the.com/rockabilly
the sound of country and blues having a switchblade fight in a Tennessee garage
means An early style of rock and roll from the 1950s American South that fuses country music with rhythm and blues, marked by twangy guitars, slapping upright bass, and hiccupping vocals.
from A blend word, smashing together "rock" (as in rock and roll) and "hillbilly" (the country/Appalachian side of the mix). The term took hold in the mid-1950s as a label for the new sound coming out of artists and studios like Sun Records in Memphis — country boys playing rhythm and blues, or bluesy players gone country, depending on who you ask. "Hillbilly" itself was long the music-industry tag for rural Southern country music before "country and western" took over.
- origin word
- rock 'n' roll plus hillbilly, mashed together
- birth year
- exploded mid-1950s, fading fast by 1960
- Sun Records
- Elvis cut his first sides there for $4
- slapback echo
- that wet vocal bounce was a tape trick
- revival
- roared back via 1980s punks and pompadours
elvis presley — sun records' first rockabilly star, 1954-1956, who defined the genre's sound and look
johnny cash — sun records rockabilly pioneer, recorded 'i walk the line' in 1956
carl perkins — sun records guitarist who wrote 'blue suede shoes' in 1955, defining rockabilly style
jerry lee lewis — sun records pianist, 'great balls of fire' 1957, wild rockabilly performer