Bucky Walters has been making people laugh since his days as a wise-cracking student at Wichita’s East High School in the mid 1950s. The recently retired hairdresser went on to tickle funny bones in comedy clubs, theater productions and the annual Gridiron show staged by local journalists.
But his first foray into show business was due to the arrival of rock and roll in Wichita. Like everywhere else it landed, music and culture changed overnight.
“I wasn’t the only one who was moved by the new music,” Walters recalled. “One of my best friends at East High was Robert Love, who also loved the new music.”
According to Walters, Love — who became patriarch of one of the city’s best-known musical families — took him to a club in the old Swallow Airplane factory on North Hillside to see touring rhythm and blues act Ike and Tina Turner.
“We got there early and heard them rehearse, and then we stayed for their show,” Walters said. “I was blown away with their music.”
“Two weeks later, Robert took me back to that same club to hear B.B. King. By that time, I was so fired up, I knew I had to form my own band.”
After graduating from East High in 1957, Bucky enrolled at the University of Wichita — today’s Wichita State University — and with several friends formed The Premiers, one of the city’s first rock and roll bands. Walters was the front man, sang vocals and played bass guitar; John Holt played lead guitar; Fred Underwood, rhythm guitar; Gary Cocking was on drums; and Carlis Castle played saxophone.
The band became affiliated with radio station KFBI and started playing local engagements. One particularly memorable gig took place at Joyland, where the young musicians backed up Chuck Berry. Although it was a thrill to be his back-up band, Walters said, the star “thought it was below him to rehearse with us before the show. So, it’s a good thing we were good enough musicians to wing it and follow all his ad libs and unpredictability.”
Two weeks later, they were hired to be the back-up band for Jerry Lee Lewis. However, when Lewis cancelled at the last minute, his agent booked recording artist Floyd Robinson (whose “Makin’ Love” was a somewhat controversial hit in 1959) as a replacement. Joyland advertised the event as “featuring Floyd Robinson and The Premiers,” which added to the band’s credibility.
In 1959 and 1960, the Premiers released a couple of 45s that can be still be found online, including “Younger Than You” and “Cruisin’,” both written by Walters.
As their popularity grew, The Premiers decided to try touring. Unfortunately, on their way to a booking in Minnesota, their trailer came loose, tumbled end over end and destroyed virtually all of their equipment. With help from families, friends and fans, they replaced their equipment and continued to tour — all while keeping up with their college classwork.
The following year, the Premiers went out on tour again, but this time with guitarist Jerry Hahn (later renowned as a jazz musician) and drummer Johnny Chiccarelli.
“Touring with a band sounds romantic, and you’d think it would be fun,” Walters said. “That is, until you are actually doing it.”
“Our agent didn’t pay attention at all to how far we had to drive between gigs. One time, after a gig in Rochester, Minnesota, he booked us into a club in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the very next night. We had to drive ten hours to get there in the dead of winter. It’s a miracle we even made it to the gig. And, then we had to drive back to Minnesota for another gig a couple of days later.”
As tough as those times on the road were, they are among Walter’s most cherished memories. “I wouldn’t trade my time playing in a touring band for anything,” he said. “To be at the veritable birth of rock and roll and having the best seat in the house to watch — and be part of it — as it swept across the country, was a wonderful privilege.”
Hear The Premiers
Several recordings of The Premiers can be heard on this website: https://rocky-52.net/chanteursb/bucky&p.htm
