First in a series of posts regarding cool venues of yesteryear in the Corpus area. The Carousel Lounge was located in the Six Points area (1713 10th Street) and ruled in the mid to late 60's. Known as a proving ground for area rock-n-roll acts, the club also brought in many cool acts from around the south, including The String-A-Longs from Plainview, TX and Louisiana swamp pop legend, Tommy McLain.
The String-A-Longs were an instrumental group produced by Buddy Holly producer, Norman Petty for Warwick Records. They had their biggest hit in 1961 with Wheels, which reached #3 on the Billboard chart and #8 on the UK charts. The song has became an instrumental classic with numerous cover versions released over the years. The group later switched labels to Dot Records and also recorded an Lp for Atco in 1968.
Swamp Pop star Tommy Mclain is still tearing up audiences with his soaring soulful voice. Tommy began performing in the 1950's with fellow swamp popper Clint West, together they were involved in The Vel-Tones and later with a version of The Kings, a spin-off of the legendary Boogie Kings. Together in 1965 they released a duet of the 6/8 mover, Try to Find Another Man. Tommy's best known song is his blue-eyed soul version of Sweet Dreams, also a big hit for Patsy Cline (and the title of her bio-pic in 1985). Sweet Dreams hit #15 in 1966 on the Billboard Hot 100 and gave Tommy a chance to perform on Dick Clark's American Bandstand TV show.
In the late 60's and early 70's, Tommy recorded for Huey Meaux, releasing numerous singles and several Lp's on Crazy Cajun Records. Tommy had a long association with Meaux label-mate, Freddie Fender and wrote a hit song for Fender, If You Don't Love Me (Leave Me Alone) in 1977. In 1975, Tommy and his Mule Train Band appeared in the Paul Newman thriller, The Drowning Pool. Today Tommy is performing regularly in Louisiana and has made appearances at The Ponderosa Stomp and Austin as well.
More on the great Carousel Lounge in future posts.
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