Johnny Cash: Walk the Line
This playlist was inspired by Johnny Cash's autobiography, “Cash.” This playlist follows the evolution of Country and Bluegrass music from Johnny Cash's childhood to the birth of rock 'n' roll at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.
I grew up a huge fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, and I always regarded him as the King of Rock 'n' Roll. I always preferred Jerry Lee Lewis over Elvis only because the piano is my favorite instrument.
When I was eight years old I watched the movie Great Balls Of Fire, where Jerry Lee was portrayed by Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder played Myra Gale Brown.
After I watched that movie, I became a huge fan of Jerry Lee. I told my mom I wanted to learn how to play the piano. I wanted to be just like Jerry Lee. Shimmy and shake behind that beautiful piano.
When it comes to early rock 'n' roll, I only knew about Jerry Lee, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard. I didn't really know much about Johnny Cash so that's why I decided to read his autobiography.
Johnny Cash was born in a small town in Arkansas and grew up picking cotton on his family's land since the age of five. When he wasn’t picking cotton, he was listening to Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers.
In 1955, Johnny Cash went to Memphis Tennessee, where he was signed by Sam Phillips's Sun Records. Before reading his book, I never knew that Johnny Cash was one of the original rock 'n' roll members of the Sun family.
Johnny Cash was signed to Sun Records around the same time as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison.
“I Walk The Line” would go on to become Cash's theme song. It entered the Billboard charts on June 9, 1956 and it remained there for forty-three weeks peeking at number two.
Elvis Presley’s, “That's All Right Mama” was his first recording at Sun Records. Along with Carl Perkins’s “Honey Don’t,” Jerry Lee Lewis's “High School Confidential” and Roy Orbison's “Ooby Dooby” were some of the most original influential rock 'n' roll records of Sun Records from 1955 to 1957.
Later, Charlie Feathers recorded, “That Certain Female” and the Bill Black’s Combo recorded “Smokie” to further cement, the Sun Records legacy.
Though, Gene Vincent,Ricky Nelson, Marty Robbins, Lavern Baker and Little Richard were not part of the Sun family, but they were influential musicians at a time when Country and Bluegrass was transitioning into rock 'n' roll music.
With Buddy Holly and The Crickets’s, “Not Fade Away” rock 'n' roll was transitioning from the original Sun Records sound to other record companies around the south.
The music of many Sun Records musicians helped to lay the foundation of the beginning of rock 'n' roll and went onto influence many younger musicians from the 60s, including the Beatles.
Sun records was the birth of rock 'n' roll and over 70 years later, the legacy of Sun Records is still going strong with new artist being signed everyday.
Comments
Post a Comment