Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this episode we will travel back in time to the late 1950's where I will review the career of The Fireballs, also known as Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott.  The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John.  It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then. 
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Rock On!

Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John and in this episode we will travel back in time to the late 1950's where I will review the career of The Fireballs, also known as Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs!

In the town of Raton in northeastern New Mexico George Tomsco and Stan Lark started school together in 8th grade.  The two boys realized that they were both interested in music.  They started playing together in George’s basement and put together their own band with fellow students.  The original line-up consisted of George Tomsco on lead guitar, Chuck Tharp on vocals, Stan Lark on bass, Eric "Jim" Budd on drums, and Dan Trammell on rhythm guitar.  In 1957 they played for the PTA talent show and the only song they knew was Jerry Lee Lewis's “Great Balls of Fire.”  The audience loved it and gave them a standing ovation, so they decided to take on the band name of "The Fireballs". 

For the next few years The Fireballs were primarily an instrumental group, featuring the distinctive lead guitar of George Tomsco.  They played gigs all over the Southwest, including in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.  The Fireballs soon came to the attention of Norman Petty and recorded at his Norman Petty Studio in Clovis, New Mexico.  Be sure to stay tuned to Rock and Roll Flashback, as Bill Price will be devoting a future podcast episode to the Norman Petty Studio.

The Fireballs soon charted in the top 40 with three instrumental singles.  "Torquay" in 1959 reached #39 in the US and #12 in Canada.  "Bulldog" in 1960 reached #24 in the US and #23 in Canada.  "Quite a Party" in 1961 reached #27 in the US, #24 in Canada, and #29 in the UK. 

Here is The Fireball's version of "Torquay":

Born in Chicago and raised in Amarillo, Texas, Jimmy Gilmer had a talent for singing.  In 1959 nineteen-year old Gilmer became a session vocalist at Norman Petty’s studio in Clovis, New Mexico.  In 1960 Fireball's vocalist Chuck Tharp left the group, frustrated that the band de-emphasized vocals.  The band had a booking in Canada and still needed a vocalist because part of their show was covering the top hits of the day.  Norman Petty suggested that they hire Jimmy Gilmer for vocals.  It wasn't long until Dan Trammel and Eric Budd also quit the band.  So The Fireballs added Doug Roberts to replace Eric Budd on drums.

Norman Petty had been Buddy Holly's main recording producer.  After Holly's untimely death, Petty obtained the rights to Holly's early rehearsal and home demo recordings.  From May 1962 until August 1968, Petty had The Fireballs overdub the Holly material to convert them from mono to stereo.  Also, besides their own recordings and gigs, from 1959 through 1970 The Fireballs occasionally acted as studio musicians for dozens of other recording artist projects at the Norman Petty Recording Studio.

Keith McCormack's band called the String-a-Longs also recorded with Norman Petty.  The String-A-Longs biggest hit single, "Wheels", was issued in 1960.  It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #8 on the UK singles chart, and sold over one million copies.  When the Fireballs were looking for songs, Keith McCormack supplied them with a few.  One of those songs was "Sugar Shack", which Keith McCormack wrote in 1962 with his aunt, Beulah Faye Voss.  According to McCormack, he and his aunt wrote the song over breakfast, which explains why coffee shows up in the lyric.  They traded lines back and forth until they had the whole lyric story.

On the road, The Fireballs played "Sugar Shack," and got a great audience response. They urged their producer, Norman Petty, to let them record the song in his Clovis studio.  So with Gilmer on vocals, Tomsco on guitar, Lark on bass, and Roberts on drums they recorded the track.  However, unbeknownst to the band, after they had recorded the vocal and instrument track,  Norman Petty went back into the studio and added a distinctive whistling riff.  That unusual sound was made with a Hammond Solovox keyboard, which producer Norman Petty played on the record.  

Initially no one in the band particularly cared for Petty's final product, thinking it sounded like a circus song.  A record company executive at Dot Records in California also had reservations about “Sugar Shack”.  The DOT executive reluctantly took it, but said copies would only be sent to radio stations.  Since no singles would be pressed, there would be nothing for the public to buy.  However, surprisingly the song went to #1 quickly in Amarillo, Gilmer’s home town.  So singles were finally pressed, and the song was released nationwide in May 1963.  Sales rocketed, and the song shot up to #1 nationwide by October.

Here is Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireball's version of "Sugar Shack":

"Sugar Shack" spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from October 12th to November 9th, 1963.  It also hit #1 on the Cashbox singles chart, where it spent three weeks from October 19th to November 2nd, 1963.  Its #1 run on the Billboard R&B chart was cut short because Billboard did not publish an R&B chart from November 30th, 1963 to January 23rd, 1965.  In Canada the song reached #1, also for six weeks, from October 14th to November 18th.  It reached #1 in Australia and #45 on the UK chart.  Interestingly, "Sugar Shack" was the first Billboard Hot 100 chart topper with "Sugar" in the title, preceding "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies and "Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones.  The distinctive Hammond Solovox keyboard instrument that Petty added to the recording was not practical to take on the road, so when the band played it live, they simulated the sound on guitar.

On November 29th, 1963, "Sugar Shack" received an RIAA certification for selling over a million copies, earning gold record status.  "Sugar Shack" was listed at #1 by Billboard of its year-end rankings of Hot 100 songs for the year 1963.  In 2018, the song was listed at #194 on the "All Time" Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary list.  The song would later be featured in the television show Supernatural and in the films Mermaid, Dogfight, Forrest Gump, Congo, and Stealing Sinatra.

In 1964 The Fireballs hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in Canada with "Daisy Petal Pickin'".  "Daisy Petal Pickin'" was musically similar to "Sugar Shack" in that also used a Solovox keyboard lick.  However, during the songs brief run on the charts, the British Invasion began with the first hits by The Beatles.  The Fireballs had difficulty competing with the influx of British artists and did not reach the Top 40 again until 1967.

"Bottle of Wine" is a song written by folk-singer and songwriter Tom Paxton.  In addition to Paxton's original recording in 1965, other artists who initially recorded the song included Judy Collins in 1964 and The Kingston Trio in 1965.  The Fireballs's took Paxton's "Bottle of Wine" and slightly adjusted it.  They included only two of Paxton's four verses, with the chorus repeated multiple times near the end.  Although Jimmy Gilmer was still a member of the group and sang the song, the band was billed simply as "The Fireballs" on the released single.  That Fireballs's version of "Bottle of Wine", produced by Norman Petty, was released on June 24th, 1967.  It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1968 and at #5 in Canada.  The single later became the title song for an album The Fireballs released in 1968.  Their version of  "Bottle of Wine" was ranked #63 on Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1968. 

Here is the Fireball's version of "Bottle of Wine":

By 1970 The Fireballs had called it quits, and Jimmy Gilmer relocated to Nashville, Tennessee.  He was hired by United Artists Music, where he built a 30-year publishing career. Through a number of mergers and acquisitions, he rose to become a vice president at CBS Songs plus successive executive positions at EMI and SBK.  The Fireballs reunited in 1989 for the Clovis Music Festival, then continued performing with original members George Tomsco, Stan Lark, and Chuck Tharp until 2006, when Tharp sadly died of cancer.  Gilmer returned as lead vocalist in 2007. Lark retired from the group in 2016.  George Tomsco continued to release CDs of new material using The Fireballs name.  Tomsco performed an occasional show as a "solo Fireball" and also did some shows with Jimmy Gilmer.  Their final show together was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 5th, 2022. 

Thank you for traveling back in time with me to re-visit the career of Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs.  So, fellow travelers, may your path be smooth and your music always be rockin'!  And until next time...Rock On!