SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Whole Lotta Shakin'
A special 10-part series airing Sunday nights at 6 through May 4th.

Program Overview - Whole Lotta Shakin' is an exciting documentary series of 10 hour-long programs that explores rockabilly, the brash, fast-paced 1950s mix of blues, gospel, jazz, country and popular music that is a foundation of rock and roll. Hosted by Rosie Flores, the series visits the cradle of rockabilly, Memphis, and presents the music's female stars. It profiles the influential radio program, "The Louisiana Hayride" and explores the rockabilly sounds of California.

In an era when America was tuning into Patti Page and Mitch Miller, rockabilly was a bold, young upstart, like Marlon Brando in the movie "The Wild One." "Whole Lotta Shakin'" profiles the stars of the genre, including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly, and shares the stories of the period's best-loved songs, from "Rave On" to "I Walk the Line."

Weekly Program Descriptions

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 1:  "Good Rockin' Tonight"
Mar 2, 6 - 7 PM

The first stop is Memphis in the segregated 1950s, where blues, gospel and country music came together to create the upbeat sounds of rockabilly. The program profiles two of the first rockabilly artists on the Sun Records label, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Founded by an Alabama farmer's son, Sun boasted a rebellious cast of rockabilly stars. Sam Phillips opened his tiny brick-front recording company with a promise: "We'll record anyone, anywhere, anytime." First releasing blues records from African American singers who migrated north from the Mississippi cotton fields, Phillips then switched to recording primarily rockabilly, which appealed to a growing audience of teenagers with its emotional lyrics, searing guitar solos and a big beat for dancing.

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 2:  "Get Rhythm"
Mar 9, 6 - 7 PM

Program two profiles Johnny Cash and tells the stories behind some of his best loved songs: "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire." Cash had an intense love for gospel, country music and the blues, the foundation of rockabilly. A sharecropper's son, he grew up during the Depression in the Dyess Colony of Arkansas, a quasi-Socialist town created by the Roosevelt administration to help family farms as part of the New Deal. Cash was part of the massive migration from fields to factories that began before World War I, and he left Dyess for opportunities in the big cities. After stints in an auto factory and the military, he formed Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two in Memphis with bassist Marshall Grant and guitar player Luther Perkins. Together, they created some of the best-loved songs in the American songbook.

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 3:  "Fujiyama Mamas"
Mar 16, 6 - 7 PM

In an era when women were singing about the price of doggies in the window or imaging a breakfast at Tiffany's, other women were rocking out just like their male counterparts. "Fujiyama Mamas" showcases the women rockabilly artists who rebelled against the traditional female roles of housewives and mothers during the '50s. World War II brought great changes to American society; women emerged emboldened by their experiences during the war, working in defense plants. This show profiles Cordell Jackson, who toiled as a Rosie the Riveter during the war in an aircraft factory before launching her own record label in 1956. It also features Little Miss Dynamite Brenda Lee; Janis Martin, aka The Female Elvis; and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson.

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 4:  "Rebels With Guitars"
Mar 23, 6 -7 PM

Even as America was tuning into Patti Page and Mitch Miller, rockabilly was a bold, young upstart, like Hollywood star James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause." Program four considers how music reflected the restless youth culture of the 1950s as portrayed in films and literature, and it profiles several rockabilly artists for whom rebellion was key to their personas — The Burnette Brothers, Johnny and Dorsey, who pursued careers in the boxing ring in Memphis before taking up music; guitarist Link Wray, the pioneer of the power chord, who had a leather-clad look of a motorcycle gang that was every parent's nightmare; and Gene Vincent, perhaps the best known of the rockabilly rebels, who had a big hit with "Be-Bop-A-Lula."

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 5:  "The Cradle of the Stars"
Mar 30, 6 - 7 PM

A radio revolution was launched in Shreveport, La., with the Saturday night broadcasts of "The Louisiana Hayride." That show broke the rules and took programmatic risks by putting on young rockabilly artists, introducing Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins to a large audience. Its colorful emcee, Horace Logan, appeared on stage decked out in a black cowboy outfit complete with a pair of six shooters. Its hook-up on the CBS Radio Network enabled it to reach listeners coast to coast, and its first star was the hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams. Program five in "Whole Lotta Shakin'" tells the story of the rise and fall of that influential radio program, one that made so many artists famous, it was dubbed, "the cradle of the stars."

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 6:  "Real Wild Child"
Apr 6, 6 - 7 PM

Jerry Lee Lewis grew up praising the Lord and playing piano in the Pentecostal Church in Ferriday, La. His church is known for its ecstatic services, where worshipers who feel the Holy Ghost "speak in tongues." Much of the emotional abandon in Lewis' songs comes straight from that experience. Yet his fame in the secular music world created all kinds of spiritual conflicts. "Real Wild Child" tells the story of one of Lewis' most celebrated songs, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On," which launched his career in 1957. He had the Sun Records rhythm section backing him up, who were also members of one of the wildest rockabilly acts ever, Billy Lee Riley and His Little Green Men.

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 7:  "Shake This Shack"
Apr 13, 6 - 7 PM

Texas is home to a style its creators dubbed "Cat Music," for the "cool cats and kittens" who played it with their hip dress and on-stage demeanor. Texas rockabilly artists mixed Western swing, the blues and jazz, and included Sid King & the Five Strings and Lew Williams. "Shake This Shack" also profiles Roy Orbison, one of the most enigmatic of the rockabilly cats, who came from the tiny, wind-swept oil town of Wink, Texas. He formed a teenage band, The Teen Kings, who played at high school dances and rowdy honky-tonk bars before recording their first hit, "Ooby Dooby." Yet it took several years of experimenting with new sounds before Orbison developed his own operatic-rock style of singing that was a departure from his raw rockabilly, with such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Only the Lonely."

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 8:  "Rockin' Bones"
Apr 20, 6 - 7 PM

"Rockin' Bones" explores some of the lesser-known rockabilly artists, who often had one hit song then disappeared from the scene. It tells the story of "Suzie Q," a national hit for Louisiana singer Dale Hawkins, who was then working as a record store clerk. It also highlights another artist from the Bayou State, Joe Clay, who appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" before Elvis. Clay initially failed to make it big on the national scene and ended up driving a school bus. But in the 1980s, he was rediscovered and found new popularity in Europe, like many rockabilly artists from the Fifties.

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 9: "Rave On"
Apr 27, 6 - 7 PM

"Rave On" profiles a true American original, Buddy Holly, who crossed musical barriers in forging his unique musical style with country, R & B, pop, gospel and jazz. Like rockabilly itself, his national career was brief, but in the 18 months between his first hit "That'll Be the Day" and his death in a plane crash, he left his mark on popular music. The Beatles named themselves as a tribute to his group, The Crickets. "Rave On" explores Holly's musical roots and meteoric rise with interviews from family members, band mates and fellow musicians. And it tells the stories behind his most famous songs, from "Rave On" to "Peggy Sue."

Whole Lotta Shakin'
Program 10:  "Summertime Blues"
May 4, 6 - 7 PM

The West Coast had its own brand of rockabilly, thanks to artists whose families migrated to California from the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. They transplanted their country styles to rural California and helped create a Left Coast outpost of country music. Rose Maddox and her family got into music one afternoon when her brother Fred got fed up with picking cotton, put down his cotton sack and told everyone, "We're going into the music business." They were country artists who were also forerunners to the rockabilly sound and influenced countless musicians, among them, The Collins Kids. This program also tells the story of Eddie Cochran and his anthem of teenage angst, "Summertime Blues." His death in a car crash in England in 1960 signaled the end of the rockabilly era, a raucous music that laid the foundation of rock and roll.

Stay tuned for more specials.