1951.
The Catcher in the Rye, ‘The King and I,’ I Love Lucy, the 22nd Amendment (Pres. term limit), color TV, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still,’ Truman fires MacArthur, Dennis the Menace, Perry Como and Tony Bennett….
Yes… music’s all over the place as much as the USA is. Les Paul and Mary Ford break into the top ten and country music gets a boost. That Hank Williams guy is hittin’ it with ‘Hey, Good Lookin” and ‘Cold, Cold Heart.’ It starts to sound a little raucous in fact, with ‘The Shotgun Boogie’ (Tennessee Ernie Ford) and ‘Hot Rod Race’ (placing in Billboard’s Country Top Ten by four different artists). Ernest Tubb continues his ‘Blue Christmas’ sales from last year (the song first came out in 1948–no Elvis version until 1957). But may i include the first recording of Benjamin ‘Tex’ Logan’s “Christmas Time’s A-Comin‘” by Bill Monroe in full High Lonesome mode?
Country music honored the po’ white folks. For black ‘uns, gotta have the blues. Jimmy Witherspoon really spells out the problems with being poor and not white in “I Really Hate to See Xmas Come Around.” Guy can’t even pawn a radio.
Alex Ford (Aleck Miller) piggybacked off John Lee Curtis Williams’s harmonica howling in Chicago back in the ’40s by taking the same stage name: Sonny Boy Williamson (no ASCAP helping out then). Our SBW survived into the ’50s and went on to back up The Yardbirds and The Animals in the ’60s. This is Sonny Boy Williamson II with “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues” (and the flipside ‘Pontiac Blues’ as well). Hey now.