Is this 1940s track rock & roll release number 3?

BLUESMUSE13

I’ve been researching to find out what was America’s, and therefore the world’s, third ever rock & roll record release after Albert Ammons in 1936, and then Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson in 1938 (see earlier posts).

This suggestion might be a bit more contentious to the purist than my first and second releases, so feel free to correct me. Anyway, here goes: it’s ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’, recorded in 1940 by World War Two’s favourite all-girl close-harmony trio, The Andrews Sisters. It was boogie, swing and jump blues, all at the same time.

It has also been argued that Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy was one of the earliest examples of rhythm & blues to hit the big time; except the Andrews Sisters were white and the term rhythm & blues had yet to be invented. The term rock & roll hadn’t been coined yet either but it didn’t stop Bing Crosby proclaiming in 1939 that the Andrews Sisters’ songs were, “rock and roll with unleashed enthusiasm tempered to strict four-four time”.

Half Greek, half Norwegian-American, maybe the real-life sisters from Minnesota were too old and not quite hip enough in the rock & roll circles of the 1950s to have their track recognized, but it sure rocks along to me. The Andrews Sisters had over 60 hit records during the war alone. Most were pop, but Bugle Boy straddled the genres. Would it be rock & roll if it were released today with rocking guitar backing? It all depends on your definition of rock & roll.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Other contenders for rock & roll release # 3.

One challenger was Sister Rosetta Tharpe (left) with ‘Rock Me’ in 1938. Good though it was, it seemed more crooning gospel than rock & roll, but the Sister plays some mean early electric guitar. The other contender was Buddy Jones in 1939 with ‘Rockin’, Rollin’ Mama’. Its title sounded authentic enough but the track was more gentle western swing than rock & roll.