Rock Awhile

"Rock Awhile"
	A-side
Single by Goree Carter & His Hepcats
B-side	"Back Home Blues"
Released	April 1949
Format	10-inch 78 rpm
Recorded	April 1949
Studio	ACA Studios
Genre	Rock and roll[1][2][3][4]
Length	2:38
Label	Freedom Recording Company
Songwriter(s)	Goree Carter
Goree Carter & His Hepcats singles chronology
Audio sample
	file; help;

"Rock Awhile" is a song by American singer-songwriter Goree Carter, recorded in April 1949 for the Freedom Recording Company in Houston, Texas.

The song was released as the 18-year-old Carter's debut single (with "Back Home Blues" as the B-side) shortly after recording. The track is considered by many sources to be the first rock and roll song,[1][2][3][4] and has been called a better candidate than the more commonly cited "Rocket 88", which was released two years later.[1][2][5] The song features an over-driven electric guitar style similar to that of Chuck Berry years later.[1][2][3]

Personnel

Goree Carter – vocals, electric guitar
Lonnie Lyons – piano
Louis "Nunu" Pitts – bass
Allison Tucker – drums
Conrad O. Johnson – alto saxophone
Sam Williams – tenor saxophone (rhythm)
Nelson Mills – trumpet (rhythm)

References

Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13-38 in Anthony DeCurtis, Present Tense, Duke University Press, 1992, p. 19. ISBN 0-8223-1265-4.
John Nova Lomax (December 2014), Roll Over, Ike Turner, Texas Monthly
Roger Wood (2003), Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, pages 46-47, University of Texas Press
"Uncovering Houston's lost music history". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
Palmer, Robert; et al. (1992). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll:The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music. Random House. p. 12. ISBN 0-679-73728-6. Retrieved August 13, 2013.

External links

Commentary on the song, SpontaneousLunacy.com

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[palmer19-1] Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13-38 in Anthony DeCurtis, Present Tense, Duke University Press, 1992, p. 19. ISBN 0-8223-1265-4.

[texasmonthly-2] John Nova Lomax (December 2014), Roll Over, Ike Turner, Texas Monthly

[wood-3] Roger Wood (2003), Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, pages 46-47, University of Texas Press

[houston-4] "Uncovering Houston's lost music history". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 22, 2018.

[5] Palmer, Robert; et al. (1992). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll:The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music. Random House. p. 12. ISBN 0-679-73728-6. Retrieved August 13, 2013.