Album Description
If 1950′s rock radio was defined by the unique personalities of the likes of Alan Freed and Wolfman Jack, Dewey Phillips was unique among the unique. He brought black rhythm and blues to white teenagers in Memphis two years before Freed started doing the same in Cleveland. He brought rock ‘n’ roll to television a year before Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. And while segregation was imposed on virtually every aspect of life in the streets, “Daddy-O” Dewey gleefully… More >>
History as it was happening. Before Elvis, Dewy was getting the music out there.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is an hour of randomly selected portions of Dewey’s haphazard radio show. There are no breaks in the CD, its one long track even though it jumps from an early 1952 segment to another several years later. It alternates with Dewey’s manic ranting and product-pitching to r&b and pop songs I’ve never heard before. Dewey rarely identifies the artists, he just shouts the name of the song and usually sings along for a while. I like this CD, but more as a historic artifact – I can’t imagine listening to it very often.
Rating: 4 / 5
Here are the sounds of yesteryear captured through the voice of a fascinating character (Dewey Phillips) who introduced me to the real Blues via his dj chatter when I was a teenager. Yes this is Nostalgia with a Capital “N”. The arcane vocubulary, the primitive broadcasting (including the scratchy, over cued 78′s, and of course the classical blues of the South are all on this CD. (Even the first Ricky Nelson recording appears from a late spring 1957 broadcast.)
Rating: 5 / 5