Photo Via Joel Kiedrowski - Facebook
Sam McCue in The Legends
In the years before the British Invasion washed ashore in Milwaukee, The Legends were the city’s most popular rock and roll band. Their driving force, guitarist Sam McCue, died on December 11.
Ricky Nelson’s guitarist, James Burton, was McCue’s model, but the South Side native cited polka as an early influence along with the education he received from neighborhood jukeboxes spinning western swing, rhythm and blues and, especially, rockabilly.
McCue entered the local rock and roll fray in 1959 with The Nomads but learning that another Milwaukee band already claimed the name, they became The Legends. McCue’s act filled the Muskego Beach Ballroom, a popular venue for Southeast Wisconsin teens, and began a short but prolific recording career. They released an original song called “Lariat,” an instrumental for Milwaukee indie Key Records in 1961 and issued their version of Gene Vincent’s “Say Mama” for Chicago’s Ermine label a year later. They also made some noise regionally with “Bop-a-Lena.” Ermine packed those tracks onto an album, The Legends Let Loose (1963), an eclectic outing that included covers of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Peggy Lee’s hit “Fever.”
Milwaukee’s other guitar legend, Jack Grassel, recalls McCue’s local influence in the early ‘60s—and the impact he had worldwide. “Most guitar players bought Stratocasters with a sunburst finish just because he played one. He was the first to create his own sound by placing the pickup selector to turn on the back two pickups. Fender Guitars years later installed a five-position switch on all Stratocasters so they could easily get Sam’s unique tone. That feature is now standard on every new Stratocaster.”
The Legends caught the ear of a major label, Capitol Records, which reissued Let Loose and released a follow-up LP, Run to the Movies (1963), helmed by Dick Dale’s producer Jim Economides.
Neither album caught on nationally, but McCue’s playing caught the ears of Phil and Don Everly. McCue toured the world as the Everly Brothers guitarist from 1964-73 and worked with them in the studio. He was in demand as a pick-up guitarist, playing alongside legendary figures such as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Bo Diddley. Back in Milwaukee in the late ‘70s, McCue organized a band called Tempus Fugit. Drummer Bruce Cole recalled in a 2018 interview, “He tried to bring out the musical best in his band members. He was laid back and cordial—a pleasure to work with.” Grassel agrees, saying “Sam was one of those rare people who was always in a good mood.”
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Dean Lea
Another Milwaukee musician of note passed away in December. Pianist Dean Lea was a member of the John Schneider Orchestra, one of the mainstays of the scene that developed around Downtown’s Café Melange in the ‘90s. Later that decade he became the house pianist for “Hotel Milwaukee,” a weekly show heard on Wisconsin Public Radio.
“He was a great jazz pianist and accompanist. I learned how to sing in jazz styles by working with him. He’d come to my home in Walker’s Point and we’d practice and practice,” Schneider says. “Largely for health reasons (MS), he left town for his family’s cabin at the top of Wisconsin, and in 2023 and 2024 he drove the 300 miles back to Milwaukee to accompany me” at the Third Ward holiday party.
