The Fireballs

This New Mexican group was the primary exponent of the Tex-Mex sound in the instrumental rock & roll of the late '50s and early '60s, landing three Top 40 hits, "Torquay," "Bulldog," and "Quite a Party." Paced by the clean, economic guitar lines of <a href="spotify:artist:0raTKSCRYkY4vwbvLEtK2x">George Tomsco</a>, their moody, laconic arrangements and dextrous picking was similar in essential respects to <a href="spotify:artist:2GaayiIs1kcyNqRXQuzp35">the Ventures</a>. The Fireballs, who used the same <a href="spotify:artist:5M0cZ39iat2YdgcQX627oq">Norman Petty</a>-run studio in Clovis, NM, as <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Buddy Holly</a>, had a much more prominent "border" music feel to their melodies than <a href="spotify:artist:2GaayiIs1kcyNqRXQuzp35">the Ventures</a>. The Ventures, on the other hand, had a much more full-bodied and versatile attack, accounting to a large degree for the Fireballs' comparatively slight place in history.

The Fireballs, who occasionally sang on their recordings, are actually much more famous for their controversial contributions to the <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Buddy Holly</a> legacy. In the early '60s, in association with <a href="spotify:artist:5M0cZ39iat2YdgcQX627oq">Petty</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Holly</a>'s former producer and manager), they overdubbed some of <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Holly</a>'s demo tapes for posthumous release. Some <a href="spotify:artist:3wYyutjgII8LJVVOLrGI0D">Holly</a> fans claim that these performances should have been left to stand as they were; <a href="spotify:artist:5M0cZ39iat2YdgcQX627oq">Petty</a>, and others, have claimed (dubiously) that they were only salvageable for commercial release via such overdubs.

In 1963, the Fireballs hooked up with singer <a href="spotify:artist:6Vg8U5m1yHwqRyQMi87tay">Jimmy Gilmer</a>. As <a href="spotify:artist:6Vg8U5m1yHwqRyQMi87tay">Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs</a>, they had one of the biggest hits of 1963 with a number-one smash lightweight-pop ditty, "Sugar Shack." A similar follow-up, "Daisy Petal Pickin'," made the Top 20, but the British Invasion wiped them out immediately. The Fireballs, sans <a href="spotify:artist:6Vg8U5m1yHwqRyQMi87tay">Gilmer</a>, made one last unexpected comeback in 1968, when their "Bottle of Wine" (featuring vocals by the group themselves) made the Top Ten. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi