Roots of Rock 'n' Roll

Listening to the Orioles' "Crying In the Chapel" gives you an idea from whence Johnny Ace, Johnny Mathis, and lotsa doo-wop outfits got their vocal stylings. If you slow down "Boogie Woogie Man," you can imagine how Chuck Berry could overlay his signature riff (with Johnnie Johnson, rather than Pete, on keyboards). And the bass line under the piano break on "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie" has been used maybe a gazillion times.

Pictured in photo: Hank Williams and Robert Johnson

"Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" is only a smidgen removed from Jerry Lee Lewis' rockabilly riffing, Julia Lee's "King Size Papa" virtually shares its tune with Hank Williams' (and later, George Thorogood's) "Move It On Over," and after hearing "Sweet Home Chicago," it's pretty hard to imagine Robert Plant without also thinking of Robert Johnson. And check out Skip James' guitar on "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues." If only he'd had a Strat…

Pictured in photo: Hank Williams and Robert Johnson

The Mills Brothers' harmonies (like the ones on "Till Then") find their echoes in such doo-woppers as the Platters, the Drifters and others; you could even connect the dots to Sam Cooke's lead vocal on "You Send Me." Lionel Hampton's "Hey! Ba Ba Re Bop" prefigures Little Richard's immortal "a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom" in "Tutti Frutti." And Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup wrote the A-side of Elvis' first single ("That's All Right Mama"), so you know the guy influenced the King.

Pictured in photo: Hank Williams and Robert Johnson

Rock 'n' roll didn't just spring full-blown, guitar in hand, shakin' its hips. It was a little more gradual than that — an evolutionary process, as artists take an idea for a bass line from here, a vocal style from there, subject matter from somewhere else, and put it all into the hopper to produce a tasty confection. These songs provided the flour, the eggs, the spice, and even some of the nuts that contributed to the final product. To understand just how rock 'n' roll came to be, you have to hear some of the music that happened before the Big Bang.

Pictured in photo: Hank Williams and Robert Johnson