Alfous Glenn "Al" Ferrier , Sr. (born August 19, 1934 in Olla, Louisiana; died January 6, 2015 in Natchitoches, Louisiana) was an American country, cajun and rockabilly musician.
Ferrier founded the band The Boppin' Hillbillies (aka Al Ferrier & His Boppin' Billies) with his two brothers. Their first session took place in the spring of 1955, when the song ‘No No Baby’ was recorded. This was released as the first single in April 1956. At the same time, Ferrier and his band completed a number of appearances in the widely audible KWKH Louisiana Hayride, where Ferrier met the young Elvis Presley.
In 1980 Ferrier received an award from the Mayor of Natchitoches City for 25 years in the music business. In 1996 Ferrier switched to gospel and released the album 'Help Me Keep the Faith'.
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
Links To Peel[]
Al Ferrier - Don't Play Blue Eyes
In 2005, the Al Ferrier single “I'm Not Drinking More / Don't Play ‘Blue Eyes (Crying In The Rain)'” (Master Trak, 1980) was discovered among the favourite 45s in John Peel's Record Box. It appears that the record had been sent to the DJ in 1998 by Deutschmark Bob of DM Bob & The Deficits.[1] Both sides of the single were featured regularly on his radio shows by Peel, who declared enthusiastically of "Don’t Play Blue Eyes":
The title of the track was a reference to the Willie Nelson song ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’, which was coincidentally covered in a July 2000 Peel session by Laura Cantrell.[3] Peel subsequently played the related Al Ferrier track to Cantrell when the singer visited Peel Acres the following year.[4] He had considered re-gifting the present from DM Bob to Cantrell when he visited New York in summer 2000 - although he decided in the end not to make the “supreme sacrifice”.[5]
Away from the treasured 45, Peel admitted he had previously been aware of Al Ferrier mainly as a rockabilly musician.[6] As well as the country-flavoured gift from DM Bob, the DJ continued to play earlier tracks from Ferrier's years with the Boppin’ Billies, as featured on numerous Ace Records v/a compilations of Bayou area music.[7]
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- None
Other Shows Played[]
- 1990s
- 03 October 1992: Let's Go Boppin' Tonight
- 18 October 1992 (BFBS): Let's Go Bopping Tonight
- 15 December 1996: Why Doubt My Love (7 inch)’ Goldband
- December 1996 (FSK): Why Doubt My Love (7 inch)’ Goldband
- 01 July 1998: (JP: "And the other day I got a letter and a couple of records from Deutschmark Bob out of Deutschmark Bob and the Deficits, and he'd been back home to the United States of America, and he found a record that I'd been looking for for quite some time and was decent enough to send it to me. From Al Ferrier, this is 'I'm Not Drinking More.'")
- I'm Not Drinking More (7") Master-Trak - 02 July 1998: Don't Play Blue Eyes (Cryin' In The Rain)
- 07 July 1998 (BFBS): I'm Not Drinking More (7") Master-Trak
- 07 July 1998 (BFBS): Don't Play Blue Eyes (Crying In The Rain) (7"-I'm Not Drinking More)' (Master-Trak)
- 09 July 1998: Don't Play 'Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain' (single) Master-Trak (JP: "And very nice too... Al Ferrier previously known as far as I'm concerned mainly for rockabilly stuff, but that is just two excellent tunes.")
- 2000s
- 03 February 2000: It's Too Late Now (v/a LP: Bayou Rockabilly Cats) Ace
- 08 February 2000: I'll Never Do Any Wrong (v/a LP-Bayou Rockabilly Cats) Ace
- 10 February 2000 (Radio Eins): I'll Never Do Any Wrong (v/a LP-Bayou Rockabilly Cats) Ace
- 13 February 2000 (BFBS): I'll Never Do Anything Wrong (Compilation CD-Rockabilly Cats)' Ace
- 22 February 2000: It‘s Too Late Now' (LP - 'Bayou Rockabilly Cats') Ace
- 23 March 2000 (Radio Eins): No No Baby (v/a CD - Bayou Rockabilly Cats Featuring: Al Ferrier]) Ace
- 18 July 2000: (JP on recent New York visit: “But I did do something rather shocking. Because she Laura Cantrell had sung ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’ when she did the session for us, not the last Thursday but the Thursday before, I thought what I’ll do, I’ll make a great sacrifice, because I never give away any of my records because I love them all and when I do give one away I always think, “I wish I didn’t.” And I had got Al Ferrier’s 7” single on Master-Trak Records from 1980 ‘Don‘t Play Blue Eyes (Cryin‘ In The Rain)’, and I thought I’ll make the supreme sacrifice here and take it over to New York and give it to Laura Cantrell. I didn’t.”)
- Don‘t Play Blue Eyes (Cryin‘ In The Rain) (7" – I'm Not Drinking More) Master-Trak - 20 July 2000 (Radio Eins): Don't Play Blue Eyes (Cryin' In The Rain)
- 01 February 2001: Don't Play Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (7") Master Trak
- 04 October 2001 (Radio Eins): Don't Play 'Blue Eyes (Crying In The Rain) 7"
- 28 August 2001: Don't Play Blue Eyes (Crying In The Rain) (7") Master-Trak
- 02 October 2003 (Radio Eins): I'm Not Drinking More (single)
- 23 December 2003: Don't Play Blue Eyes (Crying In The Rain) (7 inch) Master-Trak (JP: "Now that's what I call a country song.")
See Also[]
- John Peel's Record Box
- John Peel's Record Box 1-10
- Ace Records
- Ace Records Top Ten: "Any country track from the artist"
- DM Bob & The Deficits