EARLY SHERWOODS DANCE HOP

 

 

            

        THE SHERWOODS- 1965

                 

        TO PURCHASE HC-100 "THE SHERWOODS"

 

 

 

 The Sherwoods were a society band in El Paso, Texas in the early 1960's.  Two members, Bill Taylor Sparks and Kenny Smith, actually started Suemi Records as a result of getting the bands' tunes recorded for record release.  The members were: Henry Martinez-Rhythm Guitar and vocals: Eddie Martinez- Bass; Bobby Maddox-Drums; Bill Taylor Sparks-Accoustic Guitar and Lead vocals: Kenny Smith-Lead Guitar.

Henry and Kenny started playing guitars together in the summer of 1962 and decided to form a band and they needed a bass player so they went to Henry's brother Eddie and told him he was the bass player. From what I remember , he didn't even get a say in the matter.  He just went along with it.  I always thought it was kinda funny cause he turned out to be the best musician of the bunch.  Both Henry and Eddie are still in El Paso and they still get together now and then drink some beer and play.

Bobby Maddox was the clown of the group, he was always cheerful and would pull pranks in public. I remember him filling his mouth with mashed potatoes in a restaurant squeezing his cheeks and shooting the potatoes across the table. The Sherwoods stories have been put to words on the Suemi Records CD (HC-113) "The Ootsman Blues".

As I said, The Sherwoods were high societys' band and they once played for the Sun Queen (The Sun Bowl, the major football post season game held in El Paso around New Years).  They invited Bobby Fuller to be a guest artist and the crowd went wild. They wore matching suits and even had their guitars painted white to match. They might not have been the best band in town but they were one of the most professional looking groups around.  We once won the battle of the bands at the coliseum. There was an annual battle where two bands were chosen winners, the big band category and the small band category. "The NightDreamers" would win the large band award as they had a following that went back two generations.  The big bands were the Mexican bands with horns, they would play some traditional Mexican tunes along with R and B hits. At the time, I looked down my nose at groups that would play James Brown tunes and it was until many years later I realized how great these bands from another part of town were.  They were the high quality groups. I digress, The Sherwoods won the small band portion (5 members or less) and were invited to be on Crosno's Hop, a TV show hosted by a local DJ Steve Crosno.  I will never forget him announcing to the audience " and here is the runner-up band "The Sherwoods". His TV audience was more of a Mexican audience than a gringo one and at the time I didn't understand why he was playing up "The Nightdreamers " and playing down "The Sherwoods" but it makes perfect sense now. 

The Sherwoods had two chart records: "Tickler" and "Just As I Love Her" both on Bobby Fuller's labels, (Eastwood and Exeter).  I understand that Norton Records has many masters of this early El Paso label. Listen to this old stuff and you will get a feel of El Paso in the early 60's just about the time The Beatles were making waves across the country. Bill brought the Memphis sound to the group while Henry and Eddie brought the border sound and Henry and Kenny were listening to the west coast surf music. Put these all together and you get "The Sherwoods".

 

1. TICKLER  SAMPLE

2. YOU HOLD MY LETTERS NOT ME    SAMPLE

3. WHY AM I SO BLUE  SAMPLE

4. BROWN-EYED HANDSOME GIRL

5. JUST AS I LOVE HER

6. GIRLS WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME

7. BLACKOUT

8. COME ON CHARLIE

9. AIMLESSLY

10. PODUNK

11. MARCI

12. PEGGY SUE