OH BOY! A Tribute to Rockabilly

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Walt Hetfield has expanded beyond the bands original purpose to bring audiences OH BOY! A Tribute to Rockabilly. Featuring band mates Barry Eli, Ken Schleifer and Mike Long, OH BOY! revisits the genre of West Texas rockabilly along with the original style that came out of Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee .

“When we all got together to do the Buddy Holly tribute,” says Hetfield, “it became obvious right away that as a group we really had a knack for rockabilly beyond Buddy Holly & the Crickets.” OH BOY! A Tribute to Buddy Holly has been phenomenally successful playing to packed houses and bandstands. Part of the show includes the group performing the music of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. OH BOY! expands beyond that list to include artists like Eddie Cochran, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Ricky Nelson and Link Wray.

“In this show we do some of Buddy Holly and the Crickets music but I don’t go into character and tell his life story. We just keep the groove going so people can dance. People forget that rockabilly was the dance music of its time. We’ve had some pretty cool dancers at our outdoor shows”

All of the band members sing. The band is unusual in that Long and Eli alternate on bass. When Mike plays bass, Barry plays piano. When Barry plays bass Mike plays rhythm guitar. “Drummer Ken Schleifer is our secret weapon,” says Hetfield, “his attention to accuracy and detail takes the band to another level. We all get into the harmonized background vocals.”

Currently the band is adding Chuck Berry and Hank Williams to their repertoire. "Chuck was a black rockabilly guy to me. I didn't realize he was black until I saw him on TV when I was 13. Hank was kind of the grandfather of that style - love his stuff." OH BOY! A Tribute to Rockabilly begins it's third year in 2013.