walking upstream…
Ronnie Hawkins
photo: tabercil · cc by-sa 3.0 ↗Ronnie Hawkins
A rockabilly bandleader out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Ronnie Hawkins built his name less on original songwriting than on sheer stage force -- a raucous, acrobatic showman who ran his backing band, the Hawks, through a punishing bar-circuit apprenticeship across the American South and, from 1958 on, Ontario. He never became a major recording star himself, charting only a handful of rockabilly and R&B covers in the late 1950s and early '60s, but his real legacy is the group he assembled and trained: Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson, who eventually left him to back Bob Dylan and then became The Band.
the sound in question
1959
Mary LouRonnie Hawkins
walk the tributaries ↓
Chuck Berry1950s · Rock and roll / Rhythm and blues
Hawkins took Chuck Berry's 1955 single "Thirty Days" and, without much subtlety, doubled its title and lyric to build his own first nationally charted single -- a direct, openly acknowledged lift that shows how thoroughly he built his early repertoire out of covering and reworking the R&B and rock and roll sides coming out of Chess and Sun.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia -- Ronnie Hawkins, career overview including his covers of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley material ↗
1955
Thirty DaysChuck Berry
1959
Forty DaysRonnie Hawkins
listen forBerry sings a wronged lover's ultimatum over his signature chugging guitar boogie; Hawkins keeps the same chord changes and complaint but pushes the tempo up and roughens his vocal into a rockabilly holler, turning Berry's cool defiance into full-tilt roadhouse mania.
Bo Diddley1950s · Rock and roll / Rhythm and blues
Hawkins built "Who Do You Love?" into a signature showstopper of his own live sets, keeping the boasting, hoodoo-flecked lyrics and stop-time riff Bo Diddley had introduced on Checker Records in 1956; it became one of the songs most identified with Hawkins and the Hawks' stage act well into the 1960s.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia -- Ronnie Hawkins, career overview including his covers of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley material ↗
1956
Who Do You Love?Bo Diddley
1963
Who Do You LoveRonnie Hawkins
listen forDiddley half-speaks, half-sings a string of surreal boasts over his trademark stuttering "Bo Diddley beat"; Hawkins keeps that same call-and-response swagger but adds his own manic ad-libs and stage patter, stretching the song into a vehicle for the Hawks to show off.
Hank Williams1940s-50s · Country / Honky-tonk
Hawkins shared a stage with Hank Williams as a boy in Arkansas -- Williams was reportedly too drunk to perform and had the Drifting Cowboys invite audience members up to sing in his place -- and decades later paid full tribute with the 1960 Roulette album Ronnie Hawkins Sings the Songs of Hank Williams, twelve Williams compositions cut with Nashville session players and Levon Helm on drums.
listen: upstream & heresource: Encyclopedia of Arkansas -- Ronnie Hawkins (1935-2022), on his childhood encounter with Hank Williams and career overview ↗
1953
Weary Blues from Waitin'Hank Williams
1960
Weary Blues from Waitin'Ronnie Hawkins
listen forWilliams sings his own weary, yodel-streaked heartbreak plain and unhurried over pedal steel; Hawkins's version keeps the same aching melody and honky-tonk backing but roughens his phrasing, exposing the country foundation underneath his rockabilly-and-soul persona.