Mr. Frantic, wildman, riotstarter, rockabillies, yes call him what... Ronnie Self was born Ronald Self, 5 July 1938, Tin Town, Missouri The oldest of five children, Ronnie was born on a farm in rural Missouri. After the war, the family moved to Springfield where his father took a job with the railroad. The signs of instability showed themselves early. On one occasion Ronnie chopped down a tree to block the school bus from getting to his house. Another story has him attacking a teacher with a baseball bat in grade school. Radio KWTO in Springfield was the home of the Ozark Jubilee, ABC's alternative to the Grand Ole Opry. As a teenager, Ronnie was often seen hanging around the station, pestering the staff with his demos. Already then, he was a prolific songwriter (there are 259 titles by him in the BMI database). Singer Bobby Lord, a regular on the Ozark Jubilee, heard Self, liked what he heard and arranged a demo session that he took to Dub Albritten, who managed Red Foley, ! and, from 1957 onwards, also Brenda Lee. Albritten set up a session for ABC-Paramount on April 24, 1956. Ronnie recorded four songs, of which "Pretty Bad Blues" (a fine rockabilly track) and "Three Hearts Later" were released in June (ABC 9714). The single vanished without trace. The second release should have been "Sweet Love"/"Alone", and although an issue number (ABC 9768) was assigned, nobody has ever seen a copy of this record, nor have the tapes been found. Early in 1957, Ronnie joined the
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