Biography
This Texas rockabilly musician acquired his initial guitar at age fourteen during the early 1950s, an era when country dominated airwaves in his area. After finishing high school in Huckabay, a community of three hundred residents, his academic standing within that small student body went unrecorded. The modest musical opportunities in Huckabay were offset by nearby Stephenville, a dairy community of roughly ten thousand that housed a tape recorder employed for rudimentary rockabilly and rock & roll experiments. Mid-decade exposure to Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and similar performers shaped his direction. In 1956 he connected with the older lead guitarist Lonnie Thompson, and the pair began performing, an instance of the college-aged musician steering the younger high-school player off the conventional path. They cut material at a local radio facility, producing enough sides over a single weekend to supply the station with a fresh track for each weekday. This output rate later found parallels in They Might Be Giants’ “Dial-A-Song” endeavor and in studio musicians crafting tracks for mail-order poetry submissions. The setup also echoed Ernest Tubb’s earliest sides, which likewise featured only lead guitar accompaniment. A supervisor at the dairy where Duvall worked recommended adding slap bass; a drummer followed shortly. Lonnie Thompson’s twin brother Johnny soon completed the lineup on rhythm guitar.
Throughout 1957 the group performed at high schools, colleges, radio outlets, theaters, and sock hops. Appearances at Ft. Worth’s Majestic Theatre and Dallas’s Cowtown Hoedown became storied, with the latter venue enforcing an unofficial prohibition on rock & roll while permitting country. On one crowded evening Duvall urged the band to “rock the house,” and audience enthusiasm shielded them from management retaliation. That summer Danny Wolfe joined as vocalist and songwriter, assisting with material for sessions on the Challenge label, which belonged to Gene Autry. The recordings took place at Owen Bradley’s Nashville studio, the same room used for Patsy Cline’s classic tracks. Among the titles were “Teen Queen,” “Comin’ or Goin’,” “Boom Boom Baby,” and “Pucker Paint.” Session support included Grady Martin on lead guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano, and Buddy Harmon, while the Jordanaires supplied backing vocals. Duvall remained frustrated that his own group, the Troublesome Three, was barred from participating, preventing a full rock & roll delivery; the band never performed together again.
The next year he returned to Challenge, this time taping at Hollywood’s Goldstar Studios. The sides included a definitive reading of “Fools Hall of Fame,” previously cut by Johnny Paycheck and George Jones, plus “Friday Night on a Dollar Bill.” Duvall later stated that he contributed some of the “oohs” and “ahs” to the hit instrumental “Tequila!” His own releases, however, received no promotion from the label, which also blocked outside recording deals. An acting contract with Republic was signed yet yielded no film work. By the early 1960s he and Thompson continued performing only locally. Between 1962 and 1969 Duvall held computer-related positions in Houston while attending the university. He named his daughter Leah after a Roy Orbison composition. He remained in the computer field until the mid-1980s revival of original rockabilly acts prompted renewed performances, beginning with a 1985 appearance in Eindhoven, Holland, and a well-received show at London’s Mean Fiddler.
Throughout 1957 the group performed at high schools, colleges, radio outlets, theaters, and sock hops. Appearances at Ft. Worth’s Majestic Theatre and Dallas’s Cowtown Hoedown became storied, with the latter venue enforcing an unofficial prohibition on rock & roll while permitting country. On one crowded evening Duvall urged the band to “rock the house,” and audience enthusiasm shielded them from management retaliation. That summer Danny Wolfe joined as vocalist and songwriter, assisting with material for sessions on the Challenge label, which belonged to Gene Autry. The recordings took place at Owen Bradley’s Nashville studio, the same room used for Patsy Cline’s classic tracks. Among the titles were “Teen Queen,” “Comin’ or Goin’,” “Boom Boom Baby,” and “Pucker Paint.” Session support included Grady Martin on lead guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano, and Buddy Harmon, while the Jordanaires supplied backing vocals. Duvall remained frustrated that his own group, the Troublesome Three, was barred from participating, preventing a full rock & roll delivery; the band never performed together again.
The next year he returned to Challenge, this time taping at Hollywood’s Goldstar Studios. The sides included a definitive reading of “Fools Hall of Fame,” previously cut by Johnny Paycheck and George Jones, plus “Friday Night on a Dollar Bill.” Duvall later stated that he contributed some of the “oohs” and “ahs” to the hit instrumental “Tequila!” His own releases, however, received no promotion from the label, which also blocked outside recording deals. An acting contract with Republic was signed yet yielded no film work. By the early 1960s he and Thompson continued performing only locally. Between 1962 and 1969 Duvall held computer-related positions in Houston while attending the university. He named his daughter Leah after a Roy Orbison composition. He remained in the computer field until the mid-1980s revival of original rockabilly acts prompted renewed performances, beginning with a 1985 appearance in Eindhoven, Holland, and a well-received show at London’s Mean Fiddler.
Albums
Singles
