This is as close as I’m ever going to get to Elvis or Buddy Holly.

Sonny West was a member of Elvis’s Memphis Mafia, but he was a rockabilly man in his own right. He also wrote “Oh Boy,” which was a huge hit for Buddy Holly.

Both West and Holly were from Lubbock, but some of Holly’s best known recordings were done in Clovis, New Mexico at Norman Petty’s studio. West also used Norman Petty Studios for these 1956 recordings of “Rock-Ola Ruby” and “Sweet Rockin’ Baby,” captured live at Clovis’s Lyceum Theater. That’s some serious “birth of rock and roll” cred.

About this particular CD: I don’t know much about it. Sonny signed both the disc and the cover, and I assume from the title Rockabilly Man Collection that someone had visions of a series of signed discs. I’ve never seen any other titles, but I keep looking. The two cuts contained on the CD are pretty badass, though:

So what’s this CD worth? I have no idea. Sonny is still alive, and he’s signed a lot of stuff. To an Elvis collector something like this is probably a treasure, but sadly a Sonny West CD single doesn’t hold a lot of interest for your average music listener. All that being said, I rescued my copy from a used CD bin for three bucks and felt like I’d stolen it. Happy hunting.