Tennessee Ernie, "The Shot Gun Boogie" c/w "I Ain't Gonna Let It Happen No More," Capitol F1295 (rel. 12/1950)

 

The roots of rock 'n' roll wound their way through popular music in the years after World War II. In wartime, a public mania for boogie-woogie music (12-bar blues with a strong syncopated rhythm) and brash, simplified pop songs played by big bands laid much of the groundwork.

These songs repudiated the fancy trimmings of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and other established composers. They side-stepped the influence of modern jazz (also called be-bop). Their three-chord structures and simple melodies appealed to pop listeners and flourished at the end of the 1940s.

Vernacular music (rhythm and blues and country) also reflected this change. Post-war Black r&b had some links to modern jazz, but much of that connection was erased by the early 1950s. Its death throes can be heard in the be-bop guitar solo on The Crows' 1953 hit "Gee;" by that time, rhythm and blues was its own beast, streamlined and blues-based.

Country music fell into a mediocre doldrums during wartime. Over-influenced by pop music, it became bland and uninteresting. In 1945, veteran performers The Delmore Brothers revitalized country with their hit record "Hillbilly Boogie." This song sparked  a major shift away from placid tempos and mellow cooing vocals. In 1946, Hank Williams made his first commercial recordings; his style, which built upon the foundations of country and the new energy the Delmore Brothers brought to the table, made him a mainstream star by decade's end. It helped that Williams was a fine songwriter. Mainstream pop performers had hits with his material, and further waves of influence spread across the country.

Among the multitude of performers who heeded the call was Ernest Jennings Ford,  a Tennessee native who studied classical music and considered a career as an operatic baritone. WWII interrupted those plans; Ford became a bombardier in the Army Air Corps. (Thus, his appearance on Veteran's Day; that said, I imagine he and other servicemen and women of The Great Generation are appalled, from their graves, that the fascism they fought and died to repel is embraced by the unguent hands of our criminal Christofascist government, whose every thought and deed is a foul emesis upon their memory.)

Post-war, Ford became a popular disc jockey in Southern California. He adopted the Tennessee Ernie persona--a loud-mouthed, looney fast-talking character who delighted listeners. In time, local country bandleader Cliffie Stone became a fan and asked him to join his radio program, "Dinner Bell Roundup," as a featured singer. Stone had connections with Capitol Records, and signed Ernie to them in 1949. He had immediate hits with Jimmy Work's "Tennessee Border," his own "Smokey Mountain Boogie" and the dramatic, oft-covered cowboy narrative "Mule Train."

Ford's voice in this period has enormous appeal. The put-on accent and diction flows without effort from his throat; he sings with force, humor and a real presence. His voice doesn't sound like any other country singer of the day. And, via Cliffie Stone's house band, he had the services of electric guitarist Jimmy Bryant and steel guitarist Speedy West. Bryant and West were visionary musicians who would take off into the cosmos at a moment's notice. 

Stone's band also featured a prominent stand-up bass and...drums. The latter was still considered heresy in some country circles post-war. In "The Shotgun Boogie," a massive country hit of late 1950 and early '51, we hear the template for rock 'n' roll in mid-development. Listen to how prominent the drumbeat is at the start of the recording. 

Ford's humorous song, based on his experiences as a game hunter, has the storyline of a Chuck Berry number coupled with rustic asides and a strong rhythm that makes it danceable--and not in the polite waltzes so common to country music of the day. West contributes a wild steel guitar solo; it's a pity Bryant didn't get a break. The record is over before you know it and it asks for a second play. There's a lot going on in this performance.

"I Ain't Gonna Let It Happen No More," another Ford original, is more "country."  Fiddles kick it off, and its hard-luck sentiments are more in the Hank Williams spectrum. No drums on this side; instead, rhythm guitarists played a "sock" rhythm by damping the strings and hitting the second and fourth beats of each measure.

Fans of Ford's early work bemoan his later dissipation of his talents on bland pop, gospel and faux-country material. I am with them. This is the best work of Ford's long career and deserves to be celebrated.

Jimmy Bryant is again heard on this fine but more traditional side.

"Sixteen Tons," Ford's 1955 pop chart-topper, sealed the deal on his exit from country music. Now an all-'round entertainer, he hosted a TV show, did guest spots on I Love Lucy and hawked products on-air with cheerful insincerity. "It's pea-pickin' good!" became his catch-phrase. It's a pitiful legacy, given the force and style of his first few years of recording. He went where the money was, and was rewarded for doing so.

In a stroke of ghastly irony, Capitol Records released the album Ol' Rockin' Ern in 1957. A dozen re-recordings of his early hits, they're big banded out to guarantee maximum disappointment for anyone who takes the LP's title on its word.  

The original renditions were kept off the market until 1960, when Capitol's Star-Line imprint released Sixteen Tons, a solid assembly of the good early stuff. Avoid the reprocessed fake stereo version at all costs!

Bear Family Records put out an excellent single-CD survey of this early material, also titled Sixteen Tons, in 1990; it's still available.

Tomorrow: fellow rock 'n' roll pioneers The Treniers, seen in the classic rock 'n' roll musical The Girl Can't Help It, deliver a rousing, bluesy 1955 winner via Columbia's Epic imprint. Don't miss!