Once again, looking at the early days of Rock n' Roll and how mainstream media tried to capitalize on it. With all the radio audience heading over to top-40 and favorite disc jockey's, conventional (i.e. network) radio was left somewhat in the cold. So the movement was afoot to try and win some of that missing audience over, or at least get them to come visit every once in a while. CBS and ABC Radio were about the first ones to try doing for rock n' roll what they had been doing for Jazz and Big Band for years, spotlighting it in live settings. ABC ran a shortlived radio series from The Apollo in Harlem and CBS tinkered with shows like this one - aimed directly at the teen audience (even though they had Burgermeister Beer, a California brewery for sponsorship) and tried to ease the audience who wasn't used to Rock n Roll in with the audience that was. The result was interesting, especially as this show proves. Headliners Jack McVea (who immortalized "Open The Door Richard" in the 1940s) and Jake Porter (going under the pseudonym King Porter), ran through their catalog of Jump Blues and the Platters were called in to supply the teen-oriented bits.

Jake Porter was a label owner in his own right, having started the L.A. based Combo Records, who churned out many hits on the R&B charts.

This particular show, even though it claims to be an hour, is really only a half-hour so I suspect it was a demo and maybe not actually aired. But in any event, the show was recorded on May 10, 1956 and gives you some idea of what was going on with radio aside from the local DJ's.

(Dewey Phillips - the turbo-charged prototype - radio was never the same)

(as long as you're downloading, chip in a bit?)

As much as history books like to credit Allan Freed as the man who put Rock n' Roll on the map, the real unsung hero has to be Dewey Phillips, whose insane non-stop delivery and ground breaking exposure to white audiences of Rhythm & Blues probably did more to punch through the color barrier than anyone at the time.

Phillips started broadcasting in 1949, right at the crest of the Jump-Blues wave where Rhythm & Blues was fusing with small combo Jazz and the result eventually morphed into rock n' roll. Phillips, and his nightly show on WHBQ in Memphis ran a wall to wall stream of music by the likes of Joe Turner, Mel Walker and Little Esther Phillips, Roy Milton, Amos Milburn, Charles Brown and countless others. Because his show had no format to speak of he ran pretty much what ever he felt like. And it was this free form type of program that appealed to so many kids at the time, and so many white kids who were being exposed to music formerly relegated to rural Southern stations.

Phillips had the distinction of being the first to play Elvis Presley and one of the first to interview him.

Dewey Phillips would eventually be burned by the thing he helped create and by the mid-1950's his brand of free form radio would be co-opted by tight formats and playlists which would eventually give way to Top-40 and tighter playlists.

But for that brief period of time, Dewey Phillips had no peers and this 30 minute slice from November of 1950 gives you some idea of the madness he was all about and why the early days of Rock n' Roll came about because of him.

(There were people who swore the world went straight to hell, did not pass "go", did not collect $200))

It's almost impossible to imagine now, but there was a time when Rock was in its infancy and an endless source of bafflement from mainstream media and an entire generation who just didn't understand what it was all about. We're not even talking about what was then referred to as "race music" and early Rhythm & Blues - this was stuff pretty tame by comparison. Bill Haley and His Comets, Patti Page, The Crew Cuts - these were the acts mainstream America was somehow convinced were taking it's Youth on a one-way trip to hell - or at least, having its collective i.q. reduced to room temperature.

So mainstream America sought to explain it all - sought to answer burning questions. From 1955, well into the early 1960s, hundreds of hours of airtime were devoted in an attempt to explain what the phenomenon was all about. And to the mainstream, it was only a phenomenon; a fad, a passing fancy. Something that wasn't destined to last. And the Big Guns were brought out to help explain it. As in the case of this broadcast, part of the Conversation Series, a weekly Sunday talk program devoted to current affairs, no less than award winning Composer Richard Rodgers was brought on to explain, or at least offer some insight over Elvis Presley. Joining Rodgers was New York Disc Jockey Ted Brown and moderator Clifton Fadiman to talk about just what this strange new music was.

Actually, in retrospect quite funny. It does however point up to just how naive America was in the 1950's and how resistant to anything resembling change we were.

Now does it start to sink in just how big a deal the Civil Rights Movement was back then?

Switching it around this evening with a nod to the Crescent City and the legendary Lloyd Price.

Without a doubt, the hotbed of musical activity in the 1950's had to go to New Orleans, just for the sheer amount of talent seemingly falling out of the woodwork at every turn.

There was so much talent that Specialty Records, the Los Angeles based R&B and early Rock n' Roll label, set up a branch office and recording studio in New Orleans just to handle the onslaught. And they weren't the only ones. Imperial, also a Los Angeles based label, set up an office in New Orleans (Imperial gave us Fats Domino among many others).

Tonight it's Lloyd Price, the first New Orleans artist to be recorded for Specialty and who scored out of the starting gate with Lawdy Miss Clawdy. Here is a follow to that single, Where You At?, from a session recorded on April 16, 1953.

When I first heard the late Amy Winehouse several years ago, one of the things that struck me most about her was the sound of her production. I knew that sound. I grew up with it. It poured out of every radio I came in contact with. It was dirty, immediate and it rocked and it was early 60's.

In recent years there's been something of a movement to get back to that sound. Bands are opting to go analog and some even record in mono using vintage equipment. For all the new technology available and the myriad ways to doctor a session, going back to the basic basics, the stripped-down everything, has enormous appeal.

And there have been some interesting and wonderful examples as a result. Earlier today my friend Tre sent me a link to an artist named Nick Waterhouse, a guy from the Bay Area of California who has been seriously digging into the retro mine for some time.

One of the gems from that expedition is this track, released just a few weeks ago via Innovative Leisure Records out of Los Angeles (a new label to watch). Is That Clear is one of several tracks, including some brand new ones coming out today which give ample evidence the Retro movement is not only alive and well, but flourishing and making new fans in the process.

He has all the bases covered as far as access. If you go the Innovative Leisure Records site you'll be directed to at least half a dozen other sites he's on. It's well worth the ride. All his stuff is available via iTunes, but if I were you, I'd go for the vinyl 45's complete with retro perfect "vocal with orchestra" labels - just makes sense that way.

Here comes the weekend.

Continuing our Free-form week of music on the Roundtable, I've been slowly digging through a collection of tapes I got in several years ago which featured a lot of early live television variety shows. This one, a live performance featuring the Everly Brothers, comes from a popular variety show at the time, The Big Record, hosted by Patti Page, herself a pop icon of the early/mid-fifties. It was broadcast on February 5, 1958 and features the Everly's doing their first hit, Wake Up Little Suzie.

I'm not sure if this recording has ever been made available or even if a film of the TV show exists. Like a lot of material from the 1950's, Videotape was only in the development stages so very little was actually preserved in that form. Most of what was preserved were filmed versions, or Kinescopes of the shows with typically terrible sound. That's not the case with this tape, as you'll find out when you hit Play.

I'll see what else I can dig up this week that's equally obscure. Stay tuned.

If you don't know this song, I am really sorry. If you don't know this artist - where have you been? Little Richard is an institution as far as rock n' roll history is concerned. There when it started, continued as it got popular, acknowledged when it became an art form. Little Richard has never been duplicated.

This track, Keep a Knockin' is my absolute favorite and in my top five as all-time great records is concerned. This is an alternate take, an earlier take that included the lyric "I'm drinkin' gin and you can't come in", which was dropped in the released version (Specialty Records owner Art Rupe knew a thing or two about the teenage market). The interesting thing about this track is that it wasn't recorded in either New Orleans or Los Angeles, as all of Richard's Specialty sessions were thought to be. This one was recorded at a Washington D.C. radio station during a tour break in September 1957. A little piece of history for you buffs. I know this is true because a: I saw the paperwork for the original session and b: I remastered this track when I was working for Specialty when we did the giant box set of the Complete Little Richard Sessions in 1989.

In any event, it's an iconic track from an immortal artist and it ages really well. Play it very loud.

(Roy Young Band - Roy 2nd from left - Virtual unknown in the States)

Unless you are a devotee of all things First British Invasion, you may never have heard anything of Roy Young. He wasn't a household name here, but in the U.K. and in Germany he was something of a legend and a pioneer in the early days of the British Invasion.

Young was actually involved in the early days of British Rock n' Roll. And like so many bands of the day, migrated for a while to Hamburg where the nightclub scene was a great place to hone skills. Young had a distinctive voice and fit right in with the early blues outfits gaining popularity in the UK at the time. He has a website and offers some fascinating glimpses into the early scene which he was so much a part of. Roy Young is still around and playing, but this particular concert, recorded by the BBC at their Paris Theatre in 1972 gives you an idea of what the fuss with Roy was all about and how influential he was in shaping the direction of a lot of bands during the 1961-1963 period. The rest, of course is history.

If you haven't heard of him before, now's your chance.

(Mick Abrahams - One of the staples of the FM diet of the early '70's.)

Not exactly live this week, but sessions produced for the John Peel Program over the BBC in 1971 and courtesy of the ever-amazing BBC Transcription Service.

Anyone who has been a long time Jethro Tull fan will recognize Mick Abrahams as one of the founding members, who left shortly after the release of This Was in 1968 and went on to form Blodwyn Pig (whose single Dear Jill was a staple on early rock FM radio here in the States). Blodwyn Pig dissolved in late 1970. There was the short lived Wommit and then The Mick Abrahams Band who, although not achieving the commercial appeal Jethro Tull had, still maintained a strong loyal following and were regarded by many as musician's musicians. Blodwyn Pig recently reformed (adding Clive Bunker, original Tull drummer and, in my estimation the best) and are currently gigging around England and Europe.

This session, recorded on June 6, 1971 features Seasons, Not To Rearrange, Winds of Change and Why Do You Do Me This Way.

So for the next 20 or so minutes, pretend it's not 1971. And it's not if you haven't heard this band before - it's new to you. New is good. Honest. Especially when it's been around for a while.