Biography
In the mid-'50s, the small West Texas town of Snyder became a hub where locals plotted the pressing and distribution of a fresh hybrid rhythm sound that fused rock & roll with hillbilly traditions. The label rockabilly captured that blend, yet it fails to account for figures like native son Wink Lewis. Sharing the eccentric comic streak of better-known practitioners Charlie Feathers and Sleepy LaBeef, Lewis routinely elevated his oddball wit above musical substance. Consequently his recordings project a dazed, addled quality rather than genuine propulsion, a trait never attributable to Elvis Presley no matter how flamboyant the latter’s personal habits. Lewis’s complete output qualifies as outright bizarre, satisfying the core criterion of the “goon tune” category: artist names and song titles alone convey sufficient peculiarity that the actual music need never be heard.
Operating his independent Queen imprint from Snyder, positioned on Highway 84 midway between Lubbock and Abilene, Lewis worked in a locale whose wide, dusty thoroughfares and Stetson-clad residents evoke classic cowboy imagery. That setting nonetheless produced the single “Zzztt, Zzztt, Zzztt,” backed by the hillbilly bookkeeping tutorial “More Times Than One.” The disc appeared under the billing Wink Lewis with Buz Busby & Band; Busby, occasionally styled Buzz Busby, was an accomplished bluegrass mandolinist who also thrived as a rockabilly eccentric. Although the release ranks among the finest insect-themed rockabilly sides, it should not prompt collectors to equate the two men. Busby sustained a parallel bluegrass and session career that never hinged on regional sales of “Zzztt, Zzztt, Zzztt.” Lewis, by contrast, appears to have exhausted his primary momentum with that effort, his subsequent activity limited to occasional collaborations and one track issued under an assumed name.
That pseudonym was Jay-Bob Howdy, an identity Lewis adopted for the 1955 Queen single “Real Rockin Daddy,” issued with Hoyle Nix & His West Texas Cowboys and now regarded as a West Texas rockabilly landmark. No separate individual by that name existed. Around the same period Lewis partnered with Drew Miller for the regional release “What’s a Matter Baby.” Although his catalog contains relatively few titles, those that survive have been featured on numerous rockabilly anthologies.
Operating his independent Queen imprint from Snyder, positioned on Highway 84 midway between Lubbock and Abilene, Lewis worked in a locale whose wide, dusty thoroughfares and Stetson-clad residents evoke classic cowboy imagery. That setting nonetheless produced the single “Zzztt, Zzztt, Zzztt,” backed by the hillbilly bookkeeping tutorial “More Times Than One.” The disc appeared under the billing Wink Lewis with Buz Busby & Band; Busby, occasionally styled Buzz Busby, was an accomplished bluegrass mandolinist who also thrived as a rockabilly eccentric. Although the release ranks among the finest insect-themed rockabilly sides, it should not prompt collectors to equate the two men. Busby sustained a parallel bluegrass and session career that never hinged on regional sales of “Zzztt, Zzztt, Zzztt.” Lewis, by contrast, appears to have exhausted his primary momentum with that effort, his subsequent activity limited to occasional collaborations and one track issued under an assumed name.
That pseudonym was Jay-Bob Howdy, an identity Lewis adopted for the 1955 Queen single “Real Rockin Daddy,” issued with Hoyle Nix & His West Texas Cowboys and now regarded as a West Texas rockabilly landmark. No separate individual by that name existed. Around the same period Lewis partnered with Drew Miller for the regional release “What’s a Matter Baby.” Although his catalog contains relatively few titles, those that survive have been featured on numerous rockabilly anthologies.