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Peck Touchton Biography

peck-touchton
  • Born:
  • Years Active: 1950s
  • Genre: Country

It would be accurate to suggest that a true rockabilly fan's lips would appear to be permanently in a slightly curled state, if only to symbolize the combination of arrogance, mayhem, anarchy, and innocence that make this genre of music so enjoyable. Is this too much for a curled lip to symbolize? Any further curling would only be the result of mentioning certain artists, names that are not only laced with obscurity but just plain sound cool. Peck Touchton is such a name, by all accounts the real name of a performer who recorded a series of singles for the Sarg label in the '50s. This enterprise was headed by Texas producer Charlie Fitch, who began releasing records in 1954. Over the next two decades, some 150 singles were released by Fitch, and even if the A&R choices had been made at random the catalog would have still represented extensive documentation of the South Texas scene. Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm, Texas legends both, made their earliest sides for Sarg. Touchton fronted an outfit called Peck Touchton & the Sunset Wranglers, and recorded titles such as the quixotic "You've Changed Your Tune," the revealing "Then I Found You," and a literal peck of sob stories, including "Lonely World," "My Baby Ain't Around," and "I'm a Standby." His "Walk 'Em Off Blues" was one of the most frequently touched-on Touchton tracks on country and rockabilly specialty radio shows. Touchton appears on several different compilations, but listeners also have the option of investing in the multi-CD set entitled The Sarg Records Story and acquiring every track the label ever released. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi

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