This article was written by Samuel Phineas Upham
Carl Perkins embodied all that was a part of the Rockabilly era. He did most of his recording at Sun Records Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and is considered influential to many classic and contemporary rock stars.
Perkins came from a humble beginning, the son of two sharecroppers. He grew up in a heavily gospel setting, with white and black folks singing psalms and tunes while they worked or worshipped. Perkins was a working class boy, often spending his evenings in the field after school. All that work amounted to fifty cents per day in pay, but the Perkins family managed to keep food on the table with a little bit of tobacco for Carl’s father.
Perkins and his brother Jay took a job as entertainers in a tavern off of Highway 45. There, they worked for tips singing up-tempo cowboy songs. They even got free drinks for their work. Their repertoire expanded over the next few years, putting them in taverns all over Tennessee. Meanwhile, Carl picked cotton or assembled mattresses to make ends meet.
He married Valda Crider, a close friend for many years, who encouraged him to hit the clubs full-time when his day job was reduced to part-time hours. He went out six nights a week, and soon made cuts of his own music that he sent off to RCA and Columbia.
Perkins was said to have realized his place was in Memphis after hearing Elvis Presley sing “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” His wife recalls that he said there was someone in Memphis who finally understood what he was doing.
About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Samuel Phineas Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Samuel Phineas Upham on his Samuel Phineas Upham website.