I hadn’t heard of Neil LeVang when I stumbled across this performance of Ghost Riders In The Sky:
As his bio notes:
Levang unknowingly created a new genre of music that would eventually be called Surf Rock with his 1961 arrangement of Ghost Riders In the Sky, performed on The Lawrence Welk Show.
I’m pretty sure I knew the song from Dick Dale’s 1963 cover, which is, of course, surf guitar, too.
There are many versions:
The original version by Stan Jones was recorded in late 1948 or early 1949. A recording by Stan Jones and his Death Valley Rangers was issued on Mercury 5320 in May 1949.
Hundreds of performers have recorded versions of the song. Vaughn Monroe reached number 1 in Billboard magazine with his version (“Riders in the Sky” with orchestra and vocal quartet).
I don’t think I realized that the melody is based on the Civil War-era song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”.
My favorite version:
Highwaymen – Ghost Riders In the Sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOWjX4BpC24
This is great, I love the guy with the maracas and the notion that surf guitar was born on the Lawrence Welk Show. But that guitar sound might be said to have begun with Link Wray’s “Rumble” in 1958, or more plausibly (and twangily) with Duane Eddy’s “Rabble Rouser” that same year. The Ventures’ “Walk Don’t Run” came out in 1960s, and the Venture’s sound has been retroactively described as “surf rock”. But the twangy guitar sound didn’t get associated with “surf” until guitarist Dick Dale (“Miserlou”) started playing for surfer parties and dances on the west coast in the early 1960s. Neal Levang might not be the father of surf guitar, but he was definitely among the first wave.
I respectfully disagree with this analysis, including and especially Neil LeVang’s bio blurb. The others may or may not be of a type properly labeled “surf rock”, but Neil LeVang’s rendition, and Neil LeVang’s rendition alone, sounds like it belongs in a Spaghetti Western. Even the original (Stan Jones, 1948) version, which was actually in a Western, doesn’t sound like it belongs in a Western. But Neil LeVang here is more of a kind with Ennio Morricone than any of the named musicians.