Decca was interested in the newest trend, rockabilly, and recognized Buddy's talent but found Bob Montgomery's voice to be too country. This effectively broke up the Buddy Bob & Larry Trio. Larry was still in school & unable to travel as much as Buddy had plans for, so he joined The Four Teens, which happened to feature Joe B Mauldin on bass.
Buddy bought his Fender Stratocaster for approx. $600, Hi-Pockets Duncan tore up his contract with the trio, and Sonny Curtis & Don Guess packed into Buddy's 55 Oldsmobile to make the long trip to Nashville.
Nashville wanted its session players to get their share in the recordings and asked Buddy not to play his guitar (!), instead Grady Martin played rhythm, Sonny did lead, Don Guess on bass, and Doug Kirkham on drums. Owen Bradley produced the session on January 26th, 1956.
"Love Me", "Don't Come Back Knockin'", "Blue Days, Black Nights', and "Midnight Shift" were recorded between 7 & 10 pm. The songs ended up sounding quite country-ish, which Buddy was not pleased with. The Decca folks didn't think Buddy fit into their style either & were not happy that they hadn't discovered another Elvis at the time, the entire vibe of the sessions were quite tense & akward. Nonetheless, they released Buddy's 1st single on April 16, 1956 on D 29854, "Blue Days, Black Nights" backed with "Love Me". Within a few months, it was estimated that it had sold 19,000 copies.
Buddy wanted to capture his own sound on tape for the Nashville clique to hear, so Buddy,Sonny, Don & JI went to Norman Petty Studios for the first time to lay down some of Buddy's original songs. After these were sent to Decca, they returned on July 22nd to record more songs for the Decca group. "Rock Around With Ollie Vee", "Changing All Those Changes", "Girl On My Mind", "Ting-A-Ling", and "That'll Be The Day" were recorded. Owen Bradley deemed "That'll Be The Day" the worst song he had ever heard, and as a result of further animosities at this session, none of the songs were released. Buddy thought they may be happier if they used their Nashville session musicians, so as one last attempt, they returned to record on November 15th.
"Rock Around With Ollie Vee", "Modern Don Juan", and "You Are My One Desire" were given more of a Bill Haley feel with sax leads by Boots Randolph. Decca attempted a 2nd single with "Modern Don Juan/You Are My One Desire" (D 30166) released Christmas Eve of 1956. Again it was dismissed as Country & Western, got no promotion & did not sell. Decca A&R man Paul Cohen called Buddy "the biggest no-talent I have ever worked with". Buddy had to let his one year contract with Decca expire, and within 90 days of these last recordings took a trip 90 miles west of Lubbock to see Norman Petty in Clovis, NM.
Ironic & typical of Nashville marketing that 40 years after the fact of Buddy being snubbed by Nashville big-wigs, that a Tribute CD comes out and everyone is so proud NOW to have "discovered" and helped Buddy with his first success....whatever!
Recording at Norman Petty Studios