Dorsey Burnette - The Burnette Brothers

The Burnette Brothers

In November 1957, the brothers were approached by songwriter John Marascalco, who had written "Ready Teddy" and "Rip It Up" for Little Richard, as well as "Good Night My Love" and other hits. He was looking for a singer to help him with a new song, "Bertha Lou". Dorsey and Johnny went into the Master Recorders Studio in Hollywood and backed by Odell Hull (lead guitar), Danny Flores (piano) and H.B. Barnum (drums) cut two tracks, "Bertha Lou" and "‘Till The Law Says Stop". It was originally planned that Johnny should sing the lead vocals, but when he recalled that he was still under contract to Coral Records, Dorsey suggested that nobody would care if he sang the song. The vocal duties were switched, with Johnny singing some of the backing vocals. The two sides were released as a single (Surf SR5019-45) under Dorsey's name. Coral threatened to sue and so label owner, Kenny Babcock withdrew the record. Babcock had Dorsey's voice overdubbed with that of one of his own singers, Johnny Faire (also known as John Faircloth). Surf SR5019-45 was subsequently re-released as by Johnny Faire. Johnny Faire was later to change his name and find fame as Donnie Brooks.

The songwriting credits show John Marascalco as the writer of "Bertha Lou", but Cub Koda reports Brooks as saying that the song was in fact written by Johnny Burnette, who, as part of the recording deal, sold it to Marascalo. John Marascalco was later persuaded to release Dorsey's version, which he still owned. In 1965, "Bertha Lou"/"Keep A Knockin’" was released as Cee-Jam No. 6 with "Bertha Lou" under the name of Dorsey Burnette. The flipside, "Keep A Knockin’", was released under the name The Brothers. In 1966, "Bertha Lou"/"’Til The Law Says Stop" was released as Cee-Jam No. 16 with both sides under the name Dorsey Burnette.

It was sheer bravado that enabled the Burnette Brothers to have their first major breakthrough as songwriters. On arriving in Los Angeles, Joe Campbell bought a copy of “A Map To The Stars” which showed the location of the then teen idol Ricky Nelson's home. In an effort to get their songs to him, the Burnettes and Campbell decided to sit on the steps of the star’s home until they could get a meeting with him. This persistence worked and Nelson was impressed with their work, enough so that he recorded "Believe What You Say You Say", "It's Late" and "Waitin' In School", among others. Other artists on Nelson's label, Imperial Records, such as Roy Brown, who covered the brothers' "Hip Shakin' Baby", benefited from their songwriting abilities and this led to them signing a recording contract with Imperial.

As the Burnette Brothers, Dorsey and Johnny had a single release on the Imperial label, "Warm Love"/"My Honey" (Imperial X5509), which was released on May 5, 1958. It did not make the charts. In 1961, they had two instrumentals releases on the small Infinity and Gothic labels. The first single, "Green Grass Of Texas"/"Bloody River" (Infinity INX-001), was released on February 20, 1961. The second single, "Rockin' Johnny Home"/"Ole Reb" (Gothic GOX-001), was released on May 29, 1961. Both singles were released under the name The Texans. Another instrumental, "Lonely Island"/"Green Hills" (Liberty 55460) under the name The Shamrocks appeared on Liberty Records on June 6, 1962. "Green Grass Of Texas"/"Bloody River" was re-released in February 1965 on the Vee Jay label (VJ 658), again under the name of The Texans.