Dewey and Elvis: The Life and Times of a Rock 'n' Roll Deejay (Music in American Life)

Beginning in 1949, while Elvis Presley and Sun Records were still virtually unknown--and two full years before Alan Freed famously "discovered" rock 'n' roll--Dewey Phillips brought rock 'n' roll to the Memphis airwaves by playing Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters on his nightly radio show __Red, Hot and Blue.__ The mid-South's most popular white deejay, "Daddy-O-Dewey" is part of rock 'n' roll history for being the first major disc jockey to play Elvis Presley (and subsequently to conduct the first live, on-air interview with Elvis). This book illustrates Phillips's role in turning a huge white audience on to previously forbidden race music. His zeal for rhythm and blues legitimized the sound and set the stage for both Elvis's subsequent success and the rock 'n' roll revolution of the 1950s. Using personal interviews, documentary sources, and the oral history collections at the Center for Southern Folklore and the University of Memphis, Louis Cantor presents a very personal view of the disc jockey while arguing for his place as an essential part of rock 'n' roll history. "It all started in 1949 when Memphis's own WDIA became the first radio station in the country to switch to all-black programming. After WDIA went off the air, WHBQ decided to capture some of this newly discovered black audience by putting "Daddy-O-Dewey" Phillips - the most popular white deejay in the mid-South - on a new show, Red, Hot and Blue. Although the show originally aired for just fifteen minutes a night, its impact was immeasurable." "While Elvis and Sun Records were still virtually unknown - and two full years before Alan Freed famously "discovered" rock 'n' roll - Dewey Phillips was playing Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters. Phillips is already a part of rock 'n' roll history as the first major disc jockey to play Elvis Presley (and subsequently to conduct the first live, on-air interview with Elvis)." "Using personal interviews, documentary sources, and the oral history collections at the Center for Southern Folklore and the University of Memphis, Louis Cantor presents a very personal view of the disc jockey while arguing for his place as an essential part of rock 'n' roll history. Loaded with anecdotes and insights about key figures, including Elvis's close friend George Klein and Sun Records' Sam Phillips, Dewey and Elvis will be irresistible to anyone interested in Elvis, the Memphis music scene, or the history of rock 'n' roll."--BOOK JACKET. Beginning in 1949, while Elvis Presley and Sun Records were still virtually unknown--and two full years before Alan Freed famously "discovered" rock 'n' roll--Dewey Phillips brought the budding new music to the Memphis airwaves by playing Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters on his nightly radio show Red, Hot and Blue. The mid-South's most popular white deejay, "Daddy-O-Dewey" soon became part of rock 'n' roll history for being the first major disc jockey to play Elvis Presley and, subsequently, to conduct the first live, on-air interview with the singer. Louis Cantor illuminates Phillips's role in turning a huge white audience on to previously forbidden race music. Phillips's zeal for rhythm and blues legitimized the sound and set the stage for both Elvis's subsequent success and the rock 'n' roll revolution of the 1950s. Using personal interviews, documentary sources, and oral history collections, Cantor presents a personal view of the disc jockey while restoring Phillips's place as an essential figure in rock 'n' roll history. Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 1. Programmed Chaos: Dewey Phillips on the Air 18 2. Before the Storm: Dewey Arrives at the Five-and-Dime 41 3. The White Brother on Beale Street 56 4. The New Memphis Sound: The Birth of Black Programming 75 5. "What in the World Is That?" Is This Guy Black or White? 85 6. Racial Cross-Pollination: Black and White Together 106 7. The Great Convergence: Pop Tuner' One-Stop 115 8. The Phillips Boys: Soul (Better than Blood) Brothers 125 9. Red, Hot and Blue: The Hottest Cotton-Pickin' Thang in the Country 141 10. Dewey and Elvis: The Synthesized Sound 154 11. Dewey Introduces Elvis to the World 163 12. The King and His Court Jester: Men-Children in the Promised Land 184 13. "Red Hot at First . . . Blue at the Very End" 200 14. The Final Descent: "If Dewey Couldn't be Number One, He Didn''t Wanna Be" 218 15. "Goodbye, Good People" 232 16. The Legacy: The Next Generation and Beyond 247 Epilogue 256 Notes 260 Bibliography 290 Index 302 Looks at the first major disc jockey to play Elvis on the radio and profiles a man whose zeal for rhythm and blues legitimized the sound and set the stage for both Elvis's subsequent success and the rock 'n' roll revolution of the 1950s.