Here we are in mid-May already and along with the spring flowers in our garden, several projects that we’ve been nurturing are starting to bloom. There is much to talk about and in a funny way; the latest project from our good friends at Time Life really is a perfect place to begin. As most of you know, last year, Time Life released “Jerry Lee Lewis; A Half Century of Hits” – a three CD box set representing a wonderful career retrospective including my Daddy’s very first ever recording from New Orleans when he was only sixteen years old. This box set has won critical acclaim and has been very well received by long time fans and first time buyers and everyone in between. My Daddy still says that this box set was one of the most comprehensive collections of his audio recordings and the best package he has ever seen. Now, after almost a year of planning, Time Life has done it again with their forthcoming release of a brand new DVD entitled “Jerry Lee Lewis: Greatest Live Performances of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.” Time Life as everyone knows is a company that really does things right and their Senior Vice President Mike Jason has worked awfully hard to source the best film footage of my Daddy’s live performances (some of which have never been seen before in their entirety) .
The team at Time Life wanted to make sure that Jerry Lee Lewis was satisfied with the way the story was told and that he felt that the DVD presented him properly. When we were in Europe a couple of months back, Time Life overnighted the rough cuts to our hotel in Oslo so that my Daddy, Cecil, and I could watch the video and provide our feedback and final approval. I have to admit, when we viewed the rich mix of interview footage and live performances, we were all smiling ear to ear as we truly enjoyed some of the timeless recordings. It was so great to see Daddy and his cousin Mickey Gilley for example just going at it on Ralph Emery’s “Pop Goes the Country.” In that particular segment, Jerry Lee and Mickey were talking about their family and their childhood and their love of music. Ralph encouraged the two cousins to “relive the old days from Ferriday, Louisiana.” Sitting side-by-side at their pianos, Jerry and Mickey started playing “Has Anybody Seen My Gal?” By the time they ran though a number of classic songs and got to Jerry Lee’s “Lewis Boogie,” Jerry turns to Mickey and says with a playful sneer: “let’s play a little Boogie Woogie…” You could actually see the fire burning in my Daddy’s eyes and feel the passion he has for the music. It was breathtaking! Even cousin Mickey was awestruck.
And all those classic performances from the UK and around the world (some of them quite rare)….it was spectacular if I do say so myself. As an aside to all those people who love to hear Jerry Lee talk about his life, his career, the early days of Rock and Roll, and his insights into the music business and the people he has met along the way, this DVD, contains a 15 part interview that my Daddy gave back in 1993 at Sun Studios in Memphis. In my humble opinion, this was one of the best interviews I have ever seen. I am so proud of him and I can’t wait for everyone to see it and write to me with their thoughts and comments. The DVD will be released on May 22.
That’s all for now. We are gearing up for a busy spring and summer schedule and look forward to seeing many of you at one of Jerry Lees upcoming tour dates. Be sure to look for my blog next month with more news about the comings and goings at the ranch and life with “The Killer.”
Best regards to one and all,
Phoebe
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