by Scott Pritchard

Being a mix of rhythm & blues, post-war country-boogie, and hillbilly styles, rockabilly emerged as a hybrid form of music between 1945 and 1954. Country-boogie had grown out of jazz boogie-woogie rhythms from about 1939 on. By 1945, the Delmore Brothers had come out with several influential recordings on the King label, including "Hillbilly Boogie" and "Pan American Boogie." This set the mood for other country artists to absorb the Delmores' rhythms into their own work.

Other early practitioners of this style were Moon Mullican, Red Foley, and Webb Pierce. Country boogie had been around from the early 40's, forming a link between Western swing and Rockabilly, and was quick to become a favorite dance music from the hills of Appalachia, to the Hollywood hills. Hank Williams must be mentioned here, as his honky-tonk, hillbilly sound, utilizing steel guitar and stand-up bass, had a profound influence on Bill Haley and Carl Perkins.

Right around 1952, Bill Haley, with his group The Saddlemen, utilized the slapped bass sound, which was to become the hallmark of the rockabilly style. Carl Perkins sang in a pure hillbilly manner much like that of Hank Williams. His first two releases in 1955 "Turn Around" and "Gone, Gone, Gone" on the Flip label, combined Perkins' hillbilly style with a primitive rockabilly rhythm.

Thanks to Sam Phillips, rhythm & blues was mixed into the rockabilly recipe. At his Memphis Recording Service from 1950 on, Phillips recorded the 'who's who of bluesmen.' Junior Parker, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, Howlin' Wolf, Walter Horton, James Cotton and many other solid blues greats were recorded using Phillips' technique of flutter echo and over-amplification. This created a stark, primitive sound that was adapted to be used with his country artists.

Sam Phillips was a white man who genuinely love black music and in 1950 he opened the Memphis Recording Studio. There blues legends B.B. King, Howling' Wolf and Elmore James made some of their first recordings. After first leasing recordings to other labels Phillips began his own label Sun Records in 1952. Phillips often said "If I could only find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a million dollars".

July 5, 1954 was a warm summer night in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black were recording that night at the Sun Records. According to Scotty Moore: "we were taking a break, I don't know, we were having Cokes and coffee, and all of a sudden Elvis was singing a song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up the bass and he began acting the fool too, and you know, I started playing with them. Sam had the door to the control room open; I don't know, he was either editing some tape or doing something. He stuck his head out and said: "What are you doing?" We said, "We don't know." "Well back up," he said "and try to find a place to start and do it again."

Rockabilly was invented that night in Memphis. It's rough southern edges were an exciting contrast to the group oriented rhythm and blues produced in the Northern cities. Fading from the scene by the late nineteen fifties, Rockabilly for many remained the "purest" form of rock and roll. Though it only lasted a few brief years, it provided a crucial sound, image and rebellious spirit for rock's initial wave.

The Elvis Presley 1955 version of "Mystery Train" featured the Junior Parker guitar riff that would forever link country and rhythm & blues styles. The Presley run of Sun Studio recordings would lay the foundation for Phillips' emerging rockabilly style; most notably, was his work with Carl Perkins.

Although Elvis stands as the progenitor of this new style of musical expression, it was the 1956 Carl Perkins recording of his own "Blue Suede Shoes" that would bring international attention to rockabilly. The Perkins' Sun recordings, which combined all the elements of the rockabilly style, began the exploitation of the genre by other labels. Small independent Memphis and Texas labels like Shimmy, Fernwood, Erwin, Lin, and Jan, gave way to the giants. Columbia, Capitol, Decca/Coral and Mercury recorded rockabilly artists at a fevered pitch during 1956-57, such as Ronnie Dawson, Wanda Jackson, and Gene Vincent, to name a few.

The dominant instrument, other than the stand-up bass, was the electric guitar. Favored was the Gretsch "Country Gent," or Country Club model, incorporating a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece and Filtertron Pickups. Similar hollow body models from Guild and Gibson would also be seen on bandstands and in recording studios at that time.

Pure rock & roll dominated the scene for the next twenty years, but a revival of rockabilly surfaced in the late 70's as groups like The Stray Cats, The Paladins, The Blasters, The Polecats, and Dave Edmonds began recording and rocking the club scene.

Today, rockabilly flourishes around the world, in a dozen languages and in as many time-zones. Despite cultural and geographical borders, the attitude, style and bass-slapping rhythms are being kept alive by the likes of: Rosie Flores, Brian Setzer, Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys, Reverend Horton Heat, The Paladins, The Planet Rockers, and Earl & The Overtones.