(Travis Pritchett)
Australia
#14 Sydney #6 Melbourne #17 Brisbane #14 Perth
Single on HMV, Sydney. YouTube
Ted & Ray were probably singer and actor Ted Hamilton (b.1937) and his contemporary at HMV, Ray Melton (c.1939-1964).
Both singers were releasing solo singles on HMV around the time of the Ted & Ray single. Ted and Ray each had an HMV single reviewed on the same page of the Women’s Weekly in December 1959. That’s circumstantial, but I’ve also heard some convincing anecdotal evidence. (Feel free to prove me wrong, though.)
Ray Melton later recorded on the Teen label: see The Key (1960, #28 Sydney) and its flipside Chain Gang.
Further reading: 1. Australian Women’s Weekly, 16 December 1959 [Trove]. 2. Ted Hamilton’s long and varied career outlined at Wikipedia.
Thanks to Dave Overett and Tony Watson.
(Travis Pritchett)
USA
Original version
#8 USA
Single on Sandy, a label in Mobile, Alabama. Recording acquired and distributed by Dot, retaining the Sandy label.
Travis Pritchett (1939-2010) and Bob Weaver (b.1939) were from the small town of Jackson, Alabama. Tell Him No was their only hit, although they recorded a few more singles before breaking up.
References, further reading: 1. Recording details, including audio and label shots, at Rockin’ Country Style. 2. Travis & Bob history (republished from another source) at Black Cat Rockabilly. 3. Alabama Music Office has similar content to Black Cat but adds Travis Pritchett’s 2010 obituary and some images.
From SEASON’S TOP SCRAMBLE: Dot Snares Sandy ‘Tell Him No’ Master With Capping 12G bid: Billboard, March 16, 1959 [Full story: Google Books]:
“Tell Him No” started its wild career when it was cut on Sandy with Travis and Bob by Paul Duboise, down in Mobile, Ala. Duboise, owner of the label, made {Steve] Brody his national sales rep for the label, and Brody started plugging the record. Other companies heard about the record and rushed to cover. Woody Henderling cut it on Bullseye with Dean and Marc, and Lieber and Stoller cut it for Hill and Range’s Big Top label with the Jackson Brothers.The Bullseye label, in which publisher Gene Goodman has an interest, got their {Dean & Marc] record out very quickly and handed the Sandy [Travis & Bob] record potent competition. Big Top, for a reason not yet known, decided not to issue their [Jackson Brothers] record and sold it to Atlantic who issued it, belatedly, on Atco. Another record was cut by Margie Rayburn on Liberty but recalled.
(Travis Pritchett)
USA
Live performance on TV’s Town Hall Party by country singer and TV personality Billy Mize (1929-2017) with Cliff Crofford (1929-2009), best known as a songwriter who wrote Old Rivers (Walter Brennan 1962, #5 USA) , co-wrote Chip Chip (Gene McDaniels 1962, #10), and contributed to a number of soundtracks.
(Travis Pritchett)
USA
Later version
Single on Money (styled $MoNeY$), Columbus GA.
The label was established in 1956 as Rambler by prolific and enduring rockabilly singer-songwriter and fiddler Curley Money (1925-2003)
Money produced this single and is heard on guitar: see his sessionography at Prague Frank’s country music site.
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Jim Carlisle is harder to pin down. As “Gentleman Jim” James Carlisle he recorded his own composition Joy Juice (1964), the A-side of a single on Rambler. Curley Money contributes vocals and guitar, and the B-side is in his name.
(Searches inevitably lead to the Irish-born rockabilly artist of the same name, but surely that isn’t him. Even the style of the artwork fits, but it’s a retro job. And if President Jim Carlisle rings a bell, you’re thinking of Guarding Tess.)
Further reading: Curley Money biography by Bruce Eder at AllMusic.
(Travis Pritchett)
USA
Single on Bullseye, a small New York label. Released around the same time as the version by Travis & Bob (both were reviewed in Billboard on 9 March 1959).
Dean and Mark Mathis were from Hahira, Georgia. They later formed The Newbeats with falsetto lead Larry Henley and had a number of charting singles, beginning with Bread And Butter (1964, #2 USA).
References, further reading: 1. Recording details, including label shots and audio, at Rockin’ Country Style. 2. Newbeats article at Wikipedia. 3. Billboard, 9 March 1959 [Google books].
Radio charts: This version had some airplay in the US, going by these radio station charts at ARSA.
(Travis Pritchett)
USA
Single on Atco, reviewed in Billboard 23 March 1959, by brothers Ralph and Tom
from Milford, Connecticut.
A Leiber & Stoller production, originally for Big Top label (see Billboard story, below).
References: 1. Ralph Jackson obituary from New Haven Register, 2013. 2. Recording details, including audio and label shots, at Rockin’ Country Style. 3. Review, Billboard, 23 March 1959, p.51. 4. Ad, same Billboard edition, p.53.
Radio: This had some airplay on WJJD Chicago. See the charts from March-May 1959 at ARSA.
(Travis Pritchett)
UK
Later version
Track on Rock On, debut album by British pop star and actor (b.1947).
(Travis Pritchett)
Australia
Single on W&G, Melbourne, "arranged & directed" by Bruce Clarke.
The Unichords released a couple of singles on W&G around this time, and were credited on records by Frankie Davidson, Heather Horwood and Denis Gibbons.
References: 1. The First Wave discography. 2. Global Dog’s discographies for W&G Records: OZ – 000 series (1955-1960) and OZ – 1000 series (1960-1964).
(Travis Pritchett)
USA
Single on Liberty #55183 by California-born singer (1924-2000) who charted in 1957 with I’m Available (#8 USA). She had previously been The Sunnysiders’ vocalist (Hey! Mr. Banjo, 1955, #12 USA).
Billboard initially reported that Tell Her No had been “recalled” by Liberty, 16 March 1959. By the 13 April edition it was being listed as an available version, but it remains missing from some discographies. It appears on Global Dog’s Liberty 55000 series discography.
References: 1. Margie Rayburn biography republished from Shakin’ All Over Yahoo! Group. 2. Billboard, 16 March 1959 (excerpt below under Travis & Bob) and 13 April 1959.
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