60 Years Ago: 'Beatles For Sale' Highlights Rootsy Influences
George Harrison once drew a simple frame around the Beatles' musical origin story, highlighting the impact of the blues.
"If there was no Lead Belly, there would have been no Lonnie Donegan; no Lonnie Donegan, no Beatles," friend John Reynolds remembered Harrison saying in the Legend of Lead Belly documentary. "Therefore no Lead Belly, no Beatles."
But Donegan's brand of local rockabilly, called skiffle, also drew from country music, old-timey songs and bluegrass. In fact, Liverpool had a bustling country scene, led by Phil Brady, among others. Brady's earliest fame coincided with the Merseybeat fad that played a more celebrated role in shaping the Beatles' sound.
Ringo Starr had long been a fan of country music, but John Lennon was responsible for bringing this influence into the group's songwriting core.
"I grew up with blues music [and] country and western music, which is also a big thing in Liverpool," Lennon subsequently recalled. "One of the first visions I had was one of a fully dressed cowboy in the middle of Liverpool with his Hawaiian guitar, you know? That's the first time I ever saw a guitar in my life. He had the full gear on."
Lennon would favor a similar style with his pre-Beatles band, the Quarrymen, who wore the same string ties made famous by James Garner as a witty Old West card sharp on TV's Maverick in the late '50s. The Quarrymen's business cards, drawn up by manager Nigel Walley, promised a slate of "Country, Western, Rock 'n' Roll, Skiffle."
After the Quarrymen morphed into the Beatles, early visionary Brian Epstein quickly arranged for an audition to appear on BBC Radio. They'd perform for producer Peter Pilbeam in March 1962 at the Playhouse Theatre in London. His comments on the audition report were telling.
Source: Nick DeRiso/ultimateclassicrock.com
