The James Gang (4)

Wilbur Walton, Jr., John Rainey Adkins, Jimmy Dean In October, 1964, songwriter/record producer Buddy Buie, who was manager of Roy Orbison's backup band The Candymen (originally known as The Webs (3), which included (a=Bobby Goldsboro] as singer) put together a group which he named The James Gang. The band was made up of Wilbur Walton, Jr. and Jimmy Dean from a second version of The Webs that Buddy managed, and Fred Guarino, Bubba Lathem, and Johnny Mulkey, from another of his groups, The Ramrods (7) of Birmingham. The group released a couple of songs on United Artists' Ascot label which did well in several markets, hitting big in Birmingham and around the South. A session followed at Fred Foster Studio in Nashville, where the group recorded a Buddy Buie/John Rainey Adkins song, "Georgia Pines". The song did well in the south, the midwest, and several western markets. "The Right String Baby But The Wrong Yo-Yo", written by William "Piano Red" Perryman, became another regional hit for the group. Other hits included the Northern Soul fave “24 Hours of Loneliness”. The James Gang signed with the Bill Lowery Agency in Atlanta, which was already booking many other southern acts, including Billy Joe Royal, Joe South, Tommy Roe, The Candymen, The Tams, and The Roemans. Wilbur and the James Gang also toured with and backed up artists John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed, The New Beats, The Everly Brothers and Many more. The exact number of 45 releases from the James Gang is unknown but there are at least 25 documented. Wilbur Walton Jr. and The James Gang are prominently featured in Greg Haynes’ book entitled “The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music”.