W.S. "Fluke" Holland

W.S. "Fluke" Holland. . , Drummer W.S. "Fluke" Holland played on all of Carl Perkins' Sun Records recordings before becoming Johnny Cash's only drummer, working with him for 37 years., Born in Saltillo, Tennessee, on April 22, 1935, Holland left in 1948. His father had died three year's earlier, and his mother remarried, moving the family to Bemis. In School, Holland began calling people "flukes", leading to his nickname, "Fluke"., In 1954, Holland saw the Perkins Brothers Band, who also lived in Bemis, now part of Jackson. He didn't play an instrument but hung out with them, working a day job as an apprentice air-conditioning technician. On the bandstand, Holland sometimes sat beside bassist Clayton Perkins, and on the up-tempo songs, he kept time by beating on the upright bass's curvature. In the wake of Elvis Presley's early success on Memphis-based Sun Records, Carl Perkins decided in September 1954 that he would also audition for Sun. Few country bands carried a drummer then, but Perkins wanted to reinforce the beat on his up-tempo, rockabilly songs, so he asked Holland to join the band., Holland borrowed a drum kit and practiced for several days before they drove to Memphis. His trademark "backward" setup (hi-hat on the right, hitting the bass drum petal with his left foot) came from not knowing how a drum kit was customarily arranged., Perkins' first two records sold poorly, but the third, "Blue Suede Shoes", became one of the rock 'n' roll era's first million-selling songs. In March 1956. Perkins was invited to perform on NBC's "Perry Como Show", but his band was involved in a car wreck driving to New York. Carl Perkins lost consciousness when he was thrown facedown in a water-filled ditch. Holland pulled him out., In addition to Perkins' Sun recordings, Holland played on the acclaimed Million Dollar Quartet session at Sun when Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash played together for the first and only time. Although several of Perkins' songs including "Matchbox" became popular when recorded by the Betles and others, they were not as successful for Perkins upon release., When Perkins, by then disillusioned and drinking heavily, left Sun in 1958. Holland remained with him another year. In 1958, Holland brought Jackson-area rock 'n' roll pianist Carl Mann to Sun, playing on his hit "Mona Lisa" and managing him until 1960., After falling out with both Perkins and Mann, Holland married and took a job in Jackson as a land surveyor. Almost immediately, Johnny Cash called him to join his band, and he became Cash's first and only drummer., Holland played on Cash's celebrated Folsom and San Quentin prison concerts and on nearly every recording session from 1960 until Cash's retirement from the road in 1997. Between 1980 and 1997, Holland also acted as the group's road manager. Among other sessions, he played on the Statler Brothers' first hit. "Flowers on the Wall"., After Cash's retirement from touring, Holland formed his own bands to play country and rockabilly festivals and shows in North America and Europe.