Larry Collins, Rockabilly Guitarist (Collins Kids), Dies at 79
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Rockabilly guitar great Larry Collins of the Collins Kids died at age 79 on Jan. 5, 2024, at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, Calif. His death from natural causes was announced by his daughter Larissa Collins.
With his sister Lorrie Collins, who died in 2018, the Collins Kids were rockabilly royalty after joining the cast of Los Angeles television’s Town Hall Party in 1954, when Larry Collins was 10 years old, and his vocalist sister was 12. They were embraced by the nationwide country music community and nascent rock and roll scene.
On the weekly half-hour TV program hosted by cowboy singer Tex Ritter, they appeared alongside country music greats of the era such as Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Lefty Frizzell and Marty Robbins, as well as young rock and roll musicians the show embraced, like Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. The Collins Kids appeared as guests on the first televised broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1956.
Not only was young Larry mentored by country music immortal Joe Maphis, also a regular on the show, but he continued to play the signature double-neck Mosrite guitar Maphis gave him the rest of his life. He and Maphis recorded an album of guitar instrumentals together in 1958. Surf guitar king Dick Dale studied Larry’s fingerpicking style in early appearances on the TV show.
The Collins Kids recorded a string of rockabilly records for Columbia Records in the ‘50s–“Hop, Skip and Jump,” “Hot Rod,” “Whistle Bait”–that are now considered classics of the genre and have been subsequently reissued. Their music also inspired and made fans outside the genre as well, like Bob Dylan, Lemmy Kilmister and Jello Biafra.
The pair reunited to appear at a British rockabilly festival in 1993 and continued to perform occasionally until his sister retired in 2012. Lorrie Collins died of injuries from a fall in 2018 and was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame the following year.
Related: The Stray Cats helped revive rockabilly in the 1980s
Born outside Tulsa, Okla., on October 4, 1944, Larry moved with his family to Southern California in 1953 after his sister won a talent contest in Tulsa and was advised by Leon McAuliffe, steel player for Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, to relocate.
As a songwriter in the years following the Collins Kids, Larry scored with the 1972 hit by Tanya Tucker, “Delta Dawn,” a #1 pop hit and Grammy nomination the following year for Helen Reddy, and the 1981 David Frizzell–Shelly West country hit duet “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma,” a tribute to his home state that was nominated for Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. He wrote songs with Mac Davis that were covered by Davis, Nancy Sinatra and Lou Rawls, among others.
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3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationBecame a Collins Kids fan after seeing them on Youtube. Here’s a word – exuberance!
Gary, say hello to Cliff Gallup!
I am very aware of Lorrie and Larry but, in the process of trying to familiarize myself with “Music Around the World,” a 1956 movie in which The Collins Kids reportedly appeared, I’ve come up empty. No IMDB listing. Are Best Classic Bands readers able to provide a URL?
You can’t learn to be like Larry, His talent and soul are truly Gd’s gift to him, AND TO US ALL
My condolences to all who loved him, he leaves behind a legacy of artistic greatness, that will last forever. Rest IN Peace…….