I found the "Joanie & The Cascades" albumn through an mysterious entry in the Hillbilly Fillies.
After several years of trying to find something about the album, i searched for it again a few months back.
This is the story of Tony Ortiz
"I was born in Mexico in 1941.
I must’ve been twelve or thirteen, so maybe around 1953 or ’54, when I bought my first guitar.
It was in one of those old warehouses where they sold second-hand furniture, rice, and flour in big gunny sacks.
The guitar cost $7.50 — a small fortune back then.
I had them hold it for me until I’d earned enough money selling newspapers.
I never really understood why, but I felt drawn to the guitar.
Something about it just spoke to me. I took lessons for a few months from an old handyman — a widower who played piano, mandolin, and guitar.
When he lost his wife, he started drinking and never really stopped. When I think of him, I think of “Mr. Bojangles.”
But I owe that man more than I could ever repay.
After that, I taught myself — picking up what I could from the radio, from records, and from other musicians when I could. My earliest influences were Chet Atkins — who I had the honor of meeting — and The Ventures.
Their music helped shape my approach.
At the time we recorded the album with Joanie, I still wasn’t a fully developed lead guitarist. So I used chords when playing lead to fill the space. It was instinctive — and it worked.
In 1961, I was working at KNI when they held an entertainment show. Joanie was the featured vocalist that day, backed by two musicians. She was being showcased by Bob Caskey.
After the show, Bob approached me. Said some of the staff told him I was a musician. He asked me to run a few songs with Joanie backstage.
We did, and he asked if I’d be interested in performing with her as a duo.
I was hesitant. I never felt too confident about my singing voice.
But Bob was persuasive — a real salesman. I agreed, and we started rehearsing at their place.
That’s how Tony & Joanie was born.
We played pool parties, supper clubs, lounges. Even got invited on a few early morning TV spots at WIBW.
After that, we started performing at regional military bases, often with a band backing us.
Bob seemed to be trying to mold us into something like The Collins Kids.
As a duo, Joanie and I did covers of The Everly Brothers, Nino Tempo & April Stevens, The New Christy Minstrels — and whatever Bob suggested.
But I was just one man with a guitar, and that limited our sound.
So we started auditioning for a band, which should be later known as "Joanie & The Cascades".
It wasn’t easy. Many musicians weren’t familiar with the mix of styles we played. Eventually, we brought in my brother Frank on drums.
I’d bought a drum kit years earlier, and Frank had picked it up just from watching me.
He was a quick learner.
On bass, we brought in Gwen — a multi-instrumentalist I’d played with before. She was a real pro: trumpet, piano, bass, guitar — she played it all.
Coincidentally, she was also Frank’s music teacher at the time.
With the band formed, we began gigging regularly through Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.
I was newly married around this time and still working at the Santa Fe Shops.
It made for a chaotic schedule. To make gigs in Iowa or Nebraska, I sometimes had to take days off work — even took a single-engine plane once to join the band at a Missouri airbase.
One afternoon, I was home for lunch when Bob burst in through the door yelling, “Let me see your hands!” He’d gotten a call from a bitter drummer who didn’t get the gig, claiming I’d injured myself.
Bob talked about getting my hands insured — though I don’t know if he ever followed through.
Bob and Joanie eventually got married. I was their best man.
Joanie, Bob & Tony
