Rockabilly - essentials?

"Stray Cat Strut" eats "Rock This Town" for breakfast.

did we forget charlie feathers?

My definition is pretty narrow and comes from what Charlie Feathers once said. Rockabilly has got to sound thin. Also, I think rockabilly music is very, very regional. Basically if you weren't from West Tennessee, Arkansas, or maybe northern Mississippi or northern Louisiana, forget it. It's redneck music with a twist. Even Sun didn't do all rockabilly--Bill Justis and Charlie Rich are something else entirely. Obviously early Presley and Carl Perkins are rockabilly at its height; Charlie Feathers is good too but his claim that he's the one who invented it I find dubious. There are obsessive folk who collect the genre, and I'm aware there are "rockabilly" artists from other parts of the south, but I think if there was a hill in your horizon, you ain't rockabilly; it's the music of the flatland, delta, western south. Jackson, Tiptonville, Union City, Memphis, Stuttgart, Ark., Monroe, La., that's rockabilly country. To me "rockabilly" now means a guitar style (cf. Stray Cats) or an unhealthy obsession with the 1950s. Stylistically rockabilly bled over into other kinds of rock music, but the mentality has got to be booze- and pill-fueled angst and class awareness, basically insanity. The Panther Burns kind of did it, they were self-conscious about it; Cordell Jackson's Moon Records material contains some choice stuff as well. But the names one already knows are pretty much the names to remember when talking about rockabilly, in my opinion.

Dock Miles above OTM.

The booklet expands further on Dock's observations.....

Fortunately for me, I was born in 1963.

Well, I think they definitely updated the class awareness angle, working-class. And they rocked, no question. So I like 'em fine and as a blue-collar guy myself, at times, I think Dave Alvin is often more believable as same than the Boss, you know?

I do think the Panther Burns did a good job with reviving the genre; Tav Falco is a great finder of material, tho not much of a singer. But the velocity of the whole thing makes sense to me.

Actually, I think the last really great rockabilly song, which updates it into the somewhat feminist '70s, is Billy Swan's awesome "I Can Help." What a great guitar solo! The ol' rockabily's realized he needs a good woman and has settled down, but he still needs to get drunk from time to time, and hey, thanks for the bennies, I got to make Tulsa day after tomorrow...if ol' lady will get off my back...

george jones certainly wasn't a rockabilly singer by birthright -- he's a texan -- or by career choice -- straight-up honky-tonk -- but you've gotta hand it to him for getting it fabulously right on his late-'50s single "white lightning," and maybe "who shot sam?" too. outsiders are allowed at least sometimes, yes?

and mbot: the one extremely obvious name "one already knows" that no one's mentioned yet is jerry lee lewis.

(I'm assuming that's the name given for late 50s rock n'roll).

A few of MY essentials this morning.

although feathers, also retrospectively, insists that he knew exactly what he was doing right from the start and set out to create a new genre and in fact did. feathers was kind of crazy though.

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2298/3_17/62052927/p1/article.jhtml

I of course always liked the incredibly racist--OK, you can call it tourist--"Ubangi Stomp." I don't know how to defend it, I'm not actually sure if it needs defending, but it's great.

Sure, Jerry Lee is rockabilly--like Charlie Rich, though, he kind of transcends genre.

East Texas is the ass-end of the deep south, so it fits into my admittedly artifical schema of "where do it come from." George Jones did some rockabilly. It does seem to me that as you move farther east in the south, it becomes less interesting in general, musically. I'm probably wrong, but that's my feeling. I guess Warren Smith was from somewhere in the mountains, too. He was pretty strange rockabilly. It's funny how the whole scene changes so quickly, in rockabilly's home state of Tennessee, as you cross the Tennessee River...relatively less poverty, fewer black people, somewhat less interesting music...West Tenn. and E. Arkansas, and of course NW Miss., E. Texas, and N. La., they're all kinda rough places; Shreveport or Beaumont probably has more in common with Memphis than does Nashville...which is why Nashville sucks so bad at any kind of music with real guts, like rockabilly...and why Nashville resident George Jones has had to get drunk and ride around screaming at children and birds on his John Deere...

I think the name was in pretty general currency during the '50s, probably notated something like "rock-a-billy"? I can't get my hands on Tosches' "Country" but he probably says something about it in his book.

Rockabilly ain't got much bass in it, is what I take Feathers and others to mean when they say it's gotta be thin. It's trebly, and the slapback bass rhythm gives it a certain amphetamine jump. Plus the great rockabillies were all skinny and on pills; Charlie Rich was always a bit too solid to really fit in, although I prefer him to Elvis and Jerry Lee and almost anybody from that time/place, altho I dig Presley and Benny Joy and Lewis, of course.

Rockabilly ain't got much bass in it

I hope he's heard the Sparkletones'"Black Slacks" by now. Bass all over the place.

george jones certainly wasn't a rockabilly singer by birthright -- he's a texan -- or by career choice -- straight-up honky-tonk -- but you've gotta hand it to him for getting it fabulously right on his late-'50s single "white lightning," and maybe "who shot sam?" too.

and "maybe little baby"...and "you gotta treat your man right"...and "rock it"...and "how come it"...

One is tempted to stretch the boundary up to Rocky Burnette’s “Tired of Toein’ the Line” in 1980 (he does have the genetic legacy, after all), but there’s a squiggle of self-consciousness running through the tune.

The album that it comes from, The Son Of Rock & Roll, is more power-pop than anything...kinda reminds me of the first two Dwight Twilley elpees...sorta makes sense that Burnette later turned up singing background vocals on a Twilley album (Jungle, 1984).

Johnny Powers.
Hasil Adkins.
Jimmy Bowen.
some volumes of comps like desperate rock n roll... are better than others. I do have a few rockabilly comps I like as well. "Teen Age Riot" on Norton, and "RAMPAGE" on uh, Atomic Passion I think? It really is a genre for 45 collectors, I think, and I just can't do that right now.

Farrar nailed it upthread with the Rock n Roll Trio rec, too.

Johnny Powers.
Hasil Adkins.
Jimmy Bowen.
some volumes of comps like desperate rock n roll... are better than others. I do have a few rockabilly comps I like as well. "Teen Age Riot" on Norton, and "RAMPAGE" on uh, Atomic Passion I think? It really is a genre for 45 collectors

...and this is why we need these compilations, bro...of course, it's a genre for 45 collectors; this was the fifties, not the seventies

Others to look out for:
- vol. 1 of Sin Alley (probably still available on vinyl from the Crypt and Norton catalogs)
- any anthology of rockabillies who recorded for the King label (they were known as an R&B label, but they nailed the R-A-B sound dead to rights...)
- any anthology of Billy Lee Riley, Sonny Burgess, or Warren Smith on Sun

That Rhino Rockin' Bones box set is pretty good, although a bit annoying that it overlaps with the earlier Loud, Fast & Out of Control box.

Rock'n'Roll Trio - you mean Johnny Burnette right, Ian? That record is essential.

Desperate Rock'n'Roll #1 is pretty damn good, I thought #2 was pretty weak in comparison, haven't dug further than that yet.

I found a blog that has all 24 volumes of the Sun Records Singles Collection cough although it's RapidShite unfortunately.

That Rhino Rockin' Bones box set is pretty good, although a bit annoying that it overlaps with the earlier Loud, Fast & Out of Control box.

I think the main difference between the two is that Bones is more exclusively rockabilly (i.e., no R&B songs, like on the earlier box).

Desperate Rock'n'Roll #1 is pretty damn good, I thought #2 was pretty weak in comparison, haven't dug further than that yet.

I've owned several of these volumes - some are stronger than others, but none of them are bad, IMO.

Bands in the "Rockabilly/R&B/Rock'n'Roll" chapter of the 1980 new wave guide I just bought for http://ilx.wh3rd.net/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=46178 off a seemingly homeless guy set up on the sidewalk of St Marks Street

^^^^^^^
Yeah, and that was a cool thread, too, but we talkin' about the fifties originators, not so much the eighties revivalists.

Uh, we are? He started the thread with Stray Cats! (And Moon Martin is better than them for damn sure.)

Looks like people talk about Billy Swan, Rocky Burnette, and Panther Burns upthread too, actually.

If we're talking about rockabilly "essentials," then I don't see how Stray Cats are even in the conversation.
This is still the best comp out there, for my money. Vol. 2 is excellent, too.
http://image.listen.com/img/170x170/3/6/7/4/904763_170x170.jpg

My copy looks like this: http://blog.so-net.ne.jp/_images/blog/rolly18/1376520.jpg
But yeah it's good!

Stupidly, I got rid of my (vinyl) copy of that one during some moving-purge who knows how many years ago. It's got a Harmonica Frank song on it, doesn't it?

This is an amazingly concise and spot-on thread. I'm just going to put in second votes and recap.

I think the place to start is with V/A comps. First, get some comps built around the indies who defined the genre. Most of the sets have been repackaged dozens of times, but it's hard to go wrong. Mark of a good Sun Rockabilly starter comp- it's got Billy Lee Rilley's "Red Hot." A King comp with Charlie Feathers. A Chess comp with Mel Robbins' "Save it".

If you like those, try the crazier semi-bootleg comps mentioned- Sin Alley and Desparate Rock 'n' Roll.

The first two volumes of Atalanic Rhythm & Blues also puts it all in context: so many of rockabilly tracks are covers and remakes of those songs.

Full albums: beyond the obvious Presley, Lewis, Vincent, Orbison, Rich and Perkins, a good comp of Johnny Burnette and the RnR Trio is a must.

For latter day rockabilly, yeah, most spiderweb-tatoo bands miss the sweet seduction, repressed-horndog side of the music. The notable exception is Flat Duo Jets. Marc Sultan's Sultanic Verses caputres some of that too, with a neat mix of retro crooning and contemporary angst.

ILM loose talk:

we talkin' about the fifties originators, not so much the eighties revivalists.

-- Rev. Hoodoo

Uh, we are? He started the thread with Stray Cats!

-- xhuxk

Well, take that goddam Stray Cats cassette OUT of the stereo 'cause we're gonna do it RIGHT this time!! :-)

(Although Rocky Burnette, Moon Martin, Billy Swan and Panther Burns are FAR superior to anything Setzer, Slim Jim & Lee Rocker were associated with...)

Besides, this reply is on the money:

If we're talking about rockabilly "essentials," then I don't see how Stray Cats are even in the conversation.

Amen, brother!

And put a Charlie Feathers record on - ANY Charlie Feathers record - while you're at it...even in the seventies, the man always seemed to hold on to the boppin' fever. NEVER made a bad record.

Wanda Jackson: "I Gotta Know" and "Fujiyama Mama."

And if we're really going to include the Stray Cats, I vote for "Rumble In Brighton."

Flat Duo Jets have been disbanded for some time, but their singer-guitarist Dexter Romweber has been keeping on for some time now with some good solo releases.

And Xhuxk, if you wanna talk about newer rockabillies (alright, you got me, I give up!), then I got some youngbloods for ya:

For latter day rockabilly, yeah, most spiderweb-tatoo bands miss the sweet seduction, repressed-horndog side of the music.

The stable of Wild Records in L.A. gets it right:
http://www.wildpresents.com/

I especially recommend Santos, Luis & the Wildfires, Dusty Chance & the All-Nighters, and a good Wild label sampler called The Young Breed.

tupidly, I got rid of my (vinyl) copy of that one during some moving-purge who knows how many years ago. It's got a Harmonica Frank song on it, doesn't it?

-- xhuxk

Yes, "Rocking Chair Daddy" I think. (My copy's at home.) This seems to be the same record (or have most of the same contents) as one Greil Marcus referred to in Mystery Train as Put Your Cat Clothes On

S: Cordell Jackson, "Dateless Night"

(as revived by Tav Falco's Panther Burns and mentioned by edd s hurt more or less)

Andrew Weatherall's list

yeah that's a good list, I'd add the Panther Burns doing "Snake Drive" and their insane version of the Orbison/Jerry Lee tune "On Down the Line" which along with Jack Clement's "It'll Be Me" are my favorite rockabilly songs. And "Red Headed Woman" and "Ubangi Stomp," of course. Bobby Mitchell's "Gonna Be a Wheel" is just a New Orleans rock 'n' roll song, though, right? It's by Dave Bartholomew and Fats Domino. "Hungry" Williams on drums, so I dunno, why don't we just call Huey Piano & the Clowns rockabilly? And Cordell Jackson might be on there somewhere I missed, on one of those comps, but certainly a female guitarist/producer from Memphis with a label, Moon, and three of the definitive rockabilly tunes to her credit at least ("Dateless Night" is as good as anything Sun put out, plus "She's the One That's Got It" ["got what?? Oh, you know," and goes on to mention pedal-pushers and is more deranged than Lux Interior could ever be [[but Lux was good, but Poison Ivy was the soul of that group since she played better rockabilly guitar than even LX Chilton or any of those other semi-revivalists]] ] ).

Hardrock Gunter - Birmingham Bounce

This gem was recorded in 1950, which is what makes it essential (other than being a great, great song).

The thing about Rockabilly is, it's more or less a younger version of Hillbilly Boogie, with the defining element of being more rambunctious. However, defining the starting point and overlooking overlap becomes a standard taxonomy problem.

But this song has a strong case for being the first to employ the sound that differentiates Boogie from Rockabilly (especially that slap=back reverb and yelps), predating Bill Haley's revamped sound by a year.

ronnie self is dope

This is my JAM

Jerry Reed - When I Found You 1956

Elvis is the starting point for rockabilly.

There's a Keb Darge/Cut Chemist Rockabilly/Jump Blues collection on BBE that's pretty rockin'. I guess the crates of funk have all been dug by those guys.

If you like those, try the crazier semi-bootleg comps mentioned- Sin Alley and Desparate Rock 'n' Roll.

these have been owning my ears since i chanced upon a volume of each used. gotta read this thread and bone up on the rest.

There's a lot to paw through, but the eleven volumes of Lux & Ivy's Favorites on the WFMU blog are pretty amazingly essential.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/02/lux-and-ivys-favorites-mp3s.html

Also, I have to second the recommendation of Warren Smith. Kind of an oddball of the lot and always seemed to have a little black cloud following him around, but that Sun comp is ace stellar.

theres a huge number of sun records compilations. i'd really like a recommendation for one thats pure rockabilly, none of the blues stuff (as good as that is, it's not what i'm looking for). suggestions?

well, there is the "sun rockabilly" series... haven't heard them, though, so maybe they have blues stuff on them?

Um, Wanda Jackson anybody?

What's the best Jerry Lee multi-CD comp that's strictly rockabilly? Ideally a two disc set of his primo Sun output.

I would think that Bear Family would likely have a great comp or two. They seem to be the most legitimate keeper of Jerry's recorded legacy.
(Don't forget his 60/70s country output either. You need at least a couple discs worth of Mercury years stuff)

Bear Family have got one called "Jerry Rocks" that probably fits the bill.

Damn, I hadn't noticed that Bear Family Rocks series, it looks really good! I couldn't find an Eddie Cochran comp I liked but it looks like this'll do the trick, thanks!

the Sun Essentials box set on Charly looks like a good bet: 4 discs for around $20, and even though the packaging and liner notes won't be anywhere near as extensive as the ($100, 8-CD) Bear Family box, Charly seems to be pretty good at curating this stuff.

Charley's release of Charlie Rich's complete Sun recordings is another one I wish I owned.

I hardly ever listen to rockabilly anymore--I'm hedging; never--but I used to love "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo" by Bob & Lucille. It's on a King compilation called King-Federal Rockabillys.

I never did find the Sun Rockabilly set that focused on the uptempo stuff and didn't veer off into blues and country. Bear Family has a 3cd set called "Sun Rockabilly Meltdown" which looks like it might be exactly what I was looking for, has anyone heard it?

Also, I have to second the recommendation of Warren Smith. Kind of an oddball of the lot and always seemed to have a little black cloud following him around, but that Sun comp is ace stellar.

I love his Black Jack Davey among others have about 5 of his sprinkled over my walkman. Got them on that Charley Sun compi that was reissued a couple of years back. Found some great stuff in that series, decent sound & very cheap. Went for about 5quid a pop & most in the series had about 20 tracks on.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rockabilly-Legend-Warren-Smith/dp/B000V7JWGK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299874833&sr=8-1
Red Cadillac & A Black Mustache, Stop The world, Ubangi Stomp of course
are all great.
The Billy Riley, Sonny Burgess, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent in that series are great too as is the Johnny Burnette which has most of the Rock'n'roll trio material on.
It's a shame The Barbara Pittman isn't all as good as I Need A Man which is primal.

The awesome Bear Family single-disc “Rocks” series (mentioned above) has several: Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee, Gene Vincent, Ronnie Hawkins, Wanda Jackson, etc.

ROCKIN’: The Rockabilly Scene
Andrew Shaylor, foreword by Jerry Chatabox

Over 250 images capturing the music, fashion and cars that define rockabilly subculture

Rockin’ is photographer Andrew Shaylor’s unique look into the contemporary rockabilly scene. A raw fusion of rhythm & blues with country & western, rockabilly provided the original soundtrack to teen rebellion in the early 1950s. The stripped-down sound witnessed a revival in the 1970s that has continued until today - embracing not only the music, but also the cars, clothes and lifestyle of 50s counterculture.

Covering events on both sides of the Atlantic, Shaylor captures the energy of the music as well as the commitment of the rockabilly community. Featuring the history of the subculture by Jerry Chatabox - stalwart of the contemporary rockabilly world - Rockin’ reflects the intensity of a scene that’s as exciting today as it was more than 50 years ago.

Hardback, 192 pages, 250+ color illustrations
28 x 24 cm (11.25 x 9.5 in)
ISBN: 978-1-8589-4528-6

There's a 135 track compilation called 'rockabilly insanity' which has an awful album cover but contains pretty much every song you'll ever need in the genre (ok it's lacking 'black slacks' but that's about it). It might be an online only thing since I can only find it on itunes and spotify.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/rockabilly-insanity/id294906952
http://open.spotify.com/album/5cZvrLii3UfiNn7UYgVJtL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LDdyTYMvWs

New series of inexpensive 2cd sets called "Essential Rockabilly" each of which covers a different label. I got the first 6 in and lemme tell ya, they are WICKED FUN! And much to my surprise, the Sun set was the least of them, as the other labels had more of a mix between the "rock" and "billy". It's really cool listening to this stuff and hearing the strands of country, blues and even jazz that went into the rock'n'roll stew.

Scroll down here for tracklistings: http://www.notnowmusic.co.uk/One%20Day%20content/onedaypoprock.htm

Oh, and that Bear Family ...Rocks series is fantastic, I've picked up 8 or 9 volumes so far. Now if they could just do a set of Elvis' best uptempo rockers!

I got that Decca story set. Would have picked up a couple of others if I'd had more money when i was in FOPP over Xmas.

R.I.P. Sleepy LaBeef (surprised he has no thread on here): https://variety.com/2019/music/news/sleepy-labeef-dead-dies-rockabilly-singer-1203452304/

was just listening to Johnny Dollar's original demo for "Action Packed" and I like it lots!

Saw Sleepy a bunch of times . That huge repertoire and his onstage charm made for enjoyable nights. RIP

He did a great Muleskinnner Blues on I think the Hank Wangford history of country. May have been the first version of the song I heard.
Have heard it by several others since.

Jack Scott died recently too.

https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/obit-windsor-born-hall-of-fame-musician-jack-scott-dies-at-83/wcm/e1865eeb-964a-4c25-b257-eb7e1ee2ca5e/

Yeah. Think I picked up a best of him on my last London trip. A bit mixed between his more r'n'r relevant stuff and more countryish. Good though.
Probably best known for The Cramps covering The Way I Walk. Though the original is a classic anyway.

Robert Gordon also covered "The Way I Walk," with Link Wray on guitar. It's very different from the Cramps' version, but it's good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Y_UlonJW8

Yeah, what I've heard of Gordon & Wray (mostly remember "Mah gal is redd hot/Yore gal ain't Doodley squat," so popular around here on South AL that the local Top 40 giant presented them in free concert)does not sound much like the Cramps---but several on Wray's volume of the xpost Rocks series do make me think of the Cramps--and these are from the late 50s, early 60s (1960 chop and channel of Ray Charles hit "Mary Ann" struts and minces and cuts around corners in a way that the Beatles and Kinks might have learned from, even covered).
Trenchant posts---gotta be thin alright, and Link does pull thin wild mercury sounds even out of dated, clunky intros, then brothers Doug and Vernon and accomplices often (not always) shift into cannier combo support---it's always about the total effect, not just Hee-yum. But stylistic shifts still fit: the marachi horns on "El Toro" play crisp, metallic (well they are metal instruments) notes, just like the basic guitar lines, and when they fanfare, so does he, in his Wray way, without hogging the mic (sounds like there might have been one mic). Annotator Bill Dahl says this is the same song as "Pancho Villa," minus the horns, but if so it's been transformed into a rippling circular saw, heading toward the Caribbean (easy there Pancho), in a way that might impress the dungarees off the Clash, as it certainly does me. Closer to rockabilly per se incl. emented bird sounds of guitar and sometimes vocals (Dahl says the TB came back, Link's left lung had to go, but remaining voice used effectively here, and certainly full and soulful by 70s comeback).
The Rocks series ranges pretty far afield, seems like (Connie Francis maybe, but is it true that Pat Boone Rocks). Would like to check the Wanda Jackson for sure, and btw Omnivore's 2013 The Best of The Classic Capitol Singles does bring back a bunch of her best, though also some country weepers that sound like they may have been recorded at gunpoint, mandated apologies for being a nasty gal (who just can't hep it, there she goes again). Also a volume of Louis Prima, pron w San Butera and the Witnesses, bumrushing rock & roll when it was still new (for parents and others, in Vegas, LA, and New Orleans especially, when the non-cat-clothes audiences didn't feel like settling for Sinatra's Adult Pop, nossir).

Link Wray Rocks is 34 tracks, just over 77 minutes, like it oughta be--b-but wait, come back, "Dueces Wild"! Whirls through the fade---oh well, always leave 'em wanting more. Will have to play this mentholated sandwich "Ace of Spades" (1965, credited to F.L. Wray Sr, like so many here, among other Dahl-noted copyright capers) next to Mötörhead's.

At least come back long enough to be spelled right, "Deuces Wild"! (! does go outside the quote marks dont it?)

Scientists used to do Rumble live and loved a bit of echo.

Would hope people would be familiar with Link Wray anyway.

& Billy Lee Riley whose song Red Hot you mentioned. Pretty wild sounding & apparently one time the studio band for Sun.
He did a great version of Baby Please Don't Go pretty early too.

Gordon did a number of NYC shows in 2019 and I think was down my way in DC, but I missed him. He's still singing Jack Scott's "The Way I Walk".

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/robert-gordon/2019/irving-plaza-new-york-ny-2b91501e.html

I saw Gordon 20+ years ago at the Lone Star Roadhouse, with Chris Spedding on guitar.