• NEWS
  • REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • EVENTS
  • VIDEOS

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest creative news from Blues Scene about music & art.

Debra Devi, Danielia Cotton, Katie Henry, The Outcrops to Play at Bowery Electric NYC

March 23, 2023

England’s Folk Legends Megson Release Compelling New Album

March 23, 2023

Review/Gallery: Greta Van Fleet Continue ‘Dreams in Gold’ Tour in Tucson, Arizona

March 23, 2023

Exclusive: Big Al and the Heavyweights ft. Jason Ricci Premiere Video for ‘Alright With Me’

March 23, 2023
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Facebook Twitter Instagram Vimeo
American Blues SceneAmerican Blues Scene
  • NEWS
  • REVIEWS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • EVENTS
  • VIDEOS
American Blues SceneAmerican Blues Scene
Home»News»Rock and Roll was Born at the Crossroads
News

Rock and Roll was Born at the Crossroads

T DeWayne MooreBy T DeWayne MooreFebruary 20, 2018Updated:April 9, 2020No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email VKontakte WhatsApp
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Back in December of 2017, JD Nash came up with a formidable list of contenders for the musician who may have actually invented Rock and Roll, a term that goes back much further than Alan Freed‘s use of it in 1951. “It’s described the motion of a ship, a state of religious fervor, and an analogy for sex,” he explained. Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe all made his list, and if Rock and Roll were to have a birth certificate, one might expect the birthplace to be Memphis or Clarksdale or Detroit.

One conspicuous omission from a list of usual birthplace suspects would be Hattiesburg, Mississippi, due to the 1936 recordings of the Mississippi Jook Band. The band was founded by Blind Roosevelt Graves and his brother Uaroy, who were best known for gospel songs, such as “I’ll Be Rested” and “Woke Up this Morning (With My Mind on Jesus).” These foundational gospel tunes were the kind of seminal songs that were in the DNA of all subsequent American music. Along with pianist Cooney Vaughn, the Graves brothers recorded as the Mississippi Jook Band; and in the more secular recordings of “Barbecue Bust” and “Dangerous Woman,” we hear the nascent sounds of Rock and Roll.

Roots of Rock and Roll Mississippi Blues Trail marker – Mobile St between E 6th and E 7th Streets, Hattiesburg, MS

One of the first articles collected in the book The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll (1992) was “Rock Begins,” written by noted music scholar Robert Palmer. The article states that rock’s roots derived from the “rocking and reeling” style of ecstatic singing found in the “maverick Sanctified and Holiness churches, where guitars, drums, and horns were as acceptable as the pianos and organ, and more easily afforded.” According to Palmer, the Graves brothers’ “‘Barbecue Bust’ and ‘Dangerous Woman’ featured fully formed rock and roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock and roll beat.”

While Nash claims that Rock and Roll as a genre arguably dates back almost a century, it might be said that 81 years is a more precise estimate. And when someone asks about who really invented the music known as Rock and Roll, you can tell them Roosevelt and Uaroy Graves did it in Hattiesburg during the Great Depression.

Old Mississippi City Cemetery, Gulfport, MS

For more information on the Graves brothers, and for information on the current campaign to mark the grave of Roosevelt and Elizabeth Graves in Gulfport, check here.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email WhatsApp
Previous ArticleThe Top Five Best Blues Festivals in Florida
Next Article Peter Parcek’s ‘Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven’ Is the Real Deal
T DeWayne Moore
  • Website

Related Posts

Exclusive: Dean Zucchero Premieres New Single ‘Big Boss Boy’ ft. Johnny Rawls

March 14, 2023

Nick Schnebelen Releases ‘What Key Is Trouble In,’ Premieres New Video

March 10, 2023

Mighty Joe Castro and the Gravamen Premiere New Folk-Leaning Single ‘Embers In The Ash’

March 10, 2023

Celebrate International Women’s Day with ‘Women of Blue Chicago’

March 8, 2023

Comments are closed.

Advertisment
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • Videos
  • About

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.