The Raucous Rabbit Hole 23rd September

Today’s Rabbit Hole is a particularly tasty one. Five dates, five different corners of the musical map, and a rather wonderful trail running from gospel and R&B through rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly and the Sun Records sound.

1930 • RAY CHARLES — BORN 23 SEPTEMBER 1930

Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Georgia, on this day in 1930.

Calling Ray Charles merely a soul singer rather undersells the man. He absorbed gospel, blues, R&B, jazz and country, then proceeded to throw the ingredients into the same musical washing machine and invent something new.

His 1950s records helped lay the foundations of soul, while his music drew on and fed into R&B, blues, jazz, country and popular music. The Country Music Hall of Fame describes Charles as one of the most influential performers in American music.

1954 • BIG MAYBELLE

On 23 September 1954, Big Maybelle recorded “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show” in New York for OKeh. The song was held for release until 1955, when it appeared as the B-side of her original recording of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

The following year, Big Maybelle recorded the first known version of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

Two years after that, Jerry Lee Lewis turned the song into one of the defining records of rock ’n’ roll.

1957 • BUDDY HOLLY & THE CRICKETS

On this date in 1957, “That’ll Be the Day” reached No. 1 in America.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets had taken a song that Holly had recorded earlier and transformed it into one of the defining sounds of the new rock ’n’ roll era.

1957 • BILL JUSTIS

And on the very same date in 1957, Bill Justis released “Raunchy” on Phillips International, the Sun Records subsidiary.

Recorded at the Sun studio in Memphis on 5 June 1957, the track featured Justis on tenor saxophone, with Sidney Manker and Roland Janes on guitar.

That twanging, echoing guitar sound became hugely influential, helping establish an instrumental vocabulary that would feed into rock ’n’ roll, rockabilly and, eventually, countless garage, surf and psychobilly records.

2020 • W.S. “FLUKE” HOLLAND

And finally, we remember W.S. “Fluke” Holland, who died on this day in 2020.

Holland was the drummer who played on Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Records and took part in the legendary Million Dollar Quartet session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

He later became a member of Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Three, playing with Cash for decades.

So although he spent much of his career behind the drum kit rather than in the spotlight, his playing sits right underneath some of the most important records in the entire rockabilly and rock ’n’ roll story.