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The Nationals! First stop Nashville … could England be far behind?

I got an email from my friend Jim Castellani.

He writes:

Cheryl It’s a long story, around November of last year The Nationals were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Randy Darnell contacted me about it and wanted to meet. That is—-us guys, Randy, Danny, Neal and myself. At our first meeting, Danny and Wade weren’t there, they were out of state. Our second meeting Danny joined us but Wade didn’t I had in my keep all our music on tape, which was seven cuts. We made arrangement with a recording studio in Kalamazoo. It was so incredible—-listening to us play music that was over forty years old. We had Cd’s made up, each guy had a copy. Now the music was somewhat scratchy. So Wade said he would have his friend, who owns his own recording studio in Nashville, clean it up. Now this all took place between last year (nov) untill now. It was decided that we should incorporate The Nationals name, which was done in the last couple months. Also copyright those songs which is being done now. Last week Randy was talking to Wade and his friend on a three way conversation. The friend is the one who is cleaning up our music. He said that we are one of a few bands of the sixties that he has heard that has a certain sound that could be Bankable in England. He was told that we haven’t played in years (for me that’s 25 years). If we get together and start practicing and can play like we did on the cd, we could go to Nashville and re-record that music. Wade lives in Lebanon Tenn. He’s been performing all these years as Elvis Wade (his web site is www.elvis wade.com). He sounds just like Elvis. Now if you want to read about The Nationals on the Rockabilly web, go to http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Nationals.html. This coming Friday (8/17/07) we are getting together for the first time (Randy Danny Neal and myself) in 25yrs. We will meet up with Wade in Nashville. That will happen sometime in the next 6 months. I’ve attached a photo of the last time Randy Danny Neal and I played together that was 25yrs ago. Take care and I’ll keep in touch. ~ Jimmy

Here’s the photo:

I talked to Jimmy on the phone yesterday and he is so excited! I told him to keep a log of his experiences. This is the stuff movies are made of!

Jimmy’s wife, Cheryl, is behind him 1000%. She even made him go out and buy a new set of drums!

We’ll keep you posted.