#jay perkins

Carl Perkins, performing ‘Forever Yours’ on Tex Ritter’s “Ranch Party,” c. 1957.

"My life is in your hands, please darling, understand. ‘Cause I’m sure, I’ll always be, forever yours..."

Carl Perkins’ older brother Jay Perkins, who played rhythm guitar in his band, "The Perkins Brothers Band," alongside their younger brother Clayton who played an upright bass, and their drummer who wasn’t related to them, but was their friend, W.S. “Fluke” Holland. 

(I had a hard time gathering my thoughts today, but I wanted to get this out)

Imagine, if you will -- Carl’s older brother Jay and Elvis trying to work together to survive an apocalyptic event. It’s something that I’ve wanted to write for a while. It’s been on my mind since I noticed how in Carl’s stories of Jay, he doesn’t seem to like Elvis that much. Jay called him a “sissy,” didn’t like that he wore pink, had “filed fingernails,” said he’d get killed by a bunch of red dogs, and he thought Elvis must have thought himself as being “pretty.” I think he said these things because, like Carl, Jay too was insecure, saying stuff about Elvis was his way of venting that, and Elvis seemed to have this effect on guys. Also, there was lowkey rivalry at Sun Records, so shooting down Elvis could be his way of building up Carl.

I’ve always wondered if Jay ever talked to Elvis, or just made up his mind that he didn’t like him because Elvis didn’t seem to share the feelings. As he sent Carl a weeping willow tree, with a dozen paper mache redbirds attached to its limbs, with a card that read, “With love, Elvis,” for Jay’s funeral. So, even Jay didn’t like him, or they didn’t get along, maybe they could have if things were different.

I got to thinking, what it’d be like if they spent more time together, though most likely, it’d have to be something catastrophic, that get’s them to be cool with each other. Like an apocalyptic event happens while touring, in 1955, it’d be zombies because I just like zombies scenarios, and they have to learn to work together to survive, meanwhile, they become friends and maybe more? Me and my romantic stories, still, I like to imagine what they’d do in a story like that, and I pass the thought onto whoever the reader of this is.

Interviewed by Ralph Emery, in 1974, Carl talks about how he got the nickname "Little Carly," from his older brother Jay. Stories of him are rare, and this one’s so cute I wanted to share it.

“My grandmother used to keep a whole bunch of us little Perkins youngins’ while our folks was picking cotton, that’s when I was real young, and my older brother Jay - We called my grandmother mammy; Mammy used to always have a big platter of homemade biscuits on the stove at all times, and the kids get to fightin’ or cryin’, while she’d give us all a biscuit. - Well, Jay had eaten his biscuit, and he went to mammy and said, “Mammy, little Carly wants another biscuit.” He was gettin’ it for his self. "

• 12 Days of Christmas - 2 of 12 - The Perkins Brothers •  This version of "Everything Stays" reminds me of Carl and his brothers. I gotta admit, though I adore Carl and his brothers, I had a hard time editing this video but I like how it turned out.