Bruce Channel might have been a footnote in pop music history if he hadn't hooked up early in his career with another Ft. Worth musician who straddled the musical worlds of that city's legendary Jaxboro Highway. This stretch of bars alternated black and white clubs, where white boys played blues and black boys played country music and everybody kept an eye out for the law. Channel was a country singer, often heard on the LOUISIANA HAYRIDE radio show, but when he ran into harmonica player Delbert McClinton, he found someone as wild as he was.
Channel's big hit, "Hey, Baby," topped both the U.S. and British charts in 1962, and McClinton's harmonica on it inspired John Lennon's playing. Channel continued to record country in the years afterward, and McClinton has had a long career as a blues and roots singer.
John Lennon; Delbert McClinton, whose funky harmonica floats "Love Me Do"; and Bruce Channel.