Travis Wammack

Travis Wammack (born November 1946 in Walnut, Mississippi, United States)[1] is an American rock and roll guitarist from Memphis, Tennessee. He began his professional music career when he wrote and recorded his first record at the age of eleven. A child prodigy, Wammack's first record was issued when he was twelve years old,[1] and at 17 he hit the American charts with "Scratchy", an instrumental which peaked at #80 in 1964, although the record was released in mid 1962.[2] Wammack got work recording at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in the 1960s,[1] and in 1975 released a solo album which generated two hits in the U.S. "Easy Evil" (#72; written by Alan O'Day),[3] and "(Shu-Doo-Pa-Poo-Poop) Love Being Your Fool" (Billboard Hot 100 #38; written by Jerry Williams, Jr. and Charlie Whitehead.[4]

He was Little Richard’s band leader from 1984 until 1995. He wrote "Greenwood, Mississippi" which Richard recorded in 1970, featuring Wammack on lead guitar. In 1988, Richard recorded Wammack’s “(There's) No Place Like Home“, planned as a new single, but shelved. It is featured on an Australian DVD of a 1989 concert, “Giants of Rock and Roll”. Still performing, Travis now works with Muscle Shoals Music Marketing, and has added record producer to his resume. He is a member of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and in 1999 Wammack received the Professional Musician Award from the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was inducted into The Southern Legends Entertainment & Performing Arts Hall of Fame. In May 2006, Gibson Guitars presented Travis with a new Gibson ES-335 guitar as part of their documentary honoring legendary Gibson ES series players.[2]

Wammack performed with Billy Lee Riley and with Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers at Newport, Arkansas's annual "Depot Days Festival" on September 27, 2008. On August 30, 2009 at the Silver Moon in Newport, Arkansas, Wammack again played with Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers, and with other bands, at the Billy Lee Riley benefit concert, which was held to defray expenses incurred by Riley's family due to his long and losing battle to cancer. Riley died on August 4, 2009. Wammack continued to frequently perform at the "Depot Days Festival", including on September 30, 2017.[2][5][6]