Moondog - Magic Ring

One conspicuous omission from a list of usual birthplace suspects would be Hattiesburg, Mississippi, due to the 1936 recordings of the Mississippi Jook Band. The band was founded by Blind Roosevelt Graves and his brother Uaroy, who were best known for gospel songs... These foundational gospel tunes were the kind of seminal songs that were in the DNA of all subsequent American music. Along with pianist Cooney Vaughn, the Graves brothers recorded as the Mississippi Jook Band, and in the more secular recordings... we hear the nascent sounds of Rock and Roll.

Rock’s roots derived from the rocking and reeling style of ecstatic singing found in the maverick Sanctified and Holiness churches, where guitars, drums, and horns were as acceptable as the pianos and organ, and more easily afforded. According to Palmer, the Graves brothers... featured fully formed rock and roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock and roll beat... Rock and Roll as a genre arguably dates back almost a century, it might be said that 81 years is a more precise estimate.

Source: Rock and Roll was Born at the Crossroads by DeWayne Moore

Moondog - Magic Ring

• Produced by: Kenneth Ovesson and Louis Hardin
• Written by: Louis Hardin
• Genre: Jazz, Classical

"Moondog routinely gave away copies of his work to anybody who would take them. He came to the attention of producer James William Guercio, who took him into the studio to record an album."

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