History of Rock and Roll Rockabilly

ROCKABILLY A genre of 1950s rock and roll that combined elements of rhythm and blues with elements of country- western music.

Characteristics of Rockabilly Instrumentation: guitar, slapping bass, sometimes piano (no drum set) Usually white singers with vocal style influenced by both R&B and country (think Elvis) Minimal production, “rough” sound Strong association with the early recordings of Sun Studio in Memphis The use of “Slap-Back-Echo”

Rockabilly borrowed the following from R&B and C&W: Dance rhythms (R&B) “blues and boogie” bass and piano riffs (R&B) Frequent use of 12-bar blues structure (R&B) treble, piercing, “percussive” guitar sound (C&W) mixture of flatpicking and fingerpicking (C&W) less emphasis on drum set (C&W – drums weren’t even allowed on the Grand Ole’ Opry stage for many years!)

Slap back echo A studio effect pioneered by Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis A sound associated with early Elvis and other rockabilly recordings The technique involved recording a group in a naturally “reverberant” space, which created an echo with a very short delay time Later this effect was achieved by recording a song with two tape recorders, then taking the second recording, and layering it over the first with a very short delay This effect can now be achieved digitally

There are a particular group of artists associated with Rockabilly: SUN Studios Elvis Carl Perkins Jerry Lee Lewis Johnny Cash OTHER Studios Elvis (at RCA) Gene Vincent (Capitol) Eddie Cochran (Crest, Liberty) Johnny Burnette (Liberty, Capitol)

Carl Perkins Carl Perkins b. 4/9/32, Tennessee Son of white sharecropper One of his musical goals was to “Put the black man’s rhythm into country.” Perkins recorded for Sun, 1955: first records not rockabilly, but country, honky tonk dance tunes Toured with Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc 1955: shift toward rock; Blue Suede Shoes.

Carl Perkins’ Blue Suede Shoes Beat Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel” to the top of the charts Song was then “covered” by Elvis, whose version had a full band sound, big drum beat, more polished production Elvis held back his release of the song until Perkin’s version had gone off the charts Elvis’ version still ended up becoming the more well-known version

Carl Perkins: Honey Don’t The “B” side of Blue Suede Shoes was a tune called “Honey Don’t” which was later made famous by the Beatles. Pay particular attention to Perkins’ influential guitar style. Some guitar patterns and “licks” that are forever associated with the rockabilly “style” are actually Carl Perkins’ guitar licks, copied by thousands of guitar players after him.

Carl Perkins: Matchbox Listen to the piano on this tune, can you tell who it is? Have we heard this song before? Where? Perkins continued to play & record into the 1990’s Perkins had shared the stage with Presley, McCartney, Harrison, Starr, Clapton, and Cash at various points in his career.

Carl Perkins, continued At peak of career, was in a terrible wreck on the way to a gig This prevented Perkins from touring after the success of Blue Suede Shoes Carl Perkins left Sun for Columbia Records in 1958 Wrote tunes covered by many artists Perkins never became a star of Elvis’ magnitude Perkins joined Johnny Cash’s band 1964 –tour of England where his Sun records are tremendously popular The rockabilly revival of the 1980s helped a “comeback” Passed away in 1998

Jerry Lee Lewis: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On JLL’s first big hit was “Whole Lotta Shakin” (Sun 1957) Listen for: driving boogie-bass piano high “pounding chords” flashy fast passages “runs” Glissandos (what are these?) Sam Philips trademark “slap-back echo”

Jerry Lee Lewis b. 9/29/35 Louisiana Influenced by the great “barrelhouse” piano players Influenced also by country artists (Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, etc) Nicknamed the “Hellraiser” in an extremely religious family (Jimmy Swaggart is his first cousin) Signed w/Sun in 1956, and at first played as a session pianist

Jerry Lee Lewis – “Hellraiser” Outrageous stage behavior Danced on pianos, set one on fire Sexually suggestive lyrics and stage antics

Jerry Lee Lewis: Great Balls of Fire Released in 1957 This song was a huge hit for Lewis It was written by Otis Blackwell Blackwell also wrote songs for Elvis, including Don’t Be Cruel & All Shook Up

Jerry Lee Lewis: Breathless Released in 1958 This was also written by Blackwell Listen for how Lewis plays, how he phrases, & how he ‘plays’ with time & feel, these are the hallmarks of his style

Jerry Lee Lewis – scandal ! Scandal over wife: Married Myra Brown, who was his 13-year old cousin (she was also the daughter of his bass player Jay Brown!) JLL was 22 and this was his third marriage He hadn’t bothered to divorce the 2nd wife yet He made no attempt to hide any of this huge scandal, JLL records blacklisted, boycotted Jerry Lee Lewis’ career never really recovered from this, although he had some hits in the mid-60s with a more country style.

Other SUN rockabilly artists: Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich This was the heyday of SUN records Let’s compare a couple of recordings from Johhny Cash and Charlie Rich Listen for: Rhythmic “feel” Vocal styles Instrumentation – who plays the solos? Do you hear Sun’s famous slap- back echo?

Johnny Cash: Folsom Prison Blues Released in 1955 on Sun Records Cash wrote this song after watching a movie on Folsom Prison Cash’s band consisted of Luther Perkins (guitar) & Marshall Grant (bass) Cash often played ‘percussion’ on his guitar, helping to establish the ‘boom- chicka’, or ‘train’ sound of his music.

Johnny Cash: I Walk the Line Released in 1956 on Sun Records Cash soon turned the Tennessee Two (Perkins & Grant) into the Tennessee Three by adding drummer W.S. Holland Listen to the way that Perkins & Cash complement each other, pushing the song to greater intensity

Charlie Rich: Break Up Released in 1958 on Sun Rich actually wrote this song as a demo for Jerry Lee Lewis Lewis did record the song, but because of the controversy surrounding him, his version flopped

Charlie Rich: Who Will the Next Fool Be? Released in 1959 on Sun Records Rich went on to have a successful career in country music Listen to Rich’s piano playing –Does he sound similar to Jerry Lee? –How does he sound different? –What about the voice?

Roy Orbison From Texas (Vernon, Wink); went to UNT “OOby Dooby” was a regional Rockabilly hit in Texas Orbison’s next big hit was quite different: “Only the Lonely” Listen for: big powerful voice (Elvis called it “the best in the world”) lots of emotional intensity More of a “ballad” sound than Rockabilly

Roy Orbison: Ooby Dooby Released in 1956 on Sun Records Listen to the intensity of Orbison’s voice Listen to the song’s construction –What makes this unique from other rockabilly songs? Where was this recorded? –Why else is that studio important?

Roy Orbison: Only the Lonely Released in 1960 Listen to how different this song is from other rockabilly songs Listen to the production on this song Again, Roy’s voice stands out Roy was famous for the emotional quality of his voice –Does Roy’s voice sound like an opera singers?

Roy Orbison, continued Long string of huge hits (27) He became famous for his heart-wrenching love songs Lots of difficulties in his life: his wife was killed in a motorcycle accident two of his three kids were killed in a fire Many of his songs were “covered’ by other artists he was in the “The Traveling Wilbury’s” with Dylan, Harrison, Petty, and Jeff Lynne Orbison passed away soon after from a stroke, in Dec “Pretty Woman” is probably Orbison’s most famous song

Roy Orbison: Oh, Pretty Woman Released in 1964 on Monument Records This song has been covered many times, most famously by Van Halen in 1982 Listen to the steady rising of emotional intensity, both in Roy’s voice, the lyrics, and the instrumental track underneath the vocal track – this is production at its best!

Gene Vincent 1950s: Capitol records is looking for their own “Elvis” They sign Gene Vincent Vincent’s style modeled on Elvis First hit “Be Bop-a Lula” – sounds VERY much like Elvis (it reportedly fooled Elvis’ mother!) Vincent cultivated “bad boy” image Vincent extremely popular in England

Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps: Be Bop A Lula Released in 1956 on Capitol Records While Vincent worked on the ‘bad boy’ image & Elvis-like vocal style, his band excelled at virtuosity Listen to the lead guitarist (Cliff Gallup), he never stops playing! “Lula” was a comic strip character

Eddie Cochran: Summertime Blues Cochran was from Minnesota “LA rockabilly” style His style also had many elements of Elvis in it Extremely popular in England Most famous hit: “Summertime Blues” (Cochran played all the instruments himself in the original version)

Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent - wreck April 1960 Gene Vincent and Eddie Cohran were in a terrible car wreck in England Cochran was killed, and Vincent re-injured his already - injured leg Vincent spent the next ten years battling drug problems, and died in 1971 age 36. Cochran became virtual cult-hero in England

Johnny Burnette: Train Kept-A-Rollin’ born 1934, Memphis went to New York with brother Dorsey, won Ted Mack Amateur hour 3X founded “Rock and Roll Trio” with brother Dorsey Burnett and Paul Burlison Recorded for Coral Records, then Liberty Burnette died in a boating accident in 1964 Released in 1956 on Coral Records

The decline of Rockabilly… Sam Phillips of Sun lost many artists to bigger labels. Rockabilly declined in favor of a more smooth and cleaned-up “pop” Phillips quit recording in 1963 and sold the Sun catalog in 1969 Phillips has been inducted into the Forefathers division of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Died 7/ , age 80.