Roy Head - Direct-To-Disc Sessions [Vinyl] (2012)

All tracks were recorded live, direct-to-disc at Blue Heaven Studios, Salina, Kansas.

Roy Head is a kick-ass, redneck, rock 'n' roll legend and a real bluesman. He achieved everlasting fame with his gigantic 1965 hit, "Treat Her Right," which rocketed to No. 2 on both the pop and R&B charts, falling behind only the Beatles' "Yesterday." "Treat Her Right" — produced by the legendary Huey Meaux and released on Don Robey's Back Beat label — is estimated to have sold more than four million copies and has been covered by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Page.

Born in 1943 in Three Rivers, Texas, Head and his band of buddies, billing themselves as Roy Head and The Traits, scored their first record deal in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio while still in high school. The group released five records on TNT between 1958 and 1961. They had several regional hits before "Treat Her Right," and Head became a talked-about entertainer with dance moves so wild and fancy he began drawing comparisons to James Brown. And he still brings it, gyrating like a man half his age and working his microphone like a yo-yo. Although Head was a white singer, he'd recorded a song in an R&B style and thus became part of the mid-'60s blue-eyed soul movement that also included groups such as the Righteous Brothers and the Boxtops.

After "Treat Her Right," Head scored two more Top 40 hits with "Just A Little Bit" and "Apple Of My Eye." He also landed a number of hits on the country charts between 1974 and 1985. Roy Head and the Traits were induced into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2007.