100 Songs that Helped Bring Rockabilly into Existence

These 100 songs that helped bring rockabilly into existence were recorded from 1950 to 1959. When the songs were recorded there was no rockabilly. many of these artist began their careers as country singers. Others had blues roots but had been influenced by country music or their producers or label owners had some type of influence that brought them to understand country music.

Most of the white artists who ended up making what was to be called rockabilly liked blues and were most likely influenced by blues artists. Some of the blues artists of the '40s and early '50s were Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Joe Turner, Lloyd Price, Junior Parker, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Guitar Gable, to name a few.

Many of the blues singers could be heard over WLAC radio in Gallatin, TN at Randy's Record Shop, and you could hear the blues from juke boxes in juke joints, not the safest places to get introduced to the blues. Some honky tonks had blues on the juke box mixed in with the country selections; it depended on who serviced them. The record companies wanted the record distributors to get as many records from their label on the juke box as possible.

Some of the blues record companies of the '40s and '50s were Chess, Checker, Atlantic, Peacock, Duke, RPM/Modern, Excello, King/Federal, Class, Specialty, and Aladdin. The juke box had a variety of selections that ranged from country, pop, and blues. When you add gospel and bluegrass into the music mix you get a lot of variations. The young musicians of the '40s and '50s were experimenting with all kinds beats and different sounds: You add a note here, a chord there, tap you feet a little faster, sing the song to a different tempo, speed it up, slow it down ,add a little foot stomping slow grinding jive beat to the whole deal.Now you may have rockabilly; no one knew what it was.

It was a creative time in America and a musical explosion was about to bust wide open. Someone in a musical laboratory was going to make history; hundreds were working on it. Jjumped-up-step-it-out-and-go recording had been released on the radio as country music but the perfect beat and sound with the right song and voice was not out yet. It soon would be. As in any race to the finish line, the guy that comes in first gets all the attention. That turned out to be Elvis Presley and his band, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, and his producer Sam Phillips. Yes, Sir, they got the trophy and from July 1954 they were the team to beat. From then on they had plenty of competition. Every musician close to Elvis' age was looking for the sound that he got there first with. After "That's Alright" every hill billy cat that could get into a recording studio was trying to duplicate the same sound as Elvis and the record companies were more than willing to help this new breed of hillbilly cat get the records to the radio stations and to the juke boxes.

Elvis, Scotty, and Bill weren't the only musicians who could play what is now called rockabilly. There would be hundreds of thousands of recordings made. Many never made it far past the record pressing plant and were never removed from their shucks. Some recordings made it to the radio stations got played and many became all time hits.

These 100 songs helped start a musical revolution that has stood the test of time down through the years, have become a part of our lives, and  will be remembered as some the records that rockabilly possibly was born out of. They are listed from 1 to 100 and in no order as they are all equal as historical value. I hope you enjoy your trip down rockabilly memory lane.

-- Widmarc Clark --

  1. bill haley - rock around the clock
  2. buddy knox - party doll
  3. buddy holly - peggy sue
  4. jimmy bowen - i'm stickin' with you
  5. elvis presley - that's alright
  6. jerry lee lewis - whole lotta shakin' goin' on
  7. rick nelson - believe what you say
  8. bob luman - red cadillac and black mustache
  9. billy lee riley - red hot
10. gene vincent - be bop a lula
11. johnny burnette - the train kept a rollin'
12. link wray - rumble
13. eddie cochran - sittin' in the balcony
14. lloyd price - lawdy miss claudy
15. sanford clark - the fool
16. bobby lee trammell - shirley lee
17. the big bopper - chantilly lace
18. gene summers - straight skirt
19. sonny burgess - red headed woman
20. vernon taylor - sweet and easy to love
21. ray vernon - evil angel
22. warren smith - so long i'm gone
23. carl perkins - blue suede shoes
24. dale hawkins - susie-q
25. johnny cash - big river

26. clint miller - bertha lou
27. joe bennett & the sparkletones - black slacks
28. jack scott - the way i walk
29. danny & the juniors - at the hop
30. jody reynolds - endless sleep
31. ray smith - right behind you baby
32. eddy bond - rockin' daddy
33. roy orbison - ooby dooby
34. charlie feathers - tongue tied jill
35. johnny carroll - rock it baby - rock it
36. jim lowe - the green door
37. chuck miller - the house of blue lights
38. hayden thompson - love my baby
39. malcom yelvington - wine spo-dee-o-dee
40. jimmy dee - henrietta
41. luke mcdaniel - uh baby
42. aurther smith - guitar boogie
43. jack earls - slow down
44. thomas wayne - this time
45. jimmy edwards - love bug crawl
46. eddy cooley - priscilla
47. the everly bros - wake up little susie
48. carl mann - mona lisa
49. bill justice - raunchy
50. sonny james - young love

51. ferlin husky - gone
52. chuck willis - c.c. rider
53. robin luke - susie darlin
54. the chrickets - that'll be the day
55. johnny horton - i'm a honky tonk man
56. the crescendo's - oh julie
57. boyd bennett - seventeen
58. bobby charles - see you later alligator
59. chuck berry - maybellene
60. the bell notes - i've had it
61. ersel hickey - blue birds over the mountain
62. jimmy clanton - just a dream
63. jack clement - black haired man
64. johnny powers - your love
65. shirley sisk - mean ole memphis
66. paul richy - the legend of the big steeple
67. faron young - alone with you
68. jimmy rogers - honeycomb
69. the royal teens - short shorts
70. santo & johnny - sleepwalk
71. ray sharpe - linda lu
72. johnny & and the hurricanes - crossfire
73. the hollywood flames - buzz - buzz - buzz
74. bobby helms - jingle bell rock
75. jimmy reed - ain't that loving you baby

76. frankie ford - sea cruise
77. duane eddy - ram rod
78. marvin rainwater - gonna find me a blue bird
79. johnny preston - runnin' bear
80. conway twitty - it's only make believe
81. ed bruce - rock boppin' baby
82. tommy blake - shake down
83. rudy grayzell - judy 84. barbara pittman - handsome man
85. cliff thomas - treat me right
86. carl mcvoy - you are my sunshine
87. dicky lee - dream boy
88. junior parker - mystery train
89. mack self - easy to love
90. sonny fisher - rockin' daddy
91. webb pierce - your in the jailhouse now
92. roy hall - all by myself
93. onie wheeler - onie's bop
94. ronnie self - be bop a lena
95. marty robbins - a white sports coat
96. cleveland crochet - sugar bee
97. bobby cisco - go - go - go
98. billy barrix - cool it off baby
99. john hampton - shadow blue
100. al ferrier - hey baby

if anyone has this complete record collection on the original labels, you can retire immediately.
Widmarc Clark