Oh Be Cruel!

“I don’t sing in church because I’m no hypocrite. I don’t think a fellow ought to go out cussing and drinking and gambling all week long and then come and sing in church on Sunday.”
- T-Bone Walker

“When I heard T-Bone Walker play the electric guitar I had to have one.”
- B.B. King

“All the things people see me do on the stage I got from T-Bone Walker.” 
- Chuck Berry

Click the box above to watch a 1962 performance by T-Bone Walker playing “Don’t Throw Your Love On Me So Strong”.  T-Bone was a true pioneer of the blues as one of the first to play an electrified guitar and to record it as a centerpiece of his records. This blues legend also took stage performance to the next level - doing the splits, playing guitar with his teeth and encouraging the crowd to go wild. Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix both admit that their work is but echoes of T-Bone’s style and charm. Even B.B. King admitted that he refused to pick up an electric guitar until he heard ol’ Walker and knew it was the way of the future. 

“I heard this guy in Las Vegas - Billy Ward [Jackie Wilson] and his Dominoes. There’s a guy out there who’s doin’ a take-off of me; ‘Don’t Be Cruel’. He tried so hard, till he got much better, boy; much better than that record of mine”
-Elvis on Jackie Wilson 

Click the grey box above to watch Mr. Excitement Jackie Wilson perform “Baby Workout” in 1964 on Shindig!. This was one of Jackie’s last ‘huge’ hits although he remained an epic performer until the mid-70s. Poor Jackie never got much of a break. In 1961, a crazed female fan shot him and took out his kidney and, later in 1975, he was put into a 10 year lethal coma after suffering a heart attack on stage. Despite these tragedies, Wilson was a key performer who inspired the likes of Elvis, Tupac, James Brown and Michael Jackson. Get down!

“With my little band, I did everything they did with a big band. I made the blues jump.”
-Louis Jordan

Click above to watch the King of the Jukebox, the Grandfather of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Father of Rhythm and Blues, Mr. Personality Louis Jordan and his band perform “Buzz Me”. While not his best hit, this jump blues, big band, swing performance narrows in on Jordan’s energy and charm that was emulated not only by his big band contemporaries in the 40s and 50s, but also rock n’ rollers from the onset of the movement. In fact, Bill Haley and the Comets, long-cited as some of the earliest rock n’ rollers, constantly cited their labelmate Jordan as their on-stage inspiration. You may recognize a few other rock ‘n’ rollers who prayed at the alter of Louis Jordan: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, B.B. King and James Brown. And if that wasn’t enough, some argue that Jordan recorded one of the earliest examples of rap!

“Jimmie Rodgers of course is one of the guiding lights of the 20th  Century whose way with song has always been an inspiration to  those  of us who have followed the path.  A blazing star whose sound was and remains the raw essence of individuality in a sea  of conformity, par excellence with no equal….His is the voice in the wilderness of your head…only in turning up the volume can we determine our own destiny.”
-Bob Dylan on Jimmie Rodgers  

Click the box above to listen to the Singing Brakeman, the Blue Yodeler, and the Father of Country Music Jimmie Rodgers play “Blue Yodel” in 1929. Yes, you read that right, the music video above is taken from The Singing Brakeman - a 1929 film that saw Jimmie play three songs in exchange for a cup of coffee. Jimmie was in fact a Brakeman but fell ill to consumption, costing him his job but setting him and his guitar on a road that saw him battle cyclones and play with Louis Armstrong. Jimmie died at the age of 35 of TB after literally singing himself to death in his final recordings. It is fair to say that without Jimmie Rodgers, country, blues and later rock music would have been at a loss. Rodgers inspired Lefty Frizzell, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Jerry Garcia, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis himself.

“I pray that my redeemer will come and take me from my grave.”
-Robert Johnson

“The thing about Robert Johnson was that he only existed on his records. He was pure legend.”
-Martin Scorsese

This one is a treat - click above to listen to “Stop Breaking Down Blues” by the father of Delta Blues Robert Johnson. While the song was recorded in Dallas, 1937, it could have easily been written in 1954 at the advent of rock n’ roll. There’s just no point in trying to describe Johnson’s life - he was the original bluesman who wandered through America’s dustbowl, tormented by his demons and lifted up by his devil-given songwriting abilities. Legend says that Johnson made a deal with the devil at a crossroads in Mississippi which saw him give up his soul in exchange for the gift of the blues. Legend or not, Johnson spent the rest of his life as a ramblin’ man, rolling through town to town, disappearing on a whim and reappearing just as quick. Johnson died of poison at the hands of a scorned woman. In his wake, he left a wake of other legends - Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Brian Jones & Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix.

“I say, as a singer grows older, his conception grows a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he is trying to say a little more. And I think this gives. If a singer tries to find out what’s happening in life, it gives him a better insight on telling the story of the song he is trying to sing.”
-Sam Cooke

Click the box above to watch Sam Cooke perform “You Send Me” on a 1957 episode of the Ed Sullivan Show. While the song now seems to be a bit of an easy tune, “You Send Me” was an innovation in an era where combining R&B, gospel, and pop into one song was not only unheard of, but in fact a taboo.  For that reason, Sam is known as not only a father of soul, but a main emissary - one who aggressively brought together black and white audiences and made it a life mission to use his talents to open doors for black performers. Sam also broke ranks with the business practices of the day, becoming one of the first black performers who started a label and managed his own financial and publishing affairs. Throughout it all, Sam had a distinct understanding of his social context and wrote civil rights song early into the movement. While Sam’s life was marred in tragedy, his legacy remains rich, having inspired the diverse likes of Tupac Shakur, Nas, Kanye West, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan and James Brown.

“Fats Domino is the real King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll”
- Elvis Presley, 1969, when asked about holding the mythical title himself.

“My earliest influence in music comes from Fats Domino”
- Bob Marley.

“The first song I learned was ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ by Fats Domino”
- John Lennon, on his musical education.

Click above to watch a great performance of Fats Domino and his band playing ‘Ain’t That A Shame”. Fats is an understated hero of 1950s who had been playing a distinct boogie woogie New Orleans for years before it was reclassified as rock n’ roll. Despite his pioneering ways, it took until 1955 for Fats to make it to the mainstream - having had many of his hits covered by Pat Boone (who a career out of covering black artists to segregated white audiences). Thank god for Fats, for he inspired Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Elton John, Bob Marley, Lou Reed, and Bruce Springsteen.