Sammy Creason
Encyclopedia
Sammy Creason was an American session drummer who played with Tony Joe White
, Kris Kristofferson
and Bob Dylan
among others.
Growing up in Jonesboro, Arkansas
he learned to play in a blooming music scene that included Joe Lee
, Larry Donn, Billy Lee Riley
, Bob Tucker, Sonny Burgess
and Carl Perkins
. He first started playing with Ray Coble and the JazzKatz in 1958, standing in for his brother Gary, who had broken his foot.
Creason played with Sonny Burgess and Larry Donn in early 1961, but being in the high school band, he was required to play at all school functions, which occasionally interfered with Burgess' schedule.
After finishing high school, Creason moved to Memphis and worked for Ray Brown's booking agency, where he bagan working with The Spyders, who became The Tarantulas and had a chart record with an instrumental hit "Tarantula".
After illness kept Bill Black
from appearing with The Bill Black Combo (a brain tumor eventually killed him in October 1965), The Tarantulas became The Bill Black Combo with the addition of Reggie Young
on guitar.
In 1963 Bob Tucker joined the Bill Black Combo as a road manager and guitar/bass player. Bill Black was already ill and unable to travel as a result of a brain tumor that would cause his death in 1965. The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1963 when they became the opening act for The Beatles
on their historical 13-city tour of America after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Bill Black himself was not well enough to make the tour.
In 1968 and 1969 Creason recorded two albums with Tony Joe White; Tony Joe
and Continued
which included White's hit "Rainy Night in Georgia
".
He also appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, American television's popular late-night talk show. He was nominated at least twice in the drummer category of Playboy magazine's Jazz and Pop Poll in the late 60s and early 70s.
In the 1970s, Creason, together with Mike Utley
, Charlie Freeman
and Tommy McClure formed the Dixie Flyers and moved to Miami to work as a studio band for Atlantic Records
, where they recorded with artists such as Aretha Franklin
and Wilson Pickett
. Creason also worked with B. J. Thomas
, Brook Benton
, Jimmy Buffett
, Sam the Sham
, Dr. John
, Sam & Dave
, Bob Dylan
, Ronnie Hawkins
, Charlie Rich
, Dottie West
, Junior Parker
and Ted Nugent
.
Between 1971 and 1975 Creason and the Flyers formed a relationship with Rita Coolidge
appearing on her albums Nice Feelin'
, The Lady's Not for Sale, Full Moon
(with Kris Kristofferson
, Fall into Spring
, Breakaway
(with Kris Kristofferson) and It's Only Love
Through Coolidge's marriage to Kris Kristofferson, Creason played on Kristofferson's Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame
, Spooky Lady's Sideshow
, Live at the Philharmonic
, To the Bone, Shake Hands with the Devil
, Easter Island
, and Surreal Thing
, and the soundtrack album to A Star Is Born
.
In January 1973 Cleason played in the 1st Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid session held in CBS Discos Studios, Mexico City.
Through his association with Kristofferson, Cleason appeared in small parts in the movies Convoy (1978) and A Star Is Born
(1976)
, Aretha Franklin
, T. Gozney Thornton, Tony Joe White
, Kris Kristofferson
, Carmen McRae
, The Memphis Horns
, Brook Benton
, Barbra Streisand
, Delbert McClinton
, Rita Coolidge
, Dan Penn
, Esther Phillips
, Delaney & Bonnie, Geoff Muldaur
, Billy Swan
, Tom Pacheco
, Hoyt Axton
, Gene Clark
, Jimmy Buffett
, Bob Neuwirth
, Duane Allman
, Donnie Fritts
, Jim Dickinson
, Ronnie Hawkins
, Petula Clark
, Jerry Jaye
, Jerry Jeff Walker
, Lulu
.
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie"; "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970; and "Steamy Windows", a hit for Tina Turner in 1989...
, Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
among others.
Growing up in Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city in and one of the two county seats of Craighead County, Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 US Census, the population of the city was 67,263. A college town, Jonesboro is the largest city in northeastern Arkansas and the fifth most populous city in the state...
he learned to play in a blooming music scene that included Joe Lee
Joe Lee
John Joseph Lee is an Irish historian and former senator. He is currently Professor of History and Glucksman Professor for Irish Studies and Director of Glucksman Ireland House, at New York University....
, Larry Donn, Billy Lee Riley
Billy Lee Riley
Billy Lee Riley was an American rockabilly musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. His most memorable recordings included "Rock With Me Baby," and "Red Hot".-Biography:...
, Bob Tucker, Sonny Burgess
Sonny Burgess
Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess is an American rockabilly guitarist and singer....
and Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
. He first started playing with Ray Coble and the JazzKatz in 1958, standing in for his brother Gary, who had broken his foot.
Creason played with Sonny Burgess and Larry Donn in early 1961, but being in the high school band, he was required to play at all school functions, which occasionally interfered with Burgess' schedule.
After finishing high school, Creason moved to Memphis and worked for Ray Brown's booking agency, where he bagan working with The Spyders, who became The Tarantulas and had a chart record with an instrumental hit "Tarantula".
After illness kept Bill Black
Bill Black
William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an American musician who is noted as one of the pioneers of rockabilly music. Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's early trio and the leader of Bill Black's Combo....
from appearing with The Bill Black Combo (a brain tumor eventually killed him in October 1965), The Tarantulas became The Bill Black Combo with the addition of Reggie Young
Reggie Young
Reggie Young was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studios Band , and is a leading session musician. He played on various recordings with artists such as Elvis Presley, B.J. Thomas, John Prine, Dusty Springfield, J.J...
on guitar.
In 1963 Bob Tucker joined the Bill Black Combo as a road manager and guitar/bass player. Bill Black was already ill and unable to travel as a result of a brain tumor that would cause his death in 1965. The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1963 when they became the opening act for The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
on their historical 13-city tour of America after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Bill Black himself was not well enough to make the tour.
In 1968 and 1969 Creason recorded two albums with Tony Joe White; Tony Joe
Tony Joe
Tony Joe was the third studio album released by Tony Joe White. It was released on Monument Records and contained the singles "High Sherrif of Calhoun Parrish" and "Save Your Sugar For Me" It was recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Nashville and Lyn-Lou Studios, Memphis in 1970. It was produced by...
and Continued
Continued
Continued was the second album released by Tony Joe White. It was released on Monument Records and contained the single Roosevelt and Ira Lee It was recorded at Monument Studios, Nashville and Lyn-Lou Studios, Memphis in 1969...
which included White's hit "Rainy Night in Georgia
Rainy Night in Georgia
"Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1962 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970.In 1969, after several years without a major hit, Benton had signed to a new record label, Cotillion Records...
".
He also appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, American television's popular late-night talk show. He was nominated at least twice in the drummer category of Playboy magazine's Jazz and Pop Poll in the late 60s and early 70s.
In the 1970s, Creason, together with Mike Utley
Mike Utley
Michael Utley is a former American football player. He is known for being paralyzed during an NFL game.-NFL career:...
, Charlie Freeman
Charlie Freeman
Charles Redfearn "Charlie" Freeman was an English professional football player. His clubs included Chelsea and Gillingham.-References:...
and Tommy McClure formed the Dixie Flyers and moved to Miami to work as a studio band for Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, where they recorded with artists such as Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
and Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
. Creason also worked with B. J. Thomas
B. J. Thomas
Billy Joe "B. J." Thomas is an American popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s—appearing on the pop, adult contemporary, country and Hot 100 charts.-Career:...
, Brook Benton
Brook Benton
Brook Benton was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.He made a comeback in 1970...
, Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
, Sam the Sham
Sam the Sham
Sam the Sham is the stage name of the American rock and roll singer Domingo “Sam” Samudio . Sam the Sham was known for his camp robe and turban and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains...
, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, Sam & Dave
Sam & Dave
Sam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981. The tenor voice was Samuel David Moore , and the baritone/tenor voice was Dave Prater .Sam & Dave are members of...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
, Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...
, Dottie West
Dottie West
Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...
, Junior Parker
Junior Parker
Junior Parker was an American Memphis blues singer and musician. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth"...
and Ted Nugent
Ted Nugent
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent is an American guitarist, musician, singer, author, reserve police officer, and activist. From Detroit, Michigan, he originally gained fame as the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, before embarking on a lengthy solo career...
.
Between 1971 and 1975 Creason and the Flyers formed a relationship with Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:...
appearing on her albums Nice Feelin'
Nice Feelin'
Nice Feelin’ is the second album by Rita Coolidge. The backing band was The Dixie Flyers.-Side one:#"Family Full Of Soul" — 2:56#"You Touched Me In The Morning" — 3:20#"If You Were Mine" — 3:37...
, The Lady's Not for Sale, Full Moon
Full Moon
Full moon is a lunar phase.Full Moon may also refer to:- Literature :* Full Moon , a novel by P. G. Wodehouse* Full Moon o Sagashite or Full Moon, a manga* Full Moon Press, an American small-press publisher...
(with Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
, Fall into Spring
Fall Into Spring
Fall Into Spring is a 1974 album by Rita Coolidge and was released on the A&M Records label.-Side one:#"Love Has No Pride" — 3:50#"That's What Friends Are For" — 4:55#"Cowboys and Indians" — 3:15...
, Breakaway
Breakaway (Kris Kristofferson album)
Breakaway is the second duet album by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, released in 1974 on Monument Records. It is one of three duet albums by the couple. Unlike Kristofferson solo albums, it features several covers...
(with Kris Kristofferson) and It's Only Love
It's Only Love (Rita Coolidge album)
It's Only Love is a 1975 album by Rita Coolidge and was released on the A&M Records label.-Side one:#"Born To Love Me" — 3:38#"I Wanted It All" — 3:05...
Through Coolidge's marriage to Kris Kristofferson, Creason played on Kristofferson's Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame
Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame
Who's to Bless and Who's to Blame is the sixth solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1975 on Monument Records. Its title track is quoted in the Johnny Cash song The Man Comes Around from the 2002 album of the same name. The song "Stranger" was covered as a duet by Johnny Duncan and Janie...
, Spooky Lady's Sideshow
Spooky Lady's Sideshow
Spooky Lady's Sideshow is the fifth solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1974 on Monument Records. It was preceded and followed by duet albums with his wife, Rita Coolidge. It was recorded shortly after Kristofferson's appearance in the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. The album...
, Live at the Philharmonic
Live at the Philharmonic
Live at the Philharmonic is a live album by Kris Kristofferson, released on Monument Records in 1992 . Performed at Philharmonic Hall in New York City on December 2, 1972, the concert followed the release of Kristofferson's successful Jesus Was a Capricorn...
, To the Bone, Shake Hands with the Devil
Shake Hands with the Devil (album)
Shake Hands with the Devil is the ninth solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1979 on Monument Records. Several of the songs on the album were written by Kristofferson years before its release.-Track listing:...
, Easter Island
Easter Island (album)
Easter Island is the eighth solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1978 on Monument Records.-Track listing:All songs by Kris Kristofferson except as noted#"Risky Bizness" – 2:35...
, and Surreal Thing
Surreal Thing
Surreal Thing is the seventh solo album by Kris Kristofferson, released in 1976 on Monument Records. "Killing Time" and "The Golden Idol" are re-recordings of songs that were originally released as a single in 1967.-Track listing:...
, and the soundtrack album to A Star Is Born
A Star Is Born (1976 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1976 American rock music musical film telling the story of a young woman, played by Barbra Streisand who enters show business, and meets and falls in love with an established male star, played by Kris Kristofferson, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline...
.
In January 1973 Cleason played in the 1st Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid session held in CBS Discos Studios, Mexico City.
Through his association with Kristofferson, Cleason appeared in small parts in the movies Convoy (1978) and A Star Is Born
A Star Is Born (1976 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1976 American rock music musical film telling the story of a young woman, played by Barbra Streisand who enters show business, and meets and falls in love with an established male star, played by Kris Kristofferson, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline...
(1976)
Artists played with
Willie NelsonWillie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
, T. Gozney Thornton, Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie"; "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970; and "Steamy Windows", a hit for Tina Turner in 1989...
, Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
, Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
, The Memphis Horns
The Memphis Horns
The Memphis Horns are an American horn section made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. They have been called "arguably the greatest soul horn section ever." Originally a sextet, the Memphis Horns gradually slimmed down to a duo, Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor...
, Brook Benton
Brook Benton
Brook Benton was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.He made a comeback in 1970...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....
, Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:...
, Dan Penn
Dan Penn
Dan Penn is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby"...
, Esther Phillips
Esther Phillips
Esther Phillips was an American singer. Phillips was known for her R&B vocals, but she was a versatile singer, also performing pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music.-Early life:...
, Delaney & Bonnie, Geoff Muldaur
Geoff Muldaur
Geoff Muldaur is an American founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts; a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days; and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter....
, Billy Swan
Billy Swan
Billy Lance Swan is an American songwriter and singer, best known for his 1974 single, "I Can Help".-Life:Swan was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. As a child, he learned drums, piano and guitar, and began writing songs...
, Tom Pacheco
Tom Pacheco
Tom Pacheco is an American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist.- Discography :* Albums**1965 Turn Away From The Storm**1971 Pacheco & Alexander**1976 Swallowed Up In The Great American Heartland**1976 The Outsider...
, Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well...
, Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
, Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. A mainstay of the early 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk scene, he subsequently became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan alongside whom he appears in D.A...
, Duane Allman
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...
, Donnie Fritts
Donnie Fritts
Donnie Fritts is an American session musician and songwriter. A recording artist in his own right, he has been Kris Kristofferson's keyboard player for over twenty years...
, Jim Dickinson
Jim Dickinson
James Luther "Jim" Dickinson was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the Memphis based band, Mudboy & The Neutrons.- Biography :...
, Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Jerry Jaye
Jerry Jaye
Jerry Jaye is an American country/rockabilly singer.Jaye grew up on a sharecropper's farm and did a stint in the Navy from 1954 to 1958. After his return he started a band with bassist Tommy Baker and drummer Carl Fry, who began playing the local Arkansas circuits...
, Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
.