1.
Nashville, Tennessee
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Nashville is the capital of the U. S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in the central part of the state. The city is a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries and it is known as a center of the country music industry, earning it the nickname Music City, U. S. A. Since 1963, Nashville has had a consolidated city-county government which includes six municipalities in a two-tier system. Nashville is governed by a mayor, vice-mayor, and 40-member Metropolitan Council, thirty-five of the members are elected from single-member districts, five are elected at-large. Reflecting the citys position in government, Nashville is home to the Tennessee Supreme Courts courthouse for Middle Tennessee. According to 2015 estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, the balance population, which excludes semi-independent municipalities within Nashville, was 654,610. The 2015 population of the entire 13-county Nashville metropolitan area was 1,830,345, the 2015 population of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Columbia combined statistical area, a larger trade area, was 1,951,644. The town of Nashville was founded by James Robertson, John Donelson, and it was named for Francis Nash, the American Revolutionary War hero. Nashville quickly grew because of its location, accessibility as a port on the Cumberland River, a tributary of the Ohio River. By 1800, the city had 345 residents, including 136 African American slaves and 14 free blacks, in 1806, Nashville was incorporated as a city and became the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. In 1843, the city was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee, by 1860, when the first rumblings of secession began to be heard across the South, antebellum Nashville was a prosperous city. The citys significance as a port made it a desirable prize as a means of controlling important river. In February 1862, Nashville became the first state capital to fall to Union troops, the state was occupied by Union troops for the duration of the war. Within a few years after the Civil War, the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan was founded by Confederate veteran John W. Morton, meanwhile, the city had reclaimed its important shipping and trading position and developed a solid manufacturing base. The post–Civil War years of the late 19th century brought new prosperity to Nashville and these healthy economic times left the city with a legacy of grand classical-style buildings, which can still be seen around the downtown area. Circa 1950 the state approved a new city charter that provided for the election of city council members from single-member districts. This change was supported because at-large voting diluted the minority populations political power in the city and they could seldom gain a majority of the population to support a candidate of their choice
2.
Tennessee
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Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States, Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, Tennessees capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 654,610. Memphis is the states largest city, with a population of 655,770, the state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1,1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia and this sharply reduced competition in politics in the state until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century. This city was established to house the Manhattan Projects uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the worlds first atomic bomb, Tennessees major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi in present-day Monroe County, the town was located on a river of the same name, and appears on maps as early as 1725. The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain, some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean meeting place, winding river, according to ethnographer James Mooney, the name can not be analyzed and its meaning is lost. The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, the spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlakes Draught of the Cherokee Country in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created Tennessee County, the county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new out of the Southwest Territory. Other sources differ on the origin of the nickname, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia. Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most other states, the state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessees eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River
3.
Garage rock
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Garage rock is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada. The term derives from the perception that groups were made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage. The style, a precursor to rock, is characterized by aggressive and unsophisticated lyrics and delivery. In the US and Canada, surf rock—and later the Beatles, hundreds of acts produced regional hits, and some had national hits. Though largely associated with North America, counterparts were present elsewhere as part of the beat boom of the era. As critics of the period began to prescribe a scope for genre, they used the term punk rock. Garage rock has experienced various revivals in the years and continues to influence acts who prefer a back to basics. In the early- to mid-1980s, several garage revival scenes sprung up featuring acts that consciously attempted to replicate the look, in the 2000s, a wave of garage rock revival acts associated with the post-punk revival emerged, and a handful achieved airplay and commercial success. The term garage rock comes from the perception that its performers were young and amateurish, while numerous bands were made up of middle-class teenagers from the suburbs, others were from rural or urban areas or were composed of professional musicians in their twenties. The term garage band often refers to acts in this genre. Garage bands performed in a variety of venues, less-established groups typically played at parties, school dances, and teen clubs. For acts of legal age, bars, nightclubs, and college fraternity socials also provided regular engagements, occasionally, local groups had the opportunity to open at shows for famous touring acts. Some garage rock bands went on tour, particularly better-known acts, groups often competed in battles of the bands, which gave musicians an opportunity to gain exposure and a chance to win a prize, such as free recording time in a local studio. Battles of the bands were held, locally, regionally and nationally, and two of the most prestigious contests were held annually by the Tea Council of the U. S. A. and the Music Circus. Performances often sounded amateurish, naïve or intentionally raw, with typical themes revolving around the traumas of high school life, instrumentation was characterized by electric guitars often distorted through a fuzzbox, teamed with bass and drums. Guitarists sometimes played using aggressive-sounding bar chord riffs, sometimes referred to as power chords, organs such as the Farfisa were commonly used as well as mouth harmonicas or hand-held percussion such as tambourines. Occasionally, the tempo sped up in certain passages, sometimes referred to as raveups, Garage rock acts were diverse in both musical ability and in style, ranging from crude two- and three-chord music to near-studio musician quality. There were also variations in flourishing scenes, such as in California
4.
Rock and roll
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While elements of rock and roll can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until the 1950s. For the purpose of differentiation, this deals with the first definition. The beat is essentially a blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars, a double bass or string bass or an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. Beyond simply a style, rock and roll, as seen in movies and on television, influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes. In addition, rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African-American and white American teens enjoyed the music and it went on to spawn various genres, often without the initially characteristic backbeat, that are now more commonly called simply rock music or rock. The term rock and roll now has at least two different meanings, both in common usage, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary both define rock and roll as synonymous with rock music. Encyclopædia Britannica, on the hand, regards it as the music that originated in the mid-1950s. In 1934, the song Rock and Roll by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, in 1942, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term rock-and-roll to describe upbeat recordings such as Rock Me by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. By 1943, the Rock and Roll Inn in South Merchantville, in 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style while popularizing the phrase to describe it. The origins of rock and roll have been debated by commentators. The migration of former slaves and their descendants to major urban centers such as St. The immediate roots of rock and roll lay in the rhythm and blues, then called race music, particularly significant influences were jazz, blues, gospel, country, and folk. The 1940s saw the use of blaring horns, shouted lyrics. In the same period, particularly on the West Coast and in the Midwest, similarly, country boogie and Chicago electric blues supplied many of the elements that would be seen as characteristic of rock and roll. Rock and roll arrived at a time of technological change, soon after the development of the electric guitar, amplifier and microphone. It was the realization that relatively affluent white teenagers were listening to music that led to the development of what was to be defined as rock. Because the development of rock and roll was a process, no single record can be identified as unambiguously the first rock. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
5.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
6.
Pulp Fiction
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Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American black comedy neo-noir crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, from a story by Tarantino and Roger Avary. Directed in a stylized manner, Pulp Fiction connects the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals. The films title refers to the magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence. The screenplay of Pulp Fiction was written in 1992 and 1993 and its plot, as in many of Tarantinos other works, is presented out of chronological order. The film is also self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a card that gives two dictionary definitions of pulp. Its script was turned down by Columbia TriStar as too demented. Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was instantly enthralled with it, however, Pulp Fiction won the Palme dOr at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, and was a major critical and commercial success upon its U. S. release. It revitalized the careers of John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and it was also nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution –, since its release, Pulp Fiction has been widely regarded as Tarantinos masterpiece, with particular praise singled out for its screenwriting. The films self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and it is often considered a cultural watershed, with a strong influence felt not only in later movies that adopted various elements of its style, but in several other media as well. A2008 Entertainment Weekly poll named it the best film since 1983, in 2013, Pulp Fiction was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The stories intersect in various ways, the film begins with a diner hold-up staged by a couple, then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, and Butch. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner, sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view, as do sequences 2 and 6. Other analysts describe the structure as a circular narrative, hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega arrive at the apartment of Brett to retrieve a briefcase for their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. After Vincent checks the contents of the briefcase, Jules shoots one of Bretts associates, then declaims a passage from the Bible before he, some time later, champion boxer Butch Coolidge accepts a large sum from Marsellus to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent and Jules deliver the briefcase, the next day, Vincent purchases heroin from his drug dealer Lance. He shoots up to pass the day, then drives to meet Marselluss wife Mia and they head to a 1950s-themed restaurant and participate in a twist contest, then return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his heroin, mistakes it for cocaine, snorts it, Vincent rushes her to Lances house, where they revive her with an adrenaline shot to her heart
7.
Lucha libre
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Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico for a form of professional wrestling developed in the country. Professional wrestling is a form of entertainment based on a portrayal of a combat sport. Mexican wrestling is characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, as well as high-flying maneuvers, Tag team wrestling is especially prevalent in lucha libre, particularly matches with three-member teams, called trios. Lucha libre wrestlers are known as luchadores and they usually come from extended wrestling families who form their own stables. One such line integrated to the United States professional wrestling scene is Los Guerreros, Lucha libre has also transcended the language barrier to some extent as evidenced by works such as Los Luchadores, ¡Mucha Lucha. and Nacho Libre. Lucha libre also appears in pop culture such as mainstream advertising, in Canada. The rules of lucha libre are similar to American singles matches, matches can be won by pinning the opponent to the mat for the count of three, making him submit, knocking him out of the ring for a predetermined count or by disqualification. Using the ropes for leverage is illegal, and once a luchador is on the ropes, his opponent must release any holds, most matches are two out of three falls, which had been abandoned for title bouts in North America and Japan in the 1970s. As the legal wrestler can step to the floor willingly, there is no need for an actual tag to a teammate to bring him into a match. This often allows for much more action to take place in the ring than would otherwise be possible under standard tag rules. The promotion company flourished and quickly became the premier spot for wrestlers, moreover, it was the emergence of television that allowed Lutteroth to promote lucha libre’s first breakout superstar into a national pop-culture phenomenon. In 1942, lucha libre would be changed when a silver-masked wrestler, known simply as El Santo. He made his debut in Mexico City by winning an 8-man battle royal, the public became enamored by the mystique and secrecy of Santos personality, and he quickly became the most popular luchador in Mexico. He achieved international fame as one of the first high-flyers, something he was not considered in Mexico, Luchadores are traditionally more agile and perform more aerial maneuvers than professional wrestlers in the United States, who more often rely on power and hard strikes to subdue their opponents. For this same reason, aerial maneuvers are almost always performed to opponents outside the ring, allowing the luchador to break his fall with an acrobatic tumble. Lucha libre has several different weight classes, many catered to smaller agile fighters and this system enables dynamic high-flying luchadores such as Rey Mysterio, Jr. Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy and Místico, to develop years of experience by their mid-twenties. A number of prominent Japanese wrestlers also started their careers training in Mexican lucha libre before becoming stars in Japan and these include Gran Hamada, Satoru Sayama, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Último Dragón. Lucha libre is also known for its tag team wrestling matches, the teams are often made up of three members, instead of two as is common in the United States
8.
Conan O'Brien
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Conan Christopher OBrien is an American television host, comedian, and television producer. He is best known for hosting several talk shows, since 2010 he has hosted Conan on the cable channel TBS. OBrien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was raised in an Irish Catholic family and he served as president of The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live. OBrien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons for two seasons until he was commissioned by NBC to take over David Lettermans position as host of Late Night in 1993. A virtual unknown to the public, OBriens initial Late Night tenure received unfavorable reviews, the show generally improved over time and was highly regarded by the time of his departure in 2009. Afterwards, OBrien relocated from New York to Los Angeles to host his own incarnation of The Tonight Show for seven months until network politics prompted a host change in 2010. He has hosted Conan since 2010 and has hosted such events as the Emmy Awards. OBrien has been the subject of a documentary, Conan OBrien Cant Stop, with the retirement of David Letterman on May 20,2015, OBrien became the longest-working of all current late-night talk show hosts in the United States, at 22 years. OBrien was born on April 18,1963 in Brookline, Massachusetts and his father, Thomas Francis OBrien, is a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. His mother, Ruth OBrien, is an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray and he is the third of six children. OBriens family is Irish Catholic, some of his Irish ancestors immigrated before the American Civil War, in a Late Night episode, OBrien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated. OBrien attended Brookline High School, where he served as the editor of the school newspaper. After graduating as valedictorian in 1981, he entered Harvard University, at Harvard, OBrien lived in Holworthy Hall during his first year and Mather House during his three upper-class years. He concentrated in history and literature and graduated cum laude in 1985. OBriens senior thesis concerned the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner, larry Bird in which the Boston Celtics play against a classical ballet troupe. During his sophomore and junior years he served as the Lampoons president, at this time, OBriens future boss at NBC, Jeff Zucker, was serving as President of the schools newspaper The Harvard Crimson. OBrien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the staff of HBOs Not Necessarily the News
9.
Guitar
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The guitar is a musical instrument classified as a fretted string instrument with anywhere from four to 18 strings, usually having six. The sound is projected either acoustically, using a wooden or plastic and wood box, or through electrical amplifier. It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, the guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by its construction and tuning. There are three types of modern acoustic guitar, the classical guitar, the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of a guitar is produced by the strings vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar. The term finger-picking can also refer to a tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass. The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar. Early amplified guitars employed a body, but a solid wood body was eventually found more suitable during the 1960s and 1970s. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars and solid-body guitars. The electric guitar has had a influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as an instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul. The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar, at least two instruments called guitars were in use in Spain by 1200, the guitarra latina and the so-called guitarra morisca. The guitarra morisca had a back, wide fingerboard. The guitarra Latina had a sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers moresca or morisca and latina had been dropped, and it had six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist
10.
Bass guitar
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The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, strumming, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to a guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is tuned the same as the double bass. The bass guitar is an instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker on stage, or into a larger PA system using a DI unit. Since the 1960s, the guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While types of basslines vary widely from one style of music to another, many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, heavy metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, gospel, blues, symphonic rock, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, Latin, funk, progressive rock and other rock, the adoption of a guitar form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments. The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period, around 1947, Tutmarcs son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of 1948, however, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton and his Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. This split pickup, introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups, the pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. Humbucking is a design that electrically cancels the effect of any AC hum, the Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported, and which was less prone to feedback when amplified than acoustic bass instruments. Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, following Fenders lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass, the EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance
11.
Drum kit
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A drum kit consists of a mix of drums and idiophones most significantly cymbals but also including the woodblock and cowbell. In the 2000s, some also include electronic instruments and both hybrid and entirely electronic kits are used. If some or all of them are replaced by electronic drums, the drum kit is usually played while seated on a drum stool or throne. The drum kit differs from instruments that can be used to produce pitched melodies or chords, even though drums are often placed musically alongside others that do, such as the piano or guitar. The drum kit is part of the rhythm section used in many types of popular and traditional music styles ranging from rock and pop to blues. Other standard instruments used in the section include the electric bass, electric guitar. Many drummers extend their kits from this pattern, adding more drums, more cymbals. Some performers, such as some rockabilly drummers, use small kits that omit elements from the basic setup, some drum kit players may have other roles in the band, such as providing backup vocals, or less commonly, lead vocals. Thus, in an early 1800s orchestra piece, if the called for bass drum, triangle and cymbals. In the 1840s, percussionists began to experiment with foot pedals as a way to them to play more than one instrument. In the 1860s, percussionists started combining multiple drums into a set, the bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, and other percussion instruments were all played using hand-held drum sticks. Double-drumming was developed to one person to play the bass and snare with sticks. With this approach, the drum was usually played on beats one. This resulted in a swing and dance feel. The drum set was referred to as a trap set. By the 1870s, drummers were using an overhang pedal, most drummers in the 1870s preferred to do double drumming without any pedal to play multiple drums, rather than use an overhang pedal. Companies patented their pedal systems such as Dee Dee Chandler of New Orleans 1904–05, liberating the hands for the first time, this evolution saw the bass drum played with the foot of a standing percussionist. The bass drum became the central piece around which every other percussion instrument would later revolve and it was the golden age of drum building for many famous drum companies, with Ludwig introducing
12.
Robert Gordon (musician)
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Robert Gordon is an American musician and actor, best known as a neo-rockabilly singer. Robert Gordon grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, at the age of nine, he was greatly inspired by the Elvis Presley song Heartbreak Hotel playing on radio and decided to pursue a career as a Rock & Roll musician at that young age. His influences included Gene Vincent, Jack Scott, Billy Lee Riley, Eddie Cochran and he made his recording debut at age 17 in 1964 with a group called the Confidentials. The Confidentials, with Robert as the singer, recorded the songs Summertime, Money, when asked how he related to the 1960s, Robert replied I didnt. During the turbulent times of the late 1960s, with the rioting and antiwar protests of the period, Robert served in the National Guard in Washington, I didnt want to be sent to Vietnam, he recalls. Gordon moved to New York City in 1970 and a few years later joined a rock band there known as the Tuff Darts. That same year, Robert appeared in a punk/New Wave style film entitled Unmade Beds, blondie lead singer Deborah Harry also appeared in the film. Record producer Richard Gottehrer discovered Robert during a rehearsal one afternoon with the Tuff Darts, Gottehrer was impressed with Gordons baritone voice and his rendition of Elvis Presleys One Night. After some conversation, Robert suggested working with guitar legend Link Wray, Wray was contacted and he agreed to work with them both. Robert to me sounds a lot like the early Elvis, back when he was at Sun Records, in 1977 Robert Gordon with Link Wray on Private Stock Records was the result of this collaboration. Due to Elvis Presleys death, the picked up some airplay. In 1978, Gordon made an album with Wray, on the Private Stock label. The record featured The Jordanaires, who had been background vocalists for Presley, Springsteen played keyboards on the track. An advertisement in the March 11,1978 edition of Billboard magazine read, in part, Robert Gordon, the new voice of Rock and Roll, and Link Wray, FRESH FISH SPECIAL follows their red hot first album – and its a killer. Bruce Springsteen wrote a song for it, Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Jack Scott are faithfully remembered in it. In late 1978, RCA records signed Gordon to a contract which he described as a dream come true to be on Elvis label, in February 1979 Rock Billy Boogie was released, this time without Wray, as Chris Spedding joined Gordon, playing lead guitar. Writer Bruce Eder hailed Gordons next album Bad Boy, released in 1980, the next and last album for RCA was 1981s Are You Gonna Be The One. It is Gordons best selling album to date, with more than 200,000 copies sold, danny Gatton played lead guitar on this record and Marshall Crenshaw penned the single Someday Someway which went to No.76 on the Billboard charts in 1981
