My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Carl Perkins

Last Monday while in Jackson, Tennessee, I Treo-blogged an entry titled W.S. Holland's hometown. Jackson has another claim to fame: rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins. Although he spent his early years in Tiptonville, Tennessee, in the far-northwestern part of the state, the Perkins family later moved to Madison County, Tennessee, roughly half-way between Memphis and Nashville. Jackson is the county's largest city.

A member of several music hall of fames, Perkins is best known as the writer and first performer of "Blue Suede Shoes." Two Perkins songs recorded by The Beatles, with Ringo Starr handling the vocals, were "Honey Don't" and "Matchbox."

Perkins had a severe drinking problem that undoubtedly stifled his creativity. During much of the 1960s, Perkins performed with Johnny Cash's band, although the country legend was never comfortable with that, writing in his autobiography: "He is after all Carl Perkins."

Cash added:

I'm not well enough acquainted with the field to know whether fans and music historians celebrate Carl the way they should today, but if a hundred years from now he's not recognized as a great master and a prime mover, somebody will have messed up badly.

The Man in Black recorded Perkins' "Daddy Sang Bass," it was a number one hit on the country charts in 1968. A year later, Cash performed the song for his "At San Quentin" album, Perkins handles the lead vocals for a few lines.

Perkins died in Jackson in 1998 after a series of strokes, he's interred at Ridgecrest Cemetery there.

More on Johnny Cash (and the blues) later in this series. Next...Shiloh, then (finally) Mississippi.

Previous My Mississippi Manifest Destiny posts:

The Varsity Theatre in Martin, Tennessee
Lincoln and Kentucky
Metropolis
The Trail of Tears

Technorati tags: history Americana byways travel travel blog Tennessee culture Johnny Cash Elvis Presley Carl Perkins Beatles Ringo Starr Music