Carl Perkins Rockabilly artist Part I

Carl is most famous probably for being the man who wrote the Elvis hit Blue Suede Shoes… He was one of the song writers who got their start in the Sun Records music company, owned by Sam Philips… He was born in Tennessee, in 1932, so he was close in age to Johnny Cash... His parents were poor sharecroppers and like Cash he grew up in the cotton fields, working hard and singing gospel music…For these poor families, one of their few amusement was listening to the Grand Old Opry, on the radio...Carl loved the music, and persuaded his father to spare a little money to buy him a guitar. He was taught to play it by an old African American man, called John Westbrook…But in 1947 the family moved closer to Memphis and with his brother Jay, Carl began to play in a tavern, for tips. He worked at day jobs in factories and sang at nights... In 1953, he got married. His wife Valda, also worked, but she believed in his talent and encouraged him He met up with a drummer - WS “Fluke” Holland, who was later to work with him and Johnny Cash. In 1954, he went to Memphis to audition for Sun Records. He then started to work with Johnny Cash and Fluke Holland as “Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two”. They played rockabilly, which was a mixture of country and the up and coming rock music. Then in 1955, he wrote “Blue Suede Shoes”..Different stories are told about the inspiration for the song... Johnny Cash said it was because of a young man whom he knew in the Air Force in Germany, who was fussy about his appearance and who used this phrase when he was dressed up to go out on Saturday nights. Johnny claimed that he told the story to Carl… The song took off and it was the first record by a Sun artist to sell a million copies. Elvis did a version which was very successful. In 1956, Carl was involved in a car crash, which seriously injured him and his brother Jay. Carl recovered but Jay’s injuries were severe indeed and he died in 1958.. Carl moved from Sun Records, which was quite a small company to Columbia Records. In 1959 he wrote Ballad of Boot Hill for Johnny Cash…Carl worked with Cash in the 1960s, touring with him and performing as his opening act.