Dig Richards - The Love Express (1963)

The Velvets Featuring Virgil Johnson - The Love Express (1962)

(Clint Ballard Jr - Roy Alfred)
 USA
Original version

Single on Monument YouTube by vocal group formed in Odessa, Texas, by high school English teacher Virgil Johnson (1935-2013) with four students. With the support of Roy Orbison, they were signed to Monument, a Nashville label, and recorded their only hit, Johnson's composition Tonight (Could Be The Night) (1961, #26 USA YouTube).

The Velvets recorded the original verson of Lana, co-written by Orbison whose own version was on his album Crying (1961) and on a 1966 single that was a hit in Britain and Australia.

The writers:
Composer Clint Ballard Jr (1931-2008) released a few records as Buddy Clinton and under his own name 1959-1962, but he was more successful as a songwriter. His compositions (music and lyrics) include:
• Good Timin' (Jimmy Jones, 1960, #3 USA);
• The Game of Love (Wayne Fontana  and The Mindbenders, 1965, #2 UK, #1 USA);
• I'm Alive (The Hollies, 1965, #1 UK);
• You're No Good (Dee Dee Warwick 1963, original version; The Swinging Blue Jeans 1964, #3 UK; Linda Ronstadt 1975, #1 USA; many other versions).
► See this list of Clint Ballard Jr compositions at Wikipedia.Roy Alfred (1916-2008) flourished as a lyricist from the 40s to the 60s. In 1949 he wrote words to an instrumental track, The Hucklebuck, that later became a hit for Chubby Checker (1960, #14 USA), and by Brendan Bowyer in Ireland (1965, #1) and Australia (1965, #1 Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide, #3 Sydney, #8 Perth). Alfred's better known works also include Rock and Roll Waltz by Kay Starr (1955, #1 USA, #1 UK, charted 1956), and Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away The Key) by Jay and the Americans (1964, #11 USA).
► See the lists at SecondHandSongs and MusicVF for an appreciation of Roy Alfred's output (via Wikipedia).