WHOS ROCKABILLY?

[AtomicEraTom]

Love the Packard! Is that a 55 or 56 Clipper? Very cool. And a classic car is a great one for a first car! Mine was a 1960 Chevrolet Bel-Air. Boy, that'll make any 16 year old proud. And it's true that they gain value. And with the economy the way it is, it's a great time to buy.

I used to be heavy into rockabilly, but am just a straight "lost in a decade" guy now

I guess I'm a bit more of a rockabilly in the sense that my daily wear leans more that way than 40's. But I'm probably equally into both scenes. As a drummer, I've played in both swing and rockabilly bands. Now my daughter, she's beginning to favor rockabilly over 40's styles. Oh, and while we were in L.A., we went to a rockabilly church called the Hot Rod Church for Sinners. Here are some of our rockabilly momments...

These are...2 of myself, my daughter Kat, our old Packard, and my husband playing at the Doll Hut.

 

[pgoat]

yes, I am. Twas better when i had hair, tho!

 

[Greaser Cat]

Gangsterbilly?

Speaking of Rockasilly, since we're at The Fedora Lounge, what's the best fedora for the rockabilly/car club scene look? I usually wear the Bailey's of Hollywood "Tino" or the Golden Gate "Tribeca" and a buddy of mine wears a Jaxon "Blues," all of which sort of look like Blues Brothers hats to me. It sort of gives you that rockabilly gangster (I call it gangsterbilly) look. Any other recommendations on hats that would fit that look? I'm thinking of something that looks sorta like what the Cadillac Tramps or Social Distortion would wear. This is more what I'm talking about, right here:

 

[The Good]

You know, I've been told on three separate occasions that my style is greaser (especially when wearing my leather jacket with jeans and pompadour hair). Hmm, let's see; I slick my hair just about every day, always have a pocket comb in my left or right pocket (but not the back!), wear dark blue jeans and a G-1 leather jacket together frequently. I listen to, in addition to lots of smooth jazz, cool jazz, jazz-funk, big band, and country, rockabilly; rock and roll in general from the 1950s to the early or mid-1960s. I've also got an appreciation for vintage cars, mainly from the 1920s, onward up until maybe the 1970s or '80s, although I don't own anything yet. If enough of this makes me rockabilly, then maybe I am. I think the rockabilly subculture's cool, but I'm just not a purist in particular, more of a casual rockabilly fan. I'm not so much into the rockabilly revival stuff that's a product of the past two or three decades, but I am especially fond of prominent 1950s artists, such as Johnny Cash, Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly.

 

[shazzabanazza]

Well Im not rockanilly..but I love rockabilly if that makes sence

 

[Travis Lee Johnston]

Hello all.

I only read one mention of Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers. A lot of people in the states don't seem to be familiar with the Teddy Boy style of music and Edwardian dress. Levi Dexter said that without Crazy Cavan there would be no Levi Dexter.

Must see video from the late 70's...
http://youtu.be/H91zK-rU5zc

 

[Guttersnipe]

Just heard one of the Rockabilly pioneers, Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues!

and

Bill Haley definitely was rockabilly . . . Buddy Holly was rockabilly . . . Chuck Berry was rockabilly . . . Rockabilly has never been just one thing. It isn't just a stand up bass and a two guitars, it never has. If that's true then Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent weren't rockabilly. . .

Most modern music scholars do not view Haley, Holly, Berry or Cochran as artists from the rockabilly genre. They are primarily seen as early rock 'n' roll artists. The reason for this, with which I fully agree, has to do with guitar techniques. By and large, none of them utilized the Merle Travis (e.g. Chet Atkins picking, e.g. Scotty Moore) picking style, which is definitively linked with the Memphis rockabilly sound.

Gene Vincent is another case altogether. He was from Virgina and wasn't really on the Memphis scene. I've heard several experts on early rock 'n' roll/rockabilly informally refer to Gene as "Citybilly" to differentiate his sound. Cliff Gallup did us Atkins/Moore style chord pickings a lot, but was more of a jazz player in the way he approached leads.

That sounds right.

The big difference in shift from upright bass to electric bass as standard was that suddenly the drummer could actually hear the bass, and they started locking in together, giving rise the the modern notion of the "rhythm section." Before that, they were playing different things - both in time, obviously (if they were any good, anyhow ), but doing different things with it. If you get a chance to see an interview with Keith Richards on this, check it out - he explains it really well.

Actually, Sunny Curtis of Buddy Holly's Crickets - who were actually the first to record the song - wrote I fought the Law. The Bobby Fuller Four rerecorded in soon after and had a big hit with it.

I think I know which interview you're referring to, but I'm not sure I agree with Keith Richards' assessment. One of the most basic slap bass patterns goes *boom* *slap* *boom* *slap* (think of the most basic country bassline you can and add slaps in between the notes) every second *boom* locks in with the snare drum.

If anything, because of the percussive style of slap playing, I'd say that Upright bass players are more part of the the rhythm section than electric players. If you listen to Early Elvis recordings Bill Black and his Kay bass were the rhythm section. The same goes Marshall Grant in Johnny Cash's Tennessee Two, who were also drumerless until W.S. Holland was added in the early 60's . . .music geek out over.

 

[The Good]

Most modern music scholars do not view Haley, Holly, Berry or Cochran as artists from the rockabilly genre. They are primarily seen as early rock 'n' roll artists. The reason for this, with which I fully agree, has to do with guitar techniques. By and large, none of them utilized the Merle Travis (e.g. Chet Atkins picking, e.g. Scotty Moore) picking style, which is definitively linked with the Memphis rockabilly sound.

Gene Vincent is another case altogether. He was from Virgina and wasn't really on the Memphis scene. I've heard several experts on early rock 'n' roll/rockabilly informally refer to Gene as "Citybilly" to differentiate his sound. Cliff Gallup did us Atkins/Moore style chord pickings a lot, but was more of a jazz player in the way he approached leads.

Interesting, so that's the main distinction between rockabilly, and '50s rock and roll in general? I was under the impression for a long time that they were essentially the same thing, with the terms "rockabilly" and "rock and roll" being interchangeable for early rock music.

 

[Alan-Eby]

I've always loved Rockabilly even before I knew it was called something different the the other oldies stuff I heard on the radio growing up. I remember the day my Dad came home and tossed me a Stray Cats CD and said "Here you will like this." I did like it, actually I fell in love with the music and it was the main inspiration for getting serious about playing guitar. I don't dress Rockabilly or Greaser, but there are influences of the past in most of what I put on, but personally I think its whats inside thats more important, and on the inside I'm Retro/Rockabilly/Greaser/Whatever

 

[Guttersnipe]

Interesting, so that's the main distinction between rockabilly, and '50s rock and roll in general? I was under the impression for a long time that they were essentially the same thing, with the terms "rockabilly" and "rock and roll" being interchangeable for early rock music.

A lot of people do tend use the terms interchangeably, but yes, that is the distinction, as was taught to me, in a very awesome "history of Rock 'n' roll" elective I took to satisfy my general education arts requirement for my bachelors. As is the case with many things in music, sometimes defining which artist is "rockabilly" can become a little murky, though, because many performers did songs in multiple styles. Carl Perkins, for example, made (IMHO) some of the best rockabilly music the world has ever known but was also a honky tonk-style country composer as well. Another important factor in distinguishing rockabilly from rock 'n' roll is the origin of the playing style.

Much of repertoires of early rock 'n' roll players like Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran was quite literally blues riffs speed up, whereas, the Travis/Atkins/Moore picking style of playing has its roots in old time/bluegrass/country; the style of playing made popular by Mother Maybelle of the Carter Family in the 1930's was also very influential as well. At the same time, though, many of the great rockabilly players were also influenced by rhythm & blues and jazz.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Mother Maybelle's signature picking pattern is well represented on this video:
[video=youtube;ENS4nD0vRKI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENS4nD0vRKI[/video]

Merle Travis:
[video=youtube;N8vOTKMqzw4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8vOTKMqzw4[/video]

Chet Atkins:
[video=youtube;lsGb52-f768]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsGb52-f768[/video]

Scotty Moore rockin' it with the king:
[video=youtube;X5JALwwaASg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5JALwwaASg[/video]

 

[Romy Overdorp]

I consider myself a rockabilly gal with a vintage topping . I love the music, the attitude, the whole sha-bam!
Here's me playing the bass and my boyfriend on guitar

 

[John in Covina]

Has anyone seen the PBS show of "Jeff Beck's Tribute to Les Paul?"

The original plan was for Jeff to join Les Paul for a club show but Les passed away before they could do it. Well, they put together a tribute concert that is pretty neat. While not strictly a Rockabilly outing there are some songs in the vein. There are some videos on you-tube from this event but I have not seen what selections have been put up. As usual the PBS show has a part of the concert while the DVD contains more.

The CD and DVD have different portions of the show so there are songs that are not common to both on each release.

Check out the title "Rock & Roll Party: Honoring Les Paul (2011)" on Amazon to see more info if you are interested.

I'd love to see some opinions about the show, the backing band and the music from our rockabilly Loungers.

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

I consider myself a rockabilly gal with a vintage topping . I love the music, the attitude, the whole sha-bam!
Here's me playing the bass and my boyfriend on guitar

RomyOverdorp I gotta hand it too you I really respect a gal that can handle a stand up bass!!

 

[cbrunt]

A lot of my friends are Rockabilly... even some Pyschobilly. But I consider myself to be vintage or vintage-inspired depending on the type of dress. But with cuffed jeans and a stetson, well, everyone tells me I'm Rockabilly.

 

[Romy Overdorp]

RomyOverdorp I gotta hand it too you I really respect a gal that can handle a stand up bass!!

Thank you! I love making music, I also play the guitar, harmonica, drums, love to sing and I am learning how to play the violin. Music was my first love like John Miles sung

 

[flat-top]

This book was released today:

http://www.amazon.com/Rockin-Rockab...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304470367&sr=1-2

From what I hear, it's definitely an outsider's view into the world of Rockabilly, focusing more on the weird rather than the authentic. But I haven't seen it for myself so I have no idea.

 

[Miss Moonlight]

I've noticed that when someone outside a subculture writes a book on a subculture, it tends to be patronizing and often insulting. I'd personally want to check out any 'look inside' pages that might be available online before buying.

 

[MissLaurieMarie]

Thank you! I love making music, I also play the guitar, harmonica, drums, love to sing and I am learning how to play the violin. Music was my first love like John Miles sung

Romy, I adore you! I love female musicians (especially multi-talented ones like yourself )

 

[bashfulbrother]

A while back, Brian Setzer married a girl from Minnesota and moved up here. There is a little club on the North side of Mpls that has a "alt younameit" vibe and he comes in about once or twice a month and plays with the house band there all night.
Really a nice guy, very humble, and very approachable.
Oh...and he's freakin' unbelievable on a guitar neck.