The Nines

The Little Band That Couldn’t

Back in the early ’80s, you might remember that rockabilly music had a bit of a revival, led by bands such as the Stray Cats and the Blasters. I had been jamming with a couple of musicians (flute and upright bass) on mostly jazz standards when the bass player lost interest. The flute player, who I will call “Diane,” also played alto sax. I had previously used Diane on a soundtrack, which my wife produced… an audiovisual show for the city of Vacaville, a town about an hour northeast of San Francisco which was seeking to attract companies that wanted to build factories and such without the thicket of red tape and delays that faced companies wanting to do the same in San Francisco.

I had been kicking around the idea of a rockabilly band centered around the piano, rather than the guitar. I was thinking Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis covers, along with the usual Elvis, Eddie Cochran and the like, and I asked Diane if she would be interested.To my surprise, she was, despite having basically no knowledge of the genre. I suggested that she should track down some King Curtis records…that would give her 75% of what she would need, with Little Richard records supplying the rest.

With half of the necessary musicians needed, I ran an ad seeking bass and drums to round out the band. The first respondents were a…