Our Own DJ/MJ
Roots of Rock 🎶🎵
www.GIRARD.org
Ah…Rock & Roll !
I have been asked, “What is Rock and Roll…Exactly?” My reply…It’s a culmination of many musical art forms, however, there was a “Pure” form early on that was considered to be the “Purest”. Rockabilly!
This genre was preserved in perfect isolation, mainly because it went nowhere! Captured from the 1954 release of Elvis’s first release on the Yellow Sun recording label and ending upon his induction into the U.S. Army in 1958. Along with that unfortunate event, Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his fourteen year old cousin Myra sent adults reeling. Carl Perkins 1956 car crash along with a very long period of convalescence just as his “Blue Suede Shoes” was released, was followed by the death of Eddie Cochran and serious injury to Gene Vincent in a 1960 taxi cab accident in London, reinjuring Vincent’s previous leg injury, nearly crippling him for the remainder of his life.
This early period of R&R was the purest form of unbridled talent, causing the near demise of Country music, as the older C&W artist scrambled to catch up to this HOT new form of popular music sweeping the forty-eight states…Every wanta be Elvis beat a path to Sun Records in Memphis, where it all began.
Needless to say, Sam Phillips never looked back, Elvis’ first Sun Record release of “That’s Alright” brought in all of the much needed cash and notoriety that he sought. Rockabilly, also known as “Cat” music, (Cool Cat) was the purest form, almost of classical quality, however, it was Southern music, and except for its major artist, Elvis, Cash, Orbison, Rich and Lewis, just to mention the top of the southern performers, remained pure to the sound of the South.
Out west, Ricky Nelson tried to emulate that sound, using James Burton, from Louisiana, as the hot guitarist to infuse his recordings. These records from Memphis were not just Southern music, it was white male music, with the exception of Wanda Jackson, a mix of Blues and Bluegrass. According to Carl Perkins, “Blues with a Country beat.”
This “Cat Music” was a secret language sought after by the breakaway youth of the Fifties, times were flush, and James Dean was their hero.
Until next time, stay well, tune into my show every Saturday morning at eight.
Keep the Beat… God Bless.
