By George Gimarc
One of the hottest acts around DFW in the halcyon days of the 1980s was Johnny Reno and his Solid Senders. Reno is a sax player that’s had a many storied past that includes playing with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble in the late ‘70s, and being a valuable member in the Juke Jumpers with Jim Colegrove. He set out on his own and Johnny Reno & The Sax Maniacs were playing all around the state, and beyond in 1985. This single, under the name “Johnny Reno and his Solid Senders” seems to hail from Christmas of 1986, and has his original “Blues Before Christmas” flipped with his take on the 1948 Mable Scott R&B classic “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus.”
This is yet another Christmas playlist must because we all need a little boogie woogie to make the season swing, right? Dig that it’s on the Miracle Records label – ‘If it sells, it’s a Miracle !’ I don’t know if they all came in this rubber-stamped sleeve but it’s pretty fab. Here’s a link of the band live down in Austin in 1985.
