Shake, rattle, and roll; Come find out why Louisiana rocks and birthedrock and roll

Judith Martin - Louisiana really rocks.  That's what a writer sets out to prove in the rest of the story where he declares "The True Genesis
of Rock & Roll will soothe your soul!"   Is Louisiana worthy of being
called its birthplace?





Tom Aswell sets out to prove this in his breath-catching book Louisiana
Rocks!: The True Genesis of Rock & Roll (Pelican, 2010) that
Louisiana is that placed the classic rock and roll.  What out folks,
this true believer is going to give the evidence.


By way of introduction, he writes:


"Memphis and Sun Records gave us Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Their music provided the impetus that thrust rock and roll into the
national consciousness in the mid-1950s, begetting what many saw as a
cataclysmic cultural explosion.


"The alien, raucous new music aroused teenagers, plunged parental
despair to new depths, and provoked preachers to call the wrath of God
down upon its purveyors.


"Yet, farther to the south, the eclectic compilation of Louisiana
musical talent -- from New Orleans rhythm-and-blues to swamp pop to
Cajun/zydeco to blues to Shreveport rockabilly -- had ignited the fuse
years before."


The first chapter "The Birth of Rock and Roll: Cosimo Matassa and
J&M Studio", Aswell takes the reader into the very setting where
"had there been no Cosimo Matassa, the world may never have heard of
Elvis, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Little Richard, or many others."


Starting in the late 1940s, Matassa had a broadcast and recording studio
at the rear of his crowded family grocery store at the corner of
Dauphine and St. Phillip Streets in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Aspiring local musical talent could record direct-to-disk, and as
Matassa says, "We had a lot of fun." The rest, it can be said, was pop
music history.


"The Groundbreakers" chapter tells of six musical pioneers who laid the
foundation for rock and roll. "Their contributions came in the fields of
gospel, jazz, barrelhouse blues, country music, folk and blues. They
came from jail, from brothels, from churches, and even from
schoolhouses."


In the listings of recordings by the various artists, the preface in the
appendix for Elvis Presley reads in part: "In the interest of space,
only those hits during the five-year period from 1956 to 1960 are
included here. "

The arrival of the British Invasion is acknowledged.


Aswell makes it very clear that classic rock and roll, its performers,
and its adherents, are not tied to one social class or race or
generation. Rock and roll is pure American. What rock is about more than
anything is that is music to which people can dance. And they still do
dance.


Most importantly, does Aswell make his point? Absolutely. The best part?
Many of the original artists who were there at the beginning are still
here, and rocking and rolling their sound as if the transistor radio had
just been invented.


(Okay, Baby, put on your high heel sneakers. I'll put on my blue suede
shoes. Put the 45 rpm records on the stack holder on the record player,.
Let's dance the night away and set the linoleum on fire!)