"Guitar Boogie" is a guitar instrumental recorded by
Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
Arthur Smith (April 1, 1921 – April 3, 2014) was an American musician, songwriter, and producer of records, as well as a radio and TV host. Smith produced radio and TV shows; ''The Arthur Smith Show'' was the first nationally syndicated coun ...
in 1945. It was one of the first recordings in the style later dubbed "
hillbilly boogie" to reach a widespread audience, and eventually sold nearly three million copies.
[
] It was the first guitar instrumental to climb the country music charts, and then crossover and also gain high rankings on the popular music charts.
"Guitar Boogie" has been interpreted and recorded by a variety of musicians. It is among the songs discussed as the first
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
record.
Original song
"Guitar Boogie" is an uptempo twelve-bar
boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie mus ...
-style instrumental and is patterned after older
boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pi ...
piano pieces.
Roosevelt Graves and His Brother recorded an instrumental "Guitar Boogie" in 1929, which was issued by
Paramount Records.
[
] It features a descending arpeggio based on "
Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
"Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" is a song initially recorded on December 29, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was released on March 1, 1929 by Clarence "Pinetop" Smith on Vocalion Records, a piano rag that cemented boogie-woogie as the nam ...
", a piano-based piece recorded by
Pinetop Smith
Clarence Smith (June 11, 1904 – March 15, 1929), better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith, was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist. His hit tune "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" featured rhythmic "breaks" that were an essential i ...
in 1928. Music historian Larry Birnbaum describes it as "not the same as Arthur Smith's country hit by the same title".
In his version, Smith performs the piano parts on guitar, alternating between boogie rhythmic patterns and soloing. Originally a jazz musician, Smith explained, "I guess I picked that
oogie-woogiefrom
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...
's 'Boogie Woogie', 'cause I didn't listen to country or blues, I listened to
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
in those days".
Smith first recorded "Guitar Boogie" in 1945 with
the Rambler Trio, with
Don Reno
Donald Wesley Reno (February 21, 1926Trischka, Tony, "Don Reno", ''Banjo Song Book'', Oak Publications, 1977, – October 16, 1984) was an American bluegrass and country musician, best known as a pioneering banjo and guitar player who pa ...
on rhythm guitar and Roy Lear on bass. There has been conflicting information on the type of guitar Smith used for the recording; several sources identify it as an acoustic guitar and others as an electric guitar. The piece was released under the name "the Rambler Trio featuring Arthur Smith" by the independent Super Disc Records label. Regionally "Guitar Boogie" did well, due in part to Smith's appearances on popular radio programs, such as Charlotte, North Carolina
WBT's ''Carolina Hayride''.
In October 1948,
MGM Records (which had purchased Super Disc and Smith's contract) re-released the instrumental under the name "Arthur (Guitar Boogie) Smith and His Cracker-Jacks". By 1949, "Guitar Boogie" reached number eight during a stay of seven weeks on the
Hot Country Songs chart and number 25 on the
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streamin ...
chart, making it "the first guitar instrumental to climb the Country charts
hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
crossover, and climb the Pop Charts".
[
] As an early popular example of hillbilly boogie, it is a link between 1940s
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...
and
honky-tonk
A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...
and 1950s
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...
.
Guitar Boogie Shuffle
In the 1950s, rock and roll versions of "Guitar Boogie", usually titled "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" (but credited to Arthur Smith), were recorded.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
critic Bruce Eder describes these renditions as having "new accents and a beat that took it out of country boogie and Western swing".
[
] In 1953, a version by the Super-Sonics was titled "New Guitar Boogie Shuffle" and another by the Esquire Boys with
Danny Cedrone
Donato Joseph "Danny" Cedrone (June 20, 1920 – June 17, 1954) was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954.
Career
Cedrone was born in Jamesvil ...
on guitar was titled "Guitar Boogie Shuffle". In 1958, a Philadelphia band, Frank Virtue and
the Virtues, recorded it as "Guitar Boogie Shuffle". In 1959, the Virtues' single reached number five on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number 27 on the
Hot R&B Sides chart, which Eder calls "one of the most popular and influential instrumentals of its era".
Also in 1959, a version of "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" by
Bert Weedon backed with "Bert's Boogie" reached number ten in the UK charts. A version of "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" (simply titled "Guitar Boogie") by New Zealand musician
Peter Posa
Peter Paul Posa (8 August 1941 – 3 February 2019) was a New Zealand guitarist most famous for his instrumental "The White Rabbit", which was released in 1963. The song is a guitar instrumental that sold 100,000 copies.
Career
Posa was bor ...
became a bit hit in his native country in 1962. Ten years later, a rendition appeared on
the Ventures
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...
' 1972 album, ''Rock & Roll Forever'' with
Harvey Mandel
Harvey Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career.
Early life
Mandel was born in Detroit, Michigan, ...
guesting on lead guitar.
Recordings by others
Numerous guitarists have interpreted and recorded "Guitar Boogie". Early versions of the song include those by the
Les Paul Trio (1947) and
Alvino Rey
Alvin McBurney (July 1, 1908 – February 24, 2004), known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader.
Career
Alvin McBurney was born in Oakland, California, United States, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Early i ...
(1946 and 1948).
[Capitol 318 and 15223] In 1958, a different song titled "Guitar Boogie", with more chording and very different breaks, was included on
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
's second album ''
One Dozen Berrys.'' (
Jeff Beck, then with
the Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...
later based his "Jeff's Boogie" on Berry's version).
Freddie King
Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Most ...
's 1960 blues guitar instrumental "
Hide Away" incorporates elements from various songs, including sections similar to those in "Guitar Boogie". Later renditions of "Guitar Boogie" include live versions by
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...
and
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...
.
References
{{authority control
1945 songs
1948 singles
The Virtues songs
1940s instrumentals