Did rock pioneer Bobby Fuller rip off El Paso blues giant Long John Hunter?
AUGUST 31, 1998: Frank Sinatra said that the best revenge is massive success. Bluesman Long John Hunter will likely never achieve the same kind of notoriety, but at 67 he’s at last achieved a modicum of respect. If you had grown up in Seattle and played in local bands during the mid-’60s, no doubt “Louie Louie” would have been part of your repertoire. But if you’d grown up in El Paso, Texas, during the same period your “Louie Louie” would have been Hunter’s “El Paso Rock.” Miriam Linna, who specializes in reissuing vintage El Paso music on the Brooklyn-based Norton Record label describes the time as “a scene and sound all unto itself. El Paso turned to Buddy Holly for pop and Hunter for a pure shot of the blues. And it is safe to say that during the period, every local band played ‘El Paso Rock’ and every guitar player we’ve talked to [who grew up during that time in El Paso] cites Hunter as a major influence.” Hunter remembers being king of the airwaves for about 15 minutes and then b
