A history of Sam Phillips' Sun Records label examines its role in the birth of rock 'n' roll and the rise of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins

Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N Roll

Arts & Photography

ESCOTT, Colin

Hawkins, Martin

Music

St Martins Pr

Memphis, Tennessee. The early 1950s. The Mississippi rolls by, and there's a train in the night. Down on Beale Street there's hard-edged blues, on the outskirts of town they're pickin' hillbilly boogie.
At Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there's something different going on. "Shake it, baby, shake it!" "Go, cat, go!" "We're gonna rock..."
This is where rock 'n' roll was born-the record company that launched Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. The label that brought the world, "Blue Suede Shoes," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Breathless," "I Walk the Line," "Mystery Train," "Baby, Let's Play House,' "Good Rockin' Tonight." Good Rockin Tonight is the history, in words and over 240 photographs, of Sam Phillips' legendary storefront studio, from the early days with primal blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King to the long nights in the studio with Elvis and Jerry Lee. As colorful and energetic as the music itself, it's a one-of-a-kind book for anyone who wants to know where it all started.

Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll

St. Martin's: Griffin

As Louis Armstrong forever tethered jazz to New Orleans and Clifton Chenier fixed Lafayette as home to zydeco, Slim Harpo established Baton Rouge as a base for the blues. In the only complete biography of this internationally renowned blues singer and musician, Martin Hawkins traces Harpo’s rural upbringing near Louisiana’s capital, his professional development fostered by the local music scene, and his national success with R&amp;B hits like Rainin’ in My Heart, Baby Scratch My Back, and I’m A King Bee, among others. Hawkins follows Harpo’s global musical impact from the early 1960s to today and offers a detailed look at the nature of the independent recording business that enabled his remarkable legacy. With new research and interviews, Hawkins fills in previous biographical gaps and redresses misinformation about Harpo’s life. In addition to weaving the musician’s career into the lives of other Louisiana blues players―including Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester, and Silas Hogan―the author discusses the pioneering role of Crowley, Louisiana, record producer J. D. Miller and illustrates how Excello Records in Nashville brought national attention to Harpo’s music recorded in Louisiana. This engaging narrative examines Harpo’s various recording sessions and provides a detailed discography, as well as a list of blues-related records by fellow Baton Rouge artists. Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge will stand as the ultimate resource on the musician’s life and the rich history of Baton Rouge’s blues heritage.

Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

LSU Press

About the Author\nMARTIN HAWKINS, author of A Shot in the Dark: Making Records in Nashville, 1945–1955 and, with Colin Escott, Good Rockin’ Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll, has written over four hundred magazine articles, LP sleeve notes, and CD booklets on roots music since 1971.\nAs Louis Armstrong forever tethered jazz to New Orleans and Clifton Chenier fixed Lafayette as home to zydeco, Slim Harpo established Baton Rouge as a base for the blues. In the only complete biography of this internationally renowned blues singer and musician, Martin Hawkins traces Harpo’s rural upbringing near Louisiana’s capital, his professional development fostered by the local music scene, and his national success with R&B hits like Rainin’ in My Heart, Baby Scratch My Back, and I’m A King Bee, among others. Hawkins follows Harpo’s global musical impact from the early 1960s to today and offers a detailed look at the nature of the independent recording business that enabled his remarkable legacy.\nWith new research and interviews, Hawkins fills in previous biographical gaps and redresses misinformation about Harpo’s life. In addition to weaving the musician’s career into the lives of other Louisiana blues players―including Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester, and Silas Hogan―the author discusses the pioneering role of Crowley, Louisiana, record producer J. D. Miller and illustrates how Excello Records in Nashville brought national attention to Harpo’s music recorded in Louisiana.\nThis engaging narrative examines Harpo’s various recording sessions and provides a detailed discography, as well as a list of blues-related records by fellow Baton Rouge artists. Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge will stand as the ultimate resource on the musician’s life and the rich history of Baton Rouge’s blues heritage.

With a "Soundtrack" CD!Before Elvis hit town, back before country music was synonymous with Nashville, a small group of intrepid entrepreneurs--local businessmen looking to make a buck and have some fun--were recording and selling all the local music they could find. From dance bands to gospel, from rhythm &amp; blues to, yes, country music, these men inadvertently documented a wealth of local music as they struggled to run successful recording studios.
 Hawkins goes beyond the music to tell the stories of the behind-the-scenes folks responsible for turning Nashville into Music City U.S.A. From Jim Bulleit, who was there at the very beginnings of the music industry, to Bill Beasley, who took on the emerging Music Row 'establishment' and lost, Hawkins guides us through the careers of the folks who defined Nashville's music scene for an exciting, unpredictable decade and traces the rise and fall of local music labels like Bullet, World, Tennessee, Republic and Speed.
 Though the focus of the book is on the recording companies, studios, DJs and other music promoters, it also underlines the importance of some of the giants of Nashville music--like Francis Craig, who recorded an international hit by accident, Owen Bradley, who had a hand in many early labels, Del Wood, the surprise star of honky tonk piano, the fabulous blues singer Christine Kittrell, the underrated R&amp;B bandleader Louis Brooks, the ubiquitous gospel promoter, Wally Fowler, the long-established Fairfield Four, and the king of the rude country song, Randy Hughes. 
 This book builds off of and develops more fully the research Hawkins did for the critically acclaimed Bear Family Records box collections of Nashville recordings during this same time. Full of lush photographs, many being published here for the first time, and accompanied by a twenty-song CD highlighting the wide range of music being made in Nashville at the time, the book immerses readers in the sights, sounds, and stories of this vibrant and influential decade in Nashville music making.
 Co-published with the Country Music Foundation Press

A Shot in the Dark: Making Records in Nashville, 1945-1955

Business & Money

Biography & History

Vanderbilt University Press

A Shot in the Dark: Making Records in Nashville 1945-1955

Vanderbilt University Press (TN)

Will be dispatched from UK. Used books may not include companion materials, may have some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include CDs or access codes. 100% money back .

Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Record Label

Omnibus Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hawkins, Martin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hawkins, Martin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hawkins, Martin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N Roll

Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll

Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge

Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge

A Shot in the Dark: Making Records in Nashville, 1945-1955

A Shot in the Dark: Making Records in Nashville 1945-1955

Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Record Label