The Phoenix Sound: A History of Twang and Rockabilly Music in Arizona

The Phoenix Sound: A History of Twang and Rockabilly Music in Arizona
Author: Jim West
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2015-12-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1625856431

In 1956, a fresh-faced Sanford Clark recorded "The Fool" with guitarist Al Casey at Floyd Ramsey's small Phoenix recording studio. Written by local deejay Lee Hazlewood, the song became a top-ten Billboard hit nationwide and launched a new trailblazing era of Arizona music. Their success paved the way for other Phoenix acts and producers to chart national hits. Grammy-winning audio engineer Jack Miller started out in Ramsey's studio, and Hazlewood produced rock hall of famer Duane Eddy's debut album, Have "Twangy" Guitar, Will Travel. These early artists pioneered a sound that inspired Arizona's best musicians from Waylon Jennings and Buck Owens to Stevie Nicks and Linda Ronstadt. Join former radio and broadcast personality Jim West for the story and soundtrack to the early days of music in the Valley of the Sun.

Phoenix Sound, The: A History of Twang & Rockabilly Music in Arizona

Phoenix Sound, The: A History of Twang & Rockabilly Music in Arizona
Author: Jim West
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 1
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 1467118982

In 1956, a fresh-faced Sanford Clark recorded "The Fool" with guitarist Al Casey at Floyd Ramsey's small Phoenix recording studio. Written by local deejay Lee Hazlewood, the song became a top-ten Billboard hit nationwide and launched a new trailblazing era of Arizona music. Their success paved the way for other Phoenix acts and producers to chart national hits. Grammy-winning audio engineer Jack Miller started out in Ramsey's studio, and Hazlewood produced rock hall of famer Duane Eddy's debut album, Have 'Twangy' Guitar, Will Travel. These early artists pioneered a sound that inspired Arizona's best musicians from Waylon Jennings and Buck Owens to Stevie Nicks and Linda Ronstadt. Join former radio and broadcast personality Jim West for the story and soundtrack to the early days of music in the Valley of the Sun. Book jacket.

Hepcats & Rockabilly Boys

Hepcats & Rockabilly Boys
Author: Robert Reynolds
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 102
Release: 2018-08-27
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0359046150

In the 1950s, country music merged with the rising new fad called ""rock and roll"" to form what would become known as ""Rockabilly."" In short, Rockabilly was fast paced, guitar and bass driven ditties with thundering rhythms. The songs were often less than memorable made up with a conglomeration of silly lyrics and phrases like ""bop,""""shake,""""mama,"" and""go cat!"" Cars, especially Cadillacs, and colors, pink and black, were prevalent in many of the songs. Songs like ""Oobie Doobie,"" ""Ubangi Stomp,"" ""Be Boppin' Baby,"" and ""Rockin' In the Congo"" were common record chart contenders. Many up and coming country crooners would go on to achieve widespread acclaim as names like Presley, Holly and Orbison conquered radio station playlists. They, among others, would become R&R legends. Others like Jack Scott, Boyd Bennett, and Dale Hawkins, found success to a lesser degree in the new genre. It's many of these ""lesser knowns"" that Hepcats & Rockabilly Boys explores. Here are some of their stories...

Rim to River

Rim to River
Author: Tom Zoellner
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2024-02-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816553289

A sharp examination of Arizona by a nationally acclaimed writer, Rim to River follows Tom Zoellner on a 790-mile walk across his home state as he explores key elements of Arizona culture, politics, and landscapes. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in learning more about a vibrant and baffling place.

The Broken Spoke

The Broken Spoke
Author: Donna Marie Miller
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2017-04-24
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1623495199

James and Annetta White opened the Broken Spoke in 1964, then a mile south of the Austin city limits, under a massive live oak, and beside what would eventually become South Lamar Boulevard. White built the place himself, beginning construction on the day he received his honorable discharge from the US Army. And for more than fifty years, the Broken Spoke has served up, in the words of White’s well-worn opening speech, “. . . cold beer, good whiskey, the best chicken fried steak in town . . . and good country music.” White paid thirty-two dollars to his first opening act, D. G. Burrow and the Western Melodies, back in 1964. Since then, the stage at the Spoke has hosted the likes of Bob Wills, Dolly Parton, Ernest Tubb, Ray Price, Marcia Ball, Pauline Reese, Roy Acuff, Kris Kristofferson, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Asleep at the Wheel, and the late, great Kitty Wells. But it hasn’t always been easy; through the years, the Whites and the Spoke have withstood their share of hardship—a breast cancer diagnosis, heart trouble, the building’s leaky roof, and a tour bus driven through its back wall. Today the original rustic, barn-style building, surrounded by sleek, high-rise apartment buildings, still sits on South Lamar, a tribute and remembrance to an Austin that has almost vanished. Housing fifty years of country music memorabilia and about a thousand lifetimes of memories at the Broken Spoke, the Whites still honor a promise made to Ernest Tubb years ago: they’re “keepin’ it country.”

Play It Loud

Play It Loud
Author: Brad Tolinski
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2016-10-25
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0385541007

The inspiration for the Play It Loud exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art "Every guitar player will want to read this book twice. And even the casual music fan will find a thrilling narrative that weaves together cultural history, musical history, race, politics, business case studies, advertising, and technological discovery." —Daniel Levitin, Wall Street Journal For generations the electric guitar has been an international symbol of freedom, danger, rebellion, and hedonism. In Play It Loud, veteran music journalists Brad Tolinski and Alan di Perna bring the history of this iconic instrument to roaring life. It's a story of inventors and iconoclasts, of scam artists, prodigies, and mythologizers as varied and original as the instruments they spawned. Play It Loud uses twelve landmark guitars—each of them artistic milestones in their own right—to illustrate the conflict and passion the instruments have inspired. It introduces Leo Fender, a man who couldn't play a note but whose innovations helped transform the guitar into the explosive sound machine it is today. Some of the most significant social movements of the twentieth century are indebted to the guitar: It was an essential element in the fight for racial equality in the entertainment industry; a mirror to the rise of the teenager as social force; a linchpin of punk's sound and ethos. And today the guitar has come full circle, with contemporary titans such as Jack White of The White Stripes, Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent), and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys bringing some of the earliest electric guitar forms back to the limelight. Featuring interviews with Les Paul, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and dozens more players and creators, Play It Loud is the story of how a band of innovators transformed an idea into a revolution.

Knix

Knix
Author: Jim West
Publisher: Many Seasons Press
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2020-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781736185605

There was one station that would grow to become a ratings juggernaut. That station was KNIX-FM in Phoenix, Arizona. The station has quite a storied past. But its popularity with listeners did not happen overnight!

All Music Guide to Country

All Music Guide to Country
Author: Michael Erlewine
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 644
Release: 1997
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780879304751

Reviews and rates the best recordings of country artists and groups, provides biographies of the artists, and charts the evolution of country music

Songs in the Key of Z

Songs in the Key of Z
Author: Irwin Chusid
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2000-04-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 156976493X

Outsider musicians can be the product of damaged DNA, alien abduction, drug fry, demonic possession, or simply sheer obliviousness. This book profiles dozens of outsider musicians, both prominent and obscure—figures such as The Shaggs, Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Jandek, Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnston, Harry Partch, and The Legendary Stardust Cowboy—and presents their strange life stories along with photographs, interviews, cartoons, and discographies. About the only things these self-taught artists have in common are an utter lack of conventional tunefulness and an overabundance of earnestness and passion. But, believe it or not, they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality. A CD featuring songs by artists profiled in the book is also available.