The rebel one: The Birth of Rockabilly

Before the name

It is well known that rock 'n ' roll was born in the early to mid-1950s, but not as we know it now; it was a blend of sounds that combined African sounds and African chants and African American slaves' lament for their home, their families, and their horrible situation. These songs and rhythms were born on the southern plantations.  These people adapted their ancestors' original sounds and began using string instruments like the banjo. The early written and recorded archives are mainly spiritual songs / religious themes.

After emancipation, the fields' hollers, mournful and soulful chants evolved into the blues around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The blues, it's said, was born in the Mississippi Delta where the field hollers were fused with acoustic guitars and then with drums, which re-entered African-American music because they were banned for slaves. 

From 1910 to around 1970, there was the Great Migration of millions of Black Americans who moved from the South to cities like Chicago and Detroit. Between the 1940s and 1950s, the evolution from acoustic guitars to plugged instruments into amplifiers evolved into electric blues and then rhythm & blues. Country, blues, rhythm & blues, and gospel combined gave birth to Rock and Roll. 

The different tempos, electric instruments, and soulful singing started crossing over to teenage audiences, not only African American teenagers but white teenagers also. 

There are a few songs from the late 1940s and early 1950s that are universally recognized as the very first true rock and roll records: 

1. Sister Rosetta Tharpe – "Strange Things Happening Every Day" (1944)

2. Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats - Rocket 88

3. Bill Haley and the Comets - Rock Around the Clock (It was the first song described as rock and roll to top popular music charts ).

4. Roy Brown - Good Rockin

5. Arthur Crudup - That's All Right, but the Elvis Presley version was the one that became popular

6. Fats Domino - The Fat Man

Memphis: the birthplace of rock and roll

Memphis was the melting pot where Rock and Roll was born. This was the place where all musical styles, instruments, and voices collided. 

A producer named Sam Phillips saw the opportunity to open his recording studio, the first name was Memphis Recording Service, but later it became known and became famous as Sun Studio. This studio became legendary because many R&B artists started there, including a young Elvis Presley. 

Beale Street in downtown Memphis became the epicenter of Black musical culture. It was a place where blues, gospel, and jazz musicians played in crowded clubs night after night, refining the rhythms that would soon become rock and roll. Cities like Cleveland, New Orleans, and Chicago played massive roles in popularizing this music; Memphis is where the sound was physically created and broadcast to the world.

The wild little brother

In the 1950s, Rock and Roll became mainstream, so much so that it was already shocking society, specially and older generation ( which, of course, is the generation that always has the toughest time accepting big cultural changes). During this time, Rockabilly was born; this style was the wild little brother. It had more attitude, a different visual style; it was fast-paced, and it pushed the music's speed. 

The performers and bands were also different from the new rock and roll stars. The performance, the act, the on-stage presence were as wild as their music. Rockabilly was also formed in the 1950s; different sources talk about Elvis Presley recording his first session at the famous Sun Studio. 

"He paired a fast, bluesy vocal style with an acoustic guitar, a driving electric guitar, and a heavily slapped upright bass" -britannica.com

"Sun recorded rockabilly by Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Warren Smith, Billy Lee Riley, Sonny Burgess, and many others. Nashville country stars jumped on the bandwagon, as did young female performers such as Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee, and Janis Martin. Other places developed strong rockabilly communities, including Texas and California.Of the thousands of rockabilly songs recorded in the 1950s, few made the charts. "

The origin of the name

The name is a blend of words: rock ( from rock and roll and hillbilly ( a term in the industry for country and western music). It is said that journalists started writing the rockabilly name around 1955-1956 to describe the rhythm-blues-heavy version but that was played by white artists. Apparently, this term carried a negative tone, but musicians started to use it more and more, and then they embraced it. 

Years later, Rockabilly would also become a subculture followed by millions of people around the world, but I will talk about that in Part II.

Important early artists: 

• Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps:  Their 1956 hit "Be-Bop-A-Lula" featured legendary lead guitar work from Cliff Gallup.
• Jerry Lee Lewis: Added explosive piano work to the genre. 
• Wanda Jackson: The "Queen of Rockabilly." Encouraged by Elvis to pivot from pure country to rockabilly.
• The Everly Brothers: Combined rockabilly rhythms with close, Appalachian-style.
• Eddie Cochran: Famous for his driving acoustic rhythm tracks, studio experimentation, and guitar technique.
• Charline Arthur: A high-energy performer whose aggressive, blues-influenced style on RCA Victor predated many mainstream rockabilly acts.

The ones that followed: 

• Elvis Presley
• Carl Perkins ( The King of Rockabilly)
• Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two
• Bill Haley & His Comets
• Buddy Holly & The Crickets

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