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Rockabilly: The Twang Heard 'Round the World: The Illustrated History
It was the twang heard ’round the Rockabilly was born out of country, bluegrass, jazz, and the blues in the 1950s, becoming rock ‘n’ roll and ruling the world. Here’s the story of Elvis Presley’s first Sun records that inspired all. And here’s Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many more rockabillies from the golden years of 1955—1959, in a book chock full of photos, collectible memorabilia, movie posters, rare records, fashion, and rebel lifestyle. The story continues today, with a rockabilly revival that began with stars, such as the Stray Cats and Robert Gordon, spreading around the globe from Europe to Japan. Today, rockabilly is better than ever, with bands like Rev. Horton Heat and others playing the music and living the life from Memphis to Helsinki to Tokyo. There’s still good rockin’ tonight!
232 pages, Hardcover
First published May 20, 2011
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139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 17, 2018
I developed a brief but intense fascination with rockabilly and its offspring during the late months of 2017, when I was hired to write songs for an adaptation of "Night of the Living Dead." My research pointed out that the genre, though a decade obsolete as of 1968, was still popular in rural and Western Pennsylvania, so I threw myself into the sound to capture some of it for the music.
Given that the golden age flourished so briefly and so brightly, Michael Dregni's book- half oral history, half scrapbook- captures all the important players and many of the has-beens and also-rans. It's essential for playlist building, visual research, or just plain curiosity, and it's a great companion to the box sets "The Sun Records Collection" or "Loud, Fast and Out of Control."
Given that the golden age flourished so briefly and so brightly, Michael Dregni's book- half oral history, half scrapbook- captures all the important players and many of the has-beens and also-rans. It's essential for playlist building, visual research, or just plain curiosity, and it's a great companion to the box sets "The Sun Records Collection" or "Loud, Fast and Out of Control."
October 17, 2022
This was a very comprehensive and entertaining book about rockabilly. I have been listening to rockabilly for many years and so I already knew about most if not all of the artists covered in this book. Many Great photos also which kind of makes me want to buy it. (I got my copy from the library.)
Definitely pick this up if you are new to the rockabilly world or even if you're not new. I did learn a thing or two from it despite most of it being known to me already.
Definitely pick this up if you are new to the rockabilly world or even if you're not new. I did learn a thing or two from it despite most of it being known to me already.
June 3, 2021
An eclectic collection ranging from interviews, fan-writing, and scholarly mini-essays. As a record collector, I appreciated the attention paid to the vinyl recordings and the pictures of the rare sleeves. Some things I learned that I hadn't considered before:
(1) Many of the original rockabillies who made it big came from poor farm labor families
(2) Independent labels were often the launchpads for their careers, before major labels scooped them up
(3) Other major labels jumped in on the action by producing more polished imitators
(4) The genre had a meteoric rise but only lasted a few years before the British Invasion's popularity displaced it. The genre burned brightly but briefly.
(1) Many of the original rockabillies who made it big came from poor farm labor families
(2) Independent labels were often the launchpads for their careers, before major labels scooped them up
(3) Other major labels jumped in on the action by producing more polished imitators
(4) The genre had a meteoric rise but only lasted a few years before the British Invasion's popularity displaced it. The genre burned brightly but briefly.
October 14, 2017
This is one of the finest surveys of rockabilly history I've ever read. The authors/contributors cover not only the well-known and expected but also the obscure, the one-hit wonders, and the various resurgences of the genre.
I particularly enjoyed reading the interviews with artists who were still living at the time the book was written, as we got an interesting first-person perspective on performers across the spectrum of success.
Another unexpected treat was a look at favored equipment, like the Gretsch 6120 guitar, the Gibson ES 295, Bigsby vibrato attachments, and more. For those interested in the tools of the trade, this book is also a great place to begin.
This book was an entertaining read, as well as an education about the earliest days of the rock music scene.
I particularly enjoyed reading the interviews with artists who were still living at the time the book was written, as we got an interesting first-person perspective on performers across the spectrum of success.
Another unexpected treat was a look at favored equipment, like the Gretsch 6120 guitar, the Gibson ES 295, Bigsby vibrato attachments, and more. For those interested in the tools of the trade, this book is also a great place to begin.
This book was an entertaining read, as well as an education about the earliest days of the rock music scene.
February 13, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyable!
Loved every minute, discovered music I'd never heard but now love, re-discovered music I loved but had forgotten, learned some great earlier history about musicians whose later work was all I'd known, and learned some interesting stuff about instruments (especially guitars), amps and other equipment, recording devices and techniques, and the business of music itself. I've never known much about music, but I love all kinds and this book has inspired me to learn more!
Loved every minute, discovered music I'd never heard but now love, re-discovered music I loved but had forgotten, learned some great earlier history about musicians whose later work was all I'd known, and learned some interesting stuff about instruments (especially guitars), amps and other equipment, recording devices and techniques, and the business of music itself. I've never known much about music, but I love all kinds and this book has inspired me to learn more!
November 19, 2022
Really just skimmed it, but enjoyed learning more about the history of Rockabilly music!
May 28, 2011
Rockabilly, loosely defined as the white man’s first foray into rock and roll during the mid- to late-1950’s, gets a visual blast from Voyageur Press’s new book on the subject. Written by multiple authors, the book features in-depth biographical chapters on all the big names of the genre -- Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis – but it also includes shorter chapters on Rockabilly’s lesser-known players (and the guitars they played – really).
Sam Phillips was the man who initially recorded it all in his tiny Memphis-based Sun Records studio and the book features dozens of close-up shots of his records. In fact, the book contains so many stunning visuals – studio photos, live concert shots, concert advertisement posters, sheet music covers, tickets – that the era nearly jumps off each page.
The history of Rockabilly is fraught with drama and this book captures some of those moments. For instance, in describing what many believe to be the genre’s birth -- Elvis’s recording of “That’s All Right Mama” at Sam Phillips’ place -- the book quotes someone who was there, Scotty Moore, who told the following story in a 1955 interview: “Elvis started clowning around. Just picked up his guitar and started kibitzing, singing “That’s All Right” and clowning around the studio dancing, just cutting up in general, and Bill picked up his bass, started slapping it and clowning also . . . I joined in with just a rhythm vamp. Sam was in the control room, the door was open. He came out and said, ‘What are y’all doing?’ We said ‘We don’t know.’ He said, ‘Well, see if you can do it again the same way. Let’s put it on tape, see what it sounds like.’”
The book also portrays a dramatic moment in the life of Rockabilly great, Carl Perkins (“Blue Suede Shoes”). Although on the verge of having a hit song, Perkins had no available cash to buy Christmas presents for his children and went to pick cotton in order to do so: “As he drove toward the Jackson city limits, he hated himself, hated his life, hated what he had to do, hated that all his years of hard work had brought him back to a cotton field. About ten miles out of town he parked, took a sack off a wagon, and headed out to pick from daybreak to sunset, “from can to can’t,” in the picker’s lexicon.
As Carl made his way down a row, he felt the other picker’s eyes boring in on him. ‘You look like that sanger,’ drawled on of the older ones . . .”
U.S. Rockabilly came to an end somewhere in the late 50’s (the book provides three possible death dates) but chapter seven opens with the words “In Europe, Rockabilly lived on while it died back home.” Rockabilly was revered outside the U.S. (which shouldn’t surprise any Beatles scholars since the Fab Four chose their name with Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets, in mind). The book also provides a chapter on the Rockabilly Renaissance of the 1980’s with the advent of the U.S.-born Stray Cats.
The book doesn’t precisely define Rockabilly but to define any American musical genre with the printed page alone is nearly impossible. The best thing for the uninitiated is a trip to You Tube with a list of classic Rockabilly titles in hand (see below). But for those who already have Rockabilly hits playing in their heads, the book’s interviews, biographies, and photos will be sure to fill in some information gaps while providing a stunning visual treat.
“That’s All Right Mama”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1s-E1...
“Blue Suede Shoes”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79CJON...
“Hey Porter”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxsqFP...
“Go, go, go”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTszJ...
“That’ll be the Day”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDcLti...
Sam Phillips was the man who initially recorded it all in his tiny Memphis-based Sun Records studio and the book features dozens of close-up shots of his records. In fact, the book contains so many stunning visuals – studio photos, live concert shots, concert advertisement posters, sheet music covers, tickets – that the era nearly jumps off each page.
The history of Rockabilly is fraught with drama and this book captures some of those moments. For instance, in describing what many believe to be the genre’s birth -- Elvis’s recording of “That’s All Right Mama” at Sam Phillips’ place -- the book quotes someone who was there, Scotty Moore, who told the following story in a 1955 interview: “Elvis started clowning around. Just picked up his guitar and started kibitzing, singing “That’s All Right” and clowning around the studio dancing, just cutting up in general, and Bill picked up his bass, started slapping it and clowning also . . . I joined in with just a rhythm vamp. Sam was in the control room, the door was open. He came out and said, ‘What are y’all doing?’ We said ‘We don’t know.’ He said, ‘Well, see if you can do it again the same way. Let’s put it on tape, see what it sounds like.’”
The book also portrays a dramatic moment in the life of Rockabilly great, Carl Perkins (“Blue Suede Shoes”). Although on the verge of having a hit song, Perkins had no available cash to buy Christmas presents for his children and went to pick cotton in order to do so: “As he drove toward the Jackson city limits, he hated himself, hated his life, hated what he had to do, hated that all his years of hard work had brought him back to a cotton field. About ten miles out of town he parked, took a sack off a wagon, and headed out to pick from daybreak to sunset, “from can to can’t,” in the picker’s lexicon.
As Carl made his way down a row, he felt the other picker’s eyes boring in on him. ‘You look like that sanger,’ drawled on of the older ones . . .”
U.S. Rockabilly came to an end somewhere in the late 50’s (the book provides three possible death dates) but chapter seven opens with the words “In Europe, Rockabilly lived on while it died back home.” Rockabilly was revered outside the U.S. (which shouldn’t surprise any Beatles scholars since the Fab Four chose their name with Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets, in mind). The book also provides a chapter on the Rockabilly Renaissance of the 1980’s with the advent of the U.S.-born Stray Cats.
The book doesn’t precisely define Rockabilly but to define any American musical genre with the printed page alone is nearly impossible. The best thing for the uninitiated is a trip to You Tube with a list of classic Rockabilly titles in hand (see below). But for those who already have Rockabilly hits playing in their heads, the book’s interviews, biographies, and photos will be sure to fill in some information gaps while providing a stunning visual treat.
“That’s All Right Mama”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1s-E1...
“Blue Suede Shoes”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79CJON...
“Hey Porter”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxsqFP...
“Go, go, go”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTszJ...
“That’ll be the Day”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDcLti...
May 15, 2015
This book filled in the gaps on some of the smaller acts that I was unaware. It covers the start of rockabilly- with Elvis, Johnny, Jerry and Roy, among others. It also shows the economic and social conditions that bred rockabilly. How the term came to be (the original musicians didn't use the term as such), and how it then got co-opted by the major labels. There is also a good section of the 70/80's revival as well as the current revival. Heaps of photos and poster reproductions that are gorgeous. For lovers of musical history - especially of rock and roll, country and blues.
May 10, 2012
A very solid overview of the genre. The images and the many interviews with current artist of the style really makes this book rock. I would have liked to have seen some discussion of the influence of rockabilly on the Bakersfield sound but I also know that is open to question .... was that more country than rockabilly? If it came with a CD of tunes that would have been perfect! Glad I have my own....
July 14, 2011
I was recently given this book and it has been excellent breakfast reading. It's a great way to start the day.
December 1, 2012
buy it for the pictures alone playmates..superb!
June 25, 2017
La couverture et le visuel sont très jolis. Il est complet, intéressant et comme le dit le titre, il y a beaucoup de photos.
March 22, 2014
Fun read about the history of one of my favorite genres. A lot of information here with some fun stuff written by some of the legends themselves and a bunch of great pictures.
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April 24, 2015781.6609 R6824 2011
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews