Don Downing - Dream World

Big Al Downing and Don Downing are brothers. Besides sharing parents, the two also had early club hits. But the similarity ends there. Al was born in 1940 in Oklahoma and Don was born in Texas, although I'm not sure of the year, it is presumed that Don is the younger of the two.
Al was exposed to both R&B and country music as a boy, and taught himself piano on an instrument that he found on a rubbish dump. In 1958 he took the then unusual step of joining a white group, "The Rhythm Rockers," led by Bobby Brant. Changing their name to "The Poe Kats," they recorded the regionally successful "Down On The Farm" for Lelan Rogers White Rock label in Dallas: leased to the larger Challenge label, it narrowly missed the national charts but has become an acknowledged rock 'n' roll classic (as well as one of the shortest rock 'n' roll records, at one minute 31 seconds).
Just after they recorded "Down On The Farm," the Poe Kats were signed to back, the then emerging rockabilly queen, Wanda Jackson, for whom they played during most of 1958. Among Downing's three bandmates in backing Jackson was later country great Buck Owens. Some of Jackson's hits with Downing playing for her are, "Let's Have A Party", "Right Or Wrong" and "In The Middle Of A Heartache."
"(One of my bandmates) and I would do solo spots warming up the audience before she came on." Downing says of his days playing with Jackson. "Frankly, there wasn't as much prejudice as you'd expect even though I'd stand beside her and sing with her. She liked my playing and she'd introduce me to the audience, which helped. Sure ... there'd be times when they had to sneak me into a hotel with a towel over my head, but I didn't hear any racial remarks."
In the liner notes to her "Let's Have A Party" recording, Jackson adds, "Very often after the show, the group would have to smuggle Downing into a motel room in a bass fiddle body bag." She praises his ability, saying he "was restrained and screwing up in the studio until I told him to throw away the piano stool and play standing up as if he were giving a performance."
Playing for the Poe Kats and touring with Jackson put Downing on stage in front of country audiences throughout the United States and permitted him to open for such stars as Red Sovine, Dottie West, Don Gibson and Marty Robbins, for whom he also recorded. This exposure led to a number of solo recording contracts for Downing, including ones with the Columbia, White Rock and Carlton record labels. During this period he recorded duets with Esther Phillips and Downing's thumping piano and his deep voice, with its Fats Domino overtones, can be heard on such excellent rockers as "Yes I'm Loving You" and "Georgia Slop."
While Downing enjoyed moderate success with his recording of the Marty Robbins song, "Story Of My Life," these early recording contracts did little for his career. In 1970 he had his first hit, with the club classic "I'll Be Holding On" making it to the R&B chart. "I'll Be Holding On" was unique at the time for a running length of over 5 minutes. The insistent guitar hook had early clubgoers cutting the rug and made this one a northern soul favorite. Cory Robbins, (of "Love Insurance" fame) resurrected the rare 45 rpm for his "Super Rare Disco" series in 1997, which is perhaps the only way to own this classic.
Downing spent much of the 1970's touring on his own throughout the world and downplaying country in his performances. Then in 1978 he returned to a concentration on his country roots with his signing to the Warner label. Though Downing scored big hit singles with Warner in 1979 and 1980, the label would not finance a full album of his work. Nor would other major Nashville record labels. Despite rating huge billboards in Vienna, Austria, and earning frequent invitations to perform at music festivals in other European countries, the best Downing realizes from U.S. record labels since his refocus on country is commitments from independents. Among those independent releases was "I'll Be Loving You." The track became a No. 48 country chart hit in 1982, on Doc Holiday's Tug Boat Records & Mega International. Still active today, his focus is on country & western, although he still plays some rock & roll in his live shows.
Brother Don got his musical start with "Rodney & The Blazers." Bass player Rodney Lay Sr. and drummer Bob York kicked around together in a band known as "The Off Beats" throughout the last couple years of the 1950s. By 1960, with the addition of Bob "Sir Robert" Scott on saxophone and Pete "Peaches" Williams on guitar, they had transformed themselves into "Rodney & The Blazers," named after their habit of wearing blazers instead of normal jackets for their stage show. It wasn't their only idiosyncrasy in appearance — they also dyed their hair silver and wore sunglasses onstage. Don was soon added on piano as well as sharing lead vocals with Lay, and they were soon playing regular gigs every Friday night at the El Rancho Opera House located between their Coffeyville hometown and Independence, KS. That summer, they recorded and released their first single, "Teenage Cinderella," on their own Kampus label. It became a number one hit in several large markets around the country, particularly in Phoenix, Syracuse, Fargo, and Philadelphia. A Pittsburgh station even phoned Lay to tell him that the city's most important disc jockey had predicted that Lay would be the next Elvis. The single, however, did not have enough distribution behind it to go national (although it was later re-released on the Dore label without the band's consent after Johnny Tillotson's manager shopped it around Hollywood — the band predictably received no royalties).
"Rodney & The Blazers" kept very busy in 1961. They played at the Seattle World's Fair and New York City's famed Peppermint Lounge, as well as travelling to gigs in Arizona, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and British Columbia. They also completed a six-week tour with Bill Haley & the Comets that ended in Mexico City, upon which Don left the band.
For the next decade Don would do session work and play small gigs backing other artists. In 1973 he was hired to play on some sessions for up and coming producer Meco Monardo. This led to a meeting with Meco's partner Tony Bongiovi. Bongiovi was impressed with Don's musical skills and decided to cut a track with Downing and test the waters. The single "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" charted at number 65 R&B in the summer of 1973. Though he had a minor hit it would take another half a decade before an album would follow. Another single, "Doctor Boogie" was released into almost obscurity. The pumping brassy number was an underground hit in disco clubs and found its way onto the play lists of major market radio stations in Chicago and elsewhere in 1978.
With disco a hot commodity and with the promising chart action from his "Doctor Boogie" track, Bongiovi was able to secure an album deal with RS (Roadshow) International Records for Downing.
The "Doctor Boogie" album featured some top New York session musicians: drummers Jimmy Young and Alan Schwartzberg, bassists Bob Babbitt and Wilbur Bascomb, guitarist Jeff Miranov, pianist Pat Rebillot, and percussionist Jimmy Maelan. It featured five newly recorded tunes plus his earlier hits "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" and "Doctor Boogie." The b-side of "Lonely Days" was included on the album. "Dreamworld," was arranged by Meco Monardo and was quickly absorbed into the club scene. The song became an instant club classic and has recently resurfaced on 1997's "Super Rare Disco" and his own 1998 release "The Best Of Don Downing: Dreamworld," which is essentially a repackage of the "Doctor Boogie" album.
Despite the success of "Dreamworld" Downing never surfaced on vinyl again. Still Downing's "Doctor Boogie" LP cover is vintage '70s with Don and two of the three lovelies draped around him sporting huge Afros amid a dark and silvery disco club background with multi-colored star-bursting floodlights




* Don Downing - Dream World.MP3 Arranged by Meco Monardo