Charlie Feathers - Wild Wild Party

 

Charles Arthur Feathers (June 12, 1932 – August 29, 1998) was an American country music and rockabilly musician. Feathers was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States. He recorded a string of singles in the 1950s such as "Peepin' Eyes", "Defrost Your Heart", "Tongue-Tied Jill" and "Bottle to the Baby" on Sun Records, Meteor and King Records.

Feathers was known for being a master of shifting emotional and sonic dynamics in his songs. His theatrical, hiccup-styled, energetic, rockabilly vocal style inspired a later generation of rock vocalists, including Lux Interior of The Cramps.

He studied and recorded several songs with Junior Kimbrough, whom he called "the beginning and end of all music". His childhood influences were reflected in his later music of the 1970s and 1980s, which had an easy-paced, sometimes sinister, country-blues tempo, as opposed to the frenetic fast-paced style favored by some of his rockabilly colleagues of the 1950s.

He started out as a session musician at Sun Studios, playing any side instrument he could in the hopes of someday making his own music there. He eventually played on a small label started by Sam Phillips called Flip records which got him enough attention to record a couple singles for Sun Records and Holiday Inn Records. By all accounts the singer was not held in much regard by Phillips, but Feathers often made the audacious claim that he had arranged "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" for Elvis Presley. He also claimed that his "We're Getting Closer (To Being Apart)" had been intended to be Elvis' sixth single for Sun. He did, however, get his name on one of Elvis' Sun records, "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" when the writer Stan Kesler asked him to record a demo of the song.

He then moved on to Meteor Records and then King Records where he recorded his best-known work. When his King contract ran out he still continued to perform, although Feathers—perhaps typically—thought there was a conspiracy to keep his music from gaining the popularity it deserved.

Feathers' song, "That Certain Female" was featured on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill: Volume 1. His "Can't Hardly Stand It" was featured on the follow-up Kill Bill: Volume 2 soundtrack, as well as the highly successful video game Grand Theft Auto V. A brief bit of "Can't Hardly Stand It" was also featured in the 2013 film Only Lovers Left Alive.

Charlie Feathers' pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Bob Dylan has featured Charlie Feathers on the second season of his XM satellite radio show Theme Time Radio Hour, playing Feathers' records "One Hand Loose" (on the "Countdown" show, Dec. 12, 2007) and "Defrost Your Heart" (on the "Cold" show, April 2, 2008). His song "Can't Hardly Stand It" is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V on the game's radio station, Rebel Radio. Feathers is an inductee in the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.

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