So; what were white people listening to before Rock and Roll anyway?

And in case you were wondering what white people listened to in the pre-Rock and Roll post WW2 era of the late forties and early fifties...well if you were cool and lived in a big city then you listened to jazz. Especially the Cool Jazz of Dave Brubeck, Mile Davis, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. If you were a bit older and weren't worried about drugs then there were a few BeBop fans, if you were even older then there was still some swing hanging around. If you were young and political you listened to folk like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Weavers and the Kingston Trio. If you were young but not political there were the collegiate type vocal quartets like the Four Freshmen, Four Lads, Four Preps, Crewcuts and The Lettermen. Whose names all imply their College Frat roots. And if you were working class and loving in the south or west you listened to Honkytonk Country, Western Swing, Bluegrass or White Gospel.


( Note; very few white people, no matter how cool, listened to the blues or black gospel in the 1940's and 50's other than a few young musicians and critics)


Speaking of bluegrass; Earl Scruggs, one of the classic bluegrass pickers just died at 86.


Bluegrass great Earl Scruggs, who played banjo with the classic Bill Monroe and his Blue Sky Boys band from 1945 till 1948 when after a tiff with the notoriously hard assed Monroe he left with fiddle player Lester Flatt to form the Foggy Mountain Boys. Monroe never forgave them. Flatt and Scruggs would become his only real rivals for classic bluegrass and even today Scruggs pioneering three fingered style is still considered the only legit way to play for bluegrass pickers. The Foggy Mountian Boys would breakup in 1969 with most of the band staying with Flatt and and Scruggs would go on to a long respected solo career. In the film "Oh Brother where are thou" the band formed by Clooney and co. is called The Soggy Bottom Boys by way of tribute. Flatt died in 1979.


Earl Scruggs & Lester Flatt Breakdown;



Foggy Mountain Boys ~ "Foggy Mountain Breakdown";





Also dying recently is Everett Lily, one of the Lily Brothers & Don Stover, an important Bluegrass band of the late fifties.

Short Doc about the Lily Brothers & Don Stover;



Another bluegrass picker; Doug Dillard, played with The Dillards and later with Gene Clark and The Byrds;

The Dillards on the Andy Griffith show;




Andy Griffith died recently as well. Known mostly for his wholesome sitcoms, Griffith was also a respected folk musician.
Doc Watson ~ "Deep River blues";


Kitty Wells, a more mainstream Nashville country of the 1950's and 60's with numerous hits including the classic "It wasn't God who made Honky Tonk Angels" and "I can't stop loving you" died at 92.

KITTY WELLS ~ "MAKING BELIEVE";


KITTY WELLS & CURLY HOLT ~ "ONE BY ONE" (with intro by Webb Pierce and Grandpa Jones in the background);


Rollin Sullivan ~ Country singer with 1940's & 50's Country duo Lonzo & Oscar, regulars on the Grand Ole Opry ~ 93

LONZO & OSCAR ~ "MOVIN' ON";


Or if you were Celtic there was The Dubliners, one of the classic Irish folk groups from 1962 on, along with the even older Chieftains. Which is not technically pre Rock and Roll. However for most people on Ireland, Newfoundland, Cape Breton Isle of Man or the Scottish Highlands it might as well have been. The old ways still held firm there for a while yet. Founding member "Banjo Barney" McKenna, who sang and played banjo and mandolin, and who had previously been in the Chieftains, died this week at age 72.

The Dubliners ~ "Whiskey in the jar";






OK that's all well and good but what if you weren't cool enough to be listening to jazz, political enough to be listening to folk or white trash enough to be listening to country or white gospel? Well then the pickings get pretty slim indeed. There is always classical music of course, if you were an educated snob. Then there is the world of whiter-than-white post war pop best exemplified by these three who also just died;


Russell Arms ~ Early 1950's pre-R&R pop singer, appeared as a regular on the TV show "Your Hit Parade" which featured weekly covers of top 40 hits. Once R&R hit this sort of approach became impossible and "Your Hit Parade" was edged out by shows with actual R&R singers hosted by Alan Feed, Dewey Phillps and Dick Clark ~ 92


Russell Arms covers "Moments to remember" in 1955 (originally done by Toronto vocal group The Four Lads);




Russell Arms and Gisele MacKenzie ~ "Man and woman";




Russell Arms ~ "Papa loves mambo" originally by Perry Como;




Nick Noble (real name Nick Valkan); one of the pre-rock white pop singers who would be put out of work when rock hit. Noble actually manged to have a few more hits though as an easy listening and even country singer ~ 85

Nick Nobel ~ "Moonlight swim";




Marion Marlowe ~ Pop singer who scored some hits in the early fifties and was a regular on the Arthur Godfrey Show. After she was dropped by her record label she was fired by Godfrey in 1955, later moving to Broadway ~ 83


Marion Marlowe "Lover";



Dorthy McQuire ~ Singer with 1940's & 50's Pop Vocal group The McQuire Sisters ~ 84
THE MCQUIRE SISTERS ~ "SUGAR TIME" (ON THE PERRY COMO SHOW);



Yikes!
Not everything that happened in the 1950's was cool you know.