Gene McKown

Gene McKown, 1950s

Does anyone ever attempted to tell the whole story of singer Gene McKown? The man who was responsible for such rockabilly favorites as "Rock-a-Billy Rhythm" and "Ghost Memories"? I don't think so. He is the kind of artists that, although being featured constantly on compilations, has been forgotten. Little did I know when first posting a very brief sketch about his career but now, I am happy to present a detailed look on McKown and his music career.

Eugene Edward McKown was born on July 16, 1932, in Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. He was the only surviving child of Thomas Rothwell and Virginia M. McKown, his older sister Shirley died at the age of two a month before McKown's birth. He attended North Kansas City High School in Clay County and, by 1950, McKown worked as an filling station attendant but was drafted shortly thereafter, serving in the US Navy on the USS Essex from ca. 1950 or 1951 until ca. 1955. He spent much of his time with the troops in California and reached the rank of a Sergeant. 

McKown made brief trips to Missouri during this time, already playing local dates there, but continued to make his home in San Gabriel, California, a part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. He was managed by his friend Nate Ryan during those years and had a band called the Tune Twisters. Those included guitarists like Don McFarland, Agnes Coates and names like Bill Wilburn. 

Valley News
April 13, 1958

It was in California when McKown made his first record. For Fable Records, a Los Angeles based company owned by local music business man Sandy Stanton, McKown and his band recorded "I'm Still Wondering Why", a duet with band member Fiddlin' Slim, and "My Heart Belongs to You" (#F-571/2) and both sides were composed by McKown and Coates. At that time, they were still playing country music, which is clearly hearable on this record, and it was released in 1957 by Fable.

By then, however, rockabilly and rock'n'roll music had taken over and McKown switched to this style for his next record. He and the Tune Twisters recorded again two Coates-McKown compositions, "Rock-a-Billy Rhythm" and "My Dream Girl", which were released on newly founded Aggie Records in very early 1958 (#1001). The South San Gabriel, California, based label was partly owned by McKown's manager Nate Ryan and might have also involved songwriter and record label owner Les Kangas, who also owned the Kangaroo label and his own publishing arm. Aggie Records was possibly named after Agnes Coates.

During those years, McKown performed on some of California's top shows, including "Town Hall Party" and "Country America", and shared the stage with such well-known names as Wynn Stewart, Wade Ray, Tex Ritter, Freddie Hart, Joe and Rose Lee Maphis, and others. He also appeared on Aggie label-mate Dick Miller's KXLA radio show and in a lot of clubs in the area, including the Palomino in North Hollywood.

"My Dream Girl" reached the regional Cash Box charts in February, so the record sold good enough to secure McKown another release, "Little Mary" and "You and I" (#1003). Two more rockabilly boppers, the A side was another joint effort of McKown and Coates, while the flip was supplied by James Karney (who had recorded for Fable as well). Released at some point in 1958 or 1959, it was the last release on Aggie under McKown's name. However, there were two more records on Aggie that probably bore his involvement. Don McFarland, a guitarist and singer with whom McKown worked at the time, recorded two Agnes Coates written gospel numbers for Aggie entitled "Jesus Is Coming" and "He Showed My the Way" (#1005, 1959). He was accompanied by the Tune Twisters. The band also backed Joe Sterling, who waxed two more Coates gospel songs for Aggie, "I'm Gonna Talk to My Lord" and "Rain Rain Rain" (#1006, 1960).

It seems that McKown and the Tune Twisters resolved their association with Aggie in 1960. The same year, he had a job at the Esquire Ballroom in Houston, Texas, playing in a band with Jimmy Dry, Pee Wee Davis, and a young Willie Nelson. While Dry went on to be Jack Green's guitarist, there is no introduction needed for Willie Nelson. McKown returned to Kansas City in the early 1960s and resumed playing local bars and taverns. He played the Frontiers Club in early 1963 with a band known as the Western Swingsters but re-established the Tune Twisters a year later. Also in 1963, he went into partnership with George Hodges, Jr. of the Pier Brass Company in Kansas City. Hodges had founded the Brass record label as an outlet for local talent. McKown not only released two singles under the Brass imprint but also carried out other functions for the label. The first of those two discs featured two great country cuts, "Oh Sorry Me" b/w "My Get Up and Go" (#205) from 1963, followed by "Ghost Memories" b/w "Incidentally" (#238) a year later. The minor-key "Ghost Memories" became one of McKown's best known songs eventually.

Kansas City Star
May 1, 1965

McKown continued to perform around Kansas City in such venues as the Starlite Club, Howard's Bar, the Silver Spur, and others. At the Starlite, McKown once performed a show with Ray Price. He also recorded for small independent labels throughout the 1960s and 1970s. During the mid- and late 1960s, he had a constant connection to Nashville, recording for Music City indies like Sims, Rich, Bilin, Castle, Rose, and Totem. He had a local hit with his song "Charlie O the Mule" on the Bilin label, produced by Bobby Sykes in Nashville. Another of his locally popular songs was "The Kansas City Royals Are on the Go" from 1977, a tribute to the successful baseball team of the same name. As a talented songwriter, McKown composed hundreds of songs and some of them ended up being recorded by Nashville artists like Autry Inman ("Six Rounds of Love and Hate"), Earl Scott, and Ken Springer (both "Tearin' My Head Up Again"). Local artists cut his tunes as well, including Jim Mansell & Sandy West ("My One for the Road"), Lee Holeman ("Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Mr. Bandleader"), and his old buddy Jimmy Dry ("No One Else").

Around 1978, rockabilly lover and musician Rockin' Ronnie Weiser reissued "Rock-a-Billy Rhythm" and "Dream Girl" on his Rollin' Rock label. "Ghost Memories" appeared on the Redita LP "Kansas City Country Rockers" around the same time and his rockabilly recordings were reissued numerous times in the following decades, securing McKown a place in the world of rockabilly music.

Gene McKown in 1993

He continued his performances in the Kansas City area well into the 1980s, then spent some time in St. Jospeh, Missouri, and stayed with his old friend Nate Ryan in Arizona between 1990 and 1992 following a depression. The following year, McKown and Ryan's family moved to Osceola, Missouri, where McKown continued working as a performer. He played the Two Mug Saloon regularly there. McKown was an active member of the local Friends of Jesus Christian Church and went into gospel music a few years later, recording hundreds of cassette tapes with his gospel songs. Music was not only a hobby for KcKown, it was a passion and occupation at the same time and he carried it out throughout his whole life.

McKown was married only for a short time in the 1950s and left behind no close relatives when he passed away on May 18, 2011, in Osceola from a heart attack. He was 78 years old. His final years had been troublesame as he suffered from a stroke in 2006, which ended his musical activities. He also had a gambling problem and in addition, he had to move out of his apartment shortly before his death as the building was demolished.

Discography

Fable 571: Gene McKown & Fiddlin' Sam - I'm Still Wondering Why / Gene McKown - My Heart Belogs to You (1957)
Aggie A-1001: Gene McKown & the Tune Twisters - My Dream Girl / Rock-a-Billy Rhythm (1958)
Aggie A-1003: Gene McKown & the Tune Twisters - Little Mary / You and I (1959)
Brass 205: Gene McKown - Oh Sorry Me / My Get Up and Go (1963)
Brass 209: Gene McKown - Ghost Memories / Incidentally (1964)
Brass 238: Gene McKown - Ghost Memories / Incidentally (1964)
Rich 106: Gene McKown - I'm Out on the Town / That Don't Make Her a Bad Girl (1965)
Sims 228: Gene McKown - Peace Corps / Keeper of Heartaches (1965)
Bilin BS-2200: Gene McKown - Charlie-O-The-Mule / Bobby Sykes - The Legend of a Mule (1965)
Peak P-103: Sandy & Gene - Stop, Look and Listen / River of Shame (ca. 1965)
Rose 101: The Little Green Men & Ray Petersen - U.F.O. / Happy as a Lark (1968)
Totem T-9: Gene McKown - U.F.O. / Happy as a Lark (1968)
Castle CR-2076/7: Gene McKown - Please Mr. Editor / Take It on the Chin (1972)
Column One: Gene McKown - The Kansas City Royals Are on the Go / Jim Martin - The Kansas City Royals Are on the Go (Instr.) (1977)
Rollin' Rock 45-042: Rockabilly Rhythm / Dreamgirl (ca. 1978)

Sources

• Find a Grave entries for Gene McKown and Thomas R. McKown

• Richard Sunderwirth: "Osceola's Candy Man Was the World's Music Man" (St. Clair County Courier), May 27, 2011

• Official census records accessed through ancestry.com

• 45cat entry

• Discogs

• Rockin' Country Style entry