Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about ROCKABILLY!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: rockabilly dates back to the early 1950s in the united states, especially the south . as a genre it blends the sound of western musical styles with that of rhythm and blues . some have also described it as rockabilly influences include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues . style was popularized by artists such as Wanda Jackson, Billy Adams, Johnny Cash . influence waned during the 1930s and 1940s, two new sounds emerged . Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were the leading proponents of western swing . “two beat jazz” rhythms, “jazz choruses” country artists like Moon Mullican, the Delmore Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant, and the Maddox Brothers and Rose began recording what was known as “Hillbilly Boogie” after the maddoxes were also known for their lively “antics and stuff” “it just wasn’t us up there pickin’ and singing. there was something going on all the time,” they said . others believe that they were one of the first Rockabilly groups, if not the first . jump blues artists such as Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown influenced rockabilly . bill Monroe is known as the bluegrass was a staple of country music in the early 1950s, and is often mentioned as an influence in the development of rockabilly . the Honky Tonk sound included songs of energetic, uptempo Hillbilly Boo the original version of “Blue Suede Shoes” was an early rock ‘n’ roll standard . one source mentions both local disc jockey Dewey Phillips and Sam Phillips as being influential . “blues Elvis Presley, Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, Eddie Bond, Charlie Feathers, Jim Cannon, Reggie Young, the Lazenby Twins, Bud Deckleman, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Marcus Van the jamboree was a receptive audience . the music quickly became a curious blend of blues, country and rockabilly music. the Burnettes and Burlison established a reputation for wild music . they wrote “Rock Billy Boogie,” named after Johnny’s new baby boy Rocky Burnette . “they played with Doc McQueen’ many consider this 1956 recording to be the first intentional use of a distortion guitar on a rock song . many rockabilly guitarists and historians now accept that on many of the classic recordings Johnny Burnette did it was the legendary the legend of how the sound came about says an amplifier was damaged on highway 61 . an attempt was made to hold the cone in place by stuffing the amplifier with wadded newspapers . the amplifier “had fallen from the top of Presley married “black” and “white” genres to an extent that it was denied airplay . country deejays lamented that Presley’s “That’s Alright Mama” was “black music” all of Presley’s early records combined a blues song on one side and a country song on the other . legendary musical artist Bob Dylan kissed the “x” where Elvis had stood to record his first recordings Phillips ran a service allowing anyone to come in off the street . he recorded himself on a vanity record for $3.98 (plus tax) one young man came to record himself as a surprise for his mother “that’s all right, mama” is a 1946 blues song by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup . Elvis “jumped up … and started frailin’ guitar,” Elvis says . “presley made Phillips recorded “That’s All Right”, released on July 19, 1954 . “Elvis Presley Scotty and Bill” version of waltz, blue moon of Kentucky, released . Scotty Moore describes their first session, resulting in the recording of “That’s Alright Mama” all of sudden, Elvis started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool . Bill Black picked up his bass and began acting ‘Bout the third or fourth time through, we just cut it. It was basically a rhythm record. It wasn’t any great thing.’ So we kinda talked it over and figured out a little bit what Tillman Franks has been quoted as saying, “I want you to give Bill Black the credit.” Elvis sang the way Bill Black played bass. some have claimed that the sound of “That’s Alright” was not entirely new . many echo the sentiment that it was a sound like no other they had heard . “when I first heard Elvis singing ‘That’ Elvis was described as “the hillbilly cat” and “King of Western Bop” Elvis would record four more singles for Sun. over the next year . presley’s recordings are described by some as quintessential rockabilly for their true union of country and R&B . by end of 1954 Elvis asked D.J. Presley to use drums, as did in 1956 Elvis also acquired vocal backup via the Jordanaires . it is considered one of the earliest recognized rockabilly recordings . in 1954, Haley and his bandmates recorded “Rock Around the Clock” “Rock Around the Clock” hit no. 1, held that position for eight weeks . it was the number two song on the billboard hot 100 chart for 1955 . “go Cat Go” went into the National Billboard charts in Martin performed mostly country songs for the show . she also did songs by Rhythm and blues singers Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker . Cash hoped to record gospel music, but Phillips immediately nixed that Carl Perkins and “the Perkins Brothers Band” show up at the sun studios . “the sun label correctly lists “Gunter” (Arthur) as the songwriter . in 1951 Eddy Arnold recorded a song released in July, managed to crack Billboard’s Top 20, peaking at No. 14 . in august Sun released Elvis’s versions of “forgot …” and “mystery train” Cash, Perkins, Presley, and others toured through Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi . Sun released two more Perkins songs in October . “Carl was the king of that. as a rock “1955 was the year in which Chuck Berry’s hillbilly-influenced Maybellene reached high in the charts . Elvis Presley’s heartbreak hotel and don’t be cruel would top the Billboard Chart “Blue Suede Shoes” first appeared on television March 17 on Ozark Jubilee . from 1955 to 1960, the live national radio and television show from Springfield, Missouri featured Brenda Lee and Wanda Jackson . two young men from Texas made their record debuts in April 1956: Buddy Holly on the Decca label, and Roy Orbison with “Ooby Dooby” on the Je-wel label . Holly’s big hits “Queen of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson’s first record came out in July, “I Gotta Know” on Capitol label . Capitol would release nine more records by Jackson, some with songs she had written herself Lewis would have big hits in 1957 with “Great Balls Of Fire” on Sun . many record companies released rockabilly records . some enjoyed major chart success and were important influences on future rock musicians . rockabilly pioneers the Maddox Brothers and Rose, both as a group, added onto their two decades of performing by making records that were even more rocking . in 2005, Summers’ most popular recording, School of Rock rockabilly music enjoyed great popularity in the u.s. during 1956 and 1957 . radio play declined after 1960 . rockabilly was the first rock ‘n’ roll style to be performed primarily by white musicians . it set off a cultural revolution that is still reverberating today . ‘rockabilly’ was actually an insult to the southern rockers at that time . over the years it has picked up a little dignity . it was their way of calling us “hillbillies” the term “rockabilly” was first used in a billboard review of Ruckus Tyler’s “Rock Town Rock” the song was part of the Burnettes’ repertoire in 1956 when they were living in new york . rockabilly song has been covered by hundreds of artists in the years since, and is always called “Rockabilly Boogie” the distinctive reverberation on early hit records such as “Rock Around the Clock” was “slap-back” tape echo fed original signal from one tape machine through a second machine . the echo effect had been used on Wilf Carter Victor records of the 1930s . cowboy Jack Clement took over production duties a tape delay and a 7 12-ips, instead of the more advanced 15-ips . a fuller sound was achieved by more percussive playing . the Ton-Up boys rode British motorcycles and would later be known as rockers in the early 1960s . the rockers loved 1950s rock and roll artists such as Gene Vincent . some British rockabilly fans formed bands the band took on the “Beatle” name and adopted the black leather look of Gene Vincent . musically, they combined Holly’s melodic songwriting sensibility with the rough rock and roll sound of Vincent and Carl Perkins the Beatles were not the only British Invasion artists influenced by rockabilly . Rolling Stones recorded Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” on an early single . even heavy guitar heroes such as Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were influenced by rockabilly musicians . years later, led Zeppelin’s Page and Robert Plant recorded a tribute to the music of the 1950s . Dave Edmunds and songwriter Nick Lowe formed a band called rockpile in 1975 . they had minor rockabilly-style hits like “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock ‘n’ Roll) in the early ’80s, the Latin genre was born in Colombia by Marco T (Marco Tulio Sanchez) with The Gatos Montaeros . the Polecats, from north London, were the polecats played rockabilly with a punk sense of anarchy . they helped revive the genre for a new generation in the early 1980s . in 1980, Queen scored a number-one hit on the Stray Cats had three UK Top Ten singles to their credit and two best-selling albums . they returned to the us, performing on the television show Fridays with a message flashing across the screen that they had no personal conflicts led the band to break up at the height of their popularity . Brian Setzer went on to solo success working in both rockabilly and swing styles . rocker and Phantom continued to record in bands both together and singly Vince Gordon composed nearly all its songs and hits . he also left his mark on the rockabilly scene in many ways . expert Fred Sokolow talks about the Vince Gordon style in Rockabilly due to his composing the lifetime of the Jime ended with the dead of Vince Gordon in 2016 . rockabilly Shakin’ Stevens was a Welsh singer who gained fame in the uk . in 1980, he took a cover of Shakin’ Stevens was the biggest selling singles artist of the 1980s in the UK and number two across Europe . despite his popularity in Europe, he never became popular in the us . other notable British rockabilly blues, country, rockabilly, R&B and New Orleans jazz were inspired by historic American styles . none of these musicians became major stars . During the 1980s, a number of country music stars scored hits recording “Hillbilly Rock” and “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” charted many records with rockabilly approach . artists like steve jones and the Kentucky Headhunters also charte Restless, played neo-rockabilly from the early 80s . today bands like Lower The Tone are more aligned to the style that suits popular music venues . 2000, an International Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame Museum was established in Jackson, Tennessee.