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Rockabilly Radar Blips


Almost every single artist’s name in this week’s playlist is an unknown for me. Strange, but rockabilly has never been on my radar. Evidenced by the fact that after 136 weekly programs on RadioactivaTX I’ve only now given it a nod as a theme for the first time. And I tend to like the music. Sometimes I like it a lot! Go figure. Maybe it’s the Southern connection? With misguided distaste, I have long found most everything to do with White cultural mores, from Texas to Florida, anathema. I realize that is absurd and unfounded – especially in the case of danceable, down-to-earth rockabilly music. So, I hereby profess my ignorance and bias. Bring on the hate mail!  [continued...]

Al compás del mundo - programa #137, rockabilly

First broadcast July 18, 2024

01 Ben Hewitt - I Want a New Girl Now

02 Ray Smith - Shake Around

03 Keith Corvalle - Trapped Love

04 Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks - Mary Lou

05 Wanda Jackson - Fujiyama Mama

06 Curtis Hobock - Apron Strings

07 Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept a-Rollin'

08 Marvin Rainwater - Roving Gambler (Gamblin’ Man)

09 Tommy Sands - The Worryin' Kind

10 Sonny Fisher - Rockin' Daddy

11 Mac Curtis - If I Had Me a Woman

12 Charlie Feathers - Bottle to The Baby

13 Doug Dickens - Raw Deal

14 Carl Perkins - Dixie Fried

15 Paul Pigat - Rockabilly Guitar

16 Bo Walton - I Like It Like That

17 Carolina & Her Rhythm Rockets - Back Home

18 Marcel Bontempi - Dig a Hole

19 The Delta Bombers - The Wolf

20 JD McPherson - Scratching Circles

21 The Rhythm Shakers – Poison

22 Tony Dynamita y Los Diablos - Vete al Diablo


[...cont] I am, in fact, familiar with Wanda Jackson and Johnny Burnette, but only superficially. The rest came to be included here as the result of musical investigation and discovery. For example, Marvin Rainwater, playing off his supposedly Cherokee last name, appeared with a punchy, topical song, more hillbilly than rock, and it fits real well like a bottle-blond on a Dallas church council (there I go again!) Just review the titles and you’ll surmise that this is music of the people: “Trapped Love”, “The Worryin’ Kind”, “If I had Me a Woman”, “Dig a Hole”, “Poison”, etc. I’ve let my one long-time friend, Carl Perkins, create the segue between vintage and more contemporary artists. Not a lot has changed in sentiments and chord progressions from back in the day to the present. Rockabilly has stood the test of time. And what better tribute to this American tradition than finishing off with a Mexican take on the genre, Tony Dinamita’s “Vete al Diablo” (“Go to Hell.”) My sentiment exactly. JH

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