Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Music»Artists - A to K»Artists - C
    Artists - C Music - 1950s 3 Mins Read

    Charlie Feathers

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Rockabilly pioneer Charlie Feathers was born Charles Arthur Feathers in June 1932 in the hill country near Holly Springs, around 50 miles southeast of Memphis, and experienced his two major musical influences by the age of nine when he picked up blues licks from guitarist Junior Kimbrough and saw bluegrass great Bill Monroe perform.

    “Rockabilly comes from cotton-patch blues and bluegrass music,” Feathers once said. “Ain’t nothing else exciting left”.

    The son of tenant farmers from rural northwest Mississippi, Feathers was there at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll. He left school in his teens to work with his father on the oil pipelines in Illinois and Texas, where he first played honkytonks and juke joints.

    By 1950 he had settled in Memphis, working as a truck driver and at a box factory.  At the same time, 27-year-old radio engineer Sam Phillips opened his studio at 706 Union Avenue, where his Memphis Recording Service recorded a mixture of local bluesmen for R&B labels such as Chess, as well as private waxings of weddings and birthday greetings such as the one Elvis Presley would record two years later.

    Feathers started hanging out at the studio at the suggestion of blues shouter Howlin’ Wolf, who recorded there, and when Phillips started Sun in 1952, Feathers found his niche as a busy session musician.

    Feathers achieved regional acclaim in the mid-1950s for his recordings on Sun and other labels. He also co-wrote Presley‘s Sun side I Forgot To Remember To Forget.

    charliefeathers_001

    His unique “bluegrass rock” style was key in getting Elvis started. Yet unlike his famous Sun Records label mates Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison, he remained an obscure local performer before finding surprise mainstream acceptance 20 years later.

    After cutting several tunes that Sam Phillips refused to release, Feathers moved across town to Sun’s rival, Les Bihari’s Meteor label, who paired Tongue Tied Jill with Get With It for a 1956 release.

    Get With It was the first disc Feathers cut in the style for which he would become legendary, his energetic vocals whipping up a storm to the country-rock backing of henchmen Jerry Huffman and Jody Chastain on guitar and bass.

    But the greater triumph was Tongue Tied Jill, a racy rockabilly story featuring the stuttering vocal idiosyncracy for which Feathers would become famous.

    Feathers really hit his stride in August 1956 with the rollicking rockabilly pairing of One Hand Loose and Bottle To The Baby, which he cut at Sid Nathan’s King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio.

    He recorded several more tunes for King but, despite their defining rockabilly sound, the records sold poorly and Feathers’ talent remained unrecognised.

    His devotion to rockabilly remained undiminished even as the genre lost popularity. Over the years, Feathers recorded for many independent labels and performed mostly in small Southern clubs and in Europe.

    In 1991 he finally reached a wider audience with his major-label debut, on Elektra’s American Explorer series. And Feathers’ beautiful early singles – his voice pure and his band simple – were compiled on the Revenant CD Get With It: Essential Recordings (1954 – 69).

    Later confined to a wheelchair by diabetes and the loss of a lung (neither of which stopped him performing), Feathers died in Memphis on 29 August 1998 of complications following a stroke. He was 66.

    Related Posts

    • Chuck Berry
      Chuck Berry
      There is much confusion surrounding the actual birth date of rock legend Charles Edward Berry. Most informed sources agree on…
    • Charlie Rich
      Charlie Rich
      After being discharged from the air force in the mid-fifties, Charlie Rich’s wife, Margaret Ann took some of his tapes…
    • Junior Wells
      Junior Wells
      Junior Wells was born Amos Blakemore in Memphis, Tennessee in 1934. While his parents farmed, Wells took an early interest…
    • Guitar Slim
      Guitar Slim
      One of the great lost blues figures, New Orleans' Guitar Slim (real name Eddie Jones) was an electric guitar pioneer.…
    • Carl Perkins
      Carl Perkins
      Born in Lake County, Tennessee, on 9 April 1932, Carl Perkins began playing country music with his brothers Jay and Clayton…
    • Jimmy Reed
      Jimmy Reed
      The master of down-home blues was, shockingly, turned down as an artist by Chess records in 1953, but became a…
    • Guy Mitchell
      Guy Mitchell
      Guy Mitchell was born Albert Cernik in 1927 and recorded for King Records as Al Grant. When he signed with…
    • Hank Williams
      Hank Williams
      Hiram King "Hank" Williams was born in Alabama and began playing guitar at the age of eight. As a teenager,…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleCharlatans, The (UK)
    Next Article Charlie Sexton

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Singing Nun, The (1966)
      Debbie Reynolds plays the title role as novice Belgian Dominican […]
    • Bam Balams, The
      Singer/songwriter Brendan Kibble formed The Bam Balams in Sydney […]
    • Crime & The City Solution
      Despite roots dating back as far as 1978, Australia’s […]
    • Spread of the Eagle, The
      1 9 6 3 (UK) 9 x 50 minute episodes Following the surprisingly […]
    • Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper
      1 9 9 2 – 1 9 9 7 (USA) 101 x 30 minute episodes Mark […]
    • In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
      While travelling in the Deep South, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.