Roadkill on the Three-Chord Highway: Art and Trash in American Popular Music

by Colin Escott

It's the real stories, not the publicists' confections, that concern Colin Escott. We hear Perry Como's story in his own words: it wasn't all smooth. We learn about the astonishing twists and turns in Roy Orbison's life, and the stories behind the songs we know so well. And we go down with Vernon Oxford, the last great honky tonk singer, who came to Nashville just a little too late. These are stories for anyone who loves what Escott calls "little songs from great sorrows." They will fascinate even the most casual fan of popular music, and they're told here in sympathetic, engaging, and illuminating prose.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 26, 2002

About the author

Colin Escott is the foremost authority on Sun Records. He first wrote the company’s history in 1975 and has revised and expanded it several times since. He has published several other volumes on the early days of country music, including a biography of Hank Williams and The Grand Ole Opry: The Making of an American Icon. He won a Grammy for his work on Mercury Records’ The Complete Hank Williams, and in 2010 received a Tony nomination for Million Dollar Quartet, a Broadway musical about the legendary one-night jam session of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Reviews

[Seth Arnopole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked it out to read the Roy Orbison and Wanda Jackson chapters, and I got pulled into ones about Perry Como and Patti Page.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

British writer Colin Escott really captures the roots of American Rockabilly. He's a fantastic historian and writer. Each chapter in this book focuses on the insane artists who made up 'rockabilly.' Essential read for music lovers!

[Charles Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some cool stories about forgotten artists of hard western honky tonk and rockabilly. Lots of stories about drinking and marrying adolescent girls. Escott has the goods but some of these vignettes go nowhere. Good companion to Cocaine and Rhinestones podcast (it was cited there for the Bakersfield Sound episodes) and adds to our knowledge of race, rusticity, Nashville history, etc. Lots of corn pone Ozark rednecks to be sure! Especially liked reading about Roy Orbison and Wanda Jackson. Pretty cool behind the music or lost history type work. Hard to believe more of these performers didn't perish on the highways: lots of drunk driving.