Carl Perkins

The King of Rockabilly

Jeff Apter

• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9780806543543
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Biographies

The definitive and fascinating biography of the musical trailblazer who was the influence behind countless legendary hits, a rock and roll legend in his own right, and the original rockabilly cat—Carl Perkins.
 
He was the King of Rockabilly, and one of rock and roll’s true pioneers. A groundbreaking guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Carl Perkins inspired countless musicians in country, rock, and pop music. As Paul McCartney said, “If there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.” One Beatle was such a fan that he gave himself the stage name Carl Harrison. Now acclaimed music writer Jeff Apter recounts Carl’s remarkable life story—the triumphs, tragedies, and career highlights that include some of the most pivotal moments in music history.
 
Born in Tennessee to poor sharecroppers, Carl grew up listening to gospel and country music, learned blues guitar from a fellow field hand, and started writing songs at age fourteen. He plied his trade in rough and rowdy honky-tonks, performing with his brothers before beginning his recording career at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis. It was there that Carl became a member of the fabled “Million Dollar Quartet,” alongside Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In 1955, he wrote and recorded “Blue Suede Shoes,” the first record by a Sun artist to sell over a million copies. But then a fateful car crash stalled his career, one of many tragedies in his life.
 
Over the following decades, Presley, Cash, and countless other artists, from the Beatles, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, performed and recorded his songs and became Carl’s friends, collaborators, and champions. Rich with insider detail and background into Carl’s private battles, humanitarian work, and personal inspirations, this is a fascinating, in-depth look at “Mr. Blue Suede Shoes” and his one-of-a-kind legacy.

Table of contents

• Praise
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword - By Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats
• Prologue - Limehouse Studios, London, England, October 21, 1985
• CHAPTER 1 - The little chill bumps stood up on my arms
• CHAPTER 2 - The harder they fought, the louder we played
• CHAPTER 3 - I’m Carl Perkins and I want to make a record for you
• CHAPTER 4 - I thought, “You fool, that’s a stupid shoe, and that’s a pretty girl, man”
• CHAPTER 5 - I remember the Chesapeake Bay Ferry and it’s the last thing I remember for three days
• CHAPTER 6 - Put four Cadillacs in his yard, and 200 singin’girls trying to climb the fence, and you got some trouble
• CHAPTER 7 - Mr. Phillips, it ain’t gonna do me no good to stay down here
• CHAPTER 8 - I knew that I was just gonna get drunk
• CHAPTER 9 - I thought they looked like girls, but I liked their records straight away
• CHAPTER 10 - I hadn’t seen audiences like that in America for years—I’d almost given up
• CHAPTER 11 - Johnny Cash is a humanitarian, a very charitable man—he’s a fine dude
• CHAPTER 12 - I don’t think “Blue Suede Shoes” touches a song like “Daddy Sang Bass”
• CHAPTER 13 - Every time I had a death in my family, Elvis knew about it
• CHAPTER 14 - There’s no better place in the world for a man to be number one than in his own home
• CHAPTER 15 - You’re great—you’re George Harrison of the Beatles
• CHAPTER 16 - I am really so humbled when Eric Clapton and George Harrison say, “Carl, we like what you did”
• CHAPTER 17 - Not knowing about radiation, I didn’t know what I was in for
• CHAPTER 18 - There is a deep love with this little group
• CHAPTER 19 - I never wanted that mansion on the hill with the iron fence around it
• CHAPTER 20 - Remember Carl Perkins said to you, “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgments