This volume is an engaging and exceptional history of the independent rock 'n' roll record industry from its raw regional beginnings in the 1940s with R & B and hillbilly music through its peak in the 1950s and decline in the 1960s. John Broven combines narrative history with extensive oral history material from numerous recording pioneers including Joe Bihari of Modern Records; Marshall Chess of Chess Records; Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, and Miriam Bienstock of Atlantic Records; Sam Phillips of Sun Records; Art Rupe of Specialty Records; and many more.| Contents Acknowledgments Author¿s Note Introduction Part I: The Independent Revolution 1. We¿re Rolling—Take One! 2. The Super Indies 3. California Booming 4. New York: Big City and Little Tiffany 5. The Battle of the Speeds and Golden Seeds Part II: Regional Sounds 6. Riding the Nashville Airwaves 7. The Chess Game 8. King of Them All 9. Behind the Southern Sun 10. Louisiana Gumbo Part III: The Hustle Is On 11. Billboard and Cash Box: Stars and Bullets 12. A-Hustle and A-Scuffle at Old Town 13. Mercury Rising and the Roulette Wheel 14. Tin Pan Alley and Beyond 15. Hillbilly Boogie 16. West Coast Rockin¿ and Rollin¿ 17. From Motown to Manhattan: In Almost Perfect Harmony 18. Harlem Hotshots and the Black Experience 19. On and Off Broadway 20. Gold Coast Platters and Stock Matters Part IV: Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay 21. The London American Group: Rockin¿ around the World 22. Teen Scene 23. Corporate Takeover and Talent Makeover 24. The Payola Scandal and Changing Times 25. End of Session: Art Rupe¿s New Rules at Specialty Records Part V: Appendixes Appendix A: U.S. Record Sales, 1921-69 Appendix B: Original Postwar Record Labels: How Did They Start Up, and Where Are They Now? Appendix C: Independent Record Distributors¿ Network: 1946-48, 1954, 1960 Appendix D: Pressing Plants, 1946 Appendix E: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Record Men Inductees, 1986-2006 Appendix F: Record Makers: Biographical Data (Selective) Appendix G: Oral History Notes Bibliography Photograph credits (to be done) Index (to be done) | Awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) for Best Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music, 2010. — Association for Recorded Sound Collections
|John Broven is a respected expert on the rock 'n' roll era and has served as a consultant at Ace Records in the United Kingdom. A one-time coeditor of Blues Unlimited and cofounder of Juke Blues Magazine, he is the author ofRhythm and Blues in New Orleans and South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous. He lives on Long Island, New York.