The Dance Album - Carl Perkins (1957)

ideated from: the weird world of pop music in 1957

So rock n roll was a thing in 1957, too, and it would be silly not to mention it.

Similar to the folk revival, early rock n roll was a bit of an illusion. In one sense, it was a mixture of what many would have thought of as “black” and “white” musical traditions, but it also easily showed how little difference there really was between the two.

Maybe it’s just me, but I like to compare this Memphis rockabilly sound to Bill Haley and the Comets. “Rock around the clock” from a few years earlier is based on a big band swing tune. From the horns to the shuffle beat to the bass line, it’s a jazz tune that morphs into something else. Perkins, Cash, Elvis, et al come from the side of country and western, the “hillbilly” part of rockabilly. “Sure To Fall” is a straight up country song that Hank senior could have written. There’s a lot of western swing, which itself is a hybrid of blues and jazz and country. The guitars sound like Bo Diddley, although not as much as Buddy Holly’s did. And let’s don’t ignore that this record features a very country-centric take of the Platters’ “Only You”.

The point is that the pieces were all there. Somebody just had to put them together.