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"…Sugaree…You Know I Love You So…"
Released April 2004 on Bear Family BCD 16543 AR, "Rusty Rocks" is a 28-track CD compilation featuring his recordings between 1957 and 1964. It's part of Bear Family's "Rocks" Series - which in April 2004 had only 5 other releases but in July 2026 sports over 80 and rising (see list below and other titles reviewed).
It comes in Bear Family's now standard packaging for this series – a 3-way foldout card digipak containing a detachable oversized booklet inside (52 pages for this issue). Pages 2 to 33 feature an in-depth essay on Charles Edward York (his real name) by noted writer and musicologist COLIN ESCOTT, Pages 35 to 40 show photos from Rusty’s own 'Scrapbook' whilst Pages 41 to 50 have a full Discography on all 28 recordings (and more) by Bear's own RICHARD WEIZE. The text throughout is peppered with trade adverts from Billboard and Cashbox, black and white and colour photos of Rusty in the USA and Europe as well as reviews and posters for Dick Clark Shows in Hollywood and Michigan. It’s the usual classy act from Bear.
And then of course there's the great sound courtesy of JURGEN CRASSER. I’ve raved about his mastering work before (see my TAG for him and reviews for the astonishing "Blowing The Fuse" series (16 compilations) and the "Sweet Soul Music" series (10 discs). Musically it's Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly with a little Pop on the later Sixties stuff, but it sounds great - full of atmosphere, echo and life.
TRACK LIST:
1. Sugaree
2. Sweet Love
3. The Girl Can't Help It
4. Mean Woman Blues
5. Peggy Sue
6. Great Balls Of Fire
7. Shake 'Em Up Baby
8. Red Rooster (Instrumental)
9. Sweet Talk
10. Peggy Sue (2)
11. Sadie Mae
12. Tore Up Over You
13. Tremblin'
14. Love Struck
15. La Dee Dah (Duet with BONNIE LOU]
16. Cajun Blues/Frosty (Instrumental)
17. Goodnight Cincinnati, Good Morning Tennessee
18. Sweet Love (2)
19. You'd Better Leave My Baby Alone
20. Baby What You Want Me to Do See [as BILL STAMPER]
21. Don't Do It
22. One, One, One, Wonderful (Instrumental)
23. Molly Darlin' [as BILL STAMPER]
24. Tremblin' (Alternate)
25. Tore Up Over You (Alternate)
26. The Girl Can't Help It (2)
27. A Fallen Star
28. Margaret Ann
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 22, 23 and 24 are from the 1979 vinyl album "Rusty York: Rock And Roll Memories" on Jewel JRC 917
Tracks 4, 5, 6, 12, 16, 18, 19, 25, 26, 27, 28 are from a 1994 CD compilation called "Cincinnati Fireball" on Gee Dee 270 103
Tracks 24 and 25 are 'Alternate Takes' of "Tremblin'" and "Tore Up" and are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
The other tracks (and some above) are either 7" single releases or from rare US compilations – and many are seeing the CD light of day for the first time.
Born in Kentucky – Rusty York's lone chart entry is the fabulous "Sugaree" – a song I've loved and featured on many a rocking CD compilation. Its ultra-rare original US 45 is repro’d on the CD label (P.J. Records 100). "Sugaree" has a great history. Written by country singer Marty Robbins, it was aired by gospel group The Jordanaires on Capitol as their first secular release in late 1956. York’s version rearranged it into a faster beat and was recorded April 1959 as a casual B-side, but the finished Rock'n'Roller demanded release. It was immediately hawked around RCA, Mercury and other big record companies - but none showed any interest. Undeterred – it was put out on the self-published P.J. Records in April 1959 (P for was Pat Nelson and J for Jackie DeShannon). They pressed up a thousand copies at a time and sold them from cars. 10,000 singles later - it was picked up by Note Records that summer (Note 10021) and then at the end of the year released on the mighty Chess label. Chess 1730 finally charted on the Billboard Top 200 at a lowly ranking of 77. Hank Ballard and The Midnighters even put out a version on King in June 1959. "Sugaree" is just one of those irresistibly brill Rock'n'Roll records that never dates. Bolstered up by great Saxophone work from Jimmy Risch – it boogies along and wins fans every time. It's rare instrumental B-side "Red Rooster" is also on here.
The rest of the tracks comprise of like-minded cover versions – Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue", Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It", "Mean Woman Blues" (sung by Elvis Presley in 1957 on his "Loving You" album) and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls Of Fire". He sounds like 1950's Buddy Holly on the pretty "A Fallen Star". The cool Rockabilly of "Shack 'Em Up Baby" turned up on "All I Wanna Do Is ROCK" – Bear Family's budget-priced CD sampler for the "Rocks" series (a great introduction). I also particularly like the two versions of 1957's "Sweet Love" which is very Gene Vincent in his prime. The instrumental "Cajun Blues/Frosty" too features JIMMY RISCH on sax, but also has some excellent guitar work from York himself. Even the 1961 material like "Tore Up Over You" and "Love Struck" is good – sounding not unlike period Jerry Lee Lewis. There's also a tremendous boogie cover of Jimmy Reed's shuffling Blues classic "Baby What You Want Me To Do" which was put out as a 45 in 1964 with "Molly Darlin'" on the A (REM Records REM 330 - credited to BILL STAMPER). The only real turkey for me here is a terrible duet with Bonnie Lou on "La Dee Dah" – a sappy 1959 "cha cha cha" song on King Records – I guess it's been included due to its rarity.
To sum up – I liked this compilation a lot. Rusty York may be a criminally forgotten figure in the Rock’n’Roll and Rockabilly pantheon – but this superb "Rocks" compilation by the incomparable Bear Family does him and his recorded legacy proud.
PS: The "Rocks" Series CD-Only Compilations (released 2002 to 2026) by Bear Family Records of Germany features the following artists (alphabetical order):
1. Hank Ballard (Bear Family BCD 17580)
2. Chuck Berry (BCD 17139 AR) [see REVIEW]
3. Eddie Bond (BCD 17726)
4. Pat Boone (BCD 16933 AR)
5. Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown (BCD 17537)
6. James Brown (BCD 17775)
7. Roy Brown (BCD 17749)
8. Sonny Burgess (BCD 17629)
9. Johnny Burnette (BCD 16992 AR) [see REVIEW]
10. The Cadillacs (BCD 16281 AR)
11. Jimmy Cavallo (BCD 17648)
12. Sanford Clark (BCD 17664)
13. The Coasters (BCD 17526)
14. Eddie Cochran (BCD 17136 AR)
15. Jackie Lee Cochran (BCD 17785)
16. James Cotton (BCD 17651)
17. Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (BCD 17555 AR)
18. Bobby Darin (BCD 16310 AR)
19. Bo Diddley (BCD 17751)
20. Fats Domino (BCD 16825 AR)
21. The Drifters (BCD 17278 AR)
22. Champion Jack Dupree (BCD 17536)
23. Duane Eddy (BCD 17249 AR)
24. The Everly Brothers (BCD 17321 AR)
25. Charlie Feathers (BCD 17688)
26. Narvel Felts (BCD 17594)
27. The "5" Royales (BCD 17522)
28. Connie Francis (BCD 16318 AR)
29. Don Gibson (BCD 16991 AR)
30. Glen Glenn (BCD 16671 AR)
31. Big John Greer (BCD 17743)
32. Bill Haley (BCD 16807 AR)
33. Roy Hall (BCD 16747 AR)
34. Wynonie Harris (BCD 17746)
35. Dale Hawkins (BCD 16826 AR)
36. Ronnie Hawkins (BCD 16873 AR)
37. Screamin' Jay Hawkins (BCD 16687 AR)
38. Wanda Jackson (BCD 16631 AR) [see REVIEW]
39. Etta James (BCD 17750)
40. Sonny James (BCD 16679 AR)
41. Benny Joy (BCD 17645)
42. Buddy Knox & Jimmy Bowen with the Rhythm Orchids (BCD 16872 AR)
43. Sleepy LaBeef (BCD 15981 AR)
44. Brenda Lee (BCD 16886 AR)
45. Jerry Lee Lewis (BCD 16396 AR)
46. Smiley Lewis (BCD 16676 AR) [see REVIEW]
47. Little Richard (BCD 17138 AR)
48. Bob Luman (BCD 16985 AR)
49. Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers (BCD 16545 AR)
50. Mac Curtis (BCD 17719)
51. Carl Mann (BCD 16684 AR)
52. Jimmy McCracklin (BCD 17552)
53. Scotty McKay (BCD 17519)
54. Clyde McPhatter (BCD 17614)
55. Memphis Slim (BCD 17687)
56. Amos Milburn (BCD 16926 AR) [see REVIEW]
57. Roy Milton (BCD 17712)
58. Ella Mae Morse (BCD 16672 AR) [see REVIEW]
59. Ricky Nelson (BCD 16856 AR)
60. Roy Orbison (BCD 15916 AR)
61. Little Junior Parker (BCD 17535)
62. Carl Perkins (BCD 16752 AR)
63. The Platters (BCD 17558 AR)
64. Lloyd Price (BCD 16999 AR)
65. Piano Red (aka Dr. Feelgood) (BCD 16639 AR) [see REVIEW]
66. Jimmy Reed (BCD 17572)
67. Louis Prima (BCD 17318 AR)
68. Charlie Rich (BCD 16513 AR) [see REVIEW]
69. Billy Lee Riley (BCD 17597)
70. Marty Robbins (BCD 17245 AR)
71. Jack Scott (BCD 16841 AR)
72. Ronnie Self (BCD 17656)
73. Shirley & Lee (BCD 15785 AR)
74. Slim Harpo (BCD 17129 AR)
75. The Treniers (BCD 16164 AR)
76. Ike Turner (BCD 17679)
77. Big Joe Turner (BCD 17215 AR) [see REVIEW]
78. Conway Twitty (BCD 16670 AR)
79. Ritchie Valens (BCD 17525)
80. Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps (BCD 17134 AR)
81. Johnny Guitar Watson (BCD 17764)
82. Link Wray (BCD 17600)
83. Rusty York (BCD 16543 AR) [see REVIEW]
Series Sampler Compilations from 2024 and 2025
84. Bear Family Records Rocks, Vol. 1 (BCD 17734)
85. Bear Family Records Rocks, Vol. 2 (BCD 17735)
The Bear Family "Rockin' Rollin'" Series features:
1. Johnny Horton
2. Marvin Rainwater
3. Marty Robbins Vol.1
4. Marty Robbins Vol.2
5. Marty Robbins Vol.3
