Customer Reviews

Dewey and Elvis: The Life and Times of a Rock 'n' Roll Deejay (Music in American Life)

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Dewey And Elvis: The Life And Times Of A Rock 'n' Roll Deejay is a biography drawn from personal interviews, documentary sources, and oral history collections to give a personal, no-holds-barred view of celebrated disc jockey Dewey Phillips. Indiana University professor emeritus of history Louis Cantor suggests that Phillips zeal for and promotion of rhythm and blues music set the stage for a 1950's transformation in rock-'n'-roll, not to mention Elvis' legendary success. A fascinating, smoothly flowing examination of one man's life and contributions to popular music in the mid-twentieth century.

I have to admit that I approached this book with some hesitation. I was not sure I wanted to spend the money and time finding out about a "Rock 'n' Roll Deejay." (The title did not reassure me.) Yet I was curious about Phillips, a much-mentioned but distant figure in the Sun Records and Presley story. Turns out, it is a very good book about both, but even more so about Dewey Phillips himself and the role of DJs in promoting the music. The author shows Phillips as the comic and tragic character that he was, with sympathy but without the uncritical or "gotcha" attitudes that mar much writing about this music. I learned a lot about the origins of R and R and the music industry in the South in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as how the Presley phenom came into being. Phillips' relationship with Elvis both made him and destroyed him. He ended up an alcoholic and drug addict in lonely isolation. Sun Records owner Sam Phillips (no relation) and Presley more or less had to support his estranged family as he descended into his personal hell. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in those subjects. A good and informative read, and a very interesting story.