“Ripsaw’s Jim Kirkhuff (Little Nelson), Jonathan Strong (The Spider), Billy Hancock, Tex Rubinowitz, their bands, and other artists participating in the Big Beat Records Rockabilly Tour of France. Picture taken outside of the Hippodrome in Paris – June 1981.”
Ripsaw started off being a partnership between Jim Kirkhuff, also known as Jim Kirk, and Little Nelson, and me.
I met Jim in February of 1969 at a party outside of Philadelphia thrown by a mutual friend. At the party, Jim and I talked mostly about music, particularly Buddy Holly.
Jim Kirkhuff at the piano, 1976.
He lived in Easton, Pennsylvania and I lived in New York City. I started going out to visit on occasional weekends and, for a few years on those occasions, we’d drink and play records and have a rocking good time. I had written some songs and he started writing some and, when we got together, we sometimes wrote together. They were different roots music styles – rockabilly, blues, country.
After a few years, we had a dozen or so. I would send them around hoping that someone would record them. This proved a waste of time. So, we decided that we should try to work with local bands and encourage them to sing our songs.
Jonathan Strong (left) and Jim Kirkhuff, Bethany Beach, Delaware, Fall 1976
Jim had developed a strong interest in bluegrass music, and his wife and he attended monthly shindigs at the Appalachian Fiddle & Bluegrass Association held in Bangor, Pennsylvania. It was there he discovered Louie Setzer and his band, The Appalachian Mountain Boys. Louie had a fabulous voice and could really rock the uptempo songs and make you shiver on the slow ones.
Jim had written a song with Jerry Lee Lewis in mind called “Country Hall of Fame”. He approached Louie about recording it with different lyrics as “Bluegrass Hall of Fame.” Louie liked the idea and so that became side A of Ripsaw’s first single – Ripsaw 209 (released October 1976). The flip side was an old traditional tune that Louie had been doing regularly for some time – “Sweet Alla Lee.”
In late 1978, Artie (Tex Rubinowitz) and Curt (Billy Hancock) recorded my song, “I Wanna Bop with You,” as a present for my upcoming birthday. At that time, they were performing as a dual-led band called The Rockabilly Show. This recording was released initially on “The Best of Ripsaw Records, Volume 2.” Tex occasionally played the song at his live shows. A recording of one of Tex’s live performances of the song from a 1987 pre-Christmas show at The Roxy night club near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. is on “The Best of Ripsaw Records, Volume 3.”
Jonathan Strong, The Spider
