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All Music Guide:
Larry Sparks has said that he's the youngest old-timer around, and the self-description is an apt one. Emerging from the Stanley Brothers' Clinch Mountain Boys band, Sparks carried on with the sounds created by bluegrass music's first generation. His style was no knockoff, however; it had a distinctively bluesy tinge anchored by Sparks' own guitar, a comparatively unusual lead instrument in bluegrass, where the triad of mandolin, banjo, and fiddle had defined the musical texture since the genre's early days.
Sparks grew up in Lebanon, OH, in the southwestern part of the state that has produced several other top bluegrass artists. His parents came from Appalachian Kentucky, and one of his grandfathers was a fiddle contest champion. Sparks heard Cincinnati country star Wayne Raney on the radio when he was young and learned to play the guitar. His skills put him in demand not only for bluegrass but also for country and rock bands while he was in high school, but after sitting in as lead guitarist with the Stanley Brothers as they toured Ohio in 1964, bluegrass took first place among his musical interests. Sparks played increasingly often with the Stanley Brothers and made his recording debut in 1965 on a small Dayton, OH label. He spent three years as lead vocalist with Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys after Carter Stanley's death at age 41 in December 1966.
Around 1970, Sparks formed his own band, the Lonesome Ramblers, and it's a rare bluegrass festival or concert series that hasn't played host to Sparks multiple times in the years since. Numerous younger bluegrass players have passed through the Lonesome Ramblers or appeared on Sparks' many recordings, Ricky Skaggs and fiddler Stuart Duncan being only two of the best-known examples. Sparks recorded for various labels in the '70s and early '80s, moving to Rebel in 1982 for the Dark Hollow LP. It was the first in a long string of recordings that sold steadily and won critical acclaim; most of Sparks' Rebel catalog remained in print in the early 2000s.
Along the way, Sparks made several songs into bluegrass standards. He unearthed an obscure folk-rock composition by Lawrence Hammond entitled "John Deere Tractor" and turned it into a perennial anthem of discontented rural folk adrift in the big city; the cover of the song by the Judds on their Love Can Build a Bridge album of 1990 was likely traceable to Sparks' own numerous performances. The Stanley Brothers' "Goin' Up Home (To Live in Green Pastures)" was one of several gospel pieces that every parking-lot pickup band wanted to learn after hearing Sparks sing it, and Sparks tended to focus on gospel in his own numerous compositions as well.
Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers barely slowed down in the 1990s, releasing several albums over the course of the decade, and 2003's The Coldest Part of Winter showed him in undiminished form. Sparks released Last Suit You Wear in 2007. Recorded primarily with his road band, the Lonesome Ramblers, Almost Home appeared in 2011.
Wikipedia:
Larry Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including "Bony Moronie", "Short Fat Fannie", "High School Dance" (1957), "Slow Down", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (1958), "Bad Boy" and "She Said Yeah" (1959), which were later covered by British Invasion groups and other artists. John Lennon, in particular, was a fan of Williams, recording several of his songs over the course of his career. "Bony Moronie" is listed as one of the Top 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.
Williams lived a life mixed with tremendous success and violence-fueled drug addiction. He was a long-time friend of Little Richard.
Career
As a child in New Orleans, Williams learned how to play piano. When he was a teenager, he and his family moved to Oakland, California, where he joined a local R&B group called the Lemon Drops. In 1954, Williams went back to New Orleans for a visit. He began work as Lloyd Price's valet and played in the bands of Price, Roy Brown and Percy Mayfield. In 1955, Williams met and developed a friendship with Little Richard Penniman, who was recording at the time in New Orleans. Price and Penniman were both recording for Specialty Records. Williams was introduced to Specialty's house producer, Robert Blackwell, and was signed to record.
In 1957, Little Richard was Specialty's biggest star, but bolted from rock and roll to pursue the ministry. Williams was quickly groomed by Blackwell to try to replicate his success. Using the same raw, shouting vocals and piano-driven intensity, Williams scored with a number of hit singles.
Williams' three biggest successes were "Short Fat Fannie", which was his first hit, reaching #5 in Billboard's pop chart, "Bony Moronie", which peaked at #14, and its flip "You Bug Me Baby" which made it to #45. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" charted at #69 on Billboard the following year. Both "Short Fat Fannie" and "Bony Moronie" sold over one million copies, gaining gold discs.
Several of his songs achieved later success as revivals, by The Beatles ("Bad Boy", "Slow Down", and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"), The Rolling Stones ("She Said Yeah") and John Lennon ("Bony Moronie" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy").
Williams had been involved with underworld activity since his early teens, and had reputedly been a pimp before he ever recorded music. After 1957 Williams did not have much success selling records. He recorded a number of songs in 1958 and 1959, including "Heebie Jeebies", with band members such as Plas Johnson on tenor sax and Jewel Grant on baritone, Rene Hall on guitar, Gerald Wilson on trumpet, Ernie Freeman or Williams himself on piano, and Earl Palmer on drums. He was convicted of dealing narcotics in 1960 and served a three-year jail term, setting back his career considerably.
Williams made a comeback in the mid-1960s with a funky soul band that included Johnny "Guitar" Watson, which paired him musically with Little Richard who had been lured back into secular music. He produced two Little Richard albums for Okeh Records in 1966 and 1967, which returned Little Richard to the Billboard album chart for the first time in ten years and spawned the hit single "Poor Dog". He also acted as the music director for the Little Richard's live performances at the Okeh Club. Bookings for Little Richard during this period skyrocketed. Williams also recorded and released material of his own and with Watson, with some moderate chart success. This period may have garnered few hits but produced some of his best and most original work.
Williams also began acting in the 1960s, appearing on film in Just for the Hell of It (1968), The Klansman (1974), and Drum (1976).
In the 1970s, there was also a brief dalliance with disco, but Williams' wild lifestyle continued. By the middle of the decade, the drug abuse and violence were taking their toll. In 1977, Williams pulled a gun on and threatened to kill his long-time friend, Little Richard, over a drug debt. They were both living in Los Angeles and addicted to cocaine and heroin. Little Richard bought drugs from him, arranged to pay him later, but did not show up because he was high. Williams was furious. He hunted him down but ended up showing compassion on his long-time friend after Little Richard repaid the debt. This, along with other factors, led to Little Richard's return to born again Christianity and the ministry, but Williams would not escape LA's seedy underworld.
Death
On January 7, 1980, Williams was found dead from a gunshot wound to his head in his Los Angeles, California home. He was 44 years old. The death was deemed suicide, though there was much speculation otherwise. No suspects were ever arrested or charged.
Martin Allbritton as Larry Williams
A Southern Illinois drummer and blues singer by the name of Martin Allbritton claims to be Larry Williams, alive and well. This claim originated at about the time Larry Williams was found dead. He did record and perform as a drummer for Bobby "Blue" Bland in the 1960s. Albritton has toured the country performing under the moniker of "Big" Larry Williams, and has gone so far as to claim that he recorded the hits "Bony Moronie" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". He did record an album in 1990 called Street Party with the Mellow Fellows band, previously headed by Big Twist. While touring with the Mellow Fellows in Chicago, Allbritton was confronted by Etta James, who knew Larry Williams.
Williams' family members have asked him to cease any future reference to "Larry Williams". Allbritton has so far refused, and presently continues to use the name.
