THE WYE RECORDS STORY
Wye Records, owned by former Sun Records rockabilly artists Wayne Cogswell (a/k/a Wayne Powers) and Ray Harris, has the distinction of being the only Rhode Island-based record company to score a national hit. This was accomplished with the label’s very first single, the instrumental “Night Theme’ by The Mark II.
After their initial success as Rock ‘n’ Roll artists (with, in particular, “Greenback Dollar, Watch And Chain” under Ray’s name on Sun Records with backing by Wayne, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis and a B-Side, “Foolish Heart”, written by Wayne), the two musicians had successfully made the switch from Rock ‘n’ Roll to the Country market as composers and producers. Sun had turned down their second record which was picked up by Fleetwood, but it did not fare well in the market. As Harris remarked in a later interview, “I decided that my future lay on the other side of the studio glass.” Cogswell had seen some success as the writer of “Someday, Someday” by Skeeter Davis. Harris was one of the founder partners of Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, securing his shares with a $3.00 investment and the delivery of a signed contract for the services of Elvis Presley’s ex-bassist and his group, Bill Black’s Combo.
For reasons unknown at this time, at least Cogswell relocated to Rhode Island in 1960 and opened up Wye Records. For their first release, they chose “Night Theme”, an instrumental written by Cogswell and frequent writing partner Ray Peterson.
(This is not the Ray Peterson of “Tell Laura I Love Her” fame. This Ray Peterson is the Rhode Island composer/pianist who had seen success as a songwriter with Nashville publishing giant Tree Music writing in collaboration with Hank Thompson and others. To add more confusion to the matter, his own publishing company is called “Laura Music”. He is alive and well in 2011 and living in Rhode Island; the other Ray Peterson passed away in 2005.)
Hiring the cream of the crop of Rhode Island session musicians, they produced what is now considered a classic. The players for the session (who basically wound up operating as Wye’s house band on future releases) were George Azevedo (tenor sax), Bob Petteruti (upright bass), Jack Welch (drums), Kenny Bertch (vibes), Freddie Starks (piano), and, presumably, Cogswell himself on guitar. The groove, which is stylistically similar to Floyd Cramer’s million-seller “Last Date”, entered both Billboard and Cashbox magazines’ Top 100 charts at the same time as Cramer’s hit in the Fall of 1960.
What makes this “coincidence” compelling fodder for speculation is that prior to the Wye venture, Cogswell had been part of the music scene which revolved around the RCA studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and included Cramer, Boots Randolph, and Chet Atkins for whom he had composed “Teensville”, a hit in February that year. We have no idea why he decided to split and set up shop in Rhode Island, but he did – and an advertisement in Billboard for “Night Theme” on June 27, 1960, shows the label’s address as: 625 Warwick Ave., Warwick, Rhode Island.
The record was a good-sized hit, but the song had a life of its own and was covered repeatedly by a diverse group of artists including New Orleans jazzman Al Hirt, surf band The Chantays, orchestra leader Ernie Freeman, Lawrence Welk(!), and Floyd Cramer himself.
Wye’s output ran the musical gamut from doo-wop to middle-of-the-road instrumentals and drew heavily on the talent pool they discovered in their adopted state. Among their releases by Rhode Island artists were teen crooner Dicky Doyle’s doo-wop rarity “Dreamland Last Night” ($75.00 in some record collector price guides); instrumentals by orchestra leader Tony Abbott and jazz trumpeter Art Tancredi; the first recording by Dick Domane, who went on to help found one of the state’s most popular bands, The Blue Jays; and WPRO-AM disc jockey Morton Downey, Jr.’s recording, “Three Steps To The Phone”, which received station play and sold locally. (Downey was the son of internationally successful crooner Morton “The Irish Nightingale” Downey. Originally from New York, he had temporarily relocated to Rhode Island to advance his career in broadcasting. Later on, of course, Downey made national headlines as a controversial talk show host.)
Wye releases dried up after a couple of years. Harris later sold his Hi Records shares to one of his partners, Willie Mitchell, and returned to his birthplace of Tupelo, Mississippi where he died in 2003. Both men remained active in the music business in behind-the-scenes roles for many years and both enjoyed a second run as performers during the Rockabilly revival of the 1980s and ’90s. Cogswell is still alive and active and his MySpace page lists his residence as still being Warwick, Rhode Island.
- “Big Al” Pavlow & Rick Bellaire, March, 2011 (Special thanks to Bob Petteruti)
WYE RECORDS DISCOGRAPHY
5-1001 The Mark II: Night Theme b/w Confusion
Charted in Cashbox 10/15/60, peaked at #50 – 10 weeks on the chart
Charted in Billboard 10/23/60, peaked at #75 – 7 weeks on the chart
5-1002 Claire Charles & The Terrytones: You’re My Ideal b/w Ah Do Me Kitchie
Picked up by Canadian label Zirkon Records (#1024)
5-1003 Gayle Fortune & The Terrytones: Teenage Night Them b/w I Cry The Blues
5-1004 The Mark II: A Robin Cried b/w Blue Fantasy
Distributed by Roulette Records
5-1005 Tony Abbott: Surrender b/w Sidewalks Of New York
5-1006 Dick Domane: Alone b/w You’re So Conceited
5-1007 The Fabulous Raiders: Summertime b/w C.C. Rider
5-1008 Ronnie Dee: Little Boy Blue b/w Never Leave The One You Love
5-1009 Dicky Doyle: Dreamland Last Night b/w My Little Darlin’
5-1010 Morton Downey Jr. & The Terrytones: 3 Steps To The Phone b/w Beg Your Pardon
5-1011 Ricky Ricardo: I Wish For Someone b/w Peek-A-Boo Mary Lou
DSC-1012 Art Tancredi: Edge of Sadness b/w Bennie’s Tune
DSC-1015 The Hatfields: Don’t You Worry b/w Come On Back
Thanks to John McCracken for the prefix corrections on the last two listings