Column: Music Memories, Narvel Felts

Most The Best Years readers who are country music fans instantly recognize the name Narvel Felts. Felts was born near Keiser, Ark., in 1938, raised on a family farm in Poe, Mo., attended Bernie High School and has called Malden home since 1962. Some of his most-recognizable country hits from the 1970s include “Driftaway,” “Somebody Hold Me (Until She Passes By),” “Lonely Teardrops” and “Reconsider Me.”

Felts’ music career has spanned six decades. He has toured the world and charted records from the 1950s through the 2000s.

It was my good fortune to tour with Felts in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. It enabled me to see the music business from the inside and travel most of the continental U.S. I consider Felts to be one of my most valuable mentors. The experience helped prepare me for many facets of my career.

This column will focus on those early years and some of the spontaneous meetings that led to his first recording sessions at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis, Tenn., and Mercury Records Studio in Chicago.

In 1956, Narvel Felts won a talent show at his high school in Bernie. That led to a gig with a local band called Jerry Mercer and The Roving Cowboys. In a short time, with rock ‘n’ roll music exploding on the air waves, bandleader Mercer changed the band’s name to Jerry Mercer and The Rhythm & Blues Boys, featuring Narvel Felts. In 1957, Jerry Mercer left the music business altogether. Felts inherited the band, and they became Narvel Felts and The Rockets. The Rockets featured Felts on vocals and guitar; JW Grubbs on bass; Leon Barnett on lead guitar; Jerry Tuttle on sax, steel guitar and piano; and Bob Taylor on drums.

In the summer of 1956, Felts, with the Jerry Mercer band, played a show at the Family Drive-In Theatre in Dexter, Mo., featuring Sun Records recording artists Roy Orbison and Eddie Bond. Orbison, who was enjoying the success of his first hit record “Ooby Dooby,” returned to Memphis and told Sun Records owner Sam Phillips he needed to give Felts a listen. Calvin Richardson, an airplane pilot in Malden, Mo., who owned a record shop in Dexter, became Felts’ manager.

Richardson, an experienced businessman, communicated with Orbison and arranged a meeting for Felts at Sun Records in September 1956. Felts and fellow band member Leon Barnett traveled to Memphis, where they auditioned for Jack Clement, Sun’s recording engineer. Clement was impressed by Felts’ audition. He said, “Go home and work up 10 original songs with your band and come back.”

Narvel Felts and The Rockets returned Jan. 23, 1957, and recorded five tunes. A second session took place April 5, when they recorded an additional five tunes.

During the sessions, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Harold Jenkins wandered in and out of the control room — in a few months, Jenkins would change his name to Conway Twitty. Although Sam Phillips was often in and out of the control room, Clement served as producer. At the conclusion of the 10-song sessions, Clement indicated it may be a year before anything was released, due to the backlog of artists in front of him.

In between the January and April recording dates in Memphis, Felts and the Rockets were booked for a week’s stay at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis — theaters across the U.S. booked rock ‘n’ roll acts to perform shows between teen movies as an extra draw. The movie featured on this particular gig was “Rock, Pretty Baby.” During the Fox engagement, Felts was approached by Fred Barney. Barney was a St. Louis-area promoter who had connections with the Mercury record label in Chicago. He offered to arrange a meeting with the heads at Mercury.

The Chicago label was a powerhouse in early rock ‘n’ roll. The Mercury roster featured The Diamonds, The Platters, Patty Page and George Jones. Initially, Felts was hesitant to pursue the Mercury possibility, since he had done the Memphis session at Sun, but since no legal agreement had been signed, he decided to follow through.

On May 6, 1957, Narvel and The Rockets traveled to Chicago and showed up unannounced at Mercury headquarters. After some initial “huffing and puffing” from the office staff, they were led to Studio A of Universal Recording Studios by Mercury producer Art Talmadge, where they cut 12 sides — most of which they had already recorded in Memphis. In warp speed time by today’s standards, two of the session’s cuts were released June 10, 1957. “Kiss a Me, Baby” was the A side, with “Foolish Thoughts” as the flip side. Although it wasn’t a national hit, it charted regionally throughout the U.S., which enabled Narvel and The Rockets to tour outside of their Southeast Missouri, Northeast Arkansas and Southern Illinois base.

A particularly memorable gig was an eight-week stay at a club in Toronto, Canada. Duane Eddy was the featured act next door, and the Four Seasons were on the other side. Mercury released five more singles through 1959.

Eventually, Felts ran into Sam Phillips after the Mercury releases. Phillips made a point to say he thought the Mercury records “did not sound as good” as the sides cut in the Sun Studio, but he understood Felts’ desire to get a record released.

After decades passed, the original Sun sessions were released on numerous European Rockabilly compilation albums. After years of touring the globe as a country artist, Felts began to get invitations from European concert promoters to tour Europe as an original Rockabilly pioneer. Rockabilly tours took him to the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Italy, France and Germany. He had been given a new lease on his career, at a time when most country radio playlists had become finicky.

Much-admired by the Nashville, Tenn., music community, Felts is regarded as one of the nicest and hardest-working guys in the business. His phenomenal vocal range and falsetto established him as a “singer’s singer.”

After 60 years in music, Felts is enjoying retirement with his wife of 60 years, Loretta. They remain in Malden, Mo., on Narvel Felts Boulevard.

Steve Schaffner is the director of the Music Academy at Southeast Missouri State University. Previously, he was the orchestra director for Cape Girardeau Public Schools and Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School in Augusta, Ga. He has performed and/or directed in 48 states and 11 countries.