Ray Campi

Ray Campi, a rockabilly wildman, laid down several classic singles amid the style’s original peak and later mounted a resurgence that built a sizable cult following across the seventies and eighties. Born in New York in 1934, he relocated with his family to Austin, Texas, at age ten. Exposure to country music soon followed; he picked up guitar, formed his first band while still in high school, and performed with that group on local radio broadcasts. Initial sessions occurred in 1951, yet nothing appeared until 1956, when the TNT label issued the single “Caterpillar” b/w “Play It Cool.” Further 45s emerged on Domino (“Screamin’ Mimi”) and Dot (“The Ballad of Donna & Peggy Sue”). In 1959 he moved to Los Angeles and signed with Colpix, which released “Hear What I Wanna Hear.” The early sixties found him based in New York, where he spent two and a half years as a staff writer at Aaron Schroeder’s publishing firm without ever recording any of the songs he authored. He returned to Austin in 1967 to cut “Civil Disobedience” for Sonobeat, but the release went nowhere; Campi then settled back in Los Angeles and took a position teaching junior-high school. Around 1973 he linked with Ronny Weiser’s revivalist Rollin’ Rock label and began cutting new material in the classic, high-energy rockabilly manner. A steady sequence of albums appeared through the eighties, among them two sets for Rounder—Rockin’ at the Ritz in 1980 and Gone, Gone, Gone! in 1986. Recording continued into the new millennium, with occasional releases on his own imprint. He died in Los Angeles on March 11, 2021, at the age of 86.