Rockabilly Rundown

April 26, 2008 1:24 PM

Whole Lotta Shakin' - a PRI documentary series on the history of rockabilly, hosted by Rosie Flores.
posted by Miko (14 comments total)

I so very wish I could get this as an MP3 download. I just don't have time to sit in front of a connected computer and listen to it all.

Maybe I shouldn't be so cheap and just get an audio hijack program. Or is there another way?
posted by cccorlew at 1:43 PM on April 26, 2008

I love Rosie Flores. She played at Bunker's in ManyApples, ManySodas and I got her to autograph my copy of her CD. Sigh.
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:32 PM on April 26, 2008

Oh wow, thanks Miko -- I too love Rosie (and used to know her slightly back in my musician days) and this is very cool audio
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:06 PM on April 26, 2008

I saw Rosie Flores play live this past January in LA. She couldn't tune her own guitar. Like, not even close, and she was using a pedal tuner. Finally, an impatient GE Smith tuned it for her.

Once she started playing everything was greeat.
posted by sourwookie at 3:48 PM on April 26, 2008

Apparently I'm channeling Tony the Tiger.
posted by sourwookie at 3:48 PM on April 26, 2008

Ohhh..thank you! I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!
posted by suki at 5:47 PM on April 26, 2008

Thanks, Miko. Looking forward to listening to this when I have a chance.

It's only relatively recently that I've come to appreciate Rockabilly: it's not that I actively disliked it or anything, but I guess I long considered it to be a bit of a one-trick pony, limited in its breadth of expression. Well, of course, it is somewhat limited, but, hey, so are a lot of other great styles and genres, right? And, apart from the giants like Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash, (who, after all, was pretty squarely classifiable as Rockabilly in his early Sun releases), I've found a surprising variety of relatively individualistic voices within the genre in some of the limited research I've done into the style.

Here's a relatively obscure rockabilly artist I featured in an FPP a while back: Wally Deane.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:26 PM on April 26, 2008

Various previous rockabilly posts at MeFi.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:13 PM on April 26, 2008

THe episode I heard aired tonight, the one on the early women, was really interesting in part for the portrait of a music industry seeking its next big hit. They were so obsessed with finding a "girl Elvis" and a "girl Jerry Lee" that they took women musicians who had been doing their own thing, took them out of the dresses and hairstyles they felt were glamorous, and put them into ponytails and rolled-cuff jeans. Made one of them learn to growl like Jerry Lee Lewis, and even change her name so that her middle name was Lee, too. They had had music careers before their 'discovery,' but the record labels were so desperate to create a gimmicky image that they ended up forcing some of these women into a mold they really didn't feel reflected them. I can't help but wonder what would have happened had they just been given the resources to take the music in the direction they wanted to.
posted by Miko at 7:32 PM on April 26, 2008

Are you in my head? Timing on this is perfect. Hearing some Alvin Lee recently has made want to dig back into this cultural realm. Thanks!
posted by O Blitiri at 8:08 PM on April 26, 2008

Love Rosie Flores. SHe has the perfect voice for this music. 'Cryin Over You' is a must song for any driving CD.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:11 PM on April 26, 2008

Despite fourcheesemac's recent erudite dissertation to the contrary, the fact that this thread only has eleven posts whereas the GG Allin thread has over sixty is a powerful indicator that the average mefite's taste in music really does suck.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:09 AM on April 27, 2008

Did I miss an erudite dissertation? Please link me!
posted by Miko at 1:10 PM on April 27, 2008

Look in the sidebar Miko, April 22.
posted by netbros at 1:49 PM on April 27, 2008