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  • From: "G.T. Tyson" <gtyson AT nc.rr.com>
  • To: ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: R.I.P. Hasil Atkins
  • Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 03:54:00 GMT

ROCK-A-BILLY ARTIST HASIL ADKINS DIES

By JOHN RABY
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Rock-a-billy artist Hasil Adkins, a one-man
band whose screaming vocals and freestyle approach to rhythm landed a
cult following, has died at 67.

Adkins' body was found Tuesday at his Madison home, where he lived
alone. The cause of death has not been determined but it does not
appear to be suspicious. The body has been sent to the state medical
examiner's office, Boone County Sheriff's Deputy J.M. Thompson said
Wednesday.

"Someone had gone to check on him and had found him," Thompson said.

Guitar. Harmonica. Drums. Foot-rhythm instruments. Adkins played them
all - often while singing. A yodel, screaming and a high-pitched
female's lark were some of his many voices.

The son of a coal miner, Adkins learned to played guitar before he
was 10. He claimed the only time he practiced his songs was on stage.

Known to his fans as The Haze, Adkins struggled for decades to get
noticed. In a 2002 interview, he said he mailed out thousands of
tapes and records over a 30-year period while fishing for a record
deal.

Even Richard Nixon got one, courtesy of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd,
D-W.Va. The president's reply to Adkins came on White House
stationery in 1970: "I am very pleased by your thoughtfulness in
bringing these particular selections to my attention."

"Hasil was one of a handful of artists I think (who) are truly unique
and truly individual. There aren't very many people whose music you
can identify in seconds. But he was one of them," said Michael
Lipton, a Charleston musician and writer who wrote stories about
Adkins for newspapers and magazines and later became friends with
Adkins.

"And like those kinds of singular artists, they have good nights and
bad nights, on a good night it was the most rhythmic, primal music I
think I've ever heard," Lipton said Wednesday.

"On a bad night, it was still good."

Adkins was the original star of Norton Records, a label built around
the primal recordings Adkins produced in his mountain home, beginning
in the Eisenhower era.

"People told me they wondered how I could stick with it, so many
heartaches and letdowns. I had 'em by the hundreds, millions I
guess," Adkins said. "I said, well, I didn't start to quit."

Adkins, who claimed to have written more than 7,000 songs, first
emerged hooting and wailing in the 1950s, only to disappear again.
European fans kept the rock-a-billy rage alive, and when the Cramps
did an early 1980s remake of Adkins' "She Said," his records suddenly
became hot again.

What Adkins sang about was just as unique as his delivery, which was
fueled by a 2-gallon-a-day coffee habit.

New York-based Norton Records combined new and previous recordings to
release "Poultry in Motion," a collection of 15 Adkins songs about
chicken from 1955 to 1999.

His "Chicken Walk" and "The Hunch" became two short-lived dance fads.

There also were tunes like "Chocolate Milk Honeymoon" and "Boo Boo
The Cat."

Despite his antics, acquaintances described Adkins as good hearted.

"He'd do anything for you, sing any song for you if he knew it," said
Juanita Pridemore of Washington Heights.

Adkins often performed at Charleston's Empty Glass bar, where some
out-of-town acts stipulated that he open for them.

"It was just amazing. It was like nothing you've ever heard," said
Leslie Nahodil, a Boone County nurse who met Adkins during his
occasional visits to her hospital's emergency room. "It was just
pure, homespun, country rock-a-billy music."

Source: http://www.herald-dispatch.com



  • R.I.P. Hasil Atkins, G.T. Tyson, 04/29/2005

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