"Hello, Mary Lou" was written by Gene Pitney, who was much better known as a vocalist than a song writer, and originally released by Johnny Duncan in 1960. That cut went nowhere, but Rick Nelson had a big hit with it the following year. Nelson began his performing career as a child actor on his parents' eponymous sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (who themselves began as a band leader and vocalist). He did not like to be called Ricky, as he was on television, and insisted on being recorded as Rick.
Nelson's "Hello, Mary Lou" featured an influential guitar solo — introducing rockabilly to the mainstream — by James Burton, who later led Elvis's band in Las Vegas and recorded with many country stars, including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris and countless others.
Gene Pitney had his own hits, rendered in his distinctive voice, including "Town without a Pity," which was nominated for an academy award, and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) at the bottom of the post.
Burton's solo begins at 1:00 (interesting decision to limit the drummer to a cowbell):
Pretty good for a kid with bunk beds and a Beatles poster:
Johnny Duncan's original release:
saw JB play at Amazing Grace with Emmylou Harris many years ago. Her original Hot Band consisted of Glen Hardin and Burton, both of whom had played with Elvis. Both of them, with the Elvis era drummer, Ronnie Tutt were on both Gram Parsons great albums. Burton is still alive and playing great. Watching him play is etched in my mind. To this that Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris were backed by such great rock-a-billy musicians still amazes me. And to revisit Ricky Nelson points to him as a significant step in the arc from very early rock to later today iterations. An important career cut short by a plane crash.
Let me add a little.
That guitarist to Ricky’s right was a fellow James Burton brought in from Louisiana
He was a bass player and that was where he really got his start.
It happened to be Joe Osborn, who became the greatest bass player for the LA studio Wrecking Crew (I know there is a case for Carol Kaye) who played on more #1 records than the Beatles and Rolling Stones combined. That’s just rock, doesn’t include his country studio contributions in Nashville.
If you check out his discography from the 1960s-1980s you will find an amazing number of songs that he played on. Those are just the ones he was credited on
That's him on the intro to Windy, the killer bridge on San Francisco and the great bass lines in Aquarius, Holly Holy and Ventura Highway.
He backed up Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Jr. and Mel Tillis.
For Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Paul Simon requested the Golden Trio from the Wrecking Crew -Joe Osborn, Larry Knechtel and Hal Blaine.
The most underrated bass player in rock history is Joe Osborn.
Some great covers of a Ricky Nelson standard as well as informative comments.
Gene Pitney is one of my favs. Here are three of what I think are his best songs:
https://youtu.be/5J_QoDrNhNo?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/ZTZXjuseX_8?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/ldcZkWLOTCI?feature=shared