D.J. Fontana Premiere Podcast Episode

          Mr. George Klein:  Hey, this is George Klein.  And this is a very historic broadcast, ladies and gentlemen.  This is our first true PhoneCast.  And the show is called "The Life & Times of D.J. Fontana," Elvis' original drummer.  

          And I'm George Klein, a local Memphis radio and television personality who was very close to Elvis Presley.  Went to high school with him.  He was the best man at my wedding.  It's a long story, but we'll jump right now into The Life & Times of D.J. Fontana.

          Now D.J., are--you're in Nashville these days.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  I'm in Nashville, George.

          Mr. George Klein:  But, you're originally from Shreveport.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  I'm from Shreveport, you know, the home of the grand--of the Louisiana Hayride.

          Mr. George Klein:  Yeah. 

          Now D.J., what I want to ask you, before you hooked up with Elvis, were you just a staff drummer?  Is that what you were?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Yeah.  Well, for the Hayride, yeah.  Because they didn't--they wasn't big on drummers back in that time period. 

          So, I didn't work with all the guys.  You know, I had different ones, you know, artists there.  Every weekend they had different ones.  And some of them would use me and some of them wouldn't.  So, I had more sitting around time than I did playing time.  They just didn't--wasn't really hip to the drums yet.

          Mr. George Klein:  Well, how did it happen?  If they weren't hip to drums, how would it happen that you would be there as a staff drummer?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Well, I was hired, regardless of whether I played or not, you know, which wasn't much money in the first place.  So, you know, there wasn't no money out of their pockets that much.  But, they'd say, well, just sit around and if somebody wants you to play, go ahead.  You know?  And that's what I would do. 

          And there were so many different people, you know, that come through there.  You know, men like George Jones come through.  The Carlisles come through.  It was all mostly--Nat Stucky was around there for a long time.

          Mr. George Klein:  Johnny Horton.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Johnny Horton was there.  I worked for--.

          Mr. George Klein:  --Hank Williams, Sr., maybe?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Hank.  The old man.  I didn't work with Hank at all.  He was in and out.

          Mr. George Klein:  Did you ever see him?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  I saw him in the cars--.

          Mr. George Klein:  --Uh-huh, but--.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --At the KWKH radio station downtown.

          Mr. George Klein:  Uh-huh. 

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  So, yeah.  But, he was in and out so much you just never knew where Hank was, you know?

          Mr. George Klein:  Yeah.  He was--he was rocking and  rolling at that time.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  He was rocking and rolling all the time, Hank was.

          Mr. George Klein:  Well, I'm trying to get this straight in our mind, ladies and gentlemen.  This is D.J. Fontana, The Life & Times of D.J. Fontana.  That--Donald Joseph, as I recall.  We used to kid about Don Juan--.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --Don Juan, that's it.

          Mr. George Klein:  But, it's really Donald Joseph--.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --Fontana

          Mr. George Klein:  Was it--Dominic Joseph.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Dominic.

          Mr. George Klein:  Dominic Joseph.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Yeah.  That was it, George.

          Mr. George Klein:  Okay.  And you were born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Yeah, that's right.

          Mr. George Klein:  Well, D.J., before you got to the Louisiana Hayride, did--were you with any rock and roll or country bands around Shreveport?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  No, George.  Most of the--most of the bands I was working for at that time were like what we call wedding bands.

          Mr. George Klein:  Wedding.  What's a wedding band?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Well, it's--you play a little bit of everything, mambo, sambos, waltzes, you know.  It was mostly like--we had like three saxophones--.

          Mr. George Klein:  --Yeah--.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --A couple of trumpets, piano, bass and drums.  So, they'd call you for a wedding or a gathering, you know.

          Mr. George Klein:  I gotcha.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  And they'd hire these six or seven piece bands, you know.  And that's what I was really doing most of the time, working with these wedding bands.

          Mr. George Klein:  So, you really wasn't with a group.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  No.  Well, I was with--I worked some of the same band.

          Mr. George Klein:  Um-hum.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  You know, different weekends from time to time, so--.  But, I never knew who I was going to work with.

          Mr. George Klein:  But you--I know the guy who came out--one of the early guys to come out of Shreveport was Dale Hawkins who had Suzy-Q.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Yeah, Dale.  I did some stuff with Dale early on, too.  Yeah.

          Mr. George Klein:  That's what I was wondering, yeah.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Oh, yeah.  I did two or three things.  And the funny part about it with Dale's stuff, we recorded most of it at the KWKH radio station itself.

          Mr. George Klein:  Really?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Yeah.  It was way up on the top floor.  And you would have to do it after the station went off the air, you know, like--.

          Mr. George Klein:  --Okay--.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --Midnight or whatever, you know?

          Mr. George Klein:  Yeah.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  And we did several things up there on Dale.  Sure did.

          Mr. George Klein:  Well, he was--he was also early on into rock and roll, wasn't he?

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Well, Dale was actually--probably--I would consider one of the first guys.

          Mr. George Klein:  Yeah.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  You know, he had Suzy-Q and he had a couple of big records.

          Mr. George Klein:  Now, James Burton said he was involved in that somehow.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Well, I did hear that, but I'm not sure who did what.

          Mr. George Klein:  Um-hum.  Um-hum.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  There was--it was Dale.  And James said he wrote up part of it.

          Mr. George Klein:  Uh-huh.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Then the guy had--that had the record company, Stan Lewis, Stan's Record Shops--.

          Mr. George Klein:  --Yeah--.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --Which he had four or five record shops at that particular time.

          Mr. George Klein:  Uh-huh.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  And then he said he wrote a part of it.  So, I really don't know who wrote what.  I'm just assuming it was probably Dale. 

          Mr. George Klein:  Dale Hawkins.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  Yeah.  Dale was--he was pretty clever and he's a good writer, so--.

          Mr. George Klein:  --Um-hum--.  

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  --I'm assuming he just--maybe they took a part of his songs, like--well, back then they did that a lot, you know.

          Mr. George Klein:  Yeah, sure.

          Mr. D.J. Fontana:  They'd give you a third of it or a half of it or whatever, just to get it recorded.

          Mr. George Klein:  Exactly. 

          Since you're--in case you're just joining us, ladies and gentlemen, this is a very historic broadcast.  It's the very first true PhoneCast.  And the show is called The Life & Times of D.J. Fontana.  Very historic drummer in the world and in America--obviously, if in the world. 

          But, he was Elvis Presley's original drummer.  And he was part of that rocket that took off in 1956 or 54, 55--the mid-'50s we shall say--that went--that just really exploded music-wise and changed the entire face of the music genre and the scene.  And D.J. Fontana is a dear friend of yours truly. 

          I'd like to say also that the listeners, if you're out there somewhere, if you want to listen on your phone, your telephone, that is, you can call 650-523-6817.  or you can go to PhoneCasting.com to hear the show.