EARLS, Jack & The Jimbos
Slow Down, The Sun Years, Plus (2-CD)

BCD 16935 (2-CD digipack with Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Billy Riley and Warren Smith were among his friends and label-mates! Two CDs of music spanning 40 years, plus an in-depth interview. Hear Jack tell about his wild life in Memphis, during the rockin' fifties! The ultimate collection of one of Sun Records' earliest rockabilly bands, the Jimbos, with several previously unissued Sun tracks!

Jack Earls witnessed the birth of rockabilly in Memphis, and slapped its infant behind. It was called rock'n'roll, but it was a new rock, crafted by a community of working men and country musicians striving to get records out on Sam Phillips' Sun label. Jack's neighbors included Elvis Presley, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, Paul Burlison, Johnny and Bill Black, and many other musicians. Between 1955 and 1957, Jack wrote and recorded his own songs with his own band, the Jimbos. From several sessions at Sun, Jack saw a single release in early 1956, issued among a barrage of classic rockabilly platters. Although his record Slow Down b/w A Fool For Lovin' You (Sun 240) was a regional hit, Jack decided against touring and supported his family by working days and playing music in Memphis at night.

During the mid-1960s, Jack and his family joined the century's great migration of Southern-born people moving north, and they settled in Detroit, Michigan. Jack drove trucks for the Chrysler Corporation, and swam in the long-established country scene of the city. Rediscovered by fans of his Sun recordings during the 1970s, Jack made more records for Gary Thompson's Olympic label in Detroit, showing the world that his voice had grown in power and expression. Since the nineties, Jack has headlined at rockabilly and rock'n'roll festivals across Europe and the United States. Today, the voice and personality of Jack Earls win over fans of rock'n'roll at any stage he mounts. Whether he sings an hour for a crowd of thousands in Sweden, or he sits in with a local band in a Detroit bar, Jack gives it everything he's got, and Memphis rockabilly lives on.

This collection presents two CDs of Jack Earls, including every Sun session with the Jimbos (with several previously unissued tracks); and all of Jack's recordings made in Detroit, from the first commercial release of Take Me To That Place on Ry-Ho in 1973, to his 1999 I Started Rockin' A Long Time Ago. In an extended interview with Jack on disc two, he recaps his musical career and tells vivid stories about rockin' in Memphis.With this collection, we witness the timeless quality of Jack's voice ' a voice that Sam Phillips personally chose for his Sun label in 1955 ' a voice as unique as any of Phillips' other, more famous discoveries ' a voice of pure rockabilly fire.