The Traits

The Traits/aka Roy Head and The Traits, were originally formed by Roy Head and Tommy Bolton of San Marcos, TX in 1957. They would record and perform in the rockabilly, rock n roll and r & b styles for the next 9 years. The original group consisted of fellow high school students Roy Head (vocals), Tommy Bolton (rhythm guitar) (1941-2003), Gerry Gibson (drums), Dan Buie (piano), Clyde Causey (lead guitar), and Bill Pennington (bass). When Causey joined the military he was replaced by George Frazier (1941-1996) just before the band started their recording career at Tanner N Texas (TNT) Recording Company, owned by Bob Tanner and located in San Antonio, Texas. The Traits (Roy Head vcls) had several regional hits at TNT with songs such as "One More Time", "Live It Up", both released in 1959, and "Summertime Love" (1960), establishing themselves in the late 1950s and the early 1960s as one of the premier teenage Texas-based rock and roll bands while playing the concert, sock hop, college and university and dance hall circuits throughout Texas. It was during this period that the parents of The Traits turned down Dick Clark's invitation for the boys to appear on American Bandstand, which ABC had started broadcasting nationwide from Philadelphia in 1957. Given the way in which the Traits attacked their music, coupled with the remarkable showmanship skills of Roy Head, the adults were apprehensive about what might come of national exposure. At the time, all of the Traits were "minors," and some were still in high school. In 1961 and 1962 The Traits added saxophonists David McCumber and Danny Gomez to the lineup and produced additional Texas/regional hits from Renner Records, a label owned by Jessie Schneider of San Antonio,TX. Renner label #221 and Ascot #2108, a subsiderary of United Artists Records, distributed The Traits version of Ray Sharpe's 1959 classic "Linda Lu,” with "Little Mama" by Dan Buie and Roy Head on the B-side. Renner Records also released The Traits "Got My Mojo Working" and WO WO on label #229. The Renner Record recordings were taped and mastered at Jeff Smith's Texas Sound Studio in San Antonio, Tx. After attending SWTSTC (TSU) for 2 years, Buie, who played guitar and harmonica as well as keyboards, taught for several years before settling into public health administration after receiving his baccalaureate degree and doing post graduate studies at The University of Texas. Tommy Bolton organized and played with other Central Texas musical groups while both he and Clyde Causey launched careers with the Department Of The Treasury. Danny Gomez would graduate from SWTSTC (TSU) and later earn his doctorate at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. Little is known of the career path of David McCumber, but George Frazier would pursue real estate investment interests, and Bill Pennington would follow in his Mother's footsteps and become a successful owner of Pennington Funeral Home in San Marcos, TX. Only Head and Gibson would continue with careers in music. The songwriting talents and subsequent recording successes of The (original) Traits during their first 5 years on a regional level under the watchful eyes of Ms. Edra Pennington (1913-2005)[6] and Dr. T.R. Buie(1909-2000), would lay the groundwork for what would happen in the group's last 4 years.] Roy Head and the Traits signed with Scepter Records in 1964. Scepter had developed a nationwide network of independent distributors while working with The Shirelles. By this time Gene Kurtz had replaced Pennington at bass, Kenny Williams had replaced Clark at lead guitar, Ronnie Barton's trumpet was added to the mix and backup singer Sarah Fulcher started performing with the group. Roy Head and the Traits even released a vinyl 45 featuring the vocals of Roy and Sarah on the Lori label #9551: Get Back (later released on Scepter #12124) and Never Make Me Blue. In 1965 the band signed with producer Huey Meaux of Houston, Texas, who maintained a stable of record labels. Treat Her Right (song) was recorded at Gold Star Studios (later known as SugarHill Recording Studios) in Houston. Issued on Don Robey's (Nov. 1, 1903 - June 16, 1975) Back Beat label, it reached #2 on both the U.S. Pop and R&B charts in 1965, behind The Beatles' "Yesterday. Treat Her Right (song), with its blazing horns and punchy rhythm. The fact that this was accomplished during the high point of the British Invasion makes it all the more impressive. By 1995 Treat Her Right (song) had been covered by as many as 20 nationally known recording artists including the Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bon Jovi and both Mae West and Barbara Mandrell under the title of "Treat Him Right". Even Bob Dylan, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tom Jones covered it "live." Roy Head and the Traits "Just A Little Bit" and the bluesy-rockabilly hybrid, "Apple Of My Eye" also cracked the Top 40 in 1965. However, those were tiny hits in the wake of Treat Her Right (song), which is estimated to have sold over 4 million copies worldwide, and was a featured song, along with Wilson Pickett's Mustang Sally (song) and Steve Cropper's In the Midnight Hour, in the successful 1991 motion picture, The Commitments. In 1965 TNT released the group's first album consisting of their music recorded for TNT and Renner Records, TLP #101 entitled "Roy Head and the Traits," which was also distributed by the New York based Scepter Records. Goldmine Album Price Guide offers a counterfeit caution when buying this album. The original from TNT and the legitimate Scepter 2nd pressings do NOT include the song "Treat Her Right." The counterfeit album is also attributed to TNT, but with blue lettering on the label rather than the TNT red. A CD offering 30 tracks today and containing the original red, black and yellow graphics on its cover is considered an off-shoot of the counterfeit vinyl version of the album. Video clips from this time period show Head to have been a dynamic and versatile eccentric dancer; there are at least three extant clips of him performing "Treat Her Right" and each one is different than the others in terms of choreography. Modern viewers have compared his jumps and slides to those of James Brown or even the Nicholas Brothers; because he was white but his footwork included moves popular among African American gymnastic dancers, he was sometimes said to be a practitioner of "blue-eyed soul." The earliest blues-laced, rockabilly styled recordings of The Traits (Roy Head vcl), primarily written in a collaboration between Bolton, Buie, Gibson and Head, have demonstrated lasting power with "One More Time," "Live It Up" and "Summertime Love" making periodic surges into the Top 100 in various parts of Europe. Joe "King" Carrasco had a hit covering The Traits "One More Time" and releasing it on Hannibal Records and Stiff Records (UK) in 1981-1982.[24] Two Tons of Steel covered "One More Time" again on both CD and DVD in 2000, Palo Duro Records entitled "Two Tons Of Steel-Live At Gruene Hall." Discographies reveal that much of the music originally written, composed and recorded by the Traits at TNT and Renner Records between 1958 and 1962 has been re-released over the past four decades numerous times by as many as 20 different record labels both in the U.S. and abroad. During 1966 and 1967, when Head was working with the Roy Head Trio, The Traits independently recorded using Dean Scott on lead vocals. Scott had previously been the stand-in vocalist while Head had been away in the military. In 1967 The Traits recorded with pre-fame Johnny Winter featuring Winter's vocals and blistering guitar leads, producing a vinyl 45; "Parchman Farm" and "Tramp" on Universal 30496. No one knew that Johnny Winter was just months away from bursting upon the national scene with his appearance at Woodstock. Johnny Winter would later re-release the track of "Tramp" he recorded with The Traits in his 1988 compilation album, "Birds Can't Row Boats." Roy Head and The Traits are listed among "The 200 Greatest Rock N Roll Artists Of The 1960s" worldwide. Most lists of the "Top Rock Songs" recorded include Treat Her Right (song). Roy Head is a member of the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame, the Texas Country and Western Music Hall of Fame and the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame. Roy Head and The Traits held reunions in 2001 and 2007. Both reunions involved performances at Kent Finley's Cheatham Street Warehouse, an early musical hangout of George Strait. During their October 2007 sold-out Golden Anniversary Concert appropriately billed as "Roy Head and The Tratis - For The Last Time," at Texas State University, Roy Head and The (original) Traits were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame[39] by the Hall's Curator, Bob Timmers. Tommy Bolton and George Frazier were inducted posthumously.