Fourteen Unsung Pioneers of Early Rock and Roll Who Didn't Get Their Due

Early rock and roll has a rich fascinating history primarily because of the music successes of the earliest superstars, such as Bill Haley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Dwaine Eddy, the Fireballs, the Ventures and Dick Dale to name a few. But there are more, many, many more pioneers of the early rock-and-roll period who helped shape this new genre's historic roots with their music offerings as well, but they've sadly remained in the background for a number of reasons, which is the focus of this book.
Dick Stewart was born and grew up in the northwest quadrant of Albuquerque on July 22, 1940. Known as Los Griegos, many of his compadres were Hispanic and spoke both English and Spanish. So did Dick.
When Dick was a preteen, he wrote his first manuscript and called it the History of the Crow and Coon Empire in which he summarized all the exploring and constructive activities in the surrounding fields of his neighborhood boys' club. He was their appointed scribe, and it was imperative that they knew exactly where their forts, trails, ponds, and acequias (irrigation ditches) were and where their successful clod-throwing battles took place that kept the boys from the nearby neighborhoods out.
Dick was bitten by the rock-and-roll bug in 1954 when he was a freshman at Valley High School, but he wanted to do more than just listen and dance to its infectious beat. He wanted to be a contributor.
In 1961, Dick formed a band in Albuquerque called the Knights (a.k.a. King Richard and the Knights). Two years later, he composed and released a guitar-rock instrumental, his wife Judi named "Precision." It turned heads regionally, but the Beatles arrival on the East Coast in 1964 was one of the principal reasons that kept the instrumental from going nationally. The other was Dot Records' broken promise.
As a result of the setback, Dick formed Lance Records in 1965 and a year later, began publishing a music newsletter titled the Lance Newsletter to help put some of the local bands, including his Lance recording artists, on the map. After a popular two-year run, Dick turned his attention toward other business activities, which included the formation of Casanova Records that specialized in Mexican-American music. Stewart released an instrumental version of "El Rancho Grande" in 1969 which became an instant hit in the Mexican American market of the Southwest and continues to do well on the Internet as of this writing.
Dick's second newsletter, the Jyck Ball Roundup, was published in 1984 and reported on the outcome of games played in an independent mountain league called the East Mountain Softball League. It was very popular with the young adults during its ten-year publication.
In 1999, Dick brought his '60s newsletter back to life as an Internet read and renamed it the Lance Monthly. Its success encouraged him to write his first book in 2010 titled Eleven Unsung Heroes of Early Rock and Roll, followed by his second in 2016 called Rock and Roll during A Time of Innocence.
Because of his rock-and-roll music and historic book accomplishments, Dick Stewart was inducted into the 2016 New Mexico Music Hall of Fame. Dick has a Bachelor of University Studies at the University of NM with a major in Spanish and a Liberal Arts degree with honors at the Central New Mexico Community College.