Rod Willis & The Chic Connection 10" LP (vinyl)

Rod Willis & The Chic Connection 10" LP (vinyl)

Thomasville, Georgia was a bit out of the way for a record company seeking national exposure to establish its headquarters, but that didn’t stop Chick Thompson from situating his self-named Chic Records there in the summer of 1956.
The diskery only existed for a little over a year but release several first-rate rockabilly platters - and they’re all aboard Rod Willis and The Chic Connection.
Willis was one of Thompson’s premier acts; his 1957 single Somebody’s Been Rocking My Baby, waxed in Nashville with the vaunted A-Team in support, ranks with Chic’s hottest rockers (his ’59 NRC single is also here, both sides penned by Thompson).
Chic entered the big leagues by snagging the U.S. rights to the British skiffle smash Freight Train by The Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey and thus scored its only national hit during the spring of ’57.
It’s on this collection too, as are fine rockabilly outings by Pat Kelly, Don Johnston, and Cliff Crawford (better known under his legal surname of Crofford). In a brief timespan, Chic Records built an impressive rockabilly legacy given first-class treatment on this splendid LP.