| Taken from a March 1974 article entitled "Have You Ever Heard Of Rebel Records?", in "Whiskey, Women, and..." magazine, by John Breckow, we find this opinion on the infamous little label that could...and did. "Times have changed, and Jay Miller's interests have changed. From the swamps Miller brought forth a new era of blues recordings. Crude in rural intensity were the downhome blues of ...Lightnin' Slim, Lonesome Sundown, Lazy Lester, and Slim Harpo...as romantic as the swamps they came from. Pulling into Crowley...I was hot on the trail of the legendary Rebel Records. Jay Miller...pot-bellied, perspiring, and pensive, watched...with indifference, until I quizzed, "Do you have any Rebel Records?" He slid behind the counter, and brought forth from the back room, some of the most controversial recordings ever made in America. That's Johnny Rebel. Yet another romantic synonym to cover up the identity of what is rumored to be a well-known country singer. Many of the "Rebs" take a bitterly cynical racist view. Others serve as a warning...from the "Kajun Ku Klux Klan". "You got that nigger problem out there?" I offered a patronizing nod. It was hard to believe...it was Miller who wrote...for Lonesome Sundown, Lazy Lester, and Lightnin' Slim under his pen name, "J. West". It was also under his pen name that he authored many of the Rebel Records. As striking as one finds these records...we find Jay Miller's blues recordings that are revered as classics in the rich history of the blues. And, presumably, just as important...and historical, will be his Johnny Rebel records in the history of racism in recorded music." Clearly, these recordings were causing raised brows from the time of their release, and still are today. Their impact has been enormous, as evidenced by the fact that, behind a few of the early Beatles lp's on VeeJay Records, these Rebel recordings are some of the most bootlegged records in history. Was it so strange, however? The liner notes from the 'For Segregationists Only' lp best explain this seeming dichotomy. "These selections express the feeling, anxiety, confusion, and problems during the political transformation of our way of life...Transformations that have changed peace and tranquility into riots and demonstrations which have produced mass destruction, confusion, bloodshed, and even loss of life..." J.D. Miller, when asked about the reasons for ever producing such records in the first place, responded this way, "Of course, we had a lot of fingers pointed at us, and by a lot of people less friendly to blacks than I am. I've always been friendly with blacks, and we never did hide the fact that we were recording these records. We had blacks sitting in on the sessions, and a lot of blacks agreed with what we said. We're not hypocritical about it. You'll find my address on there. I didn't try and hide it. There were others...but they wouldn't put their address on the labels like we did. I never had any black people object to our records. Though I did have some white people that were amazed at what we did. I met some white hypocrites that tried to stir up some trouble with it, but they wouldn't dare sit down and eat with a black. I just ignored them. I've been eating and drinking with blacks since 1946, as long as I've been making records. It was nothing new, but I didn't have anybody telling me I HAD to do it. That makes a big difference, and I choose my friends. And I don't choose them based on their skin color. The Reb Rebel Records were at the times of the civil rights disputes...They even had a black radio station down in Port Arthur playing it...Kind of like an Amos n' Andy skit..." And in all fairness, one does have to remember that these records were made during a very troubling time in our nation's history, for many. Forced integration, voting rights, civil liberties disputes,etc., were all major issues at the time. It's easy to look back on that era, and the players involved, as a bunch of backwards-thinking racist bigots. That would be oversimplifying, every bit as much as some folks feel these songs are guilty of doing, a very complex and sensitive group of issues. At least these gentlemen chose the mediums of music, and humor (No matter how black you may feel the humor is, no pun intended. Alright, maybe a little one.), to try and express the feelings, and changes, these very visceral events in their lives caused them. It left us with, inarguably, a series of the finest, and most interesting, collection's of music to be heard. Beyond these 'midnite recording sessions', that produced all the Johnny Rebel recordings we're now so familiar with, Clifford Trahan made some additional recordings under still more pseudo-names, to be released on Rebel Record's sister label's in the ensuing years. Such as X-Rated (In the late 70's, as Filthy McNasty), Master-Trax (In the mid-late 70's, as Johnny Blaine & Cross Country), and even as a songwriter for Sammy Kershaw (Double Talk on Par-T Rec.), Warren Storm (The Johnny Rebel band's drummer, on Showtime Records.), countless others who asked not to be mentioned in connection with his Johnny Rebel persona (Some of whom even performed his music at the Grand Ole Opry) and none other than Al Ferrier (where he wrote a few of the songs on Ferrier's '55 To '75-The Back Sound of Rockabilly lp). All the while, of course, playing live as every one of his various incarnation's, BUT Johnny Rebel. Other than the one time that he performed 'Looking For A Handout' on Main Street in a small Louisiana town, these recordings were never performed live, apparently. So why is it then, of all the artists represented by Rebel Records during that turbulent era, that Johnny Rebel, and his recordings, have become far and away the best-known, and best-loved, of the bunch? And why is he more popular now than he ever hoped to be in the days when these recordings were new? Beyond the fact that, if you can look past the subject matter of these records, they are some of the finest swampbilly sides ever recorded (musically speaking), they appear to have touched a very sensitive nerve in some that still gets a very strong reaction even 30+ years later. And, oddly enough, most of his fans don't think of themselves as racists, or even seperatists, any more than many of the individuals involved in making them did. Yet, more people than care to admit it can join right in and sing along with every one of these recordings, even as obscure as they are. Whatever the nature of their appeal, Johnny Rebel's records have become some of the most renowned recordings in history, and he has truly become a legend in his own time. Mr. Trahan, incidentally, still works, though easily old enough to retire, and still won't 'take a hand-out'. (Not even Social Security, evidently.) You can't say he doesn't practice what he preaches. (And he is still actively writing music today, nearly 45 years after his first release.) J.D. Miller is now deceased. |
| PART 2 |