A Rocket In My Pocket: The Soundtrack To The Hipster’s Guide To Rockabilly Music

If you haven’t read Max Décharné’s book A Rocket in My Pocket: The Hipster’s Guide to Rockabilly Music, then you need to do so. You can read my review of A Rocket In My Pocket if you need convincing. The book is a great history of rockabilly and throughout the book Décharné talks about rockabilly legends both famous and obscure. And of course, as he talks about the artists he mentions scores of rockabilly songs.

As I read the book, songs that I’d never heard of—let alone heard—kept popping up on the pages. I promised myself that I would do my best to dig up and listen to every song mentioned. Thankfully, Ace Records has made that task a whole lot easier by compiling 28 rockin’ rockabilly tracks on the companion CD to the book. The compilation CD, called appropriately enough A Rocket in My Pocket: Soundtrack to The Hipster’s Guide to Rockabilly Music fires off one rocker after then next and is a pure joy to listen to.

The major stars of rockabilly are represented on the disc. Elvis, Carl Perkins, The Burnette Brothers’ Rock and Roll Trio, and Wanda Jackson, all have a cut on the CD. Then there are second-tier artists here too. Second tier only in terms of fame, not in terms of quality! Hal Harris, Ronnie Self, Jimmy Lloyd (who co-wrote and sang the amazing song from which the book and this compilation borrow their titles), and Charlie Feathers represent this group wonderfully with cuts on the disc.

But what I particularly enjoyed were the cuts by the really obscure artists that have been included on this disc. Not only had I not heard many of these songs—almost two thirds of the cuts on the compilation were new to me!—but I hadn’t heard of many of the artists who cut them either. It’s always fun to hear new rockabilly and discover new artists and unless you’ve been steeped in obscure rockabilly, this CD provides tons of great new stuff to hear. If you’re relatively new to rockabilly music, this compilation and the book itself are essential items for your education.

Artists like Dale Vaughn, Gene Maltais, Allen Page, Jackie Morningstar…these names were all new to me. That might perhaps betray my naïveté to those of you who have been steeped in rockabilly for years and have made it a passion to seek out obscure rockabilly. But I have no doubt that I’m not alone by far and there are many others of you out there who have never heard of many of these artists or their music. Particularly those of us who grew up in America where this music was all but forgotten by 1960. We just didn’t have much access to rockabilly and many Americans are still discovering it for the first time. For people like these, this disc is pure rockabilly gold!

The CD’s liner notes, written by Décharné himself are also great. They give a short summary of each song and the artist that recorded it. They also include many pictures of the artists which is always fun. I don’t often find the time to just sit and listen to a CD, so that’s one great thing about doing reviews like this; it gives me an excuse to just focus on the music. I enjoyed listening to the song and reading the liner notes to that song while it was playing. Once I’d finished the notes for that particular song, I held off reading the next notes until the next song started. Am I the only one that does that? I doubt it. For me there’s no better way to read the liner notes. It’s great when I have the time to do it!

All of the songs featured on this CD were recorded in the 1950s during rockabilly’s heyday, although some of them were not released until years later—some as late as the 2000s. Every cut on the CD is a gem. I can’t even pick my favorites; they’re all great! The liner notes promise that “…the focus with this particular selection is mostly on the wilder cuts.” And then the disc proceeds to make good on that promise. This CD would make a great soundtrack for a rockin’ party and the energy never quits. But then, that’s a pretty apt definition of rockabilly music, isn’t it?

While I can’t imagine the compilation of original rockabilly tunes that I wouldn’t love, I have heard compilations that “could have been better.” Sometimes the pacing isn’t right or the song order just doesn’t work somehow. I’m not sure this one could be any better. There’s enough recognizable stuff here to make you feel comfortable on first listen, but more than enough obscure material to keep me convinced that this is a CD that I truly needed in my collection.

As I said earlier, if you’re new to rockabilly or just haven’t had the chance to dig into some really obscure material, then this CD is a great place to hear and learn about some great “new” stuff. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to this compilation. I’ve also loved soaking in the information in the liner notes. It gives me a little more knowledge about the people who created the music I love so much over 50 years after they recorded these great cuts.

If you read A Rocket In My Pocket: The Hipster’s Guide To Rockabilly Music then you’ll really enjoy this CD as it makes the music you read about real. If you haven’t read the book, well you’ll still dig this CD completely. It’s a great compilation of great music. It’s kept me smiling from beginning to end. And that’s why I love rockabilly!