A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs - PLEDGE WEEK: “Muleskinner Blues” by the Fendermen

Episode Date: June 18, 2021

This is a bonus episode, part of Pledge Week 2021. Patreon backers get one of these with every episode of the main podcast. If you want to get those, and to support the podcast, please visit patreon.com/andrewhickey to sign up for a dollar a month or more. Click below for the transcript. (more…)

This is a bonus episode, part of Pledge Week 2021. Patreon backers get one of these with every episode of the main podcast. If you want to get those, and to support the podcast, please visit patreon.com slash Andrew Hickey, that's A-N-D-R-E-W-H-I-C-E-Y, to sign up for a dollar a month or more. Today we're going to look at one of the great one-hit wonders of all time, a duo who made one fascinating single, made the top five with it,

and then never managed to repeat their success. Today, we're looking at Mule Skinner Blues by the Fender Men. The Fender Men were originally from Wisconsin, though both of them later moved to Minnesota, and were both born on the same date. November the 26th, 1937. Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey started out in their own bands, but after meeting up at university, decided to perform together without any other musicians,

both playing Fender guitars through the same amp, with Humphrey singing and Sundquist playing lead guitar. They both liked Jimmy Rogers, and in particular they enjoyed his song Mule Skinner Blues, also known as Blue Yodel Number 8. They recorded their own version of the song and took it to a tiny label called Cooca Records who put out a pressing of 300 copies. That started to get some airplay

and people started wanting to buy the record, but Kuka Records weren't able to get any more copies pressed up for several weeks. So another label stepped in. Soma Records at first offered to lease the recording from Kuka, but when the two labels were unable to come to an agreement, Soma got the Fender Man in to re-record their song, this time at a professional studio, the same one that would later be used by the Trashmen to record Surfing Bird.

Soma released that with a different B-side from the one Kuka had used, an instrumental called Torture, so that Soma could collect the publishing money. Astonishingly, Mule Skinner Blues, a cover of an old country song with falsetto leaps and only guitars for backing, made number five on the pop charts, aided by an appearance on American bandstand. They got a full backing band together and started touring nationally.

But then Kuka soon, Soma. Eventually, the two labels reached an out-of-court settlement, but the vast majority of the money from the hit ended up going to Kuka rather than Soma. The next single featured the full band, rather than just the two guitarists, and was a cover version of Huey Piano Smith's, Don't You Just Know It? That didn't make the Hot 100, and after one more single, and an album featuring all their recordings, the band broke up. Sundquist went back to Cooca Records,

whereas Jimmy's son and the Radiance, he put out a version of Cocaine Blues, an old Western swing song that had recently been revived by Johnny Cash as transfusion blues. Early one morning while making the rounds took a transfusion and I shot my woman down Went right home and I went to bed

I stuck at love in 44 beneath my head Got up next morning and I crept Took a transfusion and away a run Made a good run but a run too slow They overtook me down in war Sundquist's version restored the original lyrics But was otherwise modelled on Cash's version The radiance

The radiance also back to singer Called Dick Hearns On another record in the style of Mealskinner Blues A serfed up version of the old Hank Snow Country song And moving on Despite that being down the track Despite that being a surprisingly good record It was out of step with musical trends by

And was unsuccessful The Radiance then renamed themselves the Mule Skinners and released a novelty record in the Monster Mash style called The Wolfman. I just called to tell you that the serum you prepared for me doesn't seem to be working. Only during the three-quarter moon last night did I begin to doubt it. Doctor, I wanted to come over and see you personally tonight, but since there is a full moon out, I thought it better to chain myself to the bedpost instead.

Phil Humphrey, meanwhile, remained on Soma Records, as Phil Humphrey and The Fender Men, and released another version of Don't You Just Know It, coupled with his own novelty record, Popeye. Both men eventually ended up running their own versions of the Fender Men, touring into the 2000s. Sunquist's version put out a handful of recordings, and he also guessed it with the Minnesotan Rockabilly Revival Byron,

the Vibrochamps on their remake of a Fendomen B-side beach party in 2000. Sundquist also had a side career making gospel music in a duo with his wife Shari, but I've been unable to find any recordings of them, though apparently they wrote over a hundred Christian songs together. The Fenderman did reunite, briefly, in 2005, for two shows backed by the Vibro Champs, and had something of a cult following after the cramps recorded their own version of Mule Skinner Blues based on the Fender Man's version.

They never had another hit and left behind a tiny number of recordings, but the Fender Men are now regarded as one of the most important precursors to the surf and garage rock sounds of the 60s and their few recordings are regularly repackaged. Sundquist died in 2013 and Humphrey in 2016.

Rock and roll Yeah Rock and roll And roll and rock away