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Jody Reynolds  

“ENDLESS SLEEP“

( JODY REYNOLDS, Delores Nance)

Demon 1507

No. 5    June 30, 1958

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John Wesley Adams encouraged his young nephew Jody (b. Dec. 3, 1938, Denver) to take a poke or

two at the family  guitar while he was  growing up in  Mountain View,  Oklahoma.  Jody formed the

Storms in 1952 with drummer Eddie Firth, guitarist Billy Ray, and bassist Noel Sutte, to play hops

and  barroom  stops. When not gigging or boxing, Reynolds worked as a cotton picker, an insurance

salesman, a  miner miner, and a mortician’s assistant.

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After the boys had rocked and reeled their way through the Western states for some years, a couple

named Herb and Liz Mantei, who had good  ears and record-biz connections, encouraged Jody and

his Storms to journey to LA and audition for Joe Green at the newly-established Demon label. Green

was  duly impressed and rushed  Reynolds—plus session players Al Casey (guitar), Howard Roberts

(guitar), Ray Martinez (drums), and lrv Ashby (bass)–into Gold Star Studios to record some tracks.

“Endless Sleep,”  a number  Jody had  been  working on with George   Brown (who wrote  under the

pseudonym “Delores Nance”),  was the first of  three tunes  taped that day.  Only  20 minutes  were

needed to lay out “Endless.”

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 The dusty disk is now a golden great–to pre-Baby Boomers–one of the finest of the “Death Rock”

ditties to gather a mass audience (others include MARK DINNING’S “Teen Angel,” Ray Peterson’s

“Tell Laura I Love Her,” the Shangra Las’ “Leader Of The Pack”).  Aside from the immediate follow-

up, “Fire Of Love” (#66, 1958), none of Reynolds’ half-dozen other Demon disks charted. Jody and

his Storms persisted and blew through the ’60s, disbursing singles for such labels  as Sundown, Emmy,

 Smash,  Brent, and Pulsar.   The Storms finally got to show off their chops, recording “Tarantula,” a

 rocked out “B­-movie”-like instrument.     Jody even duetted with a then-unknown Bobbie “Ode To Billy

Joe”   Gentry on one Titan single.

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Reportedly, Jody Reynolds lives in Yuma, Arizona, where for a time he owned a guitarshop.   He has

shelved rock and roll in favor of “prospecting or building houses,” according to New Kommotion’s

Adam Komorowsky.  His only solo LP appeared on Tru-Gems in 1978.