“Love Me”
\nDot Records, 1960
\n*Track can be purchased at the iTunes Store.<\/p>\n
Jerry Lott<\/a><\/strong>, a.k.a. <\/a>\u201cThe Phantom,\u201d<\/a><\/strong> was born near Mobile, Alabama in 1938. \u00a0Lott played country music as a young teenager until he heard Elvis Presley<\/strong> and rockabilly on the radio in 1956. During the summer of 1958 in Mobile, Lott recorded Whisper Your Love<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jerry Lott wrote Love Me<\/em> in only 10 minutes. \u00a0Yeah, most great Rockabilly records from the late fifties had more then their share of fire and dementia, but this track is insane \u2026 certifiably, wickedly, aberrantly insane! \u00a0It\u2019s a beautiful thing!<\/p>\n Lott left Mobile for Los Angeles to shop his master tape around, and on an impulse he followed Pat Boone<\/strong> to church one Sunday morning\u00a0and convinced him to give the tape a listen. It was Boone’s idea to rename Lott\u00a0\u201cThe Phantom,\u201d even agreeing to issue the record on his own label, Cooga Mooga<\/strong>. \u00a0Eventually Lott signed a contract with Boone’s management but the single of Love Me<\/em> b\/w Whisper Your Love<\/em> was released on the label Boone recorded for – Dot\u00a0 Records in 1960 (DOT 16056).<\/p>\n For five decades now, plenty of neophytes have tried to recreate this completely over the edge, pedal to the metal, head bashin\u2019, full moon howlin\u2019 kind of wreck \u2026 but few succeed.<\/p>\n Unfortunately in 1966, Jerry \u201cThe Phantom\u201d Lott sustained severe injuries when his car tumbled 600 feet down a mountainside near Spartanburg, South Carolina. As far as we know, he never recorded again. \u00a0In 1983, he passed away on September 4th, at the age of 45.<\/p>\n Side note: The first and alternate takes are included on the 1998 Bear Family Records<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong> fifth installment in their That\u2019ll Flat Git It<\/em><\/strong> Series. And this summer,\u00a0Rhino Records <\/strong>has released Rockin’ Bones: 1950s Punk and Rockabilly<\/em>, which includes the first take.<\/p>\n
![\"Reblog](\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/reblog_e.png?x-id=8eff6305-6f05-4b5c-97ca-292593da75f4\")
<\/a>