The Story of SUGAR SHACK - "We've given it a signature!"

It’s the late fifties-early sixties. The Fireballs are a hot New Mexico rockabilly band with a slick Tex-Mex style, using staccato guitar lines way before surf music caught on.

The Fireballs had taken their name from the 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis smash hit, “Great Balls of Fire.” – which they had performed to thunderous applause at their high school talent show. The Fireballs first ever performance.

The Fireballs were having some early success with instrumental tracks like "Torquay" which went to #39 in 1959, and then "Bulldog" which went to #24 in 1960.

The Fireballs were basically an instrumental band, but they used a vocalist whenever they played concerts or went on tour, to help fill out their sets.

The Fireballs were using the same producer & studios as Buddy Holly was using. Norman Petty Studios. When the Fireballs needed a new lead singer, Producer Norman Petty put them together with Jimmy Gilmer – a solo artist who was also on the Petty roster.

Joining forces and becoming Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs - they took to the road.

At this point in the story, the band has just come home from their latest regional tour and they’re looking for new material for the next time they go back out on the road – which is going to be soon.

Another artist on Norman Petty’s record label - Keith McCormack – hears that the Fireballs are looking for new songs, so he records seven on his own songs on a tape and gets the tape to Fireballs lead singer, Jimmy Gilmer. McCormack himself has a band called the String-a-Longs –and the String-A-Longs also had their own charting hit - "Wheels" in 1961 went to #3.

There were seven Keith McCormack songs on the tape he gave to the Fireballs.

One of them was called, "Sugar Shack."

Keith McCormack said: "I wrote Sugar Shack early one morning, coming home after cruising until about four AM. I wrote it in my mom’s kitchen. I kind of ad-libbed it straight through the night and into early morning. My aunt Faye was up drinking coffee, watching television and ironing, and as I started fooling around with the song I couldn't remember what you called those tight pants girls wore at the time, so I asked my Aunt Faye and she said, “leotards”. We started traded lyrics back and forth, one at a time, as we both tried to outwit one another, and we continued on until we had the whole story."

Keith finished up Sugar Shack over breakfast - which explains why the word ‘coffee’ shows up twice in the lyrics.

“Espresso coffee tastes mighty good” and “I'm gonna drink a lot of coffee, spend a little cash”

Keith McCorack’s aunt Faye had contributed to his lyrics before, so Keith decided to share this particular songwriting credit with his aunt because of all the support she and her husband Johnny had given him over the years. Johnny Voss had been his band's original manager and promoter.

“And to tell you the truth”, says Keith McCormack, “at the time I thought 'Sugar Shack' was kind of silly."

The Fireballs listen to McCormack’s tape of seven songs and choose three of them to take out on the road. Over the next six months, one song in particular always gets an incredible response from the audience – the reactions being so good that the band begins playing the song twice in every show. That song is of course, ‘Sugar Shack’.

Because of the response the band is getting, they want to record it at the very next opportunity. And they do. At Norman Petty Studios.

Sugar Shack jumps right in with a short, snappy drum beat – and then it starts chugging away like a Texas freight train, in part due to a clipped, buzzing low-end Fender Jazzmaster guitar.

Jimmy Gilmer’s crisp, clear vocals slide in next. Remember – this song clocks in at a tight and 2:00 minutes even – so it’s gotta move right along. There’s no time for messin’ around.

The vocals tell you right away that this song is going to be about fun:

“Ah, there's a crazy little shack beyond the tracks. And everybody calls it the sugar shack.”

And then comes that distinctive whistling riff. Is it a piccolo? Nope. It’s the sound of the primitive precursor to the synthesizer, the Solovox. A Hammond Model J Solovox Organ to be specific, and it’s being played by record producer Norman Petty. Norman adds the Solovox to the track at a later date – while the band’s on the road again, and then he plays it back for the band later.

Their reactions are – well, why don’t I let their lead guitarist tell you about his experience?

It looks like time – and the record charts – show us who was right on that one. Talk about an “I told you so!”

Sugar Shack is released in May 1963 and for the next four months, it sells well locally. But it couldn't seem to break through on a national basis. In fact, the record label is ready to give up on Sugar Shack and try putting out another single for the band.
But a radio station on the Detroit/Canadian border starts playing Sugar Shack and it rapidly spreads throughout North America. In September Sugar Shack debuts as Billboard’s #65. The next week it moves to 19, then to 4 and on October 12, 1963 Sugar Shack goes to #1, where it remains for 5 solid weeks.

Its infectious beat made it a smash. “Sugar Shack” sells more than one million copies in a five-week period and is eventually named Billboard’s 1963 “Song of the Year.”

Some Extra Liner Notes:

- Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs were the last American band to top the charts before Beatlemania hit.

- Sugar Shack replaced 'Blue Velvet' by Bobby Vinton at the #1 spot.

- Sugar Shack had the longest run of any #1 record in 1963.

- And, there are two more Top 30 hits with ‘sugar’ in the title: "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies and "Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones.

You’ll be pleased to know that the songwriter, Keith McCormack, enjoyed a wonderful life. He continued to thrive in a successful singer/songwriter career, and as well, he pursued many other interest in life including becoming a pilot and an aviation instructor. A life long close friend of his said, "Keith was a very likable person, a person people just loved." Keith McCormack, writer of Sugar Shack, died in 2015 at the age of 74.

Lead vocalist Jimmy Gilmer continued fronting the Fireballs for many years. In 1969 he left to pursue artist management and record production in Nashville. He eventually became a Vice President of CBS Songs.

Of the entire band experience, band member Torres has said, "We were a band of brothers. We never fought. It was just a happy, happy time in our lives."

Sugar Shack. A rockin’, dancin’, ageless, feelgood song.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into how one of the top songs of 1963 - came to be.

By Peter Beamish
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LINKS:
Sugar Shack – Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs (#1, 1963)
https://youtu.be/ATgMNQfO0Po

Torquay – The Fireballs (#39, 1959)
Composer: George Tomsco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDQBkbWhCvE

Bulldog – The Fireballs (#24, 1960) Composer: George Tomsco
https://youtu.be/Icj7xQnNfsc

Wheels – The String-A-Longs (#3, 1961)
https://youtu.be/DlI36K0KOQs

The Fireballs George Tomsco interview 12/8/2017
https://youtu.be/DHa7HBu-mJU
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The Fireballs Members On ‘Sugar Shack’:
Jimmy Gilmer - vocals
George Tomsco - guitar
Doug Roberts - drums
Stan Lark – bass
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LYRICS:
There's a crazy little shack beyond the tracks

And everybody calls it the sugar shack

Well, it's just a coffeehouse and it's made out of wood

Espresso coffee tastes mighty good

That's not the reason why I've got to get back

To that sugar shack, whoa baby

To that sugar shack.



There's this cute little girlie, she's a'workin' there

A black leotard and her feet are bare

I'm gonna drink a lotta coffee, spend a little cash

Make that girl love me when I put on some trash

You can understand why I've got to get back

To that sugar shack, whoa baby

To that sugar shack, yeah honey

To that sugar shack, whoa yes


To that sugar shack.


Now that sugar shack queen is a'married to me, yeah yeah

We just sit around and dream of those old memories

Ah, but one of these days I'm gonna lay down tracks

In the direction of that sugar shack

Just me and her yes we're gonna go back

To that sugar shack,

Whoa uh oh
To that sugar shack, yeah honey

To our sugar shack


Yeh, yeh, yeh, our sugar shack