Jackie Gotroe

I was born in 1939 in Effingham Illinois, the son of a Cajun Frenchman from Louisiana and a Jewish girl from Rochester New York, an unlikely combination that lasted happily for 57 years. I inherited my musical ability from my mother. She sang with big bands in the 20’s and 30’s, even had her own radio show for a while. My Dad saw her singing in a speakeasy and 3 days later they were married! My folks loved to go out to the local clubs where all the dance bands knew my mom. They would always coax her to the bandstand for a song. Once in a while they took me and my little sister along. Mom would always get me on the bandstand to do a number and boy did I love it.I was a ham at an early age! I grew up singing pop music from the 40’s and 50’s, then along came Elvis and rock n roll, and that changed everything. I saved up and bought my first guitar, practiced and learned enough simple chords to accompany myself. I had a knack for songwriting and the music poured out of me. I must have written and tape recorded 60 or 70 songs in a 6 month period! My dad suggested that I play some of my music for Don Barksdale, a popular Bay Area DJ. Don spun Rhythm & Blues records on station KDIA in Radio Village, in a suite of offices next to my Dads advertising agency. Don passed by our offices everyday. He was 6’ 8” tall, and a former Olympic basketball star. He was hard to miss. One day I worked up the nerve to approach him and ask if he would listen to couple of my songs.He said “sure kid, just leave me a couple of tapes and I’ll give them a listen”. Don liked what he heard and signed me to a recording contract with Hermosa Music. Dons label was Rhythm Records,up until then,exclusively Rhythm & Blues. He signed me because he wanted a share of the white rockabilly market that was sweeping the country. He assigned me the task of getting a back up band together to play on the recording session. Jim Hale, a close friend of mine, found 3 young musicians from Castro Valley California who had the sound we were looking for, George Salas lead guitar, Don Beton bass, & Len Alexander drums...The Scamps! My name was changed from Jack Gautreaux, to Jackie Gotroe. We thought the spelling was more pronouncable. My first record was “Raised on Rock n Roll”,with the flip side of”Rock It To The Moon”. Don Barksdale recruited Little Willie Littlefield to play piano on the session, and Ollie McClay and the Mondellos to do back up singing. It was the first rock song ,and the first white artist on Rhythm Records. The next session was paid for by Gallo Wines. I was told to write a song to introduce a new wine that Gallo was marketing called “Golden Spur”. I wrote a Frankie Laine type number similar to “Mule Train”, appropriately called “ Golden Spur”. We flew to Hollywood and recorded “Golden Spur” and the flip side, “Summer Lightning”. I took my guitar player George Salas along for the session. The recording session was done at Keen Records. Bumps Blackwell was A&R man on the record, and The Blossoms sang back up on both sides.This was the team that Sam Cooke used for “ You Send Me”. Things went well and the songs were completed in time for us to sneak in two more sides at Gallo’s expense,” Don’t Treat Me This Way” and “Lobo Jones”. These last two songs were released later on Vortex, a label that Barksdale created specifically the rock n roll market. “Lobo Jones” was a hard driving piano pumping rocker that never achieved much distribution beyond the SF Bay Area, but became something of a cult classic over the years. To this day it is being played all over the world by small rockabilly bands.An original copy has been sold for as much as $3700! After skimpy record sales , Don released me from my contract, and I signed with a New York agency that got me a four record deal with Decca. I released “Childs Play” and Carolina Moon” under the name Jackie Powers. The plan was for me to interview on several popular East Coast radio shows and eventually appear on American Bandstand. These guys had connections! Thanks to lousy timing, the Senate Investigation of Payola was just heating up and was in all the papers. The DJs were afraid to take any thing in the way of promotional money, and so my golden ticket to fame evaporated. Things work out for the best, and looking back over the last fifty or so years, I’ve had a great life, a beautiful, understanding wife, and a talented, guitar playing son, who rocks out even out better than his old man, without giving up his day job! Thanks to all my fans who have kept my music alive.