Dec 14

Jerry Lee Lewis

Greatly Appreciated

JERRY LEE LEWIS
 
 
Jerry Lee Lewis  (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist.  An early pioneer of rock and roll music, in 1956 Lewis made his first recordings at Sun Records.  His 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On” shot Lewis to fame worldwide.  Lewis followed this when he recorded songs such as “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless” and “High School Confidential”.  However, Lewis’s rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin when he was 22.  He had little success in the charts following the scandal and his popularity quickly faded.  In 1968 Lewis made a transition into country music.  His No. 1 country hits included “To Make Love Sweeter For You”, “There Must Be More to Love Than This”, “Would You Take Another Chance on Me”, and “Me and Bobby McGee”.  In the 21st century Lewis continues to tour to audiences around the world and still releases new albums.  

(More from Wikipedia)

 
 
The term “rockabilly” – the word is an amalgamation of rock and hillbilly (an early term for country music) – was thrilling to me even before I actually knew what it meant.  It was one of the earliest forms of rock and roll and the first to be played primarily by white musicians, going all the way back to “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets.  The roster of rockabilly stars over the years starts of course with The King, Elvis Presley, along with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and most of the other artists at Sun Records in the 1950’s, plus Wanda Jackson, Eddie Cochran and others.  There was also a rockabilly revival in the early 1980’s led by the Blasters and the Stray Cats.  To this day, when a band wants a rawer sound, they will incorporate rockabilly into their music.
 
In 1956, Sun Records was able to show off by hosting an impromptu jam session by the Million Dollar Quartet, having a genuinely stupendous line-up:  Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis (Sun-signed artists all, though Elvis was by now at RCA).  
 
As to the Quartet, Jerry Lee Lewis made a seamless transition to country and is generally regarded as one of the premier piano players in any musical form.  In the late 1960’s, I attended a traveling show of several country artists put together by Jim Ed Brown, if memory serves.  It included one of the earliest appearances by Crystal Gayle (Loretta Lynn’s younger sister) long before her hit song “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue”, and Roger Miller might have been the headliner; but what I really remember was the electrifying appearance by Jerry Lee, still one of the most exciting concerts I have ever seen – and the rest of the audience seemed to concur.
 
(May 2011)
 
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Boyskout recorded their first album, School of Etiquette in April 2003 and November 2003 with the assistance of Daniel Dietrick on bass guitar and keyboards,  The producer is Jeff Saltzman; in the same year he produced the debut album Hot Fuss for the Killers, another successful entry in the Garage Rock Revival of the early 2000’s (I heard that the band’s name is taken from the nickname of rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, “Killer”). 

 

(January 2014)

 

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Not everyone feels that way though.  Doc Dosco, a jazz guitarist who played on Black Russian wrote of his early session work on his website www.docdosco.com:  “‘I did tons of “guitar for hire” studio dates back then’, says Doc, ‘and I gigged a lot during the late seventies and eighties.  I was a funky fusion style player and there was lots of funk style work.  I also did pick-up work, casuals, society gigs and played numerous concerts with old timers such as Little Anthony, the Drifters, the Diamonds, the Platters, Freddy Cannon, Connie Stevens.  I worked for composer Dennis McCarthy on the Barbara Mandrell [and the Mandrell Sisters] TV show.  I also wrote songs for Jerry Lee Lewis and German pop sensation Nina Hagen, produced “Billboard Queen” Angelyne, and recorded an album with the revolutionary Motown recording artists Black Russian.’”

 

(April 2015/1)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021