Larry Collins, a guitar prodigy mentored by famend flatpicker Joe Maphis, and half of the ’50s brother/sister act The Collins Children, died January 5 in Santa Clarita, California. He was 79 and handed from pure causes.

Rising up on a dairy farm close to Tulsa, Larry (born October 4, 1944) and his sister, Lorrie, have been raised by dad and mom who nurtured their rising musical expertise; their mom performed mandolin, violin, and piano.

After singer Lorrie received a expertise contest, Leon McAuliffe, steel-guitarist for Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, recommended she transfer to Southern California, middle of a burgeoning country-music scene. Satisfied, the children’ dad and mom bought the cattle operation and in 1953 relocated the household.

After the children received separate expertise contests in California, their father recommended they carry out as a duo, a transfer that in ’54 earned them a spot as The Collins Children on the forged of Tex Ritter’s “City Corridor Celebration” (broadcast on KTTV and later dubbed “Ranch Celebration” for syndication). Simply 10 and 12 years previous, respectively, Lorrie sang lead and performed rhythm on her Martin 000-18 whereas Larry performed blazing fills and lead breaks

“Larry basically got here up along with his type in a vacuum,” stated Dan Forte, VG’s Editor at Massive. “Once I interviewed him for Guitar Participant in 1991, I requested who his early influences have been. He talked about Maphis and Merle Travis, however stated they got here after the transfer to California. Urgent him to unlock how he obtained so proficient so younger, he solely stated that he preferred boogie-woogie piano and heard gospel singing at a close-by church at night time.”

At first, Collins performed a Gibson LG-2, however virtually instantly, the children have been despatched to guitar builder Paul Bigsby’s store in Downey, the place he had custom-made or constructed devices for Travis and others on “City Corridor.” For Larry, he dressed a 3/4-size Gibson ES-140 with an inlaid armrest and pickguard with Larry’s identify, very like what he’d completed on Maphis’ Tremendous 400. He additionally added a Bigsby pickup close to the bridge. Within the years that adopted, Larry labored with Semie Moseley on a number of fancy guitars together with doublenecks that turned logos related to him and Maphis..

On “City Corridor Celebration,” the Collins Children performed a mode of music that was concurrently rising as a regional hit in Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Proper.” Rockabilly pioneers Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis wouldn’t hit with “Blue Suede Sneakers” and “Loopy Arms” till ’56. Additionally they appeared alongside main nation stars of the day in addition to younger rock-and-rollers like Perkins, Lewis, and Gene Vincent. Maybe most notably, Larry started to play astounding guitar duets with Maphis, a few of which appeared on the 1958 EP of instrumentals, Swinging Strings.

One other star who performed alongside Larry on the present was surf-guitar legend Dick Dale. Forte interviewed him in ’83.

“Dick dated Lorrie for a time and advised me that generally, when he’d convey her dwelling, he’d wake Larry and ask him to indicate him some licks,” he recalled. “Larry corroborated this with a chuckle.”

From ’55 via ’63, The Collins Children have been signed to Columbia, the place they recorded songs aimed toward teenagers, akin to “Hush Cash” and the rock rave-up “Hoy Hoy,” in addition to rockabilly tunes like “Hop, Skip and Leap,” “Scorching Rod,” and “Whistle Bait.”

“Columbia was below Mitch Miller, who hated rock and roll,” Forte stated. “At their age, the Collinses have been too younger to be marketed as rock and too wild to be marketed as nation. They have been really rock-and-roll pioneers who obtained misplaced within the shuffle.”

In 1961, Lorrie gave start to her first little one and largely stepped away from music. Although the duo made a number of TV appearances, Larry was pressured to go solo. Working primarily as a songwriter, he collaborated with Alex Harvey on “Delta Daybreak,” which was a #1 nation hit in ’72 for Tanya Tucker; the next yr, Helen Reddy’s model topped the Billboard Scorching 100 and earned a Grammy nomination. In ’81, David Frizzell and Shelly West scored a rustic hit with “You’re the Cause God Made Oklahoma,” written by Collins and Sandy Pinkard (credit score was later amended to incorporate Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote the same melody for “Rocky Prime” in 1967).

“Larry was one of many most-talented and least-appreciated guitarists within the historical past of the instrument,” stated Walter Carter, a guitar historian who interviewed Lorrie for the October ’18 subject of VG. “His hot-rocking enjoying on the previous ‘Ranch Celebration’ movies continues to be spectacular. When you think about that he was barely a young person, that it was the ’50s – the infancy of rock and roll – and that he was dancing and grinning via all of it, it’s a disgrace he by no means obtained the nationwide publicity that his expertise deserved.”

“Watching the Collins Children on these black-and-white broadcasts of ‘City Corridor Celebration’ brings a smile for each visible and aural causes,” stated VG contributor Willie Moseley, who interviewed them for a February ’13 function. “It’s fascinating, watching Larry’s rapid-fire stage antics – a tyke with a crew minimize, sporting a fringed Western outfit and that doubleneck. His prowess continues to be mind-blowing virtually 70 years later.

“I used to be additionally impressed by Larry’s loyalty to Semie Moseley,” he added. “They stayed in contact over the a long time, and wherever Mosrite guitars have been produced, Larry would order one other doubleneck.”

In 1993, Larry reunited with Lorrie to look at a rockabilly competition in Britain, they usually continued to carry out often till 2012. Lorrie died in 2018 and was inducted to the Oklahoma Music Corridor of Fame the next yr.

Collins is survived by a daughter, two grandsons, and a sister.

This text initially appeared in VG’s March 2024 subject. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.