The Nashville Teens

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The Nashville Teens
The Nashville Teens in 1966
Background information
Also known as	Arizona Swamp Company
Origin	Weybridge, Surrey, England
Genres	Rock and roll rhythm and blues garage rock beat
Years active	1962 (1962)–1973 (1973) 1980 (1980)–present
Labels	London Decca Major Minor Records
Members	Ray Phillips Adrian Metcalfe Colin Pattenden Simon Spratley Ken Osborn
Website	nashville-teens.com

The Nashville Teens are an English rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962.^[1] They are best known for their 1964 hit single "Tobacco Road", a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom and Canada, and a Top 20 hit in the United States.

While playing in Hamburg, the Teens backed Jerry Lee Lewis for his Live at the Star Club, Hamburg album.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

The band later backed Carl Perkins on his hit single "Big Bad Blues" (May 1964) and also played with Chuck Berry when he toured Britain.^[7] One concert was attended by music producer Mickie Most, who subsequently produced the band's June 1964 debut single, an interpretation of the John D. Loudermilk penned song "Tobacco Road", which reached No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 14 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The follow-up, another Loudermilk song entitled "Google Eye", reached number 10 in the UK in October 1964. The Nashville Teens' record producers also included Andrew Loog Oldham and Shel Talmy. One of their recordings was the mildly controversial Randy Newman number, "The Biggest Night of Her Life," about a schoolgirl who is "too excited to sleep", because she has promised to lose her virginity on her sixteenth birthday to a boy whom her parents like "because his hair is always neat".

A further three top 50 singles, "Find My Way Back Home", "This Little Bird" and "The Hard Way", made a brief appearance the following year. Three subsequent records though, "I Know How It Feels to Be Loved," "Forbidden Fruit" and "That's My Woman”, all failed to chart. Jenkins left in 1966 to join The Animals and was replaced by his predecessor Roger Groome. Reportedly, Ray Phillips got an offer to join Cream in 1966, but he declined.^[8]

Although musically competent, the group's lack of distinctive personality contributed to its lack of long-term success, as did Decca's poor promotion. (By 1970, Decca's only remaining rock acts were The Rolling Stones and The Moody Blues, both of whom handled their own promotion.) In the late Sixties the group returned to its old craft: backing other artists like Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent.^[9] In 1971 they released a single, "Ella James", a Roy Wood-penned song originally recorded by The Move, on the Parlophone label, again without success.

Arthur Sharp left in 1972 to join the band's one-time manager Don Arden, and Trevor Williams joined. Despite Phillips's efforts, the Nashville Teens split in 1975. The band re-formed in 1980, however, with Phillips as the only original member, joined by Peter Agate (guitar), Len Surtees (bass) and Adrian Metcalfe (drums).

The band is still working. Phillips joined the British Invasion All-Stars in the 1990s and made three albums with the group, consisting of members from The Yardbirds, The Creation, The Pretty Things, Downliners Sect and other groups. The band did a cover of "Tobacco Road" that still receives airplay on XM Satellite Radio. The current line-up is Phillips, Metcalfe, Colin Pattenden (bass and vocals), Simon Spratley (keyboards and vocals) and Ken Osborn (guitar).

A 1993 EMI label compilation, Best of the Nashville Teens, contained a re-recording of their "Tobacco Road" hit which is the only version available on iTunes.^[10]

Dunford died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 20 November 2012 in Surrey, England.

Arthur Sharp died on 25 December 2023.^[11]

The Nashville Teens appeared in three 1965 films:

• Pop Gear, by Frederic Goode – a long series of pop artists play one or two songs; the Beatles play live for an audience, while the Animals, the Honeycombs, Peter and Gordon and Herman's Hermits mime in a studio. The Nashville Teens mime "Tobacco Road" and "Google Eye". In the United States the film was issued with the title as Go Go Mania.
• Be My Guest, by Lance Comfort – a family has inherited a hotel in Brighton. Their son works at a local paper and tries to set up a pop group of which one member is played by Steve Marriott. A talent scout scene is a pretext to present a few artists, among them The Nashville Teens who also back Jerry Lee Lewis.
• Gonks Go Beat, by Robert Hartford-Davis – set in the distant future. An alien from the planet Gonk comes to Earth to establish peace between the two remaining nations, one of which prefers rock and roll and the other ballads and his task involves listening to the Teens, Lulu and the Graham Bond Organisation.

In 2010 "Tobacco Road" was featured on the 4th-season premiere of Mad Men.

• Ray Phillips – lead vocals (1962–present)^[18]
• Simon Spratley – piano (1975–1977, 1983–present)
• Adrian Metcalfe – drums (1983–present)
• Colin Pattenden – bass (1984–present)
• Ken Osborn – guitar (1989–present)

• List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States
• List of Decca Records artists
• List of performers on Top of the Pops
• British Invasion

• Nashville Teens web site
• Nashville Teens biography on AMG
• The Nashville Teens discography at Discogs
• The Nashville Teens at IMDb