Wailing Wall

There are two artists sharing the same name: 1) In El Paso in the late 60's and the early 70's there was a small group of musicians that refused to bow to the calling of the top- forty radio. These bands worked obscure venues with a core of avid fans that followed them everywhere. One of these bands was Wailing Wall. This unlikely foursome consisted of Doug and Darrell Adams, Mike Cancellari and David Rutledge.

1) In El Paso in the late 60's and the early 70's there was a small group of musicians that refused to bow to the calling of the top- forty radio. These bands worked obscure venues with a core of avid fans that followed them everywhere. One of these bands was Wailing Wall. This unlikely foursome consisted of Doug and Darrell Adams, Mike Cancellari and David Rutledge.

Doug Adams was the lead singer and rhythm guitar player and was one of the two poets in the band. He had a rough raw vocal sound with the soul of a poet. His voice would jump all over the place. He had been a folk singer and acoustic guitar player which added a different sound to this West Texas string band.

David Rutledge was the drummer and the other writer for Wailing Wall. He was a schooled musician. Most of the environmental songs this band created were David's songs. His formal music training had a lot to do with the complicated songs Wailing Wall recorded. You will notice some of the unusual rhythms in "Scissor Tailed Swallow" and "Country of the Goose", both written by David. He manages to sing a little in some of the tunes having gone to the Bob Dillon School for VoiceTraining.

Doug's brother, Darrell Adams, was the intellectual bass player of the group. His bass was hard to record because it was one of those Gibson type basses that had no definite top or bottom to it so the bass is more felt that heard in their sound. He also did some of the background vocals.

Next came Mike Cancellari, the lead guitarist and background singer. He had been in lower valley bands playing rhythm guitar behind one of the best guitar players around, Mike Ciccerelli when he joined Wailing Wall.

2) Los Angeles deathrock band from 1989-2007 http://www.myspace.com/wailingwall