Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones
Four kids from Spartansburg living a rock'n'roll dream!
The Story of Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones
ROCK'N'ROLL RECOLLECTIONS:
Stories from the Rockabilly Days
by Stu Frederick
July 2007
One of my favorite songs in our repertoire is "Black Slacks." I found it on a Rhino Records box set compilation called "Loud, Fast, and Out of Control!" The opening rubber-lipped "B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Black Slacks!" grabs you right away. By the end of the song, their hilarious lyrics on the state of teen fashion in 1957 will put the song in your memory forever!
The song charted #17 on Billboard and remained there for four months. They were industry favorites for the entire year, with multiple appearances on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, the Ed Sullivan Show, The Nat King Cole Show, Alan Freed's show in Hollywood, and, of course, Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Then there was the 13-week engagement in Las Vegas...
Clockwise from top: Joe, Wayne, Sparky, and Jimmy JOE BENNETT & THE SPARKLETONES!
All this while their firecracker rhythm guitarist, Howard "Sparky" Childress, was only 14 years old! Guitar prodigy Joe Bennett was all of 17, the oldest member of the group, which included Jimmy Denton on drums and Wayne Arthur on his big Kay "Fatboy" doublebass.
The song was their ticket; an amazingly mature comic take on teen fads of the day. Check out this excerpt from the second verse:
"Man, you oughta see me with my derby on,
I know that you would say 'He's gone!'
Black Slacks, mostly in the head,
Black Slacks, that's what I said
Black Slacks, I'm the cat's pajamas
Always runnin' 'round with crazy little mamas!"
When I first heard the song, I had no idea these were kids performing the song. I thought the upper harmony line and chatter was a woman. It was young Sparky, whose voice hadn't quite changed yet!
But it was more than the song that kept these boys rolling through at an unbelievable pace. Their performance skills were top-notch. They were a tight band with a syncronous, high-energy performance. There were plenty of "one-hit wonders" in the fifties. But I don't think that many of them were as in demand as these boys were for as long a period. It was the lack of a follow-up that eventually brought things to an end after a three year run.
Joe Bennett & the Sparkletones with Ed Sullivan!
And oh, what a run it was! I freely admit I cannot even begin to tell you all of the stories that came from their adventures. There are too many. Besides, there is a person who has already put them down for posterity. No one could tell them better than Joe Bennett himself!
A few months ago, I decided to try to find the man whose name is on the band. His guitar break in Black Slacks has a sound and finesse that I have always enjoyed and tried to emulate. I was still under the impression that the Sparkletones had been young adult pros and so I had no idea whether he would still be with us. Well, in fact, ALL of the original Sparkletones are still alive and kicking, and still youngsters when compared to many of the music heroes of 1957!
You can read their history on a Rockabilly Hall of Fame page. You can read a delightful series of stories called "Rockabilly Roots" that Joe has posted on the Hall of Fame. And you can visit (and I hope you do) the Joe Bennett and the Sparkletones website and drop Joe a line. He's been teaching guitar for about forty years now (sign me up!). He also did a hitch in the Air Force and retired as an air traffic controller. His lovely daughter, Lindsay, set up the website for him in 2006, just in time for me to get the notion to find out "What ever happened to the band with the coolest name ever?" Now I know!
