‘The Rockabilly Rocket’

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By David Burke | Wednesday, May 7, 2008 2:01 PM CDT | () comments

Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times Charles Paul Waters Buy this Photo

VIDEO: The Rockabilly Rocket
Longtime Q-C musician Charlie Waters and "Big Bass" Larry Solberg enjoy yet…
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Charles Paul Waters is enjoying several comebacks at once.

His music — a throwback to the 1950s rockabilly sound, especially Buddy Holly — has been getting Quad-City area music fans dancing for years.

But Waters — who recently changed his billing to his first name rather than his middle name — is making a return of sorts. The Paul Waters Band first played in the area during the 1980s with bass player Butch Karn and drummer Steve Rose. The group got back together for a half-dozen gigs in 2003 and ‘04, but conflicts of interest and “too many distractions” forced them to go their separate ways, Waters said.

He quit for a while and then began a comeback at open-mike nights late in 2006. He was joined by upright bass player Larry Solberg at Christmas. “I always thought he should have a doghouse bass player,” says Solberg, a retired postal worker.

Billed as “The Rockabilly Rocket” Waters, 44, works for R.R. Donnelley printing in Eldridge, Iowa.

He and Holly share a first name and a hometown of Lubbock, Texas — as well as an affinity for rockabilly music.

“That’s what sets me off, turns me on and makes me want to get up and go,” Waters said.

On the importance of growing up in Lubbock: “That had all the difference in the world, although I didn’t really know anything about Buddy Holly. I was vaguely familiar with the name, but really naive. I ... would hear the name from time to time, associated with songs. ... Then there was ‘The Buddy Holly Story’ movie (in 1978) with Gary Busey and that’s what really started me. I never had any desire to learn an instrument or sing ’til I saw that. That did it all.”

On his look, complete with Holly-style glasses, a bolo tie and platform shoes: “It really has more to do with the era itself. At this late date, people who think of me as a Buddy Holly impersonator are really off the mark. I’m roughly twice the age he was when he died, don’t have nearly as much hair and am considerably heavier than he was. I have to wear glasses anyway. ... and there’s no sense in wearing my regular frames.”

On the revival of rockabilly and its more aggressive offshoot, psychobilly: “Some of the stuff I do creeps into that. ... There’s a couple of songs I’ve written that are very much into that genre. ... I do like it a lot. It kind of caught up for me and evolved for me being with Steve and Butch and exposed me to other types of music rather than just ’50s music and rockabilly.

On billing himself as Charlie Waters after years of being known around the Quad-City area as Paul Waters: “Some people thought that was an odd thing to do at this late date since I’ve been playing for 29 years, but it’s really kind of a promotional gimmick that Kevin (Lueders, his manager) and I decided to kick around for fun. ... But my other huge, huge rockabilly favorite is a guy named Charlie Feathers, a guy from Mississippi who never really achieved the big time, in the traditional commercial sense. But ... when you get into historical rockabilly, he is like ground zero — the pillar, the granddaddy of them all.

On the appeal of rockabilly as a performer and fan: “Rockabilly has a real straightforward, honest, uncluttered sound that has lyricism. It’s really kind of over-the-top in a good way. It has a breakneck abandon, but very simple, high-energy stuff. It’s a nice, energetic mix of blues and old country with a really great backbeat. It’s hard to describe it in the shortest, simplest terms, but really that’s what does it for me.”

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Charlie Waters with “Big Bass” Larry Solberg

When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10

Where: Fumbles Sports Bar & Grill, 1716 State St., Bettendorf

How much: Free

Information: (563) 355-0073

On the Web: MySpace.com/bigkillproductions