Friday 10/28/22 4pm ET: Feature LP: Jerry Lee Lewis – Rock and Roll Time (2014)

Rock & Roll Time is the 41st studio album by American singer Jerry Lee Lewis, released on November 7, 2014, by Vanguard Records. The album featured several big name friends as musicians including Keith Richards, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson, Neil Young and Nils Lofgren. The album peaked at number 33 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart and number 30 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart.

“Rock and Roll Time”
“Little Queenie”
“Stepchild”
“Sick and Tired”
“Bright Lights, Big City”
“Folsom Prison Blues”
“Keep Me in Mind”
“Mississippi Kid”
“Blues Like Midnight”
“Here Comes That Rainbow Again”
“Promised Land”

In Memoriam: Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 – 2022)

Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the Killer, he has been described as “rock n’ roll’s first great wild man and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.” A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. “Crazy Arms” sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with the major hits “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless”, and “High School Confidential”. However, his rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin.

His popularity quickly eroded following the scandal and with few exceptions such as a cover of Ray Charles’s “What’d I Say”, he did not have much chart success in the early 1960s. His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic. His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever. In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as “Another Place, Another Time”. This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis has had 30 songs reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Country and Western Chart. His No. 1 country hits included “To Make Love Sweeter for You”, “There Must Be More to Love Than This”, “Would You Take Another Chance on Me” and “Me and Bobby McGee”.

Lewis’s successes continued throughout the decades and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of The Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” and Mack Vickery’s “Rockin’ My Life Away”. In the 21st century, Lewis continues to tour around the world and still releases new albums. His 2006 album Last Man Standing is his bestselling release to date, with over a million copies sold worldwide. This was followed by Mean Old Man in 2010, which has received some of the best sales of Lewis’s career.

Lewis has a dozen gold records in both rock and country. He has won four Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022. In 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2004, they ranked him No. 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records’ Million Dollar Quartet and the album Class of ’55, which also included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley.

Music critic Robert Christgau has said of Lewis: “His drive, his timing, his offhand vocal power, his unmistakable boogie-plus piano, and his absolute confidence in the face of the void make Jerry Lee the quintessential rock and roller.”

Lewis died on the morning of October 28, 2022. Lewis’s death came just two days after news sources falsely reported that he had died on October 26. He was 87 years old.

Wednesday 9/28/22 11:15am ET: Feature Artist / Feature LP: Jerry Lee Lewis – All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology (1993)

Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the Killer, he has been described as “rock n’ roll’s first great wild man and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.” A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. “Crazy Arms” sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with the major hits “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless”, and “High School Confidential”. However, his rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin.

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All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology (also called The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology: All Killer, No Filler!) is a box set collecting 42 songs by rock and roll and rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis from the mid-1950s to the 1980s, including 27 charting hits. Released May 18, 1993. The album has been critically well received. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed the album at #245 in its list of “Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, maintaining its rating in a 2012 revised list, and dropping to #325 in the 2020 update. Country Music: The Rough Guide indicated that “[t]his is the kind of full-bodied, decades-spanning treatment that Lewis’s long, diverse career more than well deserves.”

“Crazy Arms” 2:44
“End of the Road” 1:48
“It’ll Be Me” 2:45
“All Night Long” 2:03
“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On” 2:52
“You Win Again” 2:55
“Great Balls of Fire” 1:51
“Down the Line” 2:13
“Breathless” 2:42
“High School Confidential” 2:29
“Break Up” 2:38
“In the Mood” 2:20
“I’m on Fire” 2:23
“Money (That’s What I Want)” 4:28
“Another Place, Another Time” 2:25
“What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)” 2:35
“She Still Comes Around (To Love What’s Left of Me)” 2:29
“To Make Love Sweeter for You” 2:49
“Don’t Let Me Cross Over” 2:58
“One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)” 2:38
“Invitation to Your Party” 1:57
“She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” 2:39
“One Minute Past Eternity” 2:05
“I Can’t Seem to Say Goodbye” 2:33
“Once More With Feeling” 2:24
“There Must Be More to Love Than This” 2:43
“Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” 2:24
“Touching Home” 2:36
“Would You Take Another Chance on Me” 2:51
“Chantilly Lace” 2:50
“No Headstone on My Grave” 5:22
“Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee” 3:38
“Sometimes a Memory Ain’t Enough” 2:54
“Meat Man” 2:46
“He Can’t Fill My Shoes” 2:32
“Let’s Put It Back Together Again” 3:18
“Middle Age Crazy” 3:54
“Come on In” 2:32
“I’ll Find It Where I Can” 2:46
“Over the Rainbow” 3:45
“Thirty-Nine and Holding” 2:56
“Rockin’ My Life Away 3:27

John Allen – guitar
Tony Ashton – organ
Joe Babcock – choir, chorus
Byron Bach – cello
John Bahler – choir, chorus
Brenton Banks – violin
Stuart Basore – steel guitar
George Binkley III – violin
Hal Blaine – percussion, drums
Harold Bradley – guitar
Jim Brown – organ
Albert Wynn Butler – trombone
Kenneth A. Buttrey – drums
Paul Cannon – guitar
Jerry Carrigan – drums
Fred Carter – guitar
John Catchings – cello
Marvin Chantry – viola
Steve Chapman – acoustic guitar
Roy Christensen – cello
Virginia Christensen – violin
John Christopher, Jr. – guitar
Jack Clement – bass guitar
Tony Colton – percussion
Steve Cropper – guitar
Dorothy Ann Dillard – choir, chorus
Donald “Duck” Dunn – bass guitar
Ned Davis – steel guitar
Louis Dean Nunley – choir, chorus
Edward DeBruhl – bass guitar
Pete Drake – steel guitar
John Duke – flute, saxophone
Bobby Dyson – bass guitar
Ray Edenton – guitar
Dolores Edgin – choir, chorus
Harvey “Duke” Faglier – guitar, electric guitar
Stan Farber – choir, chorus
Matthew Fisher – percussion
Solie Fott – violin
Milton Friedstand – strings
Linda Gail Lewis – vocals, performer
Pete Gavin – drums
Joan Gilbert – strings
Noel Gilbert – strings
Carl Gorodetzky – violin
Lloyd Green – steel guitar
Jim Haas – choir, chorus
Lennie Haight – violin
Jack Hale – trombone
John Hanken – drums
Buddy Harman – drums
Herman Hawkins – bass guitar
Hoyt Hawkins – choir, chorus
Ron Hicklin – choir, chorus
Charles “Chas” Hodges – bass guitar
Ginger Holladay – choir, chorus
Mary Holladay – choir, chorus
Priscilla Ann Hubbard – choir, chorus
Lillian Hunt – violin
Jim Isbell – drums
Al Jackson Jr. – drums
Wayne Jackson – trumpet
Roland Janes – bass guitar, guitar, acoustic bass
Otis Jett – drums
Kenney Jones – drums
Martin Katahn – violin
Thomas “Bunky” Keels – organ, electric piano
Mike Kellie – drums
Jerry Kennedy – guitar
Stan Kesler – bass guitar
Dave Kirby – electric guitar
Sheldon Kurland – violin
Albert Lee – guitar
Alvin Lee – guitar
Billy Lee Riley – guitar
Jerry Lee Lewis – percussion, piano, vocals
Mike Leech – bass guitar
Wilfred Lehmann – violin
Leo Lodner – bass guitar
Ed Logan – tenor saxophone
Andrew Love – saxophone
Kenny Lovelace – acoustic guitar, fiddle, guitar
Rebecca Lynch – violin
Neal Matthews – choir, chorus
Tim May – guitar
Charlie McCoy – harmonica, vibraphone
Martha McCrory – cello
Augie Meyers – organ, Vox organ
James Mitchell – horn
Dennis Molchan – violin
Bob Moore – bass guitar
Scotty Moore – guitar
Gene Morford – choir, chorus
Cam Mullins – conductor
Weldon Myrick – steel guitar
Anne Oldham – strings
Charles Owens – steel guitar
June Page – choir, chorus
David “Dave” Parlato – bass guitar
Brian Parrish – percussion
Ray Phillips – bass
William Puett – horn
Hargus “Pig” Robbins – organ, piano, electric piano
Stephen Sefsik – clarinet
Dale Sellers – guitar
Pete Shannon – guitar
Jerry Shook – guitar
Lea Jane Singers – choir, chorus
Pamela Sixfin – violin
Ray Smith – acoustic guitar
Gordon Stoker – choir, chorus
Bill Strom – organ
Sugar Sweets – choir, chorus
Jimmy Tarbutton – guitar
Morris “Tarp” Tarrant – drums
William Taylor – trumpet
Donald Teal – violin
Samuel Terranova – violin
Bobby Thompson – acoustic guitar
James “J.M.” Van Eaton – drums
David Vanderkooi – cello
Gary VanOsdale – viola
Mack Vickery – harmonica
Klaus Voormann – bass guitar
Herman Wade – guitar
Ray C. Walker – choir, chorus
Hurshel Wiginton – leader, choir, chorus
Anna Williams – choir, chorus
Stephanie Woolf – violin
Gary Wright – organ
William Wright – choir, chorus
Chip Young – guitar
Joe Zinkan – bass guitar

Monday 9/20/21 6pm ET: History of Rock and Roll

Sunday 4am ET: Feature Artist – Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, often known by his nickname, The Killer. He has been described as “rock & roll’s first great wild man.”

A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. “Crazy Arms” sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless” and “High School Confidential”. However, Lewis’s rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin.

He had minimal success in the charts following the scandal, and his popularity quickly eroded. In the early 1960s, he did not have much chart success, with few exceptions, such as a cover of Ray Charles’s “What’d I Say”. His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic. His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever. In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as “Another Place, Another Time”. This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis has had 30 songs reach the top 10 on the “Billboard Country and Western Chart”. His No. 1 country hits included “To Make Love Sweeter for You”, “There Must Be More to Love Than This”, “Would You Take Another Chance on Me”, and “Me and Bobby McGee”.

Lewis’s successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” and Mack Vickery’s “Rockin’ My Life Away”. In the 21st century Lewis continues to tour around the world and still releases new albums. His album Last Man Standing is his best selling to date, with over a million copies sold worldwide. This was followed by Mean Old Man, which has received some of the best sales of Lewis’s career.

Lewis has a dozen gold records in both rock and country. He won several Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. In 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records’ Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of ’55 album, which also included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.

Music critic Robert Christgau has said of Lewis: “His drive, his timing, his offhand vocal power, his unmistakable boogie-plus piano, and his absolute confidence in the face of the void make Jerry Lee the quintessential rock and roller.”

Sunday 1pm: History of Rock and Roll with Bill Drake

Saturday 9am: History of Rock and Roll

Join us weekly for installments of the History of Rock and Roll.  Saturday 9am and Sunday 9pm