The Blues Came Down from Memphis....various artists on the Sun Records label

This now rare 20 track compilation brings together some of the early pioneers of blues music from Memphis, Tennessee, that recorded on Sam Phillips' Sun Records label. Artists such as James Cotton, Doctor Ross, Rufus Thomas, Willie Nix, Little Milton, Joe Hill Louis, Little Junior's Blue Flames and Jimmy DeBerry.

Tracklist:
1 –Doctor Ross The Boogie Disease
2 –James Cotton Cotton Crop Blues
3 –Willie Nix Baker Shop Boogie
4 –Rufus Thomas Bear Cat
5 –Jimmy DeBerry Take A Little Chance
6 –Doctor Ross Juke Box Boogie
7 –Sammy Lewis/Willie Johnson Combo I Feel So Worried
8 –Little Milton If You Love Me Baby
9 –Jimmy DeBerry Time Has Made A Change
10 –Doctor Ross Come Back Baby
11 –Sammy Lewis/Willie Johnson Combo So Long Baby, Goodbye
12 –Rufus Thomas Tiger Man (King Of The Jungle)
13 –Willie Nix Seems Like A Million Year
14 –Doctor Ross Chicago Breakdown
15 –Little Junior's Blue Flames Mystery Train
16 –Jimmy DeBerry Before Long
17 –Joe Hill Louis We All Gotta Go Sometimes
18 –Joe Hill Louis She May Be Yours (But She Comes To See Me Sometimes)
19 –Jimmy & Walter Easy
20 –Little Junior's Blue Flames Feelin' Good

The Blues Came Down from Memphis

The Unissued Carl Perkins...30 tracks from original Sun Studios recordings

A 30 track collection of alternative and unissued takes of Carl Perkins' recordings at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios from 1954 to 1957. A now rare and hard to find release, this is will be of interest to rockabilly and Carl Perkins fans.

The Unissued Carl Perkins

Book review - Sam Phillips, The Man Who Invented Rock'n'Roll...paperback edition now available

Peter Guralnick, the author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biography Last Train to Memphis, brings us the life of Sam Phillips, the visionary genius who single-handedly steered the revolutionary path of Sun Records.

The music that he shaped in his tiny Memphis studio with artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, introduced a sound that had never been heard before. He brought forth a singular mix of black and white voices passionately proclaiming the vitality of the American vernacular tradition while at the same time declaring, once and for all, a new, integrated musical day. With extensive interviews and firsthand personal observations extending over a 25-year period with Phillips, along with wide-ranging interviews with nearly all the legendary Sun Records artists, Guralnick gives us an ardent, unrestrained portrait of an American original as compelling in his own right as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, or Thomas Edison.

Marty's review: Probably the most fascinating and informative book on the history of Sam Phillips and Sun Records I have ever read. It is also a music encyclopedia on the birth of rock and roll and all that it spawned after it. The just released paperback edition is a generous 763 pages worth, including dozens of photographs, that will have the most ardent music aficionado drooling over its pages and devouring every tasty morsel of juicy facts, historical events and biographical detail. If you thought you knew all about Sam Phillips, Sun Records and the beginnings of Elvis Presley's rise to fame, then this book will surprise and delight and have you digging out your music collections and wanting to hear more of the artists mentioned hear and appreciate their roots and the music they made.

About the Author

Peter Guralnick has written extensively on American music and musicians. His books include the prize-winning Elvis Presley two-part biography Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love; an acclaimed trilogy on American roots music, Sweet Soul Music, Lost Highway and Feel Like Going Home; the biographical inquiry Searching for Robert Johnson; the novel Nighthawk Blues; and Dream Boogie, a biography of Sam Cooke. He splits his time between Nashville and Massachusetts.

Published by Little Brown and Company


                                                                     

Billy Lee Riley...Rock With Me Baby...Original Sun Recordings

Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009) was an American rockabilly musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. His most memorable recordings included "Rock With Me Baby" and "Red Hot".

Born in Pocahontas, Arkansas, the son of a sharecropper, Riley learned to play guitar from black farm workers. After 4 years in the Army, Riley first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1955 before being lured to Sun Studios by Sam Phillips. He recorded "Trouble Bound" for Jack Clement and Slim Wallace. Sam Phillips obtained the rights and he released "Trouble Bound" b/w "Rock With Me Baby" on September 1, 1956 (Sun 245). His first hit was "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" b/w "I Want You Baby" released February 23, 1957 (Sun 260) with backing piano by Jerry Lee Lewis, after which he recorded "Red Hot" b/w "Pearly Lee" released September 30, 1957 (Sun 277).

"Red Hot" was showing a lot of promise as a big hit record, but Sam Phillips pulled the promotion and switched it to "Great Balls Of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. Riley felt that his own chances of chart success were compromised by Phillips diverting resources to Lewis' career. He had other Sun recordings and they, likewise, did not have a lot of sales as his promotion had stopped. Like other artists such as Sonny Burgess, Hayden Thompson, Ray Harris and Warren Smith, chart success largely eluded him.

click here for more information

The Legendary Story of Sun Records...various artists

Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.
Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was notable for discovering and first recording such influential musicians as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. (Presley's recording contract was sold to RCA Victor Records for $35,000 in 1955 to relieve financial difficulties which Sun was going through.) Prior to those records, Sun Records had concentrated on recording African-American musicians, because Phillips loved Rhythm and Blues and wanted to bring black music to a white audience. It was Sun record producer and engineer, Jack Clement, who discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis, while owner Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida. The original Sun Records logo was designed by John Gale Parker, Jr., a resident of Memphis and high school classmate of Phillips.

The music of many Sun Records musicians helped lay part of the foundation of late 20th century rock and roll, plus it influenced many younger musicians, particularly The Beatles. In 2001, Paul McCartney appeared on a tribute compilation album titled Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy Of Sun Records. The 2010 tribute Million Dollar Quartet is based on the famous photograph of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis grouped round Elvis Presley at the piano, the night when the four joined in an impromptu jam at Sun Record's one-room sound studio, the "Million Dollar Quartet" of 4 December 1956.

In 1969, Mercury Records label producer Shelby Singleton purchased the Sun label from Phillips. Singleton merged his operations into Sun International Corporation, which re-released and re-packaged compilations of Sun's early artists in the early 1970s. It would later introduce rockabilly tribute singer Jimmy "Orion" Ellis in 1980 as Orion taking on the persona of Elvis Presley. The company remains in business today as Sun Entertainment Corporation, which currently licenses its brand and classic hit recordings (many of which have appeared in CD boxed sets and other compilations) to independent reissue labels. Sun Entertainment also includes SSS International Records, Plantation Records, Amazon Records, Red Bird Records, Blue Cat Records among other labels the company acquired over the years. Its website sells collectible items as well as compact discs bearing the original 1950s Sun logo.

Some of the notable recording artists at Sun were Roscoe Gordon, Rufus Thomas, who recorded solo and with his daughter Carla Thomas, Little Milton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and Conway Twitty (who at that time recorded under his real name of Harold Jenkins).

This excellent 60 track compilation represents all the styles of music heralded by Sun Records, from earthy Blues and Country to Rockabilly and Rock'n'Roll. For anyone interested in the roots of rock and roll, this an important and historical collection. Many of these tracks were later covered by other artists early in their own careers.

Disc: 1
1. Mystery Train - Little Junior's Blue Flames
2. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
3. Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis
4. Bear Cat - Rufus Thomas
5. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
6. Color And Kind (Look-A Here Baby) - Howlin' Wolf
7. Flying Saucer Rock And Roll - Billy Lee Riley
8. Ten Cats Down - The Miller Sisters
9. I Never Knew - Roy Orbison
10. Your Cheatin' Heart - Cliff Gleaves
11. Just Walking In The Rain - The Prisonaires
12. The Hucklebuck - Earl Hooker
13. Shake 'Em Up Baby - Frank Ballard
14. Willing And Ready - Ray Smith
15. Rock 'n' Roll Ruby - Warren Smith
16. Born To Lose - Carl McVoy
17. Lonely Weekends - Charlie Rich
18. I Need A Man - Barbara Pittman
19. Ubangi Stomp - Carl Mann
20. Sadie's Back In Town - Sonny Burgess
21. Groovy Train - Wade Cagle & The Escorts
22. Don't Be Runnin' Wild (Problem Child) - Ken Cook
23. Go! Go! Go! - Roy Orbison
24. Red Velvet - The Kirby Sisters
25. Greyhound Blues - D.A. Hunt
26. I Forgot To Remember To Forget - Charlie Feathers
27. Lewis Boogie - Jerry Lee Lewis
28. Peace In The Valley - Million Dollar Quartet
29. Down By The Riverside - Million Dollar Quartet
30. Who Will The Next Fool Be? - Charlie Rich
Disc: 2
1. Great Balls Of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
2. Matchbox - Carl Perkins
3. Feelin' Good - Little Junior's Blue Flames
4. Mona Lisa - Carl Mann
5. Ooby Dooby - Roy Orbison
6. Guess Things Happen That Way - Johnny Cash
7. My Babe - Narvel Felts
8. It's Me Baby - Malcolm Yelvington
9. Paralyzed - Million Dollar Quartet
10. I'll Wait Forever - Anita Wood
11. Somebody Told Me - Little Milton
12. Rockin' Bandit (Dubbed Version) - Ray Smith
13. Pearly Lee - Billy Lee Riley
14. Red Hot - Billy 'The Kid' Emerson
15. Uranium Rock (Alternate Take) - Warren Smith
16. Raunchy - Bill Justis
17. Got You On My Mind - The Miller Sisters
18. Just In Time - Harold Jenkins (Conway Twitty)
19. Ain't Got No Home - Carl Mann
20. Ain't Got A Thing - Sonny Burgess
21. Cheese And Crackers - Rosco Gordon
22. Got Love If You Want It - Warren Smith
23. Feelin' Low - Ernie Chaffin
24. There's Another Place I Can Go - Charlie Rich
25. Handsome Man - Barbara Pittman
26. How Long Can It Be? - Maggie Sue Wimberly
27. Goin Crazy - Mack Self
28. Rockin' Daddy - Eddie Bond
29. Cloudy - Brad Suggs
30. Goodnight Irene - Johnny Cash

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