Displaying items by tag: Carl Perkins

Memphis is the capital of the Mississippi Delta and during the great migration, workers poured into the city seeking work. The workforce brought their musical heritage and music was a byword in Memphis. By 1860, Beale Street had become the Mecca for black musicians and eventually the entertainment centre of the city.

Son of a Tennessee sharecropper, Carl Perkins was born in 1932 and the middle son. He grew up picking cotton and got his first guitar aged 7 and it was made by his father from a cigar box, broomstick and baling wire. Carl would practice endlessly behind the chicken house pretending he was singing on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. His boogie rhythm guitar style developed with lessons from a neighbour. He won a talent contest when he was 13 and had written a song called “Movie Magg," which a decade later would convince Sam Phillips to sign him to his Sun Records label.