Travis Wammack (born November 1946 in
Walnut, Mississippi
Walnut is a town in Tippah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 771 at the 2010 census.
History
Walnut was established in 1872 on land belonging to Henry Hopkins, an early settler. The town was initially known as "Hopkins," b ...
, United States) is an American
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
from
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
.
Described as an "instumental genius"
and "a precursor to guitar-hero shreddding", he is known for his "magnificent guitar pyrotechnics",
"hot and speedy guitar chops",
and "wild guitar workouts" featuring early use of fuzztone and
distortion
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio s ...
.
A child prodigy, Wammack's first record was released in 1957 when he was eleven years old,
and at seventeen he hit the American
charts
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ta ...
with "Scratchy", an
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...
which peaked at #80 in 1964.
He also charted briefly in 1966 at #128 with an instrumental version of "
Louie Louie
"Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and ...
".
Wammack worked as a session guitarist at Sonic Recording Service and
Hi Records
Hi Records is an American soul music and rockabilly label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1957 by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch (formerly producers for Sun Records), and three silent p ...
in Memphis and at
FAME Studios
FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of th ...
in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated popul ...
, in the 1960s.
He released his first album, ''Travis Wammack'', in 1972 and appeared on the charts with "Whatever Turns You On" (#95; written by
George Jackson and Raymond Moore) and "How Can I Tell You" (#68; written by
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...
). In 1975 he released his second album, ''Not For Sale'', which generated two additional hits: "Easy Evil" (#72; written by
Alan O'Day
Alan Earle O'Day (October 3, 1940 – May 17, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for writing and singing " Undercover Angel," a million-selling Gold-certified American No. 1 hit in 1977. He also wrote songs for many other notab ...
), and "(Shu-Doo-Pa-Poo-Poop) Love Being Your Fool" (#38; written by
Jerry Williams, Jr.
Jerry Williams Jr. (born July 12, 1942), generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as "one of the great cult figures o ...
and
Charlie Whitehead
Charlie Whitehead (September 12, 1942 – June 26, 2015) was a soul singer from Franklin, Virginia. Whitehead moved to New York City in 1968 and was subsequently signed to Musicor's R&B subsidiary, Dynamo Records, by Charlie Foxx. At Dynamo, ...
).
He was
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
's band leader from 1984 until 1995. He wrote "Greenwood, Mississippi" which Richard recorded in 1970, featuring Wammack on lead guitar. In 1988, Richard recorded Wammack's "(There's) No Place Like Home", planned as a new single, but shelved. Live versions were included on ''Giants of Rock and Roll'', an Australian DVD of a 1989 concert, and on compilations ''Live in Europe 1993'' and ''The Quasar of Rock''.
Still performing, Travis now works with Muscle Shoals Music Marketing, and has added
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
to his resume. In 1999 Wammack received the Professional Musician Award from the
Alabama Music Hall of Fame
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, first conceived by the Muscle Shoals Music Association in the early 1980s, was created by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board, which then saw to its Phase One construction of a facility after a statewide referend ...
, and in 2005 was inducted into
. In May 2006,
Gibson Guitars
Gibson may refer to:
People
* Gibson (surname)
Businesses
* Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment
* Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based
* Gib ...
presented Travis with a new
Gibson ES-335
The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...
guitar as part of their documentary honoring legendary Gibson ES series players. In 2011, he was recognized by the
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennesse ...
as a rockabilly "legend".
Wammack performed with
Billy Lee Riley
Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. His most memorable recordings include "Rock With Me Baby", "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll"Variously spelled as "...Rock & Roll ...
and with
Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers at
Newport, Arkansas
Newport is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Arkansas, United States located on the White River northeast of Little Rock. The population was 7,879 at the 2010 census.
Newport is home to a campus of the Arkansas State University ...
's annual Depot Days Festival on September 27, 2008. On August 30, 2009 at the Silver Moon in Newport, Arkansas, he again played with Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers, and with other bands, at the Billy Lee Riley benefit concert. Wammack continues to perform live at the Depot Days Festival and other venues.
[
][
]
Discography
Albums
*''Travis Wammack'' (
Fame Records, 1972)
*''Not For Sale'' (
Capricorn, 1975)
*''A Man...and a Guitar'' (Phonorama, 1982)
*''Follow Me'' (Phonorama, 1982)
*''Still Rockin'' (Snakeman Records, 1998)
*''Snake, Rattle & Roll in Muscle Shoals'' (Snakeman Records, 2000)
*''Rock-N-Roll Party'' (Travis Wammack, 2002)
*''Scratchy'' (Travis Wammack, 2006)
*''The Psychedelic Years - Live'' (Travis Wammack, 2006)
*''Memphis + Muscle Shoals = Travis Wammack'' (Travis Wammack, 2008)
*''Almost Home'' (Travis Wammack, 2008)
*''Country In My Soul'' (Muscle Shoals, 2009)
*''Shotgun Woman'' (Monaco, 2010)
*''Rock-N-Roll Days'' (Travis Wammack, 2010)
*''Rock-N-Roll Days Vol. II'' (Travis Wammack, 2011)
*''Blues, Soul & Rock-N-Roll'' (Travis Wammack, ?)
Compilations
*''That Scratchy Guitar from Memphis'' (
Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.
History
The label has been in existence since ...
, 1987)
*''Scr-Scr-Scratchy!'' (Zu Zazz Records, 2000)
References
External links
Official Website*
Travis Wammackat Allmusic.com
Comprehensive discography*
''Travis Wammack's Rock and Roll Days: A Musical Journey from Memphis to Muscle Shoals'' at Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wammack, Travis
1946 births
Living people
People from Tippah County, Mississippi
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
American session musicians
Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee
Guitarists from Tennessee
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians