some
of his own sides -, little did he know that the hypnotic song would be Elvis Presley’s
first number-one hit and one of the best-selling records during 1956.
Reeves had developed his country roots while being a High School student and by
the time he changed his Texas home for Florida after a short stint in the Marine
Corps, he was absolutely convinced to pursue a career in music.
Signed by TNT Records, he had a couple of releases on 1955 but, even though
there’s an appreciable quality on tracks such as the country flavoured “I’m Johnny On
The Spot” or the rocking “I Ain’t Got Room To Rock”, the poor distribution that became
an steady trademark for the San Antonio, Texas, based label forced him to leave in
search of greener pastures.
On January 1956, a few weeks before Elvis hit the market with “Heartbreak Hotel”,
Republic put out a new Glenn’s record. “That’ll Be Love”, a nice uptempo song, was
coupled with a more conventional country weeper called “The Last Time”. Reviews
were polite and showed a preference for the “engaging piece of bright tune” defined
by the former which probably paved the way for the next release, a juicy slice of
Rockabilly credited to Glenn Reeves and his Rock-Billys and brought out on October
1956 by Atco, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. Curiously, at the end of June Billboard
had noticed Glenn’s signing for Atco, referring to him as a rockabilly from Nashville.
Including the vibrant “Rockin’ Country Style” and a good cover version of “Drinkin’
Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee”, that was his one and only record for the company, as next
year he was offered a short-term recording contract by Decca.
Actually, the sides appearing on this single were part of the deal and conformed
Reeves’ third attempt at the label. Two solid rockers released on March 1958, none of
them got Glenn’s recording career off the ground and by 1959 he returned to work as
DJ, promoter and even launching his own country music TV show in the sixties. He
remained quite active until the end of his life and finally, after all, he found the success
he long deserved. Although he did so behind the scenes instead of taking the stage
as a singer, his TNT, Republic, Atco and Decca recordings can be considered as a
fantastic musical legacy. No doubt about that!