Doc McQueen

Rocking and Rolling at Hernando's Hideaway
The Story of Doc McQueen

The name of Doc McQueen is mentioned regularly when it comes to early Memphis music. Like fellow Memphis band leaders Clyde Leoppard, Bob Williamson, or Shelby Follin, his name today is mostly reduced to short mentions in literature or interviews and his efforts are otherwise lost in time, unfortunately. McQueen led a country band, which played a style that is hard to determine but certainly ranged between traditional country music, western swing, and even rock'n'roll. Similar to his aforementioned contemporaries, McQueen saw a lot of young talent pass through his group and many of those singers later made a name for them self. This is probably the first ever published biography of McQueen, pieced together from various interviews, census records, and other sources. It still has a lot of blankets, though, and I hope to fill these soon.

Junius Parks "Doc" McQueen was born on November 18, 1909, likely in Memphis but no documentation of his birthplace and his early life has been found so far. As a young man, McQueen married Allena Pruette, a girl from Moscow, Tennessee, a town near Memphis in the Tennessee-Mississippi border region. Around 1933, their son James Thomas was born and the 1940 census lists the family living on 1735 Lawrence Place in Memphis (as "Jeneis McQueen").

As guitarist Roland Janes remembered, McQueen was a banker by day and a musician by night. He played piano and by the early 1950s, had assembled a group that performed in and around Memphis. They soon landed a regular spot at Charles Foren's Hideaway Club north of Whitehaven on Highway 51 and soon gathered a local following.

In the following years, many musicians played with McQueens' band, including Billy Adams, Johnny & Dorsey Burnette, Paul Burlison, Roland Janes, Sonny Wilson, and many others. Many of these young talents later became more or less part of the Sun Records cosmos. Like Clyde Leoppard's Snearly Ranch Boys or Shelby Follin's Memphis Four, McQueen's band was a tin smith for young musicians and a possibility where they could earn experiences. At his house on 24 North Cooper, McQueen had semi-professional recording equipment that was frequently used by many musicians to try out things and likely make demo tapes.

It was at McQueen's house that Cordell Jackson, pioneering female Memphis rockabilly singer and owner of Moon Records, recorded her claim to fame "Rock and Roll Christmas" / "Beboppers' Christmas" in 1956 for her own label. It is likely that McQueen plays piano on both sides. Although McQueen was more rooted in country and swing, the trend of rock'n'roll had its affection on McQueen, who tried to led his own rock'n'roll combo at some point (but failed apparently). He also featured the trio of Johnny & Dorsey Burnette and Paul Burlison on shows until March 1956 and appeared with Sonny Wilson's Rhythm Rockers at times.

Sonny Wilson and the Rhythm Rockers at Hernando's Hideaway in Memphis, Tennessee
From left to right: Sonny Wilson, Glenn Allen, Billy Robley, Doc McQueen

Of all artists who performed with McQueen, Paul Burlison remembered him the best in interviews. In an interview with Vintage Guitar Magazine, he recalled: "Johnny and Dorsey started playin’ with Doc McQueen, who played piano and had a saxophone player – they had a song called 'Rock Billy Boogie' – playin’ at this place called The Hideaway, and they wanted me to leave Shelby Follin and start playin’ with them. So I did, first part of ’53." If the song "Rock Billy Boogie" already existed at this stage of the Rock'n'Roll Trio's career is iffy, Burlison's recollection could be a bit blurry on this issue. However, he continued: "Me and Johnny and Dorsey would do a portion of the show as a trio. Johnny would do some fast stuff, some honky-tonk songs, stuff like “Move It On Over,” and Dorsey would play slap bass and I’d put a boogie beat over it. Then Doc and the rest of the band would play the rest of the time."

If Burlison's memories are correct, the trio of Johnny & Dorsey Burnette and Burlison performed with McQueen for nearly exact three years. In March 1956, the trio decided to hit big time and traveled to New York City. "We kept playin’ with Doc McQueen ’til March of ’56. [...] We got so excited, we just took off, and when we got up to Brownsville, Tennessee I said, 'Hey! We didn’t even tell Doc!' So we stopped and I went to a phone booth and called him. I says, 'Doc, we’re not gonna be there this weekend.' This was like Wednesday. 'We wanted to let you know so you could get someone else. We’re goin’ to New York City to try and get on one of those television shows.' He said 'And do what?' I said, 'Man, we’re gonna play!' He just says, 'Oh. Well, if y’all make it big, let me know.'" The trio won the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and signed with Coral Records, immortalizing the Hideaway with a mention in their classic "Rock Billy Boogie", recorded for Coral in 1956.

McQueen stayed behind in Memphis and he might have learned of the trio's success from Memphis newspapers. He had tried his hand at songwriting as well and copyrighted at least four or five of his compositions, including "Jealous Lies from a Jealous Heart" (co-written with Thomas Neal "Hoot" Gibson, Jr.), "Don't Cry On My Shoulder", "Crying Begging", and "Be My Valentine", among others. It is unknown if any of these songs found their way onto record, however. Also, it's likely that McQueen made no commercial recordings under his own name or that he played as a session musician on other artists' recordings (apart from Cordell Jackson's).

Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1957

It is probable that McQueen kept on performing for the remainder of the 1950s and maybe even during the 1960s but assured information is missing, unfortunately. Doc McQueen died on August 12, 1990, at the age of 80 years. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.

If anyone out there has more information on Doc McQueen, feel free to pass it along!

Sources
• Official Census Documents accessed through Ancestry.com
• Commercial Appeal: Memphis Christmas Music
• Billy Adams on Bear Family
• Find a Grave entry
• Entries at Copyright Encyclopedia for "Jealous Lies from a Jealous Heart" and "Don't Cry on My Shoulder"
• Baker Rorick: "Paul Burlison - Train Keeps Rollin'" (Vintage Guitar Magazine, March 1998)
• Catalog of Copyright Entries, Fourth Series (1978)