The Everly Brothers were American country-influenced rock and roll singers, known for steel-string guitar and close harmony singing. Isaac Donald “Don” Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phillip “Phil” Everly (January 19, 1939 – January 3, 2014) were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. (More from Wikipedia)
Whether or not Link Wray heard the 1950’s blues records with the earliest power chords and got the idea has not been established as far as I know. He refined his technique over a period of time during gigs. While working up an instrumental backing for their version of a really fine early rock and roll song “The Stroll” (originally by the Diamonds), Link Wray and His Ray Men hit upon a slow-paced but incredibly powerful instrumental that they first called “Oddball”. The first time they played it, it was a huge hit with the audience, who demanded four encores of the performance.
Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers reportedly heard the song and suggested the name “Rumble” since it sounded like a street fight to him. Archie Bleyer, a record producer for Cadence Records also heard about it but hated the song. However, Bleyer’s step-daughter Jackie Ertel and some of her friends loved the song. Some sources even say that Jackie Ertel, not Phil Everly came up with the name – the two later married.
(February 2013)
The Giles Brothers later connected with the Dowland brothers in a band called the Dowland Brothers & the Soundtracks. I suppose there have been other rock bands that featured two pairs of brothers in the line-up, but one doesn’t come to mind right away. (Well, there is Sparks, originally known as Halfnelson, founded by the Mael brothers, Ron Mael and Russell Mael, and including the Mankey brothers, Earle Mankey and Jim Mankey, on their first two albums). The sound of these earliest recordings (from 1962) sound a lot like another set of brothers, the Everly Brothers. Several of these songs were produced by the legendary Joe Meek, one of the most innovative figures in early British rock music; his best known recording is the instrumental “Telstar” by the Tornados (released in December 1962), the first rock song (and only the second record, period) by a British artist to reach the top of the American charts.
(March 2013)
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Chuck Berry had previously been a part of Alan Freed’s touring “Biggest Show of Stars for 1957” that had a truly amazing lineup: Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, LaVern Baker, Eddie Cochran, the Spaniels, the Drifters, Clyde McPhatter, Paul Anka, Frankie Lymon, and others.
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There are others who helped pave the way for rock and roll as we know it that will have to wait for another time, such as Fats Domino, Pat Boone, the Everly Brothers . . .
Hold on: Pat Boone??? Ladies and Gentlemen, this little series of posts is all about Under-Appreciation; and if there is any 1950’s rock star – maybe any 1950’s musician, period – who is more under-rated today as a performer than Pat Boone (one of the original teen idols), I don’t know who it might be. The “crime” that Boone is accused of – recording white versions of black R&B songs – is what almost every white rock and roll artist in the 1950’s was doing; heading that list is Elvis Presley. And yet Pat Boone is the only one who gets much guff about it. Pat Boone’s extremely clean-cut image works against his legacy in this regard, especially in retrospect.
(June 2013/1)
