The AKA
Blues Connection
Documenting Rock 'n'
Roll's Roots in the Blues
| ... | |||||
|
Featuring
Blues Connection
Copyright © 2002-2004 |
. | . |
The Blues and Rock 'n' Roll Connections of Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry is one of the most influential musicians to ever play rock and roll. He made the electric guitar rock's most important instrument, he has often been cited as rock's greatest songwriter, and he was also one of rock's greatest performers. His influence on rock and roll was possibly best summed up by John Lennon who once said, "If you tried to give rock 'n' roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry". But Berry didn't start out as a rock and roller. He got his start by playing blues and jazz in the clubs of his hometown St. Louis. In his autobiography, he pointed to jazz guitarist Charlie Christian and blues guitarists Elmore James and Carl Hogan (Louis Jordan's guitarist) as his main influences. He won a contest in high school by performing the Jay McShann/Walter Davis blues standard "Confessin' the Blues". And as a young guitarist he joined an R&B trio which included blues pianist Johnnie Johnson. Johnson played by Berry's side throughout much of his long and successful career. He also played a crucial part in the crafting of Berry's songs, although he did not receive any recognition for it until recent years. Berry got a chance to make his first record after meeting Muddy Waters, who steered him to seek a recording contract with the same company for which Waters himself recorded--Chess Records. Berry had a non-stop string of hits with Chess including classics like "Maybellene", "Johnny B. Goode", "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Memphis, Tennessee". In addition to Johnnie Johnson, some of the blues world's finest musicians--Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Jimmy Rogers, Fred Below, and Lafayette Leake (among others)--backed Berry on his records. Berry found himself serving a prison term in the early sixties for supposedly violating the Mann Act, a law aimed at prostitution which made it illegal to transport underage females across state lines. (The woman who was involved in the case became Berry's wife.) When he was released from prison in 1964, the British Invasion was taking over the world of rock and roll. The funny thing was...all those British bands--the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Animals, etc.--were all recording Chuck Berry songs. So old Chuck just picked up his guitar and started pumpin' out more hits including "Nadine", "Promised Land", and "No Particular Place to Go". Proudly pointing out his connection to the British bands, he titled his first post-prison album From St. Louis to Liverpool. He also had an effect on folks in the states like Bob Dylan, whose "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was influenced by Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business", and the Beach Boys whose "Surfin' USA" is a reworking of "Sweet Little Sixteen". In the late 1960s, Berry hooked up with rocker Steve Miller for some heavily blues-influenced gigs at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. Performances from these shows were released on the album Live at the Fillmore Auditorium. Berry's last big hit, "My Ding a Ling", rode the charts all the way to number 1 in the early seventies. He came out with an excellent album in 1979 titled Rockit. But for decades now, he has been mainly an oldies act flying alone around the country and playing with backup bands hired by the local concert organizers. While Bruce Springsteen was still a struggling unknown, he and his band backed up Chuck at one of these performances. Unfortunately, the bands that play behind Berry at these shows are sometimes pretty poor. Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, who once found himself in the audience at one of these performances, was so annoyed by the drummer that he asked him to leave the stage and then proceeded to play himself. Chuck Berry was sort of like a black Elvis. Elvis was a white guy who had a great feel for the blues and mixed it with country music to create a new type of music called rock 'n' roll. On the other hand, Chuck was a blues musician who had a great feel for country music, and (coincidentally) when he mixed his blues with the white man's country, he came up with...well, you know. Berry's greatest strength may have been his poetry and humor. He was able to write incredibly witty and funny lyrics with many of them revolving around teenage life. Berry's music is filled with a sense of playful fun. To paraphrase something that Ben Franklin once said about beer, the fact that we all have Chuck Berry's music to enjoy is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. If you're looking to add some Chuck Berry to your music collection, you can't go wrong with the 3-CD set The Chess Box. It includes all the rock hits and some good blues too. For those who want to explore Berry's blues recordings, check out the blues compilation from the Ace label titled On the Blues Side. Rockin' at the Hops is another good choice for blues with covers of Charles Brown's "Driftin' Blues", Big Maceo Merriweather's "Worried Life Blues", Jay McShann's and Walter Brown's "Confessin' the Blues", and Amos Milburn's "Down the Road a Piece".
More on Johnnie Johnson Johnnie Johnson was a piano playing blues musician who happened to hook up with Chuck Berry shortly before the rock and roll explosion of the mid-1950s. He was a quiet, easygoing man who just wanted to make a living playing music. He didn't anticipate that his partner would become such a big star. The much more ambitious and more business-oriented Berry completely overshadowed Johnson. But Johnson began to emerge from Berry's shadow as a result of his work with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards on a concert that was put together as a tribute to Berry. A documentary film of the show was released under the title Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll. After the movie, Johnson contributed to a Keith Richards solo album. Richards became an avid supporter of Johnson and was a key person involved in having him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2000. Johnson also appeared on Aerosmith's 2004 blues album Honkin' on Bobo.
More of Chuck Berry's rock 'n' roll and blues connections: Chuck Berry records which have been covered by rock, soul, and R&B musicians and bands are listed below.
"Maybellene" - Foghat, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Ronnie Hawkins, Cub Coda, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers, the Searchers, Gene Vincent "Thirty Days" - Ronnie Hawkins, Johnny Winter "Too Much Monkey Business" - the Beatles, Jeff Beck, Steve Forbert, the Hollies, the Kinks, Sleepy LaBeef, Elvis Presley "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" - Bobby Fuller, Buddy Holly, Wanda Jackson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Taj Mahal, Paul McCartney, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers, Bobby Vee, Johnny Winter "Roll Over Beethoven" - the Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra, Flamin' Groovies, Gerry & the Pacemakers, George Harrison, Sleepy LaBeef, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mountain, Carl Perkins, Johnny Rivers, the Trashmen, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Gene Vincent "Rock and Roll Music" - the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Everly Brothers, Bill Haley, Jan & Dean, REO Speedwagon "Reelin' and Rockin'" - Dave Clark Five, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Hollies, Cliff Richard, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter "Sweet Little Sixteen" - the Animals, the Beatles, Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy, Marianne Faithful, Flamin' Groovies, the Hollies, John Lennon, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Searchers, Ten Years After, the Trashmen, Bobby Vee "Johnny B. Goode" - the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Dion, Freddie & the Dreamers, the Grateful Dead, Bill Haley, Jimi Hendrix, Jay & the Americans, Judas Priest, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, Johnny Otis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers, the Sex Pistols, George Thorogood, Peter Tosh "Around and Around" - the Animals, Flamin' Groovies, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, the Swinging Blue Jeans "Carol" - the Beatles, Flamin' Groovies, Tommy Roe, Rolling Stones "Memphis, Tennessee" - the Beatles, Don Covay, Bo Diddley, Ronnie Hawkins, the Hollies, Jan & Dean, King Curtis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lonnie Mack, Bob Marley, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Wilson Pickett, Johnny Rivers, Izzy Stradlin, Del Shannon, the Troggs, the Ventures "Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller" - Dave Edmunds, Flamin' Groovies, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Rod Stewart "Little Queenie" - the Beatles, Flamin' Groovies, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, Jerry Lee Lewis, REO Speedwagon, Johnny Rivers, Rolling Stones, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vee, the Troggs "Almost Grown" - the Animals, Flamin' Groovies "Back in the USA" - the New York Dolls, Jonathan Richman, Linda Ronstadt, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, Edgar Winter "No Particular Place to Go" - Jerry Lee Lewis, George Thorogood, the Troggs "Nadine" - Dr. Feelgood, Bob Dylan, John Hammond, Jr., Motorhead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, George Thorogood "Come On" - Chocolate Watch Band, Rolling Stones, Wishbone Ash "Let It Rock" - the Animals, Dave Edmunds, Georgia Satellites, Flamin' Groovies, Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Seger, Shadows of Knight, Yardbirds
The AKA Blues Connection
|
. | . |
| . | . | . | Go to the Musicians Index | . | . |
| . | . | . | Go to the Stagger Lee Files | . | . |