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

Colin Escott (Author), Martin Hawkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1992

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The authors, freelance writers, build a credible case for their assertion that the Sun studio was the birthplace of rock 'n' roll. Sun's founder, Sam Phillips, was the first to record artists who blended country music with rhythm and blues (R & B), creating the "rockabilly" sound that set the direction rock 'n' roll has taken to the present day. Sun, a Memphis, Tenn.-based label formed in 1952, never attained the level of success of the major record companies. But Phillips, a former disc jockey who broke into the record industry by recording R & B artists such as Howlin' Wolf and Joe Louis Hill, remains a seminal, almost legendary figure in modern music history, having discovered Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and a host of lesser-known performers who have influenced recording artists of the past 40 years. Well-written and well-researched, the book is a worthy addition to the growing literature of rock 'n' roll. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This culmination of a work in progress since 1971 follows the authors' earlier Catalyst: The Sun Records Story ( 1975) and Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Record Label ( LJ 2/15/81) as their most detailed and critically astute evaluation of the seminal Sun Records and its founder and creative genius Sam Phillips. The developments of Sun and the nascent rock 'n' roll phenomenon in the early 1950s are inextricably entwined through Phillips's recordings of Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis, all of whom began their careers at Sun. In explicating the "Sun sound," Escott and Hawkins also document Phillips's mistakes, flaws, and failures. The stories individually are wonderful, and collectively they form a lush composition of a significant slice of rock 'n' roll history. Numerous pictures, newspaper clippings, and other scrapbook paraphernalia complement the text, along with a Sun Records discography. For all libraries with even a passing interest in the history of popular music. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/90.
- Barry Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st pbk. ed edition (July 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312081995
• ISBN-13: 978-0312081997
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Colin Escott (b. 1949), the foremost authority on Sun Records, first wrote the company's history in 1975 and has revised and expanded it several times since. He has published several other volumes on the early days of country music, including a biography of Hank Williams and The Grand Ole Opry: The Making of an American Icon. He won a Grammy for his work on Mercury Records' The Complete Hank Williams, and in 2010 received a Tony nomination for Million Dollar Quartet, a Broadway musical about the legendary one-night jam session of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, scheduled to open in London in February 2011. In 2010, he was nominated for a Grammy for producing Hank Williams: The Complete Mother's Best Recordings.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive history of the definitive indie label. July 1, 1998

By S.D. Peters ([e-mail])

Format:Paperback

Have you heard the news? Good Rockin' Tonight is the encyclopedia for all fans of Sam C. Phillips' groundbreaking Memphis Recording Service and Sun/Phillips International labels. Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins, whose expert commentaries appear in the liner notes of many Sun CD reissue packages, deliver thorough accounts of the players and events in the Sun story. Full chapters are devoted to Sun's best-known players (Sam Phillips, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley) and the landmark events (the recording of Rocket 88, the arrival of Howlin' Wolf, and the birth of Rockabilly), but the real highlight is the attention to the lesser-known players like Joe Hill Louis, Scotty Moore, Sonny Burgess, Billy Riley, and Roland Janes. They didn't top the charts, but were as important to the creation of the "Sun Sound" as Perkins, Lewis, Cash and Presley were to its export outside the Memphis city limits, and in Good Rockin' Tonight they receive the recognition they deserve. Escott and Hawkins round out the Sun story with a complete discography of all the Sun and Phillips International singles, EPs and LPs released while both labels were active.

Sun was the first powerhouse independent record label of Rock & Roll music. It's catalogue, performed by rough-edged musicians who turned out consistently innovative material and a Top Ten hit here and there, has been exhaustively reissued over the past ten years, much to the delight of Sun connoisseurs. Sadly, the same can't be said of material written about Sun: most of the books (several also written by Escott and Hawkins) are now out of print. Good Rockin' Tonight stands alone as the most comprehensive work dedicated to Sam Phillips and the record label whose influence on popular culture deserves much more.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For the true to heart and those new to great music! April 4, 2000

By Jerry Smiddy

Format:Paperback

Coming from an age group that barely remembers the days of Sun Studio's most talented performers and songwriters, this book drives home the importance and impact of the many talents that emerged from this Memphis-based shrine.

This is a must read for anone who loves rock-n-roll, blues, jazz, or just wants to learn more about the hardships, the triumphs and the many lessons learned in the music industry.

Many top idols are present, but what makes the book such a worthwhile reading are the writings on those less known. My hats off to a true tribute for the sounds and artists of the south!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sun Records Redux February 3, 2013

By Ken

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A detailed and informative account of Sam Philips and the Rise & Fall of Sun Records. The focus is limited to their time at Sun Records, with some discussion of their Sun Records career, and so those seeking a full history of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and others will have to look elsewhere. Many of the artists discussed are unfamiliar to me, but there's enough about them to warrant further exploration.