How the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s crossed musical roots

The birth of rock and roll in the 1950s was the electrification and acceleration of African-American musical traditions, rooted in rhythm and blues combined with boogie-woogie and shouting gospel or with country music of the 1940s and 1950s.

2 articles, 1 book · about 47 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   The Origins of Rock and Roll · everything-everywhere.com · 9 min read

   Rock and roll emerged in the early 1950s with roots in blues, gospel, country, and swing. Some of its variations are so different that it is hard to see how it evolved.

2. Read
   the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s · Wikipedia · 38 min read

   Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style in 1951 and calling it "rock and roll" on his mainstream radio program, popularizing the phrase. Rock and roll's crossover to a growing white youth audience involved black performers reaching white listeners and white musicians performing African-American music. According to historian M. T. Bertrand, many observers saw rock and roll as encouraging racial cooperation and shared experience, and as heralding the way for desegregation.

3. Book
   

   Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley · Bookshop.org

   Last Train to Memphis is a book by Peter Guralnick, first published in 1994. It is the first of his two Elvis Presley biographies, and it traces the rise of Presley's career.

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