"Rock Awhile" - The First Rock n' Roll Song?????

Everyone is aware that rock n' roll has deep roots in the blues.  For a long time, I've heard that the first rock n' roll song was "Rocket 88," recorded in 1951 and credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, a.k.a.  Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm (Brenston played sax in the band and provided vocals), but there have been others that have also received consideration over the years, such as Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight," recorded in 1947, Jimmy Preston's "Rock This Joint" from 1949, and "Saturday Night Fish Fry," recorded by Louis Jordan in 1949.  

Those three songs were released a couple of years ahead of "Rocket 88," but the latter tune is usually acknowledged as the "first" song, based on the distorted guitar (guitarist Willie Kizart's amplifier was damaged during the drive to Memphis to record and wadded-up newspaper was stuffed into the amplifier, causing the distorted sound unintentionally) added to the rollicking Ike Turner piano-driven rhythm, which is similar to the Brown and Jordan tunes.  Sam Phillips recorded "Rocket 88" and licensed it to Chess Records and the record reached #1 and sold around a half million copies.  Phillips used profits from the record to start Sun Records in 1952.

All things considered, there's a good argument for "Rocket 88" as the first rock n' roll song, but what if I told you that there was an even earlier candidate for rock n' roll's first song.

Goree Carter

In 1949, 18-year-old Houston native Goree Carter recorded "Rock Awhile" for the Houston label Freedom Records.  Like many guitarists of his time, Carter was heavily influenced by T-Bone Walker, who was also a Texas native, but was also the top electric blues guitarist in the country during that time.  The Freedom label was owned by Solomon Kahal, who also owned the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston.  Carter and his band, The Hepcats performed frequently there, and Kahal, like most R&B label owners at the time, was looking for a guitarist to match the popularity of Walker.

Carter's first couple of sides for Freedom were more or less in the style of Walker, but for his second session he decided to move in a different direction, much to the chagrin of Kahal.  "Rock Awhile" included a guitar introduction that would be used by Chuck Berry from the mid-50's onward.  The guitar had a mean, distorted quality and his band provided a propulsive driving rhythm behind it with piano, horns, and drums giving the feeling of a runaway train.  Now, this sound may have been a part of other Texas guitarists' musical approach at the time, but Carter was the first to put it on record.

Here's what the late author Robert Palmer said in his 1995 book Rock & Roll:  An Unruly History:

“The clarion guitar intro differs hardly at all from some of the intros Chuck Berry would unleash on his own records after 1955; the guitar solo crackles through an overdriven amplifier; and the boogie-based rhythm charges right along. The subject matter, too, is appropriate — the record announces that it’s time to ‘rock awhile,’ and then proceeds to show how it’s done. To my way of thinking, Carter’s ‘Rock Awhile’ is a much more appropriate candidate for ‘first rock and roll record’ than the more frequently cited ‘Rocket ’88’.”

Despite his and the label's efforts, "Rock Awhile" didn't chart nationally, but Carter and his band remained a popular attraction in the South, and he continued to release singles for Freedom until the label folded in 1950, later cutting sides for Imperial, Bayou, Sittin' In With, Jade, and Coral.  He was drafted in 1953 and served a little over a year in Korea.  When he returned, he signed with Modern Records, where he released several more fine sides before leaving the business altogether in 1954.  

Carter with Joe "Guitar" Hughes - 1984 (photo by Alan Govenar)

Despite the quality of his recordings, nothing ever hit the charts or attracted any attention outside of the South, which may have accounted for his leaving the music business, never to return to performing.  In the late 80's, I saw a short article about Carter in Alan Govenar's excellent book Meeting the Blues:  The Rise of the Texas Sound, which was later revised and expanded into the even-better Texas Blues:  The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, He was pretty bitter in the interview, done by Govenar in 1984, expressing as much, so it more or less explains why he gave up the music some thirty years earlier.

“Then I had a lot [of songs] that I just tore up, and they were good songs. I tore them up because they wouldn’t let me cut them. They said I was ahead of myself. So I destroyed them. If I can’t perform them, then I’ll do like Moses did with the Ten Commandments. Can’t live by it, die by it.”

Carter never attempted a revival beyond playing a few local gigs in Houston, including sitting in with B.B. King.  His last known live performance was in 1970.  There were some efforts by others to get him started up again in the mid 80's, but he never could be convinced to return to the stage or the studio.  He died in 1990 in Houston, at the house where he was born.  Even during his recording and performing days, he never gave up his job working at the Comet Rice Mill in Houston, staying there until the company shut down in 1986.  In 1999, part of the old mill was converted into an indoor/outdoor venue that hosts music events, called The Silo.  

For a good taste of Goree Carter's recorded work, including "Rock Awhile," blues fans are encouraged to check out the Jasmine Records collection, Let's Rock Awhile 1949 - 1951, which gathers sides from Freedom, Bayou, Imperial, Sittin' In With, Jade, and Coral Records.  Carter's musical approach was influenced by T-Bone Walker, but his guitar work had a rougher edge that Walker's smooth, almost jazzy style, and it indirectly paved the way for the sounds to come.  There's also a two-volume set on Blue Moon Records.  The first volume captures most of the Jasmine set and the second volume, which is divided between him and Texas guitarist Lester Williams ("I Can't Lose With The Stuff I Use"), has nine songs by Carter, a few that are on the Jasmine set as well.

"Rock Awhile" is usually not recognized as the first rock n' roll song.  More than likely, it's due to the fact that it was recorded and released by what would be considered a regional label (Freedom Records), so it didn't receive the attention or sell on the scale of other records that are usually associated as the first songs of rock n' roll.  

Therefore, while it might not be recognized as the record that put rock n' roll on the map, it should definitely enter the discussion of being the FIRST rock n' roll record.