Ducktails, Drive-ins, and Broken Hearts

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments

Part I: Hitmakers and Bold-Faced Names

1. Carl Perkins Meets Elvis in a High School Parking Lot
with Shawn Pitts

2. LaVern Baker: Play It Fair

3. Frankie Laine: Bringing Passion to Pop

4. Ella Johnson: Since I Fell for You

5. Charlie Rich: Before the Fox Was Silver

6. Betty Johnson: No More Singing for Her Supper

7. Rosco Gordon: Just a Little Bit

8. Ella Mae Morse: So Much, So Soon

Part II: One-Hit Wonders, Wannabees, and Supporting Characters

9. Chuck Miller: Fryers, Broilers, and the House of Blue Lights

10. Huelyn Duvall: Close but No Cigar

11. Eddy Bell: His Alter Ego Became a Star

12. Sherry Crane: A Parakeet Visits 706 Union Avenue

13. Ben Hewitt: The Best Known Unknown

14. Joey Riesenberg: The Scrapyard Drummer

15. Troy Shondell: The Early Years of a One-Hit Wonder

16. Carl Mann: That "Mona Lisa" Boy

Part III: Chasing the Story

17. How Elvis and the Jones Brothers Ended Up in the Memphis Landfill

18. Hannah Fay and Jeannie Greene: Searching for Missing Singers

19. Allerton and Alton: Black, White, and Bluegrass

20. Donna Dameron Loses Her Gig in an Iowa Cornfield

21. The Kirby Sisters: Envy Wrapped in Red Velvet

22. "Unchained Melody": The Pre-Ghost Story

23. Chuck Berry and Other Passengers on the Hellbound Train

24. Delia's Not Gone: The Musical Legacy of the Late Delia Green
with Paula Cimba

Part IV: Doo Wop Stories

25. A Brief Introduction to Doo Wop

26. The Paragons Meet the Turbans

27. The Channels: The Closer You Look

28. God or Girlfriend?: The Prisonaires Create a Very Confusing Love Song

29. Going Steady with the Pearls

30. The Six Teens Meet the Cleftones

Part V: The Bigger Picture

31. The First Rock 'n' Roll Record and Other Creation Myths

32. Politically Incorrect Music in the 1950s
with Scott Parker

33. "Sugartime" and Other Subtle Sexual Content in '50s Music

34. Looking under the Covers
with Scott Parker

35. The Dozen Most Influential Records of the 1950s

36. Instrumental Hit Records: No Words Were Necessary
with Scott Parker

37. Ancestors of the Chipmunks

38. The Bobbys: An Antidote to All That Rockin'

About the Author
Index