I bought this 45 by Marty Wendell from a trusted dealer in Arkansas and I really got interested in this disc mainly because it was a cover of the Carl Perkins penned "Daddy Sang Bass", which became a hit for Johnny Cash in 1969. The powerful harmony vocals by the Statler Brothers and the Carter Sisters on Cash's original were replaced with an overall thiner sound, which nevertheless bears an amateurish charm. Also, this disc introduced by to Marty Wendell, the artist on this record, which I had never heard of before.
Born in Ticonderoga, New York, near the state border to Vermont, Wendell was heavily influenced by the southern rockabilly sounds of Sun Records out of Memphis during the mid to late 1950s, including Johnny Cash, who became a special influence on Wendell. However, he absorbed also other genres such as pop, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Around the same time, he entered a local church talent contest and the experience to perform in front of a live audience led Wendell to the decision to become a musician.
More public performances followed and during a stint in Greenwich Village in New York, he was discovered by producer Stanley Rowland and the result was Wendell's first record "Hey Hey Mama", which sold about 10.000 copies (according to Wendell's website). Wendell switched to Tom Wilde's Ferus Records afterwards and due to the success of "Hey Hey Mama", served as the opening act on Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison album tour in August 1968.
In the late 1960s, Wendell he worked with Ticonderoga based Kee Records, including his cover of "Daddy Sang Bass", a song Cash had recorded in 1968 for his religious concept album "Holy Land" and which saw release as a single in January 1969. Cash's version peaked at #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles.
Wendell's version was released ca. in 1970 (Kee #K-369), judging from the Precision Record Pressing matrix numbers, with "Without You" on the flip side. Since the label was based in Wendell's hometown and he also appeared on a subsequent release as songwriter and producer, I assume Kee Records was operated by or associated with him.
Wendell continued to perform in the northeastern United States during the 1970s and began to host his own music festival in 1977, which continued for 20 years. Since the 1980s, Wendell has concentrated on performing and recording several albums for various labels, most notable the 2007 record "Rock & Roll Days" - recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis. Wendell performs to this day, although health troubles forced him to cancel most of his 2022 dates.
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