NPR: The Untold Story Of Singer Bobby Charles

 

When he was around 13, Robert Charles Guidry began singing with a band around his hometown of Abbeville, La., deep in the Cajun swamps. The group played Cajun and country music and, after he passed through town and played a show, Fats Domino's music. It was a life-changing experience for the young man, and he found himself with a new ambition: to write a song for Fats.

One night as he left a gig, Charles said to his friends, "See ya later, alligator," and one of them yelled back, "In a while, crocodile." Charles stopped in his tracks. "What did you say?" he asked. The friend repeated it. At that moment, as would happen countless times in the future, the song "See You Later, Alligator" came to him, fully formed.

Fats didn't want the song, and told the young man he didn't want to sing about alligators. Somehow, though, the kid wound up singing the song over the phone to Leonard Chess, whose Chess Records in Chicago was the hottest blues label in town. Chess didn't hesitate: He sent the kid a ticket, and when Charles showed up at his office, Chess said something I can't say on the air. The sentence ended with the word "white" and a question mark, though.

Chess recorded him, though, and put the song out, changing Guidry's name to Bobby Charles; almost immediately, Bill Haley grabbed it for himself. Haley's record was one of the best sellers of 1956, and both Chess and Charles made some decent money from it. They tried follow-ups called "Watch It, Sprocket," which wasn't something people actually said, and "Take It Easy, Greasy," which was, but the record was a little too, well, greasy to be too popular. Charles recorded for Chess until 1958, but his records only sold locally. Along the way, though, he seems to have pioneered a genre called swamp pop.
He also got to realize a dream. One evening, Fats Domino played Abbeville, and Fats invited Charles to a show in New Orleans. The young singer said he had no way to get there. "Well," the fat man said, "you'd better start walking." And sure enough, a song popped into Charles' head: "Walking To New Orleans."

Bobby Charles signed with Imperial, Fats' label, but again, nothing hit. He admitted freely that he was part of the problem. He didn't enjoy touring, and he had a jealous wife who didn't like him leaving town. He continued writing and selling songs, and recorded for some local Louisiana labels. He and his wife parted company, and then, in 1971, he got busted for pot in Nashville. Rather than risk jail, he disappeared; he wound up in upstate New York, and saw the name Woodstock on a map. He'd never even heard of the famous festival, but the name appealed to him.

Arriving in town, he asked a real-estate agent about a place to rent and wound up in a house shared with two other musicians. They introduced him around, and Albert Grossman, who'd managed Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and many others, got interested. The next thing he knew, Charles was back in the studio with members of The Band, Dr. John and lots of other Woodstock musicians. The resulting album has some truly memorable moments.

It didn't sell, though. Charles focused on songwriting, but he wasn't comfortable in Woodstock, and in the end he went back to Abbeville, where he disappeared from public view for an entire decade. He had a good income from his songs, but a run of bad luck: His house burned down, and then his next house blew away in a hurricane. He kept writing songs, and he entertained visitors who came to Abbeville to meet him — people like Bob Dylan and Neil Young and Willie Nelson. His record label, Rice 'N' Gravy, put out several homemade albums, which mixed his old and new songs.
At 70, Bobby Charles was diagnosed with cancer, and he died in January 2010, unknown to most of the world he'd enriched with his songs.

Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame to honor Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew

Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland will devote its 15th annual American Music Masters series to Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew and New Orleans’ role in the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.

Jennifer Zdon

“Walking to New Orleans: The Music of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew,” scheduled for Nov. 8-13, consists of evening lectures, interviews and film screenings at the museum; a day-long conference at Case Western Reserve University; and a culminating tribute concert at Cleveland’s Palace Theater in Playhouse Square. Confirmed performers include Bartholomew, Lloyd Price, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Robert Parker and the Rebirth Brass Band.

The American Music Masters program, the Hall of Fame’s signature series, spotlights key figures in the evolution of popular music whose stories and contributions warrant wider recognition. Past honorees include Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, Hank Williams, Louis Jordan, Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Jerry Lee Lewis, Les Paul and Janis Joplin.

“We’ve told a lot of great stories in this program, but we haven’t yet told the New Orleans story,” said Dr. Lauren Onkey, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s vice president of education and public programs. “Because it’s the 15th anniversary of the museum, it seemed like a great time. We want to do it justice.”

Only twice before has the series focused on a living musician, and two individuals have never been honored in the same year. With Domino and Bartholomew, the series will examine one of the most successful partnerships in rock history.

“When you think about choosing people for this event, the list narrows pretty quickly, because you’re looking for artists who made a huge impact,” Onkey said. Domino and Bartholomew “have been on our radar for a long time. Some people would say they created rock ‘n’ roll. We can all agree that they are some of the key people in the creation of the music.

“Their collaboration brought together different traditions and sounds in an exciting way. In terms of the work they did together, it’s a wonderful story that not enough people know.”

In 1949, Bartholomew was a respected trumpeter and bandleader working as a talent scout for Imperial Records. He “discovered” Domino performing in a neighborhood bar and became his producer and co-writer.

Their first collaboration, “The Fat Man,” is widely considered the first true rock ‘n’ roll record. Working at Cosimo Matassa’s studios in and around the French Quarter, Domino and Bartholomew crafted a remarkable string of hits in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Reportedly, only Elvis Presley outsold Domino in the 1950s.

In 1986, Domino stood alongside Elvis Presley, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers and Little Richard in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s inaugural inductee class. Bartholomew was inducted in 1991 in the non-performer category.

“It’s a great feeling and honor to be recognized at this point in my life,” Bartholomew said. “At almost 90, I look back at my career and I think about the people before us and the people that followed in our footsteps. I think we had a helluva ride and I thank the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for recognizing our catalog and our place in music history.”

Bartholomew has confirmed his attendance, and organizers hope Domino will attend as well. “We’ve had great response and cooperation from Dave and his family and Fats and his family,” Onkey said.

In addition to the announced New Orleans performers, the tribute concert is likely to include marquee special guests. Past performers at American Music Masters concerts have included Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Aretha Franklin with Solomon Burke and Elvis Costello. Domino is not lacking in famous fans, as evidenced by the who’s who of stars on “Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino,” a 2007 benefit CD produced by the Tipitina’s Foundation.

The Hall of Fame museum’s exhibits on the 1950s and rhythm & blues contain artifacts related to New Orleans. In conjunction with the American Music Masters program, some objects – a Bartholomew trumpet, handwritten musical scores to “Blueberry Hill” and “Walking to New Orleans,” a Domino shirt – will be grouped together in a small, dedicated exhibit.

All American Music Masters panels and interviews are archived at the museum. As part of its educational outreach program, the museum plans to create a course for high school students about Domino, Bartholomew and the early history of rock ‘n’ roll in New Orleans.

The tribute concert “is always a killer show,” Onkey said, “but we really see it as key to our education mission.”

R.I.P. Bobby Charles, writer of "Walking to New Orleans"

(c/o Offbeat/Music's Over)

Bobby Charles (Born Robert Guidry)
February 21, 1938 – January 14, 2010

Songwriter Bobby Charles passed away this morning; the cause has yet to be determined. The writer of “Walking to New Orleans” and “See You Later Alligator” had struggled with ill-health for years, including back problems and a bout with cancer that was in remission. Those problems led him to miss a scheduled appearance at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2004 and Jazz Fest in 2007. Evidently he fell recently and was bedridden as a result. It was after that fall that he died.

He also wrote “(I Don’t Know Why I Love You) But I Do” which was recorded by Clarance “Gatemouth” Brown and received prominent placement in the Forrest Gump.

Charles had completed work on a new album, which is due out next month.

More when we know more.

For more on Charles, here’s Scott Jordan’s 1998 feature story on Charles, Geoffrey Himes’ guide to Charles’ writing, an interview Alex Rawls did with him in 2007, and a feature he wrote for Blurt after the release of 2008’s Homemade Songs. Here’s a review of Homemade Songs.