Mouse and the Traps

Mouse and the Traps
Origin	Tyler, Texas, United States
Genres	Garage rock, folk rock
Years active	1965–1969, 1986
Labels	Fraternity Bell (1950s-70s)
Associated acts	Positively 13 O'Clock
Past members	Ronnie (Mouse) Weiss Dave Stanley Bugs Henderson Jerry Howell Ken (Nardo) Murray Bobby Delk Don (Levi) Garrett Tim Gillespie Brady Mosher

Mouse and the Traps is the name of an American garage rock band from Tyler, Texas that released numerous singles between 1965 and 1969, two of which, "A Public Execution" and "Sometimes You Just Can't Win", became large regional hits. The leader of the band, nicknamed "Mouse", was Ronnie Weiss. Two of their best known songs, "A Public Execution" and a cover of "Psychotic Reaction", are not actually credited to this band but, respectively, to simply Mouse and Positively 13 O'Clock instead. Their tangled history also included one single that was released anonymously under the name Chris St. John.

Ronnie (Mouse) Weiss [born 1942] and Dave Stanley [born 1946] were members of a local band named Jerry Vee and the Catalinas (or simply the Catalinas) in 1964. Weiss had also performed on a regional hit single "Lucky Lips" by Steve Wright and The Catalinas that was later released nationally by Dot Records.

In this time period, they met Bugs Henderson (or Buggs Henderson), lead guitarist for a local instrumental band, the Sensors. Weiss and Knox Henderson – no relation to Buddy (Bugs) Henderson - co-wrote "A Public Execution" and brought the song to Robin Hood Brians, who manages Robin Hood Studios that is still in operation in Tyler, Texas today. This song – which strongly resembles Bob Dylan's music in the mid-1960s – was released as the band's first single in 1966 under the name Mouse. Jerry Howell (who was also in Jerry Vee and the Catalinas) and Ken (Nardo) Murray joined the group shortly thereafter, and most of their remaining music was released under the name Mouse and the Traps. Besides Brians, other musicians that have played in various incarnations of the band over the years include Bobby Delk, Don (Levi) Garrett and Tim Gillespie.

After releasing several singles on the Fraternity Records label, Mouse and the Traps also recorded two singles for Bell Records that were produced by Dale Hawkins (a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and known as the writer and original recording artist for the early Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, "Suzie Q"). The band also performed on two of Hawkins' singles and contributed toward his 1966 album on the label, L.A., Memphis and Tyler, Texas. The band broke up in 1969, but all members remained in music except Jerry Howell (who became a Baptist minister).

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