Rockabilly View By Jennifer Allsup
Jim Anderson & the Rebels ~ Unfinished Business!
Jim Anderson & the Rebels have been performing all over California for sometime. This locally based band loves the reflections of musical genres such as Country, Rockabilly, Blues & Gospel along with some good old fashion Boogie Woogie. Jim and the Rebels cover some great Elvis tunes as well on their music journey. Jim started singing in high school, he received a standing ovation after belting out “Love me Tender”. At this point Jim felt his musical passion take off. Jim and the Rebels do early days of Elvis performance and are working on a country show as well. Last year the band decided to record their first album.
Jim Anderson stops playing music in 1992 to work law enforcement in Sonora and Stanislaus Sheriff Departments. Jim had some major injuries to both knees. Jim took an early retirement 2011 and back to the stage he went. At this point in Jim’s life he formed the band the Rebels.
Tom Farnsworth, the keyboard master which I hear the folks in the Valley refer to him as “fingers”. Tom is also a musical director and also leads his band in church. Boogie style music with some roaring “rockabilly” is Tom’s favorite. In Jim Anderson and the Rebels, Tom is the second part of their three part harmony. Mickey Yamo is the slappin bassist in the band and the youngest as well. Despite his youth sounds like his elders are always surprised with talents and tenor harmonies. Gregg Landrey a music instructor in Manteca, has been playing drums as long as he can remember. Mr. Landrey lays down the beats on his drums…. which makes Jim shake, rattle and tantalize the ladies with his jiving moves. Gregg has had the opportunity to play and record as far as Chicago back to San Francisco, opening for many greats such as some rockers that have graced Modesto as well: Y&T, Foghat and many more. Frank Masuccci a guitar player extraordinaire. At 23 years of age Frank recorded with his band “The Hamilton Streetcar “on Dot Records. Which lead Frank to open for another local rocking music band “Three Dog Night” local as in Big Mike Allsup lead guitarist of Three Dog Night.
Jim answered some questions for me on playing Rockabilly Music explaining, “Performing on your own city is always a lot of fun. You get the hometown crowd that cannot go on the road with you. They have been waiting for you to return, with new music, new stories, and a better show than last time. We enjoy performing for our hometown, as they were the first folks we ever performed for. They helped catapult us to the big stages, big arenas, and big theaters we are playing at today. When you sing in your hometown it is like performing for 1000 family members. They always support you and the love is always strong!
We work our behinds off at every show, no matter at home, or away. When you are away, folks might be skeptical about who you are and how good your show is…. We just hope that word of mouth has beat us to the show and people are lined up to have “One Helluva Time!” Our goal no matter where we perform is to get folks “Outta their Seat and Onto their Feet!”
As far as the new and younger generation of Rockabilly Music, I say Keep on Keepin’ On. Don’t ever stop doing what you truly believe in. Rockabilly music has been around for over 60 years, and I don’t see it being put on a shelf anytime soon. Always make sure that you are performing for the right reason. THE PEOPLE! They are what is important. They will be filling the seats and buying the music. See what you can do for them. Become personable and most of all LISTEN TO THEM!
Contact jimandersonmusic.net for your musical party pleasures ! Smiles, Jenn Allsup
