Sun Recording Company | Born To Listen

“The first Sun Records artist to release an LP and what a debut it was. An instant pop up country star to go. The song-writing is mature already and they’re delivered with an infectious warmth in the vocal. A compelling listen and full of instant career standards like “I Walk The Line”, “Cry Cry Cry” and “Folsom Prison Blues”.”
– The Jukebox Rebel

Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! is the debut album by Johnny Cash, released on October 11 (wikipedia says October 14, but other sources says October 11), 1957. The album contained four of his hit singles: “I Walk the Line,” “Cry! Cry! Cry!,” “So Doggone Lonesome,” and “Folsom Prison Blues.” It was re-issued on July 23, 2002 as an expanded edition, under the label Varese Vintage, containing five bonus tracks, three being alternate versions of tracks already present on the original LP.

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Sam Phillips, the founder of the label Sun Records, poses with Elvis Presley.

Sam Phillips was not just one of the most important producers in rock history. There’s a good argument to be made that he was also one of the most important figures in 20th century American culture.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Please check out the new book:

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll
Written by Peter Guralnick

Rock ‘n’ roll was born in rural Alabama, 1923, in the form of Sam Phillips, the youngest son of a large family living in a remote colony called the Lovelace Community. His father had a gift for farming, which was brought to an end by the Depression. His mother picked guitar and showed the kind of forbearance that allowed her to name her son after the doctor who delivered him drunk and then had to be put to bed himself. And yet from these unprepossessing origins, in 1951 Phillips made what is widely considered to be the first rock ‘n’ roll record, Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston’s ‘Rocket 88’.

Continue reading “January 5: The late great Sam Phillips was born in 1923” →