Good Rockin’ Tonight

By Colin Escott with Martin Hawkins

Historical Book Review

American History Teachers' Collaborative

Tiffany Clark

I have always been embarrassed by my lack of musical sophistication. I hid behind other’s strong opinions, and there were plenty of strong opinions to be heard. While taste is clearly idiosyncratic, the passionate judgment of others on the music scene always scared me. There is a certain amount of street credibility given to those whose passion is music. I was always afraid of being the consummate dork (in my later years, I have come to embrace that title) What if what I liked wasn’t “right” or “cool”? And what’s more, how could “THAT” appeal to anyone? I came to the conclusion that my understanding of music was off. So I tackled “Good Rockin’ Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Colin Escott with Martin Hawkins as a musical novice. Funny how doing a book report has enabled me to understand and even enjoy the medium of music more fully.

This book explores the history of Sam Phillips and Sun Records, focusing on the decade 1950-1960. Escott and Hawkins postulate that Sun Records was the studio that incubated nascent rock ‘n’ roll. Sam Phillips, owner and producer, nurtured rock ‘n’ roll through its growing pains with his special gift of recognizing talent, babying talent along until it reaches its potential, and embracing its multicolored roots. From my admittedly naïve perspective, this thesis appears accurate. Even I recognize the names of some of the artists who came out of Sun Records: B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The authors point out plenty of Phillips’ missteps but clearly have great respect for the unique abilities and window of opportunity that was a sign of the times. “As Escott and Hawkins make plain, it was not accident of spontaneous generation, but rather the culmination of a social and historical vision.” (Forward; Peter Guralnick).

Escott and Hawkins devote the first two chapters to the factors that influenced Phillips and shaped his music philosophy. The first recordings that Sam Phillips made were of the blues. Phillips understood the roots of the music that would eventually become rock ‘n’ roll. He also understood the power and pain of “the music of hardship” (p10). Phillips says of the culture of the South, “There were two types of downtrodden people back then. There were the black field hands and the white sharecroppers. One man in particular, Uncle Silas Payne, and old black man, taught music to me. Not musical notes or reading, you understand, but real intuitive music” (p10). This struggle and honesty in music resonated in Phillips and is what he looked for in his young talent and made his recordings so powerful that they resonated with a nation. Perhaps one of the most significant factors was that he understood that this crosses racial boundaries. It may look different coming from different backgrounds, but purity of emotion was paramount often eclipsing musical skill. “I opened Memphis Recording Service, with the intention of recoding singers and musicians…who I felt had something that people should be able to hear. I’m talking about blues -both the country style and the rhythm style –and also about gospel or spiritual music and about white country music…I felt strongly that a lot of the blues was a real true story. Unadulterated life as it was” (p18).

Fittingly, in the chapter about Elvis Presley, the best examples of how Phillips thought about combining music multiculturally. Phillips is attributed with saying something along the lines of “If I could only find a white boy who could sing like a Negro I could make me a million dollars” (p64). However, the authors go beyond that to look more deeply. “Phillips knew better than most that a white boy imitating black blues singers would be ludicrous… Phillips was looking for a white artist who could bring the feel of black music to white kids who were too hidebound by racial intolerance to accept the genuine article” (p64).

Phillips found his strength, not in playing music, but in bringing out the best music in others. Phillips says, “but I never was a very good musician. I was a good conductor. I could always see the people that did have talent and get it out of them. And they would know that I was getting it out of them” (p10). The authors of the book make a good argument for this case throughout the book. Each time a new artist is examined they start with describing the strengths and weaknesses and then move on to how Phillips nurtured them. The book is loosely chronological, focusing on each artist as they were found by Sun Records. This structure supports the author’s beliefs by allowing each story to develop. The chapters start with the raw artist, noting what Phillips was attracted to in them, then proceeding to the process that helped shape the talent, inevitably ending when the singer left for another label. Pictures appear on almost every page, which for a visual person like me, was wonderful. Searching the young hopeful faces of well known aging musicians and analyzing the stylized photos designed by the publicity machine, gave a flavor of the times –especially without knowing the music well.

Escott and Hawkins pepper the book with great descriptions of the music and how it changes and develops. When describing Sam Phillips’ handling of Johnny Cash, they say, “The essential elements of Cash’s music were there from the start.” The stark, lonesome vocals were front and center, with Luther doing little more than keeping time, even during his solo. For his part, Phillips challenged the conventions of recording balance, placing Cash’s vocals more assertively in the mix than had ever been the case in county music. Phillips fattened the sound of the vocals and the rhythm track with slapback echo” (p100-101). However, I still needed to hear the music to understand. I paired this book with the American Masters documentary “Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records” (2001 Educational Broadcasting Corporation and SLM Productions). This video chronicles the making of a CD with contemporary musicians paying musical homage to the industry’s Sun Record roots, Cheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, Kid Rock, and Paul McCartney among them. Original recordings, studio tape and modern interpretations are back to back. Interwoven are interviews with Sam Phillips and many of the musicians that recorded with him. This serves the purpose of both giving the history of the songs (and hence the studio), with the broader impact that the music has had on music today. Hearing the music, comparing it to the descriptions in the book, and seeing what current artist do with it gave me a much more complete and complex understanding of not only music, but what Sam Phillips was doing in his studio at the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. I needed this piece to understand the music and the impact of Sun Records. (And I am enjoying the companion CD very much.)

The authors have been working with this material for over fifteen years. They are well aware that time and ego, especially of artists, tends to skew the facts. This is acknowledged in the preface to Appendix A: “In writing this book, we have inevitably drawn upon some secondary as well as original sources… Most of the information, though, was derived from original interview material, which is largely unattributed in the text. In view of the mythology surrounding some of the Sun artists –some of it perpetuated by the artists themselves and some by their followers –we have tried to double-check most of what has passes for established wisdom” (p243). Each chapter has a list of sources and a list of general reference material is also included. I found it interesting to compare the flavor of the text of the book to the feel of the American Masters documentary. The book tried to be more academic while the documentary often highlighted portions of interviews. Many of the artists interviewed had unfavorable things to say about Sam Phillips. Each time the positive side was also told, but there were more egos and disappointment in the documentary.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing I found about this book was how I related to Sam Phillips’ roll in the studio. I found that the descriptions of what he did could be lifted and applied to the profession of teaching. For example, Phillips describes his work this way: “I saw my role as being the facilitator, the man who listened to and artist for his native abilities, then tried to encourage and channel the artist into what would be a proper outlet for his abilities” (p156). As a reader, I am the kind of person who needs to make connections. This was a fascinating connection, making the book more relevant to my life as someone who tries to do the same with my fourth graders.