| Contents |
Climbing high mountains, trying to get home -- Part one. Honky tonk heroes. Ernest Tubb: the Texas troubadour -- Hank Snow: still movin' on -- Deford Bailey: Pan American blues -- Rufus Thomas: the world's oldest teenager -- Bobby Bland: little boy blue -- Part two. Hillbilly boogie. Scotty Moore: Elvis, Scotty, and Bill: a sidelong view of history -- Charlie Feathers: the last of the rockabillies -- Elvis Presley: and the American dream -- Elvis Presley: faded love -- Snapshots of Charlie Rich -- Sleepy Labeef: there's good rockin' tonight -- Mickey Gilley: a room full of roses -- Jack Clement: let's all help the cowboy sing the blues -- Part three. Honky tonk masquerade or, are they gonna make us outlaws again?. Waylon Jennings: the pleasures of life in a hillbilly band -- Hank Williams, Jr.: living proof -- Merle Haggard: in the good old days (when times were bad) -- James Talley: scenes from life (a triptych) -- Stoney Edwards: a simple little dream -- Part four. The blues roll on. The howlin' wolf -- Otis Spann: blues is a man's best friend -- Big Joe Turner: Big Joe rides on -- Juke joint blues: Chicago, 1977 -- Epilogue. Sam Phillips talking. |
| Abstract |
This book tells the story of a special group of American artists: the musicians who create and perform country blues music and those who mixed the two to create the explosive sound called rockabilly, which was virtually defined by Elvis Presley and Sun Records in the mid-fifties. These were the styles that transformed American popular music and transfigured its audience. Through biographical sketches, first-person narratives by the musicians, and a striking gallery of photographs, the author has woven twenty-two extraordinary individual portraits of artists both celebrated and little known. |
| General note | "Most of the pieces in this book have appeared in different form in Rolling stone [and others]." |
| General note | Includes index. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 351-357), discography (pages 341-350) and index. |
| LCCN | 79052636 |
| ISBN | 0879232935 : |
| ISBN | 0879232943 (pbk.) : |
