John Lewis Carrell, 23 October 1937, Cleburne, Texas, USA, d. 18 February 1995, Godley, Texas, USA. Carroll was brought up on a farm near Fort Worth, Texas, though farming held no attraction for him. By the age of 10 he was singing country music and Carroll was an early performer of rockabilly. He flew to Nashville in 1956 and recorded ‘Crazy Crazy Lovin’’, ‘Tryin’ To Get To You’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Ruby’, ‘Hot Rock’, ‘Corrine Corrina’ and ‘Wild Wild Women’ at Owen Bradley’s studio. They are among the best rockabilly recordings of the period. His records were released on Decca Records and the label misspelt his name as ‘Carroll’. He toured on rock ‘n’ roll package shows and appeared in the film Rock, Baby, Rock It! In August 1957 he worked with Elvis Presley’s musicians, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, and they recorded ‘That’s The Way I Love’, which was issued on Phillips International, a sister label of Sun Records. He often worked with Gene Vincent and wrote ‘Maybe’, which Vincent recorded.
Chart success eluded Carroll and he moved into club management in the 60s, working in Dallas for Jack Ruby, the man who shot John Kennedy’s assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Carroll intervened when some rowdy customers were molesting waitresses and one of them shot him in the stomach. He spent several weeks in hospital and this was to lead to the liver failure that eventually killed him. In 1974 Carroll recorded a tribute to Vincent, ‘Black Leather Rebel’. In 1977 he was encouraged to return to performing by model Judy Lindsey and they worked as the Johnny And Jack Band. They had a residency at the Hilton Hotel in Forth Worth and recorded several albums. Carroll died in 1995 and at his funeral Lindsey sang ‘Just A Closer Walk With Thee’ and ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, but the minister refused to make any reference to his career as a rock ‘n’ roll singer. It was still the music of the devil.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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John Lewis Carrell, 23 October 1937, Cleburne, Texas, USA, d. 18 February 1995, Godley, Texas, USA. Carroll was brought up on a farm near Fort Worth, Texas, though farming held no attraction for him. By the age of 10 he was singing country music and Carroll was an early performer of rockabilly. He flew to Nashville in 1956 and recorded ‘Crazy Crazy Lovin’’, ‘Tryin’ To Get To You’, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Ruby’, ‘Hot Rock’, ‘Corrine Corrina’ and ‘Wild Wild Women’ at Owen Bradley’s studio. They are among the best rockabilly recordings of the period. His records were released on Decca Records and the label misspelt his name as ‘Carroll’. He toured on rock ‘n’ roll package shows and appeared in the film Rock, Baby, Rock It! In August 1957 he worked with Elvis Presley’s musicians, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, and they recorded ‘That’s The Way I Love’, which was issued on Phillips International, a sister label of Sun Records. He often worked with Gene Vincent and wrote ‘Maybe’, which Vincent recorded.