Don Dow Gililland (commonly misspelled as Gilliland; born 31 January 1939 Dallas, Texas) is a jazz guitarist and composer who recorded three

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

hits in 1956 on

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

with "Wade & Dick — The College Kids," led by Wade Lee Moore (born 1934) and

Dick Penner Allen Richard "Dick" Penner (born 1936 in Chicago, Illinois – 24 September 2024) is an American retired professor of English, who, while in college in 1955, co-composed, with Wade Lee Moore, "Ooby Dooby", which was recorded and released by Wade M ...

: "Wild Woman", "Don't Need Your Lovin"', and "Bop Bop Baby". Gililland got a part as a guitarist in the movie ''Rock Baby Rock It!'', which was being filmed in Dallas in 1956. During the next year, he enrolled at

North Texas State University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

, where he performed with the school's

One O'Clock Lab Band One O'Clock Lab Band is an ensemble of the Jazz Studies division at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton, Texas. Since the 1970s, the band's albums have received seven Grammy Award nominations, including two for ''Lab 2009' ...

. After graduating he worked in clubs with

Buster Smith Buster or BUSTER may refer to: People *Buster (surname) * Buster (given name) * Buster (nickname) Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Buster'' (comics), a British comic * ''Buster'' (sport comic), a Swedish comic Film and television * ''Buster ...

. During the day, he was employed by the ''Oak Cliff Tribune''. He became managing editor, then worked for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. "Bop Bop Baby" was included on the soundtrack of ''

Walk the Line ''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies by the American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash: '' Man in Black: His Own ...

'', the film biography of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Discography

As sideman

, ''North Texas Lab Band'' (90th Floor, 1961) (); re-released under the title ''The Road to Stan'' (90th Floor, 2009) as a tribute to musicians associated with the

Stan Kenton Orchestra Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...

() *

Don Jacoby Don "Jake" Jacoby was a noted trumpeter, teacher, band leader and author who died December 25, 1992, at the age of seventy-two. He played with Benny Goodman, Les Brown, did session work for CBS, NBC and soloed at Carnegie Hall. In addition, he ...

, ''Swinging Big Sound: Don Jacoby and The College All Stars'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

, 1961) () * Wade & Dick – The College Kids, "Bop Bop Baby" b/w "Don't Need Your Lovin' Baby" (

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 1957); "Bop Bop Baby" (alternate version) b/w/ "Don't Need Your Lovin' Baby" (1956) *

, "Cindy Lou" (Sun, 1957) * ''Sag, Drag and Fall'' (1955), score composed by Ken Massey and Don Gililland ()

Filmography

* ''Rock Baby Rock It!'' (1957) * ''This World Won't Break'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gililland, Don 1939 births Living people Musicians from Dallas American jazz guitarists American rockabilly guitarists American male guitarists Songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from Texas Jazz musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians American male songwriters