Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll

Rock 'n' roll was born in rural Alabama in 1923, with the arrival of Sam Phillips, the youngest son of a large family living in the remote Lovelace Community. His father possessed a gift for farming, a pursuit curtailed by the Depression. His mother, a guitarist, displayed remarkable forbearance, even naming her son after the doctor who delivered him whilst intoxicated and then had to be put to bed himself.

Yet, from these unassuming origins, Phillips went on to make what is widely considered the first rock 'n' roll record in 1951: Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston's 'Rocket 88'. Just two years later, a shy eighteen-year-old kid with sideburns, fresh out of high school, ambled into his recording studio to cut a record "for his mother", secretly hoping it might somehow get him noticed. His name was Elvis Presley.

Elvis's success, and the subsequent triumph of rock 'n' roll, was initially propelled to an almost astonishing degree by a limited number of releases from artists like Carl 'Blue Suede Shoes' Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis – all emerging from this tiny, one-man label. Peter Guralnick's book, an engaging mix of biography and anecdote, brilliantly recreates one shining moment in the history of popular culture. And Sam Phillips was the man who made it all happen.