Don't
Knock
The
Rock !
The history of rock and roll has been told and retold over and over again from one generation down to the next, and each time, it changes slightly. Some swear by the very overt significance of mid-south country and western influence – probably in line with Bill Haley.
Other say that it happened with a truck driver from Tupelo, named Elvis Presley, who walked into Sun Records studios and asked if he could record a song for his mother’s birthday.
Even we, in the good old United Kingdom say that somehow Tommy Steele got up and sang after hearing a skiffle song, possibly Lonnie Donegan, and the rock and roll simply oozed out of his yodelling mouth. Yet some money, including mine, will argue that it was the deprivation of the deep south that lead the black people into a sense of woe, thus one of the greatest, most timeless genres of music, ever, was born. The Blues.
The Blues are pretty much to blame for everything music wise in the first part of the 20th Century. Even Rockabilly which was around long before the first sounds of rock and roll, has its roots in genres such as bluegrass and rhythm and blues. Somewhere in the distance came in Hillbilly boogie which was a little on the twangy country sound where you could imagine an old man on jug, blowing away alongside a honky tonk vocal and a slide guitar. The lines between most of the genres which developed from the deep south, through depravation, slavery and second class citizenship, although the white version of this could always spoke of little missy has gone away and left me, rather than talking about real life.
The black communities sang about real events, and about being jobless, homeless, out of drink, out of women, out of life…..
Western Swing was predominately white orientated, and perhaps the best known name to come out this genre was Hank Williams. Bob Wills and his surprisingly titled Texas Playboys were the founders of this style of music as the geographic reference suggests, but it wasn’t until a middle aged chap by the name of Bill Haley came along with his Saddlemen and released a record in 1951 called ‘Rocket 88.
By Michelle Hatcher
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