Rockin Daddies: The Greyhounds
by Peter Aaron

“This music has so much energy, it’s so much fun. I’ve always loved it, ever since I first heard it as kid,” says The Greyhounds’ vocalist, Stuart Millman.

“This music” is rockabilly, the sound of country and rhythm and blues colliding in the 1950s Deep South at the hands of crazed, hiccupping hillbillies hopped up on corn liquor and animal lust. It’s a timeless, manic clatter first popularized not only by now lionized hitmakers like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Gene Vincent, but also by the literally hundreds of obscure—and often wilder—wouldbe stars who cut ’45s for tiny local labels. And the Poughkeepsiebased Greyhounds are without doubt the Hudson Valley’s leading
[only?] purveyors of this feral and most fundamental strain of rock ’n’ roll.

“Rockabilly, roots rock, early rhythm and blues, whatever you want to call it, is pretty much the only kind of music I’ve ever wanted to play,” says saxophonist Steve Greenfield, a father of three whose resume not only includes stints with New York garage gods The Fleshtones and revival-circuit favorites like Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs and LaVern Baker, but also boasts a bit of local political dabbling [now a New Paltz fireman, in years past Greenfield ran for seats in both Congress and the Ulster County Legislature]. “When punk rock hit in the ’70s it just felt like that was a continuation of this same early rock ’n’ roll stuff; great, simple music that anyone could play,” he continues. “So punk got us all to start bands, and that opened the door to us wanting to play older rock ’n’ roll.”

The Greyhounds began as a four-piece in 2001; six months later, Greenfield joined the other members—Millman, guitarist Mark Hollenbeck, bassist Jimmy Malthaner, and drummer Johnny Long—after Millman heard the reedsman say he was moving to New Paltzin an interview on New Jersey’s WFMU and called the station with an invitation to jam. No stranger to radio himself, Millman has hosted the popular “Jukebox Jamboree” show on Poughkeepsie’s WVKR for the last 20 years. Spinning up a winning mix of garage rock, surf,punk, early R&B, and, of course, much rockabilly, the program air Fridays from 7 to 9pm at 91.3 FM.

Currently, the band claims a repertoire of over 120 songs, mostly littleknown nuggets mined from rare records and reissue compilations; 14 of these road-tested rockers comprise the quintet’s debut, SongsOur Daddies Taught Us [Pair of Dice Records, 2004]. “People sometimes criticize us and say we’re just a cover band,” says Greenfield. “But when we play the songs we don’t just duplicate them; they always come out as Greyhounds music.” [The group has, however, been steadily adding originals to its songbook, several of which are slated for a follow-up CD set to be recorded this winter.]

Live, The Greyhounds really do make the songs their own, and in a big way. A recent gig in Woodstock saw the towering Millman dancing atop the club’s bar, cordless mic in hand and quite literally sweating Elvis as the band ran through raucous versions of Rusty York’s “Sugaree,” Gene Summers’s “School of Rock ’n’ Roll,” and other hot gems. But local club appearances are rare events for The Greyhounds. In the summer, the band finds more work on the vintage car show circuit, which sometimes pays better and has been a natural fit for the outfit’s retro-leaning aesthetic. “That Woodstock show was really good, since we were opening for [Boston garage rockers] The Cha rms , the c rowd was already familiar with our type of music,” Millman recalls. “But a lot of the time playing bars has been real a drag for us. Most people want to hear, you know, whatever the current ‘hit’ music is.”

“Radio shows like [Millman’s] and ‘Little Steven’s Underground Garage’ have really helped [to spread the word about the music],” Greenfield adds. “But to anyone who hasn’t ever heard real roots rock 'n’ roll played live—especially kids, since this music was originally made by and for teenagers—I would say this: You’re gonna love it. You’ll dance and sweat and have a great time.”

“To me, what we’re trying to do is keep the spirit of rock ’n’ roll alive,” says Millman, whose imposing build and boyish enthusiasm make him more of an overgrown kid than a middle-aged man. “Today’s [popular] music is too stiff and serious, too much rock and not enough roll. It needs a lot more roll.”

No arguments from this magazine, Stuart.

The Greyhounds will play a special Halloween show at Mardi Bob Lanes in Poughkeepsie on October 27.

www.myspace.com/thegreyhoundsrocknroll