Jimmy Stayton & the Rocka-Bye Band
Inducted in the Delaware Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019
About Jimmy Stayton & the Rocka-Bye Band
Jimmy Stayton was the most successful recording artist from Blue Hen Records in Harrington, Delaware. His 1956 recording of “Hot Hot Mama” was the earliest purely rock & roll recording made in Delaware. His band for the recording, called the Rocka-Bye Band by Jimmy’s then manager Reece Harrington, and consisting of Mort Marker on lead guitar and Honey Voshell on drums was not credited as such on the record label. After Honey left the band, Patsy Saunders became the drummer of the newly formed Country Cats. They recorded the next Blue Hen recording “You’re Gonna Treat Me Right.” Both songs were written by Jimmy Stayton.
By the early 1960s, Stayton was invited to Hollywood where he composed “The Hep Old Frog” for a Hanna Barbera cartoon project for television that did not materialize. Disappointed, he return to Delaware and recorded the song for Del-Ray Records from Dover, Delaware in 1963. Jimmy Stayton currently lives in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, not far from Nashville. Mort Marker currently lives in Glendora, California and is still involved in the music business. Honey Voshell live is Felton, Delaware, operate his music shop, The Drum Pad. teaches and performs with his Honeycombs band. Patsy Saunders passed away in the early 1970s. For a whole lot more about Jimmy Stayton click here.