Gene Moles
Gene Moles was an American guitarist, active in the pop and surf-music scene of the 1960s.
Early life
Denver Eugene "Gene" Moles Sr., the sixth of seven children, was born on 1 June 1928 in Wetumka, Oklahoma, sixteen miles from Henryetta. His family moved to Selma, just south of Fresno, in 1936. Gene got his first guitar seven years later at age 15.Musical career
In 1946, Moles joined the house band at the Paris Gardens nightclub in Selma, owned by a woman known as Texas Mom, where he was earning $3 a night. After three years, he moved to Bakersfield, in September 1949, and joined Tex Butler's band, which featured pianist George French, who were appearing at the Blackboard club. He was getting paid there $10 a night. The regionally successful Jimmy Thomason Show on television contributed to him becoming a local celebrity by 1953. By that time, he had acquired a "solid reputation," which led Capitol Records to engage him from 1959 onwards at their Hollywood studios to work as a session musician. Among the many tracks Moles played in was "Sweet Thing" by Buck Owens, while he also played with Merle Haggard, Red Simpson, Tex Ritter, and many others.In 1961, Moles and Nokie Edwards of The Ventures co-wrote "Night Run" that was recorded by them as The Marksmen; it was subsequently recorded also by The Mustangs. Moles and Edwards composed "Scratch", recorded by The Ventures in 1962 and then by The Surf Coasters in 1995. They wrote "Sunny River" and "Gringo," both recorded by The Ventures for their album Twist with the Ventures in 1961. Years later, the album was reissued as Dance.