RFI: Ronnie Self (old school wild ass rockabilly dude)

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Was digging through my records and found a self-titled record by a guy named Ronnie Self....I'm sure this is some sort of compilation of 45 stuff...looks like a german bootleg...there's some misspellings "Flame of Love" is "Flam of Love"...

found this on the internet: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/RonnieSelf1.html

that was about it...I remember buying this cuz I read about this song "Waiting for My Gin to Hit Me" that was covered by this long forgotten early 90s NRBQ style band called The Skeletons...they turned out to kinda suck if I recall, but I bought this album as a result with is fucking AWESOME rowdy ass rock n' roll/rockabilly...dude has a real wild craazy voice, real unreconstructed hillbilly shit..anyone know anything about him?

― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 9 April 2007 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

the skeletons did not suck! but the record that had their cover of "waiting for my gin to hit me" on it is wasn't very good. everything they did before that was better, and the band from which they emerged, the morells, was even better. dammit.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 9 April 2007 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

actually i didn't like it when i bought it over 10 years ago, listened to it a few times and then sold it. so i maybe shouldn't judge them.

that was the CD i bought, so maybe it was a bad introduction.

but anyway, this ronnie self record is kicking my ass! so awesome.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 9 April 2007 21:25 (eighteen years ago)

"Bop-A-Lena" is classic to the nth degree, and my band covers "Rocky Road Blues." Them's the only two I know.

― Dan Peterson, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 16:18 (eighteen years ago)

"Ain't I'm a dog" is great, for more than the grammar alone

I came in this morning bout a half past three
That woman of mine said she was leaving me
I said "wait a minute honey let me help you pack"...

― pauls00, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 17:51 (eighteen years ago)

I don't know about Ronnie Self, but I'm listening to Dean Carter right now and it feels so good...

― Marco Damiani, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 17:59 (eighteen years ago)

Matt, check out Jack Starr and Ron Haydock & the Boppers!

― ian, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)

cool thx for the tips.

weird, there's really not a ton of info on ronnie self.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 19:56 (eighteen years ago)

nine months pass...

the skeletons did not suck! but the record that had their cover of "waiting for my gin to hit me" on it is wasn't very good.

i forget which album it was, but the one i heard did indeed suck.

however, i thought they sounded just fine when i saw them at an outdoor festival around '93 or so

― Rev. Hoodoo, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 06:10 (seventeen years ago)

there's really not a ton of info on ronnie self.

He was better known as a songwriter, penning "Sweet Nothins" and "I'm Sorry" for Brenda Lee. And according to a massive article that ran in Kicks magazine back in the eighties, stories of his extreme alcoholism were common back in the time. Reportedly, he had an unreleased album in the sixties - no rockabilly, but plenty of weird titles like "Roger's Gotta Go" (about Roger Miller), "I Got My Own Kick Goin'", and "Smokin' & Jokin'".

Ronnie Self died in 1981.

― Rev. Hoodoo, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 06:16 (seventeen years ago)

this guy is raw as hell, i listened to this again the other day. so great!

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 16:52 (seventeen years ago)

There used to be a bar in Chicago that me and my friends used to go to all the time back in '94-95...the CD jukebox consisted of mainly blues, jazz, older soul/R&B, and a Ronnie Self compilation...the sound of Self barking "Bop-A-Lena" cut through that crowded bar like a double-bladed axe! Whenever I'd throw some money in the juke, I'd ALWAYS select a Ronnie Self number...

― Rev. Hoodoo, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 18:50 (seventeen years ago)

Wasn't this a character in Martin Amis's Money?

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 18:52 (seventeen years ago)

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