Dewey and Elvis: The Life and Times of a Rock 'n' Roll Deejay

by Louis Cantor

Beginning in 1949, while Elvis Presley and Sun Records were still virtually unknown--and two full years before Alan Freed famously "discovered" rock 'n' roll--Dewey Phillips brought the budding new music to the Memphis airwaves by playing Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters on his nightly radio show Red, Hot and Blue. The mid-South's most popular white deejay, "Daddy-O-Dewey" soon became part of rock 'n' roll history for being the first major disc jockey to play Elvis Presley and, subsequently, to conduct the first live, on-air interview with the singer. Louis Cantor illuminates Phillips's role in turning a huge white audience on to previously forbidden race music. Phillips's zeal for rhythm and blues legitimized the sound and set the stage for both Elvis's subsequent success and the rock 'n' roll revolution of the 1950s. Using personal interviews, documentary sources, and oral history collections, Cantor presents a personal view of the disc jockey while restoring Phillips's place as an essential figure in rock 'n' roll history.

Genres: Biography

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not an Elvis book. This is a biography about Dewey Phillips, and Elvis' name should not be in the title. Although very well researched, it is badly in need of a good editor. There are a lot of redundancies and some sections of the book are all over the place. The most important moment in the Dewey/Elvis relationship (playing his record for the first time and the first interview) was only quickly mentioned and skimmed over... very odd. Overall a good biography of poor Dewey, but don't expect a lot of Elvis stories or insight.

[Marcia Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after going to see the musical, Memphis. This is the real story behind the musical -- the life of Dewey Phillips. If you love this time period, love Memphis, love rock and roll, this is the book for you. Louis Cantor grew up in the time of Dewey and Elvis. This is an exceptionally detailed and fun read. There are a lot of wonderful anecdotes in here. This book is a wonderful companion to Peter Guralnick's biography of Elvis.