Rick Deitrick by Tucson Triple Creek

While radio and television weren't exactly new to the American people, they became much more affordable and common in the 1950s. Hosts of music radio shows, called disk jockeys, became celebrities in their own right, and the spread of the popularity of rock n roll music is indebted to many disk jockeys that cropped up all over the country.

The term rock n Roll came from Alan Freed, a disk jockey from Cleveland, Ohio, who hosted a rhythm and blues radio show. Freed's show The Moondog House was top rated and one of the first to play R&B records on air. Freed also hosted the first rock concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball, in Cleveland on March 21, 1952. The show lasted only 45 minutes and was oversold, causing a fittingly chaotic scene for the first rock n roll concert.

Rock n roll transcended as a form of music and began to affect other areas of life. In addition to changing the audio landscape of music, it began to influence other areas of pop culture, including movies and television shows. The music of the 1950s exemplifies a crucial transitional period in post war America. For the first time, music was seen as a way of expression and primed the country for future movements in the 60s, such as the Civil Rights Movement.

Source: Rock n Roll

Rick Deitrick by Tucson Triple Creek

• Written by: Rick Deitrick
• Genre: Contemporary Folk
• Released in: 1972

"Rick Deitrick took up the guitar at 16 and decided to approach his playing as if he was the only guy on an island. He completely divorced his playing from any formal music knowledge. Rick sought inspiration in nature and in particular the various rivers scattered around the Western United States."

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