The Candymen - Deep in the Night - a brief history!

I picked up a 7” single today from a band that I have never heard before. This is a very common practice in my crate digging adventures, always looking for something interesting and exploring new music.

 

So what made me choose this specific 45?

A few things actually:

1)      The sleeve: It wasn’t a picture sleeve but it was an ABC Paramount sleeve that was in absolutely amazing condition and it had this really cool vintage look to it. Made out of grocery bag style paper with the names of many famous artists plastered all over it.

2)      The label: I recognize many label variations from my endless hours studying vinyl records. This particular label from ABC was older, but I could not pinpoint the actual year.

3)      The artist’s name: The Candymen just jumped out at me. I knew this had to be a band from the 60’s era when they all had these clever bubblegum rock band names.

4)      The Country: This is a U.S.A. pressing. How did it end up in Canada? I’m thinking it must have been worth importing.

5)      The condition: This record is in near mint shape. Even if the music sucks at least it is a good example of this label variation that I can reference (nerd alert!).

6)      I have a problem: I just love records. I didn’t find anything else at this dig, so I knew I couldn’t leave empty handed.

The Candymen were originally known as The Webs. They formed in the mid 60’s by guitarist John Rainey and singer/guitarist Bobby Goldsboro in Alabama. Rainey and Goldsboro had various musicians join and leave their band when it was first formed. Goldsboro did not stay long either, leaving in 1964 and beginning his own solo career. He was replaced by Rodney Justo on lead vocals. Regardless of many lineup changes, The Webs became a fairly successful local band in Alabama.

Roy Orbison was scheduled to tour through Alabama and was in need of a backing band. The Webs got the gig and meshed so well that they became Orbison’s full-time backing band on the road. This is when their name changed to become The Candymen (named after Orbison’s song, Candy Man). So, the official members of The Candymen consisted of: Rodney Justo on vocals; John Rainy on bass; Billy Gilmore on bass; Robert Nix (Paul Garrison for a very short while prior) on drums; and Dean Daughtry on keyboards. Most of their songs were written and produced by their friend Buddy Buie. Once they joined Roy Orbison, Buie also took on the role as his tour manager.

The Candymen continued to perform as their own band when they had breaks from Orbison’s tour. Also, during this time they released a handful of singles. They eventually parted ways with Roy Orbison and merged with another band called The Classics IV, forming the successful group called The Atlanta Rhythm Section. I learned a lot of music history from this 45!

The single I found is Deep in the Night (b/w Stone Blues Man). This single sounds great. I love how the quality of these old records doesn’t seem to diminish overtime. Deep in the Night is filled with great harmonies and chord progressions, fitting in nicely with similar bands in the 60’s such as The Byrds and The Hollies. It is a super catchy song that will stay stuck in your head for hours.

Below you will find a video of Deep in the Night by The Candymen that I found on YouTube. Enjoy!