347 Bill Black’s Combo “Smokie Part 2” 1959

Black (1926-1965) “Played stand-up bass in C&W bands; neighbor of guitarist Scotty Moore; they played with Elvis Presley from the beginning…Moore and Black quit c.’57 because of low pay for arduous touring while Presley was getting rich…” His “instrumental work linked pre-rock country music with later bass-heavy Southern soul sounds of the Mar-Keys, then Booker T and the MGs.” He died of a brain tumor (The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 1989). 

Bill Black’s Combo “Smokie Part 2”