The Hombres
The Hombres | |
---|---|
Origin | Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
Genres | Garage rock |
Years active | 1966-1969 |
Labels | Verve Forecast |
Past members |
Jerry Masters Gary McEwen B.B. Cunningham Jr. (deceased) John Hunter (deceased) |
The Hombres were an American garage rock band from Memphis, Tennessee, best known for the 1967 single "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)".
Formed in 1966, The Hombres comprised Jerry Lee Masters, (Leader and bass player), Gary Wayne McEwen on guitar, B. B. Cunningham, Jr. (died October 14, 2012; brother of Bill Cunningham of The Box Tops) on lead vocals and electric organ, and John Will Hunter (died February 1976) on drums. Written by Masters, Hunter, McEwen and Cunningham and released on Verve Forecast, "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" hit No. 12 in 1967 and was revived on the soundtrack of the 2005 Cameron Crowe film Elizabethtown. On WLS The Box Tops' "The Letter" and The Hombres' "Let It Out" were 1-2 on 20–27 October 1967.[1]
"Let It Hang Out" has also been used in a U.S. advertising campaign for Foster's Lager and included on the compilation album Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. An alternate version of the song by the disc jockey Barney Pip was included on the Pebbles Volume 7 CD. The song was also covered by Jonathan King in 1969,[2] and appeared on his 1989 compilation album, The Butterfly That Stamped. Yet another version was recorded by The Nails in the mid 1980s. The song appears as a hidden track on John Mellencamp's 1989 album Big Daddy.
The song's spoken intro – "A preachment, dear friends, you are about to receive on John Barleycorn, nicotine and the temptations of Eve" – dates to the 1947 novelty recording "Cigareets, Whuskey and Wild, Wild Women" by Red Ingle and His Natural Seven.[3]
Hunter died of a self-inflicted gun wound in February 1976.[4]
B. B. Cunningham, Jr. was shot and killed on October 14, 2012, while employed as a security guard in Memphis, Tennessee.[5]
Discography
Album
- Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) (1968) Verve Forecast – FTS-3036 Recorded in February and August 1967
Track listing
- "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" (B. B. Cunningham, Jr.) - 2:05
- "Little 2 + 2" (Cunningham, Jerry Lee Masters, John Will Hunter, Gary Wayne McEwen) - 1:40
- "So Sad" (Don Everly) - 3:47
- "Gloria" (Van Morrison) - 5:43
- "Am I High" (Cunningham, Masters, Hunter, McEwen) - 2:49
- "Mau Mau Mau" (Cunningham, Masters, Hunter, McEwen) - 2:15
- "This Little Girl" (Cunningham, Masters, Hunter, McEwen) - 1:58
- "Sorry 'Bout That" (McEwen, Stanley Kessler) - 2:15
- "Ya Ya" (Clarence Lewis, Lee Dorsey, Morgan Robinson) - 3:11
- "Hey Little Girl" (Cunningham, Masters, Hunter, McEwen) - 1:46
- "It's a Gas" (Cunningham, Masters, Hunter, McEwen) - 1:56
Technical staff
- Producer – Huey P. Meaux
- Engineer – G. D. Shelby, Stanley Kessler, Val Valentin
Single
- 1967: "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" (Cunningham; Masters, Hunter, McEwen), Verve Forecast 5058 - #12 US,[6] #16 AUS.
References
- ↑ "WLS Silver Dollar Survey". Retrieved 2014-06-18.
- ↑ "Jonathan King Discography". J_withers.tripod.com. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ↑ ""Cigareets, Whuskey, & Wild, Wild Women"-Red Ingle". YouTube. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ↑ "John Hunter | Biography | MusicMinder, the Premier Entertainers Directory". Musicminder.com. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
- ↑ Callahan, Jody (2012-12-13). "Memphis musician B.B. Cunningham killed in shooting incident". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ↑ "Universal Music Canada | Home". Umusic.ca. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
External links
- The Hombres at AllMusic
- Biography from The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin