Late fifties, early sixties Nottingham group

The Tall Boys were started by brothers Alan and Ken Trout. They were a four piece based around Radford Boulevard in Nottingham and considered one of the earliest rock and roll groups in the city. With little chance of getting a guitar in Nottingham Ken Trout travelled to London to buy a second hand American Gretsch guitar from the same shop that George Harrison bought his. Buddy Holly was their hero and the song “That’ll be the day” was a revolution for them but rock and roll hadn’t really found a foothold in Nottingham yet and gigs were hard to find, having to make do with local clubs and welfares. The Crescent club in the Meadows and Langley Mill Miners Welfare were two that were happy to host rock and roll and it was during a gig at Langley Mill in February of 1959 that the group heard that Buddy Holly had been killed in a plane crash. Handing out photos of himself as promotion, Alan got the chance to sing with the Bob Miller band in London but declined the offer. The “Bob Miller band” were an instrumental group of the 1950s, which appeared regularly on UK television and radio programmes in the 1950s and early 1960s backing various singers. Stanley Dwight, Elton John’s father, was a former member of the band. In later life Alan Trout would run a music management business from his home.

In 1961 Alan Trout left the group and they got a new vocalist, John Chapman, from “The Five Fellas” group. He changed his name to Johnathon Kane and the rest of the group became the Freemen.

The line up of the Tall Boys at various times may have been.

Alan Trout: Vocals
Ken Trout: lead guitarist / vocals
Max Barnes: bass / vocals
Jeff Cooper: rhythm guitar / vocals.
Bernard Orridge: drums

Max Barnes was cousin to Graham Barnes (Alvin Lee). In April 1960 Max Barnes was in a band with Graham Barnes. It was the very first incarnation of “Ivan Jaye and the Jay Cats”. He was only with them for a few months, being replaced by Leo Lyons and the Jay Cats would eventually become the Jaybirds. From there Max Barnes must have joined the “Tall Men” who became Johnathon Kane and the Freemen.

There is more context about The Tall Boys on the Playedinaband website