Performers include: Roy Milton, Pee Wee King, Muddy Waters, T. Texas Tyler, Blue Lu Barker, Tex Williams.
Adapter: Joyce Waterhouse.
Personnel: Gene Phillips, Lester Buchanan, Hank Williams, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Jimmy Wakely, Jimmy Liggins, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Tyler, K.C. Douglas, Lightnin' Hopkins, Alton Delmore, Muddy Waters, Rabon Delmore, Art Gunn, T. Texas Tyler, Tex Williams (vocals, guitar); Chester Buchanan (vocals, mandolin); Harry Choates (vocals, fiddle); Eddie "Guitar" Burns (vocals, harmonica); Lonnie Lyons, Jimmy McCracklin, Willie "Long Time" Smith (vocals, piano); Roy Milton (vocals, drums); Hank Ivory, Red Egner, Albinia Jones, Redd Stewart, Wynonie Harris, Blue Lu Barker (vocals); Vaughn Horton (guitar, steel guitar, fiddle); Robert Kelton (guitar, drums); John T. Smith (guitar, percussion); Danny Barker , Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang, Jack Rivers, John Weis, Johnny Rogers, Hank Garland, Sam Pruett, Jabbo Arrington, Johnny Bond, Leroy Foster, Richard Cole , Smokey Rogers, Willie James Lacey, Billy Grammer, Goree Carter (guitar); Roy Lanham (electric guitar); Don Helms (steel guitar, fiddle); Tommy Sargent, Eddie Mitchell, Richard Hamilton, Billy Bowman , Pete Martinez , Noel Boggs, Papa Cairo (steel guitar); Rex Call, Carl H. Hunt, William "Shorty" Hill, Jimmy O, Harry (Simovitz) Sims, Margie Linville, Jack Lane, Mort Herbert, Spade Cooley, Billy Hughes (fiddle); Sidney Maiden (harmonica); Pedro DePaul, Milton Delugg, Pee Wee King (accordion); Conrad Johnson, Jackie Kelso, Allen Toussaint, Leon T. Gross, Alex Atkins, Marshall Royal, John Gardner (alto saxophone); Red Conner, Frank Culley, Bumps Myers, Ernest Cotton, Hal Singer, Walter Cox, Maxwell Davis, Pee Wee Crayton, Wild Bill Moore , Willie Johnson, Benny Waters, Big Jay McNeely (tenor saxophone); Elmer Alexander, Bob McNeely, Gene Porter, Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (baritone saxophone); King Porter, Arthur Walker, Nelson Mills, Willie C. Moore, Bobby G. Summers, Cat Anderson (trumpet); Chips Outcalt (trombone); Clarence "Bo" Cyphers, Fletcher Smith, Floyd Taylor, Vic Davis, Gerald Wiggins , John Haynes, Albert Wallace, Johnnie Mae Smirle, Memphis Slim, Sam Price, T.J. Fowler, Camille Howard (piano); Johnnie Edwards, Allison Tucker, Clarence Stamp, Bill Street, Reetham Mallett, Otis Cherry, Thomas Blake, Muddy Berry, Judge Riley, Bobby Donaldson (drums).
Rock & roll music scholars debate when the genre really began and which artist produced its first recording. But critics can agree that the music which defined a generation had its roots in the blues and rhythm & blues artists of the 1940s. Many of those early artists were African Americans who saw their songs recorded by young white musicians who liked their music so well they thought they wrote it. Setting aside the important issues of copyright piracy and musical equities, the kaleidoscope of contributors to the rock & roll idiom makes for interesting listening. This CD is part of a series that goes back to those days in the 1940s before rock & roll had a name and started a cultural revolution. This volume focuses on the year 1948, when an avalanche of great music was released, all bearing the throbbing beat that was to characterize the music later called rock & roll. Many of the artists on the album are well known to mainstream listeners: John Lee Hooker, Harry Choates, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, Wynonie Harris, and Lightnin' Hopkins, to name a few. But they comprise only a small part of the wide array of artists featured on this album. The music enthusiast will be edified by hearing selections from the likes of Cat Anderson, Hankshaw Hawkins, Pee Wee King, the Buchanan Brothers, Spade Cooley, Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang, and many more. Hank Williams makes the list of rock & roll influences, turning in a scorching version of "The Blues Come Around." The influence of Southern blues is apparent in tunes like King Porter's "Chittlin' Ball," Curly Williams' "Georgia Boogie," and "Hole in the Wall Tonight" performed by Albinia Jones. Blue Lu Barker belts out "Here's a Little Girl," a song penned for her by her husband, Danny Barker, who accompanies her on guitar. If one ever wondered where the term "Let's Boogie!" came from, this album will set the record straight with one great boogie after another. When the CD is over, there is bound to be a better appreciation of where rock & roll came from and where it was going from the vantage point of the year 1948. ~ Rose of Sharon Witmer
