Kenny Ewick and the Stardusters / Bob Hoban and the Midniters

Special feature, for Yoshihide Tabuchi, who was kind enough to ask: The Midniters Live at Lloyd’s Lounge, Shelbyville, Indiana, Dec. 12, 1970.

	Kenny Ewick, oil on canvas, by George Stevens, 1957.

The band sometimes known as Kenny Ewick and the Stardusters and other times as Bob Hoban and the Midniters in the recordings that follow here were Kenny Ewick (drums), Bob Hoban (lead guitar), Marshall Redd (vocals and rhythm guitar), and Larry Godbey (bass). They performed in and around central Indiana from the mid-1950s into the 1970s. In 1960 their only commercial recording, “Indian Boogie,” received considerable national airplay and peaked inside the U.S. Top 40.

The recordings here were made on reel-to-reel tape and kept through the years by Bob Hoban, who in recent years converted them to mpegs and in August 2003 presented them to Kenneth and Shirley Ewick on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, at The Fiddlers Three in Shelbyville, Indiana. “Wipe Out” and “The Sheik,” in particular, feature the drummer, who was 36 but hadn’t slowed down much.

Memphis (mp3, 3.3 mb)
Wipe Out (mp3, 3.3 mb)
Walk, Don’t Run (mp3, 3.1 mb)
The Sheik (mp3, 3.1 mb)
What’d I Say? (mp3, 3.6 mb)
Maybellene (mp3, 3.2 mb)
Honky Tonk (mp3, 3.9 mb)

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Indian Boogie, 1960, scratchy but listenable (mp3, 3.7 mb)

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		Top: “Dancing at the Moose” refers to an invitation to dance at the (Loyal Order of the) Moose Lodge in Edinburgh, Indiana, Saturday evening August 22, 1959. Row 2: Kenny Ewick and His Famous Stardusters at the Moose Lodge in Edinburgh perhaps a year earlier, left to right Bob Hoban, Kenny Ewick, Carol Lucas, and Marshall Redd. Row 3 (l): Bob Hoban and Carol Lucas after a performance and a few drinks; (r) Kenny Ewick ca. 1960. Bottom: Sweet Emma Barrett (r) and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, with whom Kenny Ewick sat in for a set at Preservation Hall in the mid 1960s and “did not embarrass anyone.”

In manifestations other than the Lloyd’s Lounge recordings, the Stardusters and Midniters who accompanied Kenny Ewick and Bob Hoban included, along with Marshall Redd (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Larry Godby (bass), Carol Lucas (trumpet), Tim Kelley (steel guitar), Gary Harrison (rhythm guitar), Eddie Glover (vocals), and Mike Brogan (rhythm guitar, who in post-Starduster days has become a successful mystery novelist—Business to Kill For, Pulling No Punches, Dead Air).

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“Indian Boogie” was written by Bob Hoban and recorded by Bob Hoban and the Midniters (Kenny Ewick and Marshall Redd) on the Midnite Label (966-45-010-A) in 1960 at the Indianapolis studios of radio station WIBC. It was re-released in 1990, along with hits by The Darts, Jimmie Dee, and the Moonlighters, on vol. 1 of Rare Rockers from Small 1950’s Labels (White Label Records, Oud Beyerland, the Netherlands, WLP 8951), and so is noted also in Terry Gordon’s Rockin’ Country Style: A Discography of Country Rock & Roll and Related Records, 1951-1964 (RCS).

	In addition to “Indian Boogie” by Bob Hoban and the Midniters, Rare Rockers from Small 1950’s Labels includes hits by The Darts, Jimmie Dee, and the Moonlighters. Click the image to go the the entry for RRSL 1 at Terry Gordon’s Discography of Country Rock & Roll and Related Records, 1951-1964.

Rare Rockers from Small 1950’s Labels, vol. 1, in addition to “Indian Boogie,” includes “Square Town” (The Darts), “Rocking” (The Darts), “Ramshackled Shack” (Lee Harmon & the Circle C Band), “I Love My Baby” (Ted Patterson & the Tunesters), “Guitar Pickin’ Man” (Jimmie Dee), “Goodbye, It’s Over, I’m Gone” (Everett Pauley & Tiney Wellman & the Gypseys), “Darlin’” (Jimmie Dale), “Don’t Believe” (Tracy & Carroll & Mickey Gilley), “Where There’s a Will” (Carl Trantham & the Rhythm All Stars), “Let My Lawyer Talk to You” (Jimmy Low), “The Unlucky Lover” (Buddy Kay & the Casuals), “Guitar Boogie” (The Moonlighters), “This Little Heart” (Dennis Smith), “Just Pass Me By” (Harrill Dee & the Sonics Band), “Rock Bottom Boogie” (Jamie Lee & the Sparks), “Wild Fire” (The Run-A-Bouts), and “Little Girl” (Everett Pauley & the Swinging Drifters).

Unfortunately vol. 1 (of 5) of Rare Rockers from Small 1950’s Labels is itself nearly as rare as an original copy of “Indian Boogie.” According to the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC accession no. 27225447), the only OCLC library that owns a copy is the Library of Congress (LCCN 92-776551). In mid-July 2005 one copy seems to be on offer from a seller in France (cover VG++ / record VG-, €16.00) at CdandLP.com, from which I copied the image above, here.

Click the image to go to the entry for Rare Rockers from Small 1950’s Labels, vol. 1, at Terry Gordon’s Discography of Country Rock & Roll and Related Records, 1951-1964 (RCS), and from that page click the speaker icon beside song titles to listen to clips (none of them recorded as well, be forewarned, or at least not reproduced as well, as Bob’s reel-to-reels from Lloyd’s Lounge).