Remembering 2024’s Music Losses: Larry Collins

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For the next few days I have a new restaurant to eat at: Karen’s Kitchen Table. The price is great, but I have to make the food myself. While I get the next batch of infamous potato soup going in the crock pot I’ll give you another dose of music from one of the talents we lost in 2024. Here’s today’s person that you’ve no doubt never heard of. Larry Collins Ironic that the alphabet puts him on the list today, as it was one year ago today (January 5, 2024) that he passed away. While you’ve never heard of this kid (I say “kid” because that’s where he made his mark in music), his guitar playing and energy depicted in the video below will blow you away. He was a mainstay on Town Hall Party, which was a west coast-based music program. While it dealt primarily with country music, as you can tell by Collins’ performances, it didn’t have any problem branching out into rockabilly. If you watch that, remember that Larry Collins was all of ten years old at the time. He performed with his sister, Lorrie (who died in 2018) as the Collins Kids. They were popular regionally, but didn’t make national headway. After the popularity of Town Hall Party faded and Larry Collins went through puberty the music act broke up. Collins, however, stayed active in music. In fact, while you don’t know his name, you most likely DO know a song he co-wrote: “Delta Dawn.” That song, a hit for Tanya Tucker in country and Helen Reddy in rock, set him up quite well, thank you. Collins earned a spot in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame for his pioneering work on Town Hall Party. He did stay active in the rockabilly revival shows pretty much until the end. Larry Collins Born October 4, 1944, Tulsa, Oklahoma Died January 5, 2024, Santa Clarita, California (natural causes) (age 79) HALL OF FAME: Rockabilly (with Lorrie, as the Collins Kids) Here’s Larry Collins, with Joe Maphis on bass, playing “Ramrod” (and showing the joys of live TV) on Town Hall Party: