Good Rockin’ Tonight – The Legacy of Sun Records

If there is something like a Mecca for American rock ‘n roll, it must be Memphis, Tennessee. There, tucked away toward one end of Beale Street, is the Sun Recording Studio where Sam Phillips, on July 5, 1954, recorded Elvis’s version of That’s All Right. If you visit the studio and take the tour, you’ll hear the story of how Phillips, whose mission was the propagation of the Blues he knew from Beale Street, wasn’t very interested in Elvis. At least he wasn’t until Elvis and the band began playing around with Arthur Crudup’s blues tune That’s All Right and doing something radically different with it. Scotty Moore and Elvis morphed that blues song into something never before heard in that studio or anywhere else for that matter — rock ‘n roll. Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash are among the great rockabilly artists who called Sun home (not to mention those great Memphis blues players like B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and others — but that’s another story). Memphis celebrated the birth of rock ‘n roll this year, and I’ve got a way for you to share in the celebration.

Good Rockin’ Tonight is the CD companion to the PBS American Masters Documentary of the same title that presents Sam Phillips’s contribution to the history of American music. The genius of the documentary is the way it brings traditional Sun artists together with artists they influenced ranging from Jimmy Page to Matchbox 20. (If you get a chance to see the documentary, I promise you’ll never forget the session where Jerry Lee Lewis sits in with Matchbox 20.)

The CD preserves that magic of artists paying tribute to the rockabilly roots of their art and the musicians who paved the way for those later artists who took the rockabilly legacy and created something new yet familiar from it — contemporary rock and pop music. The range of contributors on this CD is astonishing, as the track listing shows:

Paul McCartney: That’s All Right
Jeff Beck & Chrissie Hynde: Mystery Train
Jimmy Page & Robert Plant: My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It
Johnny Hallyday: Blue Suede Shoes
Elton John: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Blue Moon of Kentucky
Van Morrison & Carl Perkins: Sittin’ on Top of the World
Bryan Ferry: Don’t Be Cruel
Bob Dylan: Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache
Eric Clapton and the Impressions: Just Walkin’ in the Rain
Matchbox Twenty: Lonely Weekend
Sheryl Crow: Who Will the Next Fool Be?
Chris Isaak: It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You
LIVE: I Walk the Line
The Howling Diablos and Kid Rock: Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee
Mandy Barnett and the Jordanaires: You Win Again

The performances on this CD bring to life the legacy of Sun and demonstrate the vitality of the rockabilly tradition. Some of the tracks, such as Paul McCartney or Bryan Ferry performing renditions of Elvis’s tunes that sound remarkably like the King himself, or Elton John’s take on Jerry Lee Lewis’s raucous barrelhouse piano, are extremely faithful to the original songs that have become part of our musical psyches. And the duet between Carl Perkins and Van Morrison on the traditional Sittin’ on Top of the World is unforgettable as a traditional Sun artist sits in with a more contemporary songwriter and singer.

Other artists make the songs their own and discover new dimensions to familiar music. Dylan, for example, makes the song his own while enriching the original tune. The version of I Walk the Line on this CD is another example of an incredible interpretation that discovers anew the haunting lyricism of Cash’s original.

The Kid Rock take on Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee may be one of the most exciting tracks on the CD. Though at first listening, the rap interpretation seems to take the tune very far from its rockabilly origins, a second listening suggests that Rock and the Diablos rap reinvigorates the song with all the rebelliousness that characterized those rockabilly cats who followed in Elvis’s footsteps and the alchemy of Sun Studios that changed the face of American music by transforming the Memphis and Mississippi blues into rock ‘n roll. This and the other performances make a fine tribute to the roots of rock ‘n roll. In fact, each track deserves a review, but I’ll leave that to you. I’ve highlighted a couple just to show the incredible range of interpretation on this CD. Take some time out this year and celebrate the birth of rock with this CD. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. As Sam Phillips himself wrote, “This is one helluva record!” And who can dispute Sam Phillips’s ear for good music?

About the Author

When he’s not being Dad and husband, Tim Bennett can be found teaching German language and literature to unsuspecting undergraduate students of the liberal arts. He picked up the guitar for the first time at the age of 45 and hasn’t put it down since (if you can believe his wife who exaggerates a wee bit). Though his musical tastes run toward what is now known as classic rock, he’s also interested in newer bands. He most admires the Beatles and is an avid Lennon fan. And this fall he’s even teaching a Freshman seminar on the Beatles and the Stones! You can also find him on the forums as one of our esteemed moderators.