Kenny O'dell "unknown Territory" Rona

[markgarcia1824]

I recently acquired this record and was hoping someone out there could shed some more light on it for me. The record is Kenny O'Dell "Unknown Territory" on Rona. The flip side is "Baby, Since You've Been Gone." Most of my google searches have lead to dead ends. Has anyone out there had this record before or know of it? It only pops up in one auction though Popsike and that listing didn't provide much information beyond what is on the label. Thank you in advance for any help. Mark 

 

 

 

DivShare File - kenny odell unknown territory .mp3

kenny odell unknown territory .mp3

[Roburt]

................ INFO OFF THE NET on young R&Rer Nancy Claire (who had 45's out on Rona) ....

One night in 1961 Claire and the Frantics were down at Tacoma's Crescent Ballroom (S 13th Street and S Fawcett Avenue) supporting a teen singer who had come up from Los Angeles to play some local teen-dances to promote his new single. Time has clouded memories of who exactly that singer may have been, but it was either a young man named Kenny O'Dell (who had worked with Arizona's rock-guitar star, Duane Eddy), or another billed as "Shane." The case for O'Dell includes the fact that he would later record a 45 single for the same record company that Claire soon would. Regardless of which singer it was, his manager heard Claire that night and encouraged her to cut a demo and forward it to him to maybe score her own record deal.

Toward that end, Claire enlisted her pals the Exotics and together they recorded a few songs at their rehearsal basement and that tape was mailed off to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, on New Year's Eve 1961 she and the Frantics (along with Seattle's Counts) played a dance at Seattle's funky after-hours R&B mecca, the Birdland (2203 E Madison Street), "And that was so strange," she marveled, "because I had never been into an all-black nightclub before!" (Blecha, 1985). That same night she met University of Washington freshman, Larry Coryell -- who had just moved to town from Richland, and joined on as guitarist with another local band, the Dynamics. She mentioned that the Frantics were moving on to nightclub work and he invited her to audition with his band. Thus began her relationship with another of that decade's top Seattle bands.

...... Claire struck up a fine friendship with the Checkers' blind keyboardist, Mike Mandel, whom she often drove home after their gigs. En route they occasionally took detours: "I always wanted to go to these afterhours clubs," which she was legally too young to attend, "and I'd lead him to these places -- which if my parents had known at the time where they were -- [in the largely African American neighborhoods] ... oh! But they were so much fun! The Birdland [2203 E Madison]! The Black and Tan [404½ 12th Avenue S]! The House of Entertainment [204 Occidental S]! [Nightclubs] where all these real neat people would jam and play jazz. Well, I used to really feel lucky getting to chauffeur Mandel around" (Blecha, 1985).

But before long the Checkers were signed to embark on a road tour backing the national teen-star Bobby Vee, along with the Ventures & Little Bill. Poor young Claire, still in high school, was only allowed do the tour's first date at the nearby Shadow Lake Resort. But that's right about when she finally heard back from Hollywood bigwig Nacio Brown Jr. (1928?-2002) -- the owner of the fledgling Rona Records label. He had heard her demo tape and sent her airplane fare to fly down and record four songs. Brown produced the sessions, with another seasoned pro, Perry Botkin Jr. (b. 1933), conducting the orchestra. Yes, an "orchestra." It was a far cry from the raucous rock 'n' roll bands Claire was accustomed to, but it seems the music biz machine intended to mold her into another saccharine teen-idol like Annette "Tall Paul" Funicello (1942-2013) or Shelly "Johnny Angel" Fabares (b. 1944).

Still, it was quite an experience for the rural farm girl to suddenly be in the presence of big-time players. "I had never been in studio before and I was like a little girl in a candy store with all these musicians I had heard about. I have great memories of meeting [guitar master] Barney Kessel [1923-2004] and some of the other musicians at the session" (Blecha, 1987). "We had really big-name jazz people doing this record. I couldn't believe it! Earl Palmer [1924-2008] was the drummer. Carmel Jones [1936-1996] played trumpet, and Plas Johnson [b. 1931] played saxophone. Oh, it was neat! To get to see and meet everybody ... it was like a fairy tale" (Blecha, 1985).

So Claire was handed the lyrics to a pop song titled "Jimmy," but "I had gone steady with a Jimmy for a year, and we broke up" Claire laughed. "So when I got the tune I said 'Ohhhh! I really don't want to do a song called "Jimmy."' And so they changed the name to 'Danny'" (Blecha, 1987). Thus, the "Danny" / "Y-E-S" single (Rona Records No. 1007) was released and she was immediately booked on a brief tour (to gigs in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Francisco, and other spots) -- along with some other striving stars (Jan and Dean, Timi Yuro [1940-2004], and Johnny Burnette [1934-1964]) to promote their records.

That's when "Danny" began winning airplay at stations from Los Angeles, to Chicago, to Hawaii, to Idaho, and back home in the Northwest where it scored on KOL (No. 1), KAYO (No. 1) and KJR (No. 5). Yet Claire had mixed feelings upon hearing it for the first time on the radio: "I was excited. It was an accomplishment. But, it was out of my bag -- I'd been doing rhythm & blues and to turn around and do something like that ... I wished I could have done more Northwest blues like I was used to doing" (Blecha 1987). Still, "Danny" received an impressive Four Star rating in Billboard magazine and one of the giant labels, Warner Brothers, was apparently convinced enough to step in and license it from Rona for rerelease on their own label (No. 5298). But even as the single's momentum stalled out, Rona forged ahead with a follow-up 45, "Little Baby" / "Cheatin' On Me" (Rona 1009), alas with even less luck.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Nacio Brown Jr. who owned / ran Rona Records was the son of the famous songwriter Nacio Brown.

His father's songs were cut by everybody up to the 60's / 70's and no doubt it was his upbringing at his father's side that got him interested in the music / recording biz. 

45's released on Rona ............ https://www.globaldogproductions.info/r/rona.html

The Kenny O'Dell 45 is the one missing from the listing (#1008).

Edited July 31, 2013 by Roburt

[Guest penny]

Did you win that one up on this site? What did that go for?

I'd never heard it before. Kenny had lots of pop-psychedelic hits later in the 60s but this looks very obscure, probably his first recording.

Voice is a tad 'teen' style but the backing is like ernie washington on chattahoochee, nice track &if anyone has a copy for sale...

[Guest penny]

Edit

Edited July 31, 2013 by penny

[markgarcia1824]

Did you win that one up on this site? What did that go for?

I'd never heard it before. Kenny had lots of pop-psychedelic hits later in the 60s but this looks very obscure, probably his first recording.

Voice is a tad 'teen' style but the backing is like ernie washington on chattahoochee, nice track &if anyone has a copy for sale...

This was the record that was listed for sale on soul-source. The seller was a friend here in California. We worked out a deal for cash and record trades. I would rather keep the cost private. Are any of Kenny's other 45s worth looking into or anything else on the label for that matter? The flip is right in line with most teen records of the day. Not much to write home about.