Mr. Carl Perkins, rockabille pioneer, dead at 65.FILE PHOTO

Mr. Carl Perkins, 65, rockabilly pioneer, dies

Mr. Perkins died at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson from complications related to a recent series of strokes

Web posted January 20, 1998

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins, the son of a tenant farmer whose first guitar at age 7 was made of a cigar box, broomstick and baling wire, died Monday. He was 65.

Influenced by the music of black field workers, Mr. Perkins' guitar licks and songwriting melded country and rhythm-and-blues, touching Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Stray Cats and dozens of other rockers from the '50s, '60s and into the '80s.

Mr. Perkins died at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson from complications related to a recent series of strokes, family spokesman Albert Hall said.

``He was the best rock and country guitarist I have ever heard,'' said producer Sam Phillips, whose Sun Records put out early music by Mr. Perkins, Presley, Mr. Lewis and other rock legends.

``I don't know anybody who did more for it, though he did not get the same recognition as some of the others.''

Known primarily as the writer of Blue Suede Shoes, Mr. Perkins wrote other rock and country standards. Presley had a hit with Blue Suede Shoes and the Beatles recorded Honey Don't, Matchbox and Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby.

Johnny Cash scored a No. 1 hit with Mr. Perkins' Daddy Sang Bass, and Mr. Perkins toured as a guitarist in Mr. Cash's show from 1965-75.

Mr. Perkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Mr. Perkins survived throat cancer in 1991 and had surgery to open a partially blocked artery to his brain last June. He recovered and continued performing, including a London benefit in September for Montserrat, the Caribbean island devastated by a volcano.

His last album -- Go Cat Go! -- was released in 1996.

Mr. Perkins was born April 9, 1932, outside Tiptonville, near the Missouri border in rural West Tennessee. He grew up picking cotton and soaking in the music sung by black field hands.

At 7, he began playing a guitar his father made from a cigar box, broomstick and baling wire. He would retreat behind the family chicken house and pretend he was singing on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry radio show.

``He could have been a mammoth country artist,'' Mr. Phillips said. ``But I don't think he would have been happy. By nature, he was a rocker. I mean, a naturalborn kicker.''

Mr. Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes in 1956. Shortly after recording it, he broke his neck and fractured his skull in a traffic accident in Delaware and spent a year recovering, unable to capitalize on his mounting fame. During that time, Presley recorded the song and earned much of the popularity Mr. Perkins had been building.

Mr. Perkins toured and recorded for the rest of his life, but never achieved commercial success near the level of Presley, Mr. Lewis or others.

Mr. Phillips said Mr. Perkins was probably the only Sun Records star who didn't grow bitter about being outdone by another artist on his biggest hit.

``I've never been an envious person,'' Mr. Perkins told The Associated Press in a 1992 interview. ``I was raised poor. I felt fortunate to even be on Sun Records, to be a small part of what was happening there.''

Mr. Perkins' talents were recognized by his peers and by generations to come.

``I've always considered him to be the king of rockabilly,'' said Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley's first guitarist. ``I admired him both personally and professionally.''

Mr. Cash said Mr. Perkins ``was a very close friend for over 40 years and his musical legacy is certain to prevail forever.''

Mr. Perkins met the Beatles in 1964 during a British concert tour with another rock 'n' roll pioneer, Chuck Berry.

About his influence on the Beatles, Mr. Perkins said in a 1985 Associated Press interview: ``They advanced it (guitar playing) so much. That rockabilly sound wasn't as simple as I thought it was.''

In another interview, he said the Beatles and Rolling Stones saved rockabilly in the mid '60s when it was in danger of dying.

``They put a nice suit on rockabilly,'' Mr. Perkins said. ``They never really strayed from the simplicity of it. They just beautified it.''

Mr. Perkins spent 15 years battling alcoholism, saying he overcame it by hurling his last whiskey bottle into the Pacific in 1967 near Encino, Calif.

He was a longtime resident of Jackson, where he performed an annual concert to raise money for a child abuse prevention center named in his honor.

Mr. Perkins is survived by wife Valda, sons Greg, Stan and Steve Perkins and daughter Debbie Swift.

A public funeral service will be Friday at Womack Memorial Chapel at Lambuth University in Jackson.