Sam Phillips.

Sam Phillips seemed to see everything in the music world. In 1952 the world seemed to be jivin’ to the music of the black musicians. In dance halls everywhere people were dancing to the new sounds made from what seemed to be a combination of “Blues” with a “Country” beat. Black vocalist and bands had conquered the dance hall scene. Sam saw it! Sam knew it! And Sam said, “if I could get a white singer who sounded black I could shake the world”.

Elvis Presley was learning the chords on a guitar from Lee Denson in a government housing project in Memphis, Tennessee. Lee’s mother had walked Elvis and Lee to school for years. With the Guitar strokes and personal feelings Elvis learned in “Lauderdale Courts” He would soon make “sounds’ that would be heard around the world.

Carl Perkins was sitting on the front porch of a one-room share croppers shack about an hours drive away from Elvis and Memphis. A black share-cropper, Uncle John Westbrook, would join Carl on Saturday afternoon and evening “making music”. Carl would be singing a Hank Williams song like “Did you ever hear a robin weep, he seems to blue to cry, and as I wonder where you are, I’m so lonesome I could die”. Uncle John would be playing a blues rhythm from an old Bessie Smith song such as “Down in the alley, we sho’ have fun, we don’t get started ‘till half past one, jes’ rockin’ and reelin’, you get that feelin’, down in the alley, jes’ you and me”.

Carl’s dad would open the front door and say “Carl, that’s not the way Hank Williams plays that song”. Carl would respond “But Daddy, I don’t want to play it like Hank Williams. I want to play it the way I feel it. I want to play it my way”. Rockabilly was born! When mature it would circle the globe!

Within two years Sam Phillips would have his two white singers that sounded black. They would shake the world. And yes, they are still shaking it.

Why have an eight (8”) foot oil painting of Elvis, Carl and Sam? Because their achievements have made them larger than life. Their paintings will be on permanent display at THE INTERNATIONAL ROCK-A-BILLY HALL OF FAME, INC. in Carl Perkins hometown of Jackson, Tennessee. They should be available for viewing by April 9th, 2003 – on Carl’s birthday.

Elvis, Carl and Sam’s portraits will be painted from photographs. Which photograph will be used? The selection committee is still looking at different ones before making the final selection. Do you have a preference or a photograph you would like considered? Please send your suggestion to:

THE INTERNATIONAL ROCK-A-BILLY HALL OF FAME, INC.
Business office
531 Riverside Drive
Jackson, Tennessee 38301
USA

museum
105 N. Church Street
Jackson, Tennessee

Email rockabilly@roegraphics.com
Web page www.rockabillyhall.org
Telephone (731) 423-5440
Fax (731) 427-8560

Sam Phillips 1933 - 2003