SUSIE Q (Dale Hawkins)
“Susie Q” is a song by Louisiana-born singer and guitarist Dale Hawkins (1936–2010). He wrote the song himself, but when it was released, Stan Lewis, the owner of Jewel/Paula Records, and Eleanor Broadwater, the wife of Nashville DJ Gene Nobles, were also credited as co-writers to give them shares of the royalties. (More from Wikipedia)
If nothing else had sprung from there, northern Louisiana would still be renowned as the home of the Louisiana Hayride radio show, the direct antecedent of the even more legendary show from WSM Radio in Nashville, The Grand Ole Opry. However, this fertile musical landscape was also the home of artists as varied as the avant-garde (and anonymous) band the Residents, musical entrepreneur Dale Hawkins (whose song “Susie Q” was one of the first in the genre called “swamp rock” and was also the first hit song by Creedence Clearwater Revival), and a wealth of country stars like Trace Adkins (no relation to Hasil Adkins, as far as I know), Tim McGraw and Hank Williams, Jr. (father Hank Sr. was from Alabama).
(May 2011)
