'Cryin' In The Chapel' was written by Artie Glenn and recorded by his son Darrel. They had some spare studio time they gave to Ray Sharpe to let him cut some demo songs on the understanding that they would get some action if the demos lead to a recording contract.
Producers Lee Hazelwood and Lester Still liked what they heard so Ray got a deal with the Jamie label. The subject of his first single was written about a girlfriend of one of his buddies who he later described as “stacked to the max”: Linda Lu. It was one of three songs they did at Audio Sound Studios in Phoenix with Al Casey in the band. There's no truth in the legend that Duane Eddy played guitar on the song.
In those days singles were first put out into strategic markets to test the water before wider distribution. The a-side “Red Sails in the Sunset” got played on radio a few times in New York, Ohio and Miami – the West Coast was different, a dj in Los Angeles flipped it over to play “Linda Lu”. Word got back to the Glenns and they arranged for Jamie to re-press the single with “Linda Lu” on top, together with another of their songs on the b-side instead of “Red Sails”. Further confusion came about due to keeping the same catalogue number for both versions.
Ray Sharpe never repeated his commercial success with “Linda Lu” but he wrote many other songs regarded as rockabilly gems. He didn't stay out west too long before making his way back to his home town of Fort Worth. As with so many of his contemporaries, Ray Sharpe has always been more highly prized on this side of the pond despite once being called the whitest sounding black man...
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