Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones: Plain Ol' Cotton - Pickin - Rockabilly - Boppin - Rock Boogie

many, many years ago joe bennett and three buddies of his got together and formed a band  and named it "the sparkletones" spartanburg  south carolina has been know as sparkle city for as far back as i can remember.
           ask any truck driver headed to spartanburg, s.c.,  where he's going and he'll tell you i'm headed to sparkle city. so now i understand the name "sparkletones". it's got to be the best name for a band i've ever heard.
           the young fellows started playing together in 1955, and played on a local daytime tv show hosted by cbs talent scout robert cox. naturally he thought the little band of rockers were good or they wouldn't have been on his tv show. and they were young, real "young". joe bennett was 16, wayne arther 14, howard childress 12, and jimmy denton 15.
           joe played lead guitar and sang lead, howard childress played rhythm guitar and sang, jimmy denton played drums, and wayne arthur played stand up bass.
           robert cox knew he had a group of pickers that could go places. these young fellows were "professionally" good. joe bennett could play lead guitar with the best of 'em. joe bennett didn't have to take a back seat to any guitar player playing "professionally" joe bennett was the boss of his "fender" and he got (great) sounds out of his "axe".
           cox didn't waste anytime he took the "sparkletones" to bell sound studio's in new york city, and cut a session on them. then he took them over to abc - paramount in new york and had the band play live for the big wheels of the company. abc - paramount was looking for talent for their new label and signed joe and the band.
           don costa was assigned as the "sparkletones" producer. and they recorded some great rock a billy records. joe and howard took off on their two part harmony and with the driving beat and tempo of the band "blacks slacks" was born. shortly afterward the group performed on dick clark's american bandstand, the ed sullivan show, and begin to tour with alan freed's rock n roll show, doing performance's from coast to coast and every part of the usa.
           "black slacks" became a nation wide smash hit, and every teen in america was saying "buuuuub" - blaack slacks,. i an't nothin but a cool cool breeze with a chain hanging down to my knees.
           every song the "sparkletone's" recorded they wrote themselves, most were written by joe bennett. boppin rock boogie became a hit along with, "rocket"," cotton pickin rocker", and  "penny loafers and bobby socks".
                                       this fine young group of rock a billy's should have gone on to fame beyond belief, but they were just to "young" to perform legally in place's where you needed at least 18 yrs old. plus they were still in high school and chose to finish their education.
           sometimes life just ain't fair. so the " sparkletones" faded, lost between the record grooves as did happen to (rock a billy) itself. by 1960 the great explosion of the worlds best music ever was gone also.
           the original abc-paramount records of "joe bennett and the sparkletones" are some of the most sought after records of all time. as the years roll by the "sparkletones" recording's are true collectors items and no wonder they all contain the beyond belief lead guitar playing of 16 year old joe bennett, he could play more riffs in one song than most guitar players can play in in a week. joe bennett ranks right up there  with cliff gallop, scotty moore, carl perkins, al casey, and james burton. long live "joe bennett and the sparkletones", they gave us pure rock a billy at it's very best. they set the standard that to this very day has never been broken.
widmarc clark.