"Daddy-O" Dewey Phillips (May 13, 1926 – September 28, 1968) was one of rock 'n' roll's pioneering disk jockeys, along the lines of Cleveland's Alan Freed, before Freed came along.

Early life

Phillips spent his childhood in Adamsville, Tennessee, but he was born in Crump, Tennessee. He is buried there in the Crump Cemetery.

Career

He started his radio career in 1949 on WHBQ/560 in Memphis, he was the city's leading radio personality for nine years and was the first to simulcast his "Red, Hot & Blue" show on radio and television.

Phillips' on-air persona was a speed-crazed hillbilly, with a frantic delivery and entertaining sense of humor. However, he also had a keen ear for music the listening public would enjoy, and he embraced both black and white music, which was abundant in post-World War II Memphis, a booming river city which attracted large numbers of rural blacks and whites (along with their musical traditions). He played a great deal of rhythm and blues, country music, boogie-woogie, and jazz as well as Sun Records artists. In July 1954, he was the first DJ to broadcast the young Elvis Presley's debut record, "That's All Right/Blue Moon Of Kentucky" (Sun 209), and got Presley to reveal his race in an interview by asking which high school the 19-year-old singer attended (knowing that, because of segregation, his audience would readily know what race attended which schools).

Phillips briefly hosted an afternoon program on WHBQ-TV/13 in the mid-1950s. It mostly consisted of Phillips playing records while he and others clowned around in front of the camera.

Though Phillips was not involved in the payola scandals of the time (as was Freed), he was fired in late 1958 when the station adopted a Top 40 format, phasing out his freeform style. He spent the last decade of his life working at smaller radio stations, seldom lasting long. A heavy drinker and longtime drug user (mainly painkillers and amphetamines, which contributed to his manic on-air behavior), Phillips died of heart failure at age 42.

The popular musical ''Memphis'' is said to be based loosely on Dewey Phillips' life and career, although elements crucial in the career of Phillips' contemporary Alan Freed appear to be intermixed as well.

References

Additional sourcing

External links

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/DeweyPhillips.html

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s05/cantor.html

http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~presley/elnews-Q.htm

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/AC (One hour of airchecks, 1952-1960s. Broadcast August 14, 2002.)

Category:American radio personalities Category:1926 births Category:1968 deaths

name	Sister Rosetta Tharpe
background	solo_singer
birth name	Rosetta Nubin
born	March 20, 1915
died	October 09, 1973
origin	Cotton Plant, Arkansas Chicago, Illinois
genre	Gospel, pop, jazz
occupation	Singer, guitarist
notable instruments	}}

Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was a pioneering gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment. She became the first great recording star of gospel music in the late 1930s and also became known as the "original soul sister" of recorded music.

Willing to cross the line between sacred and secular by performing her inspirational music of 'light' in the 'darkness' of the nightclubs and concert halls with big bands behind her, her witty, idiosyncratic style also left a lasting mark on more conventional gospel artists, such as Ira Tucker, Sr., of the Dixie Hummingbirds. While she offended some conservative churchgoers with her forays into the world of pop music, she never left gospel music.

Biography

Born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, to parents Katie Bell Nubin and Willis Atkins who were cotton pickers. Little is known of Tharpes' father, although it is known that he was a singer. In 1921 Bell left Atkins to become a travelling evangelist for the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).

Tharpe began performing at the age of four, billed as "Little Rosetta Nubin, the singing and guitar playing miracle", accompanying her mother who played mandolin and preached at tent revivals throughout the South. Exposed to both blues and jazz both in the South and after her family moved to Chicago in the late 1920s, she played blues and jazz in private, while performing gospel music in public settings. Her unique style reflected those secular influences: she bent notes the way that jazz artists did and picked guitar like Memphis Minnie.

Career

Rosetta also crossed over to secular music in other ways. After marrying COGIC preacher Thomas Thorpe (from which "Tharpe" is a misspelling) in 1934. The marriage was not a happy one, with Thorpe having been described as "a tyrant". In 1938 Tharpe left her husband and moved with her mother to New York City.

On October 31, 1938, she recorded for the first time—four sides with Decca Records backed by "Lucky" Millinder's jazz orchestra. She had signed a seven year contract with Millinder and was managed by Mo Galye. Her records caused an immediate furor: many churchgoers were shocked by the mixture of sacred and secular music, but secular audiences loved them. Appearances in John Hammond's extravaganza "From Spirituals To Swing" later that year, at the Cotton Club and Café Society and with Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman made her even more popular. Songs like "This Train" and "Rock Me" (her first hit), which combined gospel themes with bouncy up-tempo arrangements, became smash hits among audiences with little previous exposure to gospel music. It has been suggested that Tharpe had little choice in the material she was contracted to record with Millinder. Her nightclub performances led to her initially being ostracised by some in the gospel community. She played on a number of occasions with the white singing group The Jordanaires.

Tharpe continued recording during World War II, one of only two gospel artists able to record V-discs for troops overseas. Her song "Strange Things Happening Every Day", recorded in 1944 with Sammy Price, Decca's house boogie woogie pianist, showcased her virtuosity as a guitarist and her witty lyrics and delivery. It was also the first gospel song to make Billboard's "race records" Top Ten—something that Sister Rosetta Tharpe accomplished several more times in her career. The record has been credited by some as being the "First rock and roll record". Tharpe toured throughout the 1940s, backed by various gospel quartets, including The Dixie Hummingbirds.

After the war Decca paired her with Marie Knight, a sanctified shouter with a strong contralto and a more subdued style than Tharpe. Their hit "Up Above My Head" showed both of them to great advantage: Knight provided the response to Tharpe in traditional call and response format, then took the role that would have been assigned to a bass in a male quartet after Tharpe's solo. It has been reported that it was an "open secret", in show business circles, that Knight and Tharpe were lovers. They toured the gospel circuit for a number of years, during which Tharpe was so popular that she attracted 25,000 paying customers to her wedding to her manager Russell Morrison (her third marriage), followed by a vocal performance, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. in 1951.

Their popularity took a sudden downturn, however, when they recorded several blues songs in the early 1950s. Knight attempted afterwards to cross over to popular music, while Tharpe remained in the church, but rebuffed by many of her former fans. Retreating to Europe, Tharpe gradually returned to the gospel circuit, although at nowhere near her former celebrity. In 1957 Tharpe was booked for a month-long tour of the UK by British trombonist Chris Barber.

In April - May 1964, at the height of a surge of popular interest in the blues, she toured the UK as part of the "American Folk Blues and Gospel Caravan", alongside Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, Ranson Knowling and Little Willie Smith, Reverend Gary Davis, Cousin Joe and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Tharpe was introduced on stage and accompanied on piano by Cousin Joe Pleasant. Under the auspices of George Wein, the Caravan was stage-managed by Joe Boyd. A concert, in the rain, was recored by Granada Television at the disused railway station at Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The band performed on one platform while the audience, mostly students, were seated across the rail track on the opposite platform.

Later life and death

Tharpe's performances were curtailed by a stroke in 1970, after which she had a leg amputated as a result of complications from diabetes. She died in 1973 after another stroke, on the eve of a scheduled recording session. She was buried in Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in an unmarked grave. A resurgence in interest in her legendary work has led to a biography, several NPR segments, scholarly articles and honors. In 2007 she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2008, a concert was held to raise funds for a marker for her grave and January 11 was declared Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day in Pennsylvania. A gravestone was put in place later that year and a Pennsylvania historical marker was approved for placement at her home in the Yorktown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Discography

''Gospel Train'' (1956)

Tributes

''Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe'' (2003)

Musical influence

A number of musicians, ranging from Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to Isaac Hayes and Aretha Franklin, have identified her—or, more particularly, her singing, guitar playing and showmanship—as an important influence on them. Little Richard referred to the stomping, shouting gospel music legend as his favorite singer when he was a child. In 1945, she heard Richard sing prior to her concert at the Macon City Auditorium and later invited him on stage to sing with her. Following the show, she paid him for his performance. Johnny Cash also referred to Tharpe as his favorite singer when he was a child when he gave his induction speech at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. His daughter Rosanne similarly stated in an interview with Larry King that Tharpe was her father's favorite singer. She was held in particularly high esteem by UK jazz/blues singer George Melly. Even today, artists such as Sean Michel and Paul Geathers have credited her influence with the performance of gospel songs in more secular venues.

Brixton band Alabama 3 (of ''Sopranos'' theme fame) named a track after Sister Rosetta on their debut album ''Exile on Coldharbour Lane'' (1997), as well as recording a version of her song ''Up Above My Head''. In 2007, UK indie rock band The Noisettes released the single "Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)" from their album ''What's the Time Mr. Wolf?'' Also in 2007, singers Alison Krauss and Robert Plant recorded a duet version of the song "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us", written by Sam Phillips. Phillips released her version of the song on her 2008 album, ''Don't Do Anything''. Michelle Shocked opened her live gospel album ''ToHeavenURide'' (2007) with "Strange Things Happening Every Day", along with a tribute to Tharpe.

in 2001, the award-winning French film ''Amélie'' included a scene showing the protagonist's house-bound neighbor mesmerized by a montage of video clips which featured a rousing performance of "Up Above My Head" by Tharpe.

References

Other sources cited

Boyer, Horace Clarence. (1995). ''How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel''. Elliott and Clark. ISBN 0-252-06877-7.

Heilbut, Tony. (1997). ''The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times''. Limelight Editions. ISBN 0-87910-034-6.

Wald, Gayle. (September 2003). "From Spirituals to Swing: Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Gospel Crossover." ''American Quarterly'', 55 (3), 387-416.

Wald, Gayle. (2007) "Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe" Beacon Press. ISBN 0-80700-984-9.

White, Charles. (2003). ''The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography.'' Omnibus Press. pg. 17.

External links

The Gospel of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, National Public Radio's ''All Things Considered'' radio show, includes Ross Reynolds of NPR affiliate KEXP and the Museum Experience Music Project, January 17, 2004.

Interview with Tharpe biographer Gayle F. Wald, from WILL AM radio (an NPR and PBS affiliate), February 22, 2007.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Etched In Stone At Last, National Public Radio's ''All Things Considered'' radio show, March 20, 2009.

Pop Music, ''To The Best of Our Knowledge'' radio show by Wisconsin Public Radio (NPR affiliate), an episode that focused upon popular music and its influences with an interview of Gayle F. Wald about her book "Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe," April 1, 2007 and rebroadcast on March 24, 2008.

Premier Guitar - Forgotten Heroes: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Category:1915 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Classic female blues singers Category:African American singers Category:African American female guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American gospel singers Category:Gospel blues musicians Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees

de:Rosetta Tharpe es:Rosetta Tharpe fr:Rosetta Tharpe it:Sister Rosetta Tharpe pl:Rosetta Tharpe pt:Sister Rosetta Tharpe fi:Sister Rosetta Tharpe

name	Jerry Lee Lewis
background	solo_singer
landscape	yes
alias	The Killer
birth date	September 29, 1935
origin	Ferriday, Louisiana, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, piano, guitar
genre	Rock and roll, country, rockabilly, blues, Honky tonk, gospel
occupation	Singer, songwriter, pianist
label	Sun, Mercury, Sire/Warner Bros, MCA
years active	1954–present
website	www.jerryleelewis.com}}

Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The Killer'. His guitarist for more than 40 years is Kenny Lovelace.

Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine listed his box set ''All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology'' number 242 on their list of "500 greatest albums of all time". In 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2008, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Jerry Lee Lewis is the last surviving member of both Sun Records' Class of 55 and the Million Dollar Quartet - which both alltogether included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley, as well as Lewis himself.

Early life

Lewis was born to the poor family of Elmo and Mamie Lewis in Ferriday in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, and began playing piano in his youth with two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin, Carl McVoy (who later recorded with Bill Black's Combo), the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks, Haney's Big House, Lewis main influence growing up was Moon Mullican.

His mother enrolled him in Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, so that her son would be exclusively singing his songs to the Lord. But Lewis daringly played a boogie woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. Pearry Green, then president of the student body, related how during a talent show Lewis played some "worldly" music. The next morning, the dean of the school called Lewis and Green into his office to expel them. Lewis said that Green should not be expelled because "he didn't know what I was going to do." Years later Green asked Lewis: "Are you still playing the devil's music?" Lewis replied "Yes, I am. But you know it's strange, the same music that they kicked me out of school for is the same kind of music they play in their churches today. The difference is, I know I am playing for the devil and they don't."

After that incident, he went home and started playing at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi, becoming part of the burgeoning new rock and roll sound and cutting his first demo recording in 1954. He made a trip to Nashville circa 1955 where he played clubs and attempted to build interest, but was turned down by the Grand Ole Opry as he had been at the Louisiana Hayride country stage and radio show in Shreveport. Recording executives in Nashville suggested he switch to playing a guitar.

Lewis traveled to Memphis, Tennessee in November 1956, to audition for Sun Records. Label owner Sam Phillips was in Florida, but producer and engineer Jack Clement recorded Lewis's rendition of Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and his own composition "End of The Road". During December 1956, Lewis began recording prolifically, as a solo artist and as a session musician for such Sun artists as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. His distinctive piano can be heard on many tracks recorded at Sun during late 1956 and early 1957, including Carl Perkins' "Matchbox", "Your True Love", "You Can Do No Wrong", and "Put Your Cat Clothes On", and Billy Lee Riley's "Flyin' Saucers Rock'n'Roll". Formerly, rockabilly had rarely featured piano, but it proved an influential addition and rockabilly artists on other labels also started working with pianists.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips to pay a social visit while Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks with Lewis backing him on piano. Johnny Cash was also there watching Perkins. The four started an impromptu jam session, and Phillips left the tape running. These recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived, and have been released on CD under the title ''Million Dollar Quartet''. Tracks also include Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" and "Paralyzed", Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", Pat Boone's "Don't Forbid Me" and Presley doing an impersonation of Jackie Wilson (who was then with Billy Ward and the Dominoes) on "Don't Be Cruel".

Lewis's own singles (on which he was billed as "Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumping Piano") advanced his career as a soloist during 1957, with hits such as "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire", his biggest hit, bringing him international fame, despite criticism for the songs' overtly sexual undertones which prompted some radio stations to boycott them. In 2005, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

According to several first hand sources, including Johnny Cash, Lewis himself, who was devoutly Christian, was also troubled by the sinful nature of his own material, which he firmly believed was leading himself and his audience to hell. This aspect of Lewis's character was depicted in Waylon Payne's portrayal of Lewis in the 2005 film ''Walk the Line'', based on Cash's autobiographies.

Lewis would often kick the piano bench aside and play standing, rake his hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic accent, sit on the keyboard and even stand on top of the instrument. His first TV appearance, in which he demonstrated some of these moves, was on ''The Steve Allen Show'' on July 28, 1957, where he played the song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On". It is widely believed that he once set fire to a piano at the end of a live performance, in protest at being billed below Chuck Berry. but he is quoted in an online article in Esquire Magazine as saying "I never set fire to a piano. I'd like to have got away with it, though. I pushed a couple of them in the river. They wasn't any good."

His dynamic performance style can be seen in films such as ''High School Confidential'' (he sang the title song from the back of a flatbed truck), and ''Jamboree''. He has been called "rock & roll's first great wild man" and also "rock & roll's first great eclectic." Classical composer Michael Nyman has also cited Lewis's style as the progenitor of his own aesthetic.

Scandal

Lewis's turbulent personal life was hidden from the public until a May 1958 British tour where Ray Berry, a news agency reporter at London's Heathrow Airport (the only journalist present), learned about Lewis's third wife, Myra Gale Brown. She was Lewis's first cousin once removed and only 13 years old. (Brown, Lewis, and his management all insisted she was 15). Lewis was nearly 23 years old. The publicity caused an uproar and the tour was cancelled after only three concerts.

The scandal followed Lewis home to America, and as a result, he was blacklisted from radio and almost vanished from the music scene. Lewis felt betrayed by numerous people who had been his supporters. Dick Clark dropped him from his shows. Lewis even felt that Sam Phillips had sold him out when the Sun Records boss released "The Return of Jerry Lee", a bogus "interview" cut together by Jack Clement from excerpts of Lewis's songs, which made light of his marital and publicity problems. Only Alan Freed stayed true to Jerry Lee Lewis, playing his records until Freed was removed from the air because of payola allegations.

Jerry Lee Lewis was still under contract with Sun Records, and kept recording, regularly releasing singles. He had gone from $10,000 a night concerts to $250 a night spots in beer joints and small clubs. He had few friends at the time whom he felt he could trust. It was only through Kay Martin, the president of Lewis's fan club, T. L. Meade, (aka Franz Douskey) a sometime Memphis musician and friend of Sam Phillips, and Gary Skala, that Lewis went back to record at Sun Records.

By this time, Phillips had built a new state-of-the-art studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, thus abandoning the old Union Avenue studio where Phillips had recorded B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Lewis, Johnny Cash and others, and also opened a studio in Nashville. It was at the latter studio that Lewis recorded his only major hit during this period, a rendition of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" in 1961. In Europe other updated versions of "Sweet Little Sixteen" (September 1962 UK) and "Good Golly Miss Molly" (March 1963) entered the Hit Parade. On popular EPs, "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes", "I've Been Twistin'", "Money" and "Hello Josephine" also became turntable hits, especially in nascent discothèques. Another recording of Lewis playing an instrumental boogie arrangement of the Glenn Miller Orchestra favorite "In the Mood", was issued on the Phillips International label under the pseudonym of "The Hawk," but disc jockeys quickly figured out the distinctive piano style, and this gambit failed.

Lewis's Sun recording contract ended in 1963 and he joined Smash Records, where he made a number of rock recordings that did not further his career.

His popularity recovered somewhat in Europe, especially in the UK and Germany, during the mid-1960s. A concert album, ''Live at the Star Club, Hamburg'' (1964), recorded with The Nashville Teens, is widely considered one of the greatest live rock and roll albums ever. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes: "''Live at the Star Club'' is extraordinary, the purest, hardest rock & roll ever committed to record."

Family

Lewis has been married seven times. His first marriage, to Dorothy Barton, lasted for 20 months, from February 1952 to October 1953 although there is some question that Lewis may have married Barton earlier than 1952. In a 1978 ''People'' magazine interview Lewis stated "I was 14 when I first got married. My wife was too old for me; she was 17." His second marriage to Jane Mitchum was of dubious validity because it occurred 23 days before his divorce from Barton was final. They were married for four years, from September 1953 to October 1957. They had two children. He then married Myra Gale Brown in December 1957. She was his first cousin once removed, and thirteen at the time of the marriage. This marriage caused a scandal that nearly destroyed his career. He had to marry her twice due to not being fully divorced from Jane Mitchum when he married her. They had two children and divorced in December 1970 after 13 years of marriage. His fourth marriage was to Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate, and ended when she drowned in the swimming pool at their home. They were married for 12 years, from October 1971 to August 1983. His fifth wife was Shawn Stephens. This marriage ended with her death from a methadone overdose. They were married for three months, from June to August 1984. His seventh marriage was to Kerrie McCarver, with whom he had one child. This marriage lasted 20 years and ended in divorce in 2004.

Lewis has had at least four children. Two additional people have claimed to be his children, but they had no proof. In 1962, his son Steve Allen Lewis drowned in a swimming pool accident when he was three, and in 1973, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., was killed at the age of 19 when he overturned the Jeep he was driving. His current living children are a son, Jerry Lee Lewis III, and a daughter, Phoebe Allan Lewis.

Later career

In the 1960s, Lewis's attempts at a comeback as a rock and roll performer had stalled during four years with Smash Records until he began recording country ballads. He had already recorded a country-oriented LP for the label Country Songs for City Folks. In 1968, his single "Another Place, Another Time" became a Top 10 success and led to a string of Top Ten singles including the 1968 number-one country single "To Make Love Sweeter For You" that brought Lewis renewed stardom among country music fans, much like that which ex-rockabilly Conway Twitty began to cultivate during that same time. His shift to country reflected the fact that he had grown up listening to the Grand Ole Opry. Lewis's country hits during this period include "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)", "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)", "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye", "Once More With Feeling", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Touching Home", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", "Me & Bobby McGee", "Think About It, Darlin'", "Sometimes a Memory Ain't Enough", and "Tell Tale Signs". Lewis's singles and albums were issued on Mercury records instead of Smash from 1970 on. Lewis's renewed popularity encouraged Sun International Inc. to issue previously unpublished recordings dating from 1963 including "Invitation to Your Party", "One Minute Past Eternity", "I Can't Seem To Say Goodbye" and "Waiting For A Train" on singles that also did well on the country music charts in 1969/70. Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he eventually began to re-emphasize his rock and roll past with hits like his 1972 revival of The Big Bopper's rock classic "Chantilly Lace" and "Drinkin' Wine Spo dee-o dee" as well as looking at middle age with the 1977 "Middle Age Crazy". In 1979, he signed with Elektra Records and had his last major country hit with 1981's "Thirty-Nine and Holding." He spent a very brief period with MCA Records in 1983 but left the label due to unspecified differences.

In 1989, a major motion picture based on his early life in rock & roll, ''Great Balls of Fire!'', brought him back into the public eye, especially when he decided to re-record all his songs for the movie soundtrack. The film was based on the book by Lewis's ex-wife, Myra Gale Lewis, and starred Dennis Quaid as Lewis, Winona Ryder as Myra, and Alec Baldwin as Jimmy Swaggart. The movie focuses on Lewis's early career and his relationship with Myra, and ends with the scandal of the late 1950s. A year later, in 1990, Lewis made minor news when a new song he co-wrote called "It Was the Whiskey Talking, Not Me" was included in the soundtrack to the hit movie ''Dick Tracy''. The song is also heard in the movie, playing on a radio.

The public downfall of his cousin, television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, resulted in more adverse publicity to a troubled family. Swaggart is also a piano player, as is another cousin, country music star Mickey Gilley. All three listened to the same music in their youth, and frequented Haney's Big House, the Ferriday club that featured black blues acts. Lewis and Swaggart have had a complex relationship over the years.

Lewis's sister, Linda Gail Lewis has recorded with Lewis, toured with his stage show for a time and more recently recorded with Van Morrison.

"The Killer", a nickname he has had since childhood, is known for his forceful voice and piano production on stage. He was described by Roy Orbison as the best raw performer in the history of rock and roll music.

In 1986, Lewis was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That year, he returned to Sun Studio in Memphis to team up with Orbison, Cash, and Perkins along with longtime admirers like John Fogerty to create the album ''Class of '55'', a sort of followup to the "Million Dollar Quartet" session, though in the eyes of many critics and fans, lacking the spirit of the old days at Sun.

In 1998 he toured Europe with Chuck Berry and Little Richard. On February 12, 2005, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy (which also grants the Grammy Awards). On September 26, 2006, a new album titled ''Last Man Standing'' was released, featuring many of rock and roll's elite as guest stars. Receiving positive reviews, the album charted in four different Billboard charts, including a two week stay at number one on the Indie charts.

A DVD entitled ''Last Man Standing Live'', featuring concert footage with many guest artists, was released in March 2007, and the CD achieved Lewis's 10th official gold disk for selling over half-a-million copies in the US alone. ''Last Man Standing'' is Lewis's biggest selling album of all time. It features contributions from Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Rod Stewart, among others.

On November 5, 2007, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio honored Jerry Lee Lewis with six days of conferences, interviews, a DVD premiere and film clips, dedicated to him entitled ''The Life And Music of Jerry Lee Lewis.'' On November 10, the week culminated with a tribute concert compered by Kris Kristofferson. Lewis was present to accept the American Music Masters Award and closed his own tribute show with a rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

On February 10, 2008, he appeared with John Fogerty and Little Richard on the 50th Grammy Awards Show, performing "Great Balls of Fire" in a medley with "Good Golly Miss Molly".

Lewis now lives on a ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi with his family.

On June 4, 2008, Jerry Lee Lewis was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

On July 4, 2008, he appeared on ''A Capitol Fourth'' and performed the finale's final act with a medley of "Roll Over Beethoven", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" and "Great Balls of Fire".

In October 2008 as part of a very successful European tour, Jerry Lee Lewis returned to the UK, almost exactly 50 years after his ill-fated first tour. He appeared at two London shows: a special private show at the 100 Club on October 25 and at the London Forum on October 28 with Wanda Jackson and his sister, Linda Gail Lewis.

2009 marked the sixtieth year since Lewis's first public performance when he performed "“Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" at a car dealership on November 19, 1949 in Ferriday Louisiana.

In August 2009, in advance of his new album, a single entitled "Mean Old Man" was released for download. It was written by Kris Kristofferson. An EP featuring this song and four more was also released on amazon.com on November 11.

On October 29, 2009, Lewis opened the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Discography

Hits and awards

Between 1957 and 2006, the date of his latest release "Last Man Standing", 47 singles plus 22 albums (The Session counted as 2 albums) made the Top Twenty Pop, Jukebox, Rock, Indie and/or Country charts in USA or UK. Fourteen reached the number 1 position. He's had ten official gold disks, the latest being for the 2006 album 'Last Man Standing', plus unofficial ones issued by his record company Mercury for albums which sold over a quarter of a million copies. His 2006 duets CD ''Last Man Standing'' has sold over half a million worldwide, his biggest selling album ever. Jerry Lee Lewis is also among the Top 50 all-time Billboard Country artists. It is also rumored that the soundtrack album to the movie, ''Great Balls Of Fire'', has now sold over a million copies. The original Sun cut of "Great Balls of Fire" was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and Jerry's Sun recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" received this honor in 1999. Only recordings which are at least 25 years old and have left a lasting impression can receive this honor. Along with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison, Jerry received a Grammy in the spoken word category for the very rare album of interviews released with some early copies of ''The Class of 55'' album in 1986. On February 12, 2005, Jerry received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award the day before the Recording Academy's main Grammy Awards ceremony, which he also attended, picture below. On October 10, 2007, Jerry received the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters Award.

Compositions by Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis has written or co-written many songs during his career:

End of the Road, 1956 – this is indeed an original song and not the same as Irving Berlin's song (that inspired it) as the lyrics and melody are totally different apart from the refrain "the way is dark and the night is long" (which Lewis turns around) and "Waiting at the end of the road".

Jerry's Boogie (a.k.a. 'Black Bottom Stomp'), 1956 – was previously recorded as Black Bottom Stomp by Jelly Roll Morton but Jerry Lee's rendition is his own and changes a lot of the old song.

Lewis Boogie, 1956

Pumpin' Piano Rock, 1957

All Night Long, 1957

High School Confidential, 1958

Live & Let Live, 1958 – sometimes credited to Jerry Lee, but this actually was recorded by Bill Monroe, Moon Mullican, Gene Sullivan & Wiley Walker, and Jimmie Davis before.

Memory Of You, 1958

Hello, Hello Baby, 1958

Baby, Baby, Bye Bye, 1960

Lewis Workout, 1960

Whole Lotta Twistin' Goin' On, 1962 – new lyrics

He Took It Like A Man, 1963

Baby, Hold Me Close, 1965

My Baby Don't Love No One But Me, 1965

Rockin' Jerry Lee, 1966

What A Heck Of A Mess, 1966

Lincoln Limousine, 1966

Alvin, 1970

Pilot Baby, 1980s

Crown Victoria Custom '51, 1995

New Orleans Boogie (Jerry Lee's Boogie), 1952

Blues Like Midnight, 1980s–2000s – a 12 bar blues often done by Jerry Lee in concert. It is sometimes entirely based around Jimmie Rodgers verses but not recorded by Rodgers in this form. On other versions, Lewis adds in original verses as well.

Quotation

''NME'' – June 1963

''NME'' – November 1978

Footnotes

References

External links and sources

The Official Jerry Lee Lewis Website

''Rockin' My Life Away'' by Jimmy Guterman, a full online biography

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Jerry Lee Lewis page for his hits, biography.

Selected videos

Whole Lotta Shakin' Going on

Category:1935 births Category:Living people Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:American rock musicians Category:American rock pianists Category:American rock singers Category:American pop singers Category:American pop pianists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Rockabilly musicians Category:American composers Category:Sun Records artists Category:Sire Records artists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:American Pentecostals Category:People from Ferriday, Louisiana Category:People from Concordia Parish, Louisiana Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Charly Records artists Category:Smash Records artists

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name	Joe Hill
Birth name	Joel Emmanuel Hägglund
birth date	October 07, 1879
birth place	Gävle, Sweden
death date	November 19, 1915
death place	Utah, United States
Death cause	firing squad
Other names	Joseph Hillström
occupation	labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Footnotes	}}

Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle (Sweden), and also known as Joseph Hillström (October 7, 1879 – November 19, 1915) was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, also known as the "Wobblies"). A native Swedish speaker, he learned English during the early 1900s, while working various jobs from New York to San Francisco. Hill, as an immigrant worker frequently facing unemployment and underemployment, became a popular song writer and cartoonist for the radical union. His most famous songs include "The Preacher and the Slave", "The Tramp", "There is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab", which generally express the harsh but combative life of itinerant workers, and the perceived necessity of organizing to improve conditions for working people.

In 1914, John G. Morrison, a Salt Lake City area grocer and former policeman, and his son were shot and killed by two men. The same evening, Hill arrived at a doctor's office with a gunshot wound, and briefly mentioned a fight over a woman. Yet Hill was reluctant to explain further, and he was later accused of the grocery store murders on the basis of his injury. Hill was convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. Following an unsuccessful appeal, political debates, and international calls for clemency from high profile people and workers' organizations, Hill was executed in November, 1915. After his death, he was memorialized by several folk songs. His life and death have inspired books and poetry.

Joe Hill's frequently speculated upon love relationship remained mostly conjecture for nearly a century. A biography published in 2011, said to expand our knowledge of the Joe Hill case "in really dramatic ways," reveals new information about Hill's ostensible alibi, which was never introduced at his trial. According to the biography, Joe Hill and his friend and fellow countryman, Otto Appelquist, were rivals for the attention of twenty year old Hilda Erickson, a member of the family with whom the two men were lodging. In a recently discovered letter, Erickson confirmed her relationship with the two men, and the rivalry between them. The letter indicates that when she first discovered Hill was injured, he explained to her that Appelquist had shot him, apparently due to jealousy.

Early life and IWW activity

Hill was born 1879 in Gävle, a city in the province of Gästrikland, Sweden. He was the third child in a family of nine, where three children died in their youth. His father was named Olof, and was a conductor at Gefle Dala Järnväg, which is in the railroad business. Olof died at the age of 41, and his death resulted in an economic disaster for the family. His mother Margareta Catharina did however succeed to keep the family together, until she died in 1902. Joe Hill's house is still standing in Gävle, and is addressed at Nedre Bergsgatan 28, in ''Gamla Stan'', the Old City. It is now a museum, and called ''Joe Hill-gården''.

In 1902, when about 23, Joe Hill and his brother Paul emigrated to the United States where he became a migrant laborer, moving from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio, and eventually to the west coast. He was in San Francisco, California, at the time of the 1906 earthquake. Hill joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies around 1910, when he was working on the docks in San Pedro, California. In late 1910 he wrote a letter to the IWW newspaper ''Industrial Worker'', identifying himself as a member of the Portland, Oregon IWW local chapter.

IWW

Hill rose in the IWW organization and traveled widely, organizing workers under the IWW banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches. His songs frequently appropriated familiar melodies from songs of his time. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky", which appeared in his song "The Preacher and the Slave" (a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet By-and-By"). Other notable songs written by Hill include "The Tramp", "There is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab".

Trial

As an itinerant worker, Hill moved around the west, hopping freight trains, going from job to job. Early 1914 found him working as a laborer at the Silver King Mine in Park City, Utah, not far from Salt Lake City.

On January 10, 1914, John G. Morrison and his son Arling were killed in their Salt Lake City butcher store by two armed intruders masked in red bandannas. The police first thought it was a crime of revenge, for nothing had been stolen and the elder Morrison had been a police officer, possibly creating many enemies.

On the same evening, Joe Hill appeared on the doorstep of a local doctor, bearing a bullet wound. Hill said that he had been shot in an argument over a woman, whom he refused to name. The doctor reported that Hill was armed with a pistol.

Considering Morrison's past as a police officer, several men he had arrested were at first considered suspects; 12 people were arrested in the case before Hill was arrested and charged with the murder. A red bandanna was found in Hill's room. The pistol purported to be in Hill's possession at the doctor's office was not found.

Hill resolutely denied that he was involved in the robbery and killing of Morrison. He said that when he was shot, his hands were over his head, and the bullet hole in his coat — four inches below the bullet wound in his back — seemed to support this claim. Hill did not testify at his trial, but his lawyers pointed out that four other people were treated for bullet wounds in Salt Lake City that same night, and that the lack of robbery and Hill's unfamiliarity with Morrison left him with no motive.

The prosecution, for its part, produced a dozen eyewitnesses who said that the killer resembled Hill, including 13-year-old Merlin Morrison, the victims' son and brother, who said "That's not him at all" upon first seeing Hill, but later identified him as the murderer. The jury took just a few hours to find him guilty of murder.

An appeal to the Utah Supreme Court was unsuccessful. Orrin N. Hilton, the lawyer representing Hill during the appeal, declared: "The main thing the state had on Hill was that he was an IWW and therefore sure to be guilty. Hill tried to keep the IWW out of [the trial]... but the press fastened it upon him."

In a letter to the court, Hill continued to deny that the state had a right to inquire into the origins of his wound, leaving little doubt that the judges would affirm the conviction. Chief Justice Daniel Straup wrote that his unexplained wound was "a distinguishing mark," and that "the defendant may not avoid the natural and reasonable inferences of remaining silent."

In an article for the socialist newspaper ''Appeal to Reason'', Hill wrote: "Owing to the prominence of Mr Morrison, there had to be a 'goat' [scapegoat] and the undersigned being, as they thought, a friendless tramp, a Swede, and worst of all, an IWW, had no right to live anyway, and was therefore duly selected to be 'the goat'."

The case turned into a major media event. President Woodrow Wilson, the blind and deaf author Helen Keller, and people in Sweden all became involved in a bid for clemency. It generated international union attention, and critics charged that the trial and conviction were unfair.

In a new biography published in 2011, William M. Adler concludes that Hill was probably innocent of murder (he advances another candidate as the perpetrator), but also suggests that Hill came to see himself as worth more to the labor movement as a dead martyr than he was alive, and that this understanding may have influenced his decisions not to testify at the trial and subsequently to spurn all chances of a pardon. He reports that evidence pointed to early police suspect Frank Z. Wilson and also discovered a letter from the woman Hill was involved with, Hilda Erickson, who wrote that Hill had told her he had been shot by her former fiance.

Execution

Hill was executed by firing squad on November 19, 1915, and his last word was "Fire!"

That same day, a dynamite bomb was discovered at the Tarrytown estate of John D. Archbold, President of the Standard Oil Company. Police theorized the bomb was planted by anarchists and I.W.W. radicals as a protest against Hill's execution. The bomb was discovered by a gardener, who found four sticks of dynamite, weighing a pound each, half hidden in a rut in a driveway fifty feet from the front entrance of the residence. The dynamite sticks were bound together by a length of wire, fitted with percussion caps, and wrapped with a piece of paper matching the color of the driveway, a path used by Archbold in going to or from his home by automobile. The bomb was later defused by police.

Just prior to his execution, Hill had written to Bill Haywood, an IWW leader, saying, "Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize... Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."

His last will, which was eventually set to music by Ethel Raim, founder of the group The Pennywhistlers, reads: ''My will is easy to decide, ''For there is nothing to divide. ''My kin don't need to fuss and moan, ''"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

''My body? Oh, if I could choose ''I would to ashes it reduce, ''And let the merry breezes blow, ''My dust to where some flowers grow.

''Perhaps some fading flower then ''Would come to life and bloom again. ''This is my Last and final Will. ''Good Luck to All of you, ''Joe Hill

Aftermath

Hill's body was sent to Chicago where it was cremated. His ashes were placed into 600 small envelopes and according to Wobbly folklore, sent around the world and released to the winds on May Day 1916. However it was not until the first anniversary of his death (November 19, 1916) that delegates attending the Tenth Convention of the IWW in Chicago received envelopes. The rest of the 600 envelopes were sent to IWW Locals, Wobblies and sympathizers around the world on January 3, 1917.

In 1988 it was discovered that an envelope had been seized by the United States Postal Service in 1917 because of its "subversive potential". The envelope, with a photo affixed, captioned, "Joe Hill murdered by the capitalist class, Nov. 19, 1915," as well as its contents, was deposited at the National Archives. A story appeared in the United Auto Workers' magazine ''Solidarity'' and a small item followed it in ''The New Yorker'' Magazine. Members of the IWW in Chicago quickly laid claim to the contents of the envelope.

After some negotiations, the last of Hill's ashes (but not the envelope that contained them) was turned over to the IWW in 1988. The weekly ''In These Times'' ran notice of the ashes and invited readers to suggest what should be done with them. Suggestions varied from enshrining them at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, DC to Abbie Hoffman's suggestion that they be eaten by today's "Joe Hills" like Billy Bragg and Michelle Shocked. Bragg did indeed swallow a small bit of the ashes and still carries Shocked's share for the eventual completion of Hoffman's last prank. The majority of the ashes were cast to the wind in the US, Canada, Sweden, Australia, and Nicaragua. The ashes sent to Sweden were only partly cast to the wind. The main part was interred in the wall of a union office in Landskrona, a minor city in the south of the country, with a plaque commemorating Hill. That room is now the reading room of the local city library.

One small packet of ashes was scattered at a 1989 ceremony which unveiled a monument to IWW coal miners buried in Lafayette, Colorado. Six unarmed strikers were machine-gunned by Colorado state police in 1927 in the Columbine Mine Massacre. Until 1989 the graves of five of these men were unmarked. Another famous Wobbly, Carlos Cortez, scattered Joe Hill's ashes on the graves at the commemoration.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill, Philip S. Foner published a book, ''The Case of Joe Hill'', about the trial and subsequent events, which concludes that the case was a miscarriage of justice.

Influence and tributes

Hill was memorialized in a tribute poem written about him c. 1930 by Alfred Hayes titled "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", sometimes referred to simply as "Joe Hill". Hayes's lyrics were turned into a song in 1936 by Earl Robinson.

Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger often performed this song and are associated with it, along with Irish folk group The Dubliners. Joan Baez's Woodstock performance of "Joe Hill" in 1969 is one of the best known recordings. She also recorded the song numerous times, including a live version on her 2005 album ''Bowery Songs''. Scott Walker recorded a version for his album ''The Moviegoer''.

The Swedish socialist leader Ture Nerman (1886–1969) wrote a biography of Joe Hill. For the project, Nerman did the first serious research about Hill's life story, including finding and interviewing Hill's family members in Sweden. Nerman, who was a poet himself, also translated most of Hill's songs into Swedish.

Ralph Chaplin wrote a tribute poem/song called "Joe Hill" and referred to him in his song "Red November, Black November."

Phil Ochs wrote and recorded a different, original song called "Joe Hill", using a traditional melody found in the song "John Hardy", which tells a much more detailed story of Joe Hill's life and death, and includes the lines that have since been associated with Ochs' own life and death, "It's the life of a rebel that he chose to live; It's the death of a rebel that he died". Ochs' song concludes with Hill's words, "This is my last and final will; Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill, Good luck to all of you."

Singer/songwriter Josh Joplin wrote and recorded a song entitled ''Joseph Hillstrom 1879-1915'' as a tribute to Joe Hill for the self-titled debut album of his band, Among The Oak & Ash.

Frank Tovey sings about Joe Hill in his song 'Joe Hill' from the 1989 album ''Tyranny and the Hired Hand''. In this song he uses some of the words from the Alfred Hayes poem.

Bob Dylan claims that Hill's story was one of his inspirations to begin writing his own songs. His song "I dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" is loosely based around the story and Robinson's version.

Chumbawamba's song about Joe Hill, "By and By", appears on the 2005 album ''A Singsong and a Scrap''. It incorporates the first stanza of Alfred Hayes' poem.

In 1990, Smithsonian Folkways released ''Don't Mourn — Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill''. This compilation featured the likes of "Haywire Mac" McClintock and Cisco Houston performing his songs as well as narrative interludes from Utah Phillips, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and others.

Wallace Stegner published a fictional biography called ''Joe Hill'' in 1950.

Authors Stephen and Tabitha King named their second child, Joseph Hillstrom King, after Joe Hill.

Gibbs M. Smith wrote a biography "Joe Hill", which was later turned into the 1971 movie ''Joe Hill'' also known as ''The Ballad of Joe Hill'' directed by Bo Widerberg.

A chapter of John Dos Passos's novel ''1919'' is a stylized biography of Joe Hill.

Robert Hunter wrote the opening verse about Joe Hill for the song "Down the Road" which he wrote for Mickey Hart's ''Mystery Box''.

The Nightwatchman (a.k.a. Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave) refers to Joe Hill in his song "The Union Song".

For Rage Against the Machine's second Album, ''Evil Empire'', a suggested reading list was included. Included is the biography ''Joe Hill'' written by Gibbs M. Smith.

Joe Hill's name is invoked in Steve Earle's song, "Christmas in Washington."

Joe Hill is referred to in Justin Townes Earle's song, "They killed John Henry." (Justin Townes Earle is the son of Steve Earle.) Townes Earle sings "Joe Hill he worked any job he could find, he'd rake your leaves or pick your vines. They killed Joe Hill, put a bullet to his name, but that bullet made a martyr of the slain".

The Swedish punk rock band Randy refers to Joe Hill and the organization Industrial Workers of the World in a song called "If We Unite" on their album ''The Human Atom Bombs'' from 2001.

Kev Carmody's piece "Comrade Jesus Christ", includes the line "he'd fight with Joe Hill". Hill is also referred to in his song "Cannot Buy My Soul".

In his book ''An Undividable Glow'' , Robert Brady speaks about an area of Manchester, England as Cheetham "Joe" Hill.

Seattle composer and bandleader Wayne Horvitz created a musical tribute for Joe Hill in 2008. ''Joe Hill: 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voice and Soloist'', which premiered at Meany Hall in Seattle, features the Northwest Sinfonia and guest soloists Bill Frisell, Robin Holcomb, Danny Barnes, and Rinde Eckert.

"Calling Joe Hill" by Ray Hearne is frequently performed by Roy Bailey, a British socialist folk singer.

In 1995 the first "Raise Your Banners" festival of political song was held in Sheffield, inspired by the 90th anniversary of the death of Joe Hill. Sheffield Socialist choir which was formed in 1988 organised the event and performed an arrangement by Nigel Wright of the Earl Robinson song about Joe Hill. Since then the festival has been held roughly every two years, being held in Bradford in November 2007 and 2009.

Pennsylvania based hardcore band Wisdom In Chains ended their album ''Everything You Know'' with a young voice reading "Joe Hill's Last Will".

Otis Gibbs made the ''Joe Hill's Ashes'' album in 2010

Hill's last will is the lyrics to a song entitled ''Good Evening Mr. Q'', appearing in the 2002 album ''Memoirs'' by the Norwegian group The 3rd and the Mortal.

"Joe Hill's Last Will" is the concluding track on the CD ''Bittersweet Sixteen'' by the Irish-American rock band Black 47. In the song, lead singer Larry Kirwan sings the will ''a cappella''.

In 1980 Posten AB, the Swedish postal service, issued a Joe Hill postage stamp. Red on a white background with the lyrics in English "We'll have freedom, love and health/When the grand red flag is flying, In the Workers' Commonwealth." The stamp cost SKr 1,70 which was the amount for airmail to the United States.

References

Recording of songs

Cover album of his songs:

Joe Glazer, ''Songs of Joe Hill,'' Smithsonian Folkways, 1954

Additional reading

"The Man Who Never Died," A Play about Joe Hill, with Notes on Joe Hill and His Times, by Barrie Stavis, New York: Haven Press, 1954. The "notes" are actually a carefully researched, 116 page history of the period, with detailed analysis of the trial of Joe Hill; the notes include photographs of people, events, and documents. The play was produced in New York City off-broadway at the Jan Hus Play House in 1958. The revised play and compressed notes were published in a second version of this book under the same title, published at Cranbury NJ: A.S. Barnes, 1972.

Davidson, Jared (2011). ''Remains to be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill's ashes in New Zealand''. Wellington: Rebel Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-473-18927-3

''Fellow Workers.'' Philips, Utah and Difranco, Ani. Righteous Babe Records, NY, 1999.

''Joe Hill: IWW Songwriter''. Nolan, Dead & Thompson, Fred. Kersplebedeb. Montreal.

''Joe Hill—The Man and the Myth''. Gibbs Smith.

''We Shall Be All: A History of the IWW''. Melvyn Dubrosky.

''Where the Fraser River Flows: the IWW in BC''. Mark Leier.

''Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World.'' Buhle, Paul and Schulman, Nicole, eds. Verso, NY, 2005.

''Union Song'' by The Nightwatchman

External links

The Joe Hill Project - University of Utah

Site at KUED7 about the PBS Joe Hill documentary from 2000

The Songs of Joe Hill at FolkArchive.de

Lyrics, sheet music, and audio files at politicalfolkmusic.org

Category:1879 births Category:1915 deaths Category:People from Gävle Category:American folklore Category:Industrial Workers of the World leaders Category:American labor unionists Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:History of Utah Category:People executed for murder Category:People executed by firing squad Category:Joan Baez songs Category:20th-century executions by the United States Category:People executed by Utah Category:Executed American people Category:Swedish people executed abroad Category:Deaths by firearm in Utah Category:People convicted of murder by Utah Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States

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