"Rock Awhile" is a song by American singer-songwriter Goree Carter, recorded in April 1949 for the Freedom Recording Company in Houston, Texas.
The song was released as the 18-year-old Carter's debut single (with "Back Home Blues" as the B-side) shortly after recording. The track is considered by many sources to be the first rock and roll song,Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13-38 in Anthony DeCurtis, Present Tense, Duke University Press, 1992, p. 19. .John Nova Lomax (December 2014), Roll Over, Ike Turner, Texas MonthlyRoger Wood (2003), Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, pages 46-47, University of Texas Press and has been called a better candidate than the more commonly cited "Rocket 88", which was released two years later. The song features an over-driven electric guitar style similar to that of Chuck Berry years later.
The former New York Times pop critic, Robert Palmer, made this comment about the recording in 1995:"The clarion guitar intro differs hardly at all from some of the intros Chuck Berry would unleash on his own records after 1955; the guitar solo crackles through an overdriven amplifier; and the boogie-based rhythm charges right along. The subject matter, too, is appropriate -- the record announces that it's time to 'rock awhile,' and then proceeds to show how it's done."
Personnel Goree Carter – vocals, electric guitar Lonnie Lyons – piano Louis "Nunu" Pitts – bass Allison Tucker – drums Conrad O. Johnson – alto saxophone Sam Williams – tenor saxophone (rhythm) Nelson Mills – trumpet (rhythm)
See also Origins of rock and roll
References
External links Commentary on the song, SpontaneousLunacy.com