Author Talk: Hank Ewert on the Sounds that Changed Everything, 1945-1950
We sat down with Austin-based author and retired educator Hank Ewert to chat about his fascinating new book, Let the Music Speak: Tracking the Sounds that Changed Everything, 1945-1950 (Nautilus Publishing).
Ewert grew up in Kingsville and Riviera, Texas, and his older brother, Bill, introduced him to rock ‘n’ roll when he was very young. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Ewert served as the Austin correspondent for Living Blues magazine.
In this Q&A, Ewert explains why the mid to late ‘40s were such a pivotal time in popular music history. He discusses the rise and significance of independent record labels and recommends some essential recordings from the ‘40s.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Scroll to the bottom of this article to view the full video interview.
360°Sound: Why did you decide to cover this period in music history, 1945 to 1950?
Hank Ewert: The funny thing is that I’ve never set out to write a book. I am a big fan and have been most of my life. I’m also the person that wants to know the details that most people don’t really care about. I’m interested in finding out who played which instrument on which session in 1953 – that sort of stuff. I never feel satisfied with what I know, but I felt relatively good about my understanding of roots music, 1920s ‘30s, ‘50s and ‘60s.
About 10 years ago, I had this feeling that there was there were things about the 1940s that I didn’t know enough about, and it was a little mysterious to me. I knew a good bit about blues records in the late 40s, especially the Chicago musicians who had mostly come from the Mississippi Delta, but in general, I felt as if I needed to delve more into the ‘40s, especially the late 40s.
It turned out to be a great thing to do. I learned a lot. I found a lot of detail. The existence of the internet helped a tremendous amount. This would have been a very difficult project were it not for websites devoted to details about recording sessions and record releases. The more I got into it, the more excited I got. I kept my notes on my computer, and then COVID afforded me a little bit more time to work on it, and then retiring from my education career in 2022 afforded me more time.
The more time I had, the more I did, and the notes began to take shape and start to look like more than notes. I got some feedback from my wife and some very helpful friends on things to add, and it morphed into a book.
Please provide a snapshot of the popular music of the second half of the 1940s.
Swing jazz and big band pop were extremely popular in the 1940s. But the processes that occurred with genres in the late ‘40s sort of spelled the end for big band pop. So many things happened, it’s hard to go through them all with the time we’ve got, but one very important thing was that the bandleaders began to fade in terms of importance, and the singers and the key instrumentalists got more emphasis.
In 1945, if you looked at a typical pop or jazz record, you would see the bandleader featured at the top, and you might see some note about an instrumentalist or a vocalist under that person’s name. That changed significantly during the period that the book is concerned with. Individual performers, rather than the big band, came to prominence, and people discovered that they could do more musically, in many ways, if they didn’t have a big group.
Rhythm and blues exploded right at the beginning of this period. It got bigger and bigger, and it emphasized small groups. The change in jazz from swing to bebop meant smaller groups, and more emphasis on what individual musicians could do with their virtuosity and their willingness to experiment. The only genre that sort of went the other way, in some ways, was what became country. The term country wasn’t popular to use in the 1940s. They called it hillbilly music.
One of the points I make in the book is that genres tended to influence other genres. There was intense change in musical genres, and it set the stage for what people think of as the beginning of the modern phase in the mid ‘50s.
Hank Williams, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker are on the book’s cover. I imagine our readers are familiar with them, but maybe not Julia Lee and Wynonie Harris. Tell us a little about their importance.
Julia Lee [pictured above] was one of many great female vocalists in the late ‘40s who were part of the move from jump blues and urban blues to rhythm and blues. I like to describe her as the Hank Ballard of the ‘40s. She made records that were pretty risqué for the time, and she was successful with them, even though she wasn’t going to get any radio play. Lee was somebody who was really stretching the boundaries.
Wynonie Harris was a leader in rhythm and blues, literally from the beginning, from the spring of ‘45. He had the hit version of “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” which a lot of people say is the first rock ‘n’ roll song. Harris had the perfect voice, style, and attitude for bridging rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll. “Mr. Blues” [Harris’s nickname] is one of the true giants of rhythm and blues, and there’s a good bit about him in the book.
With the economic boom following World War II, there was a sharp rise in independent record labels. How did that impact the type of music being made?
It had a huge influence. For one thing, the independent labels were not under as much pressure from the musician union as the major labels. They were freer to encourage radio stations to play their records. They were also freer from genre constraints. The new harder gospel, rhythm and blues, and lots of regional genres ended up being recorded on independent labels. There weren’t quite the number of opportunities on the major labels. The independent record labels changed music.
Atlantic Records started out as a tiny jazz label that almost accidentally became a rhythm and blues label. It ended up being bigger than some of the majors because they had great leadership, they chose great artists, and they did a great job in the studio – that was true of a lot of the independents. They just weren’t as conventional.
For someone who wants the dip their toes into the music of this era, what are some essential tracks?
The song that sort of launched R&B right at the beginning of 1945 is “I Wonder” by Cecil Gant. It’s historically important. I really like a song called “That’s the Stuff You Got to Watch.” The original came out in 1945 by the Buddy Johnson Orchestra. But it was really the singer, his sister, Ella Johnston, who made that song. Just a terrific song that ended up being recorded by a lot of blues artists, including Muddy Waters.
Either side of the first hit record that Waters had, “I Can’t Be Satisfied” or “I Feel Like Going Home.” It’s a tremendous record, just really has that Delta power, but with the little bit of urban aggressiveness to it. Charlie Parker’s version of “Begin the Beguine,” which had been a big swing hit by Artie Shaw, is one of my favorites.
“Blue Moon of Kentucky” by Bill Monroe is a favorite. Monroe didn’t create bluegrass, but he certainly took it pretty far. He had one of the greatest groups in the late ‘40s. In fact, the term bluegrass comes from his band, the Bluegrass Boys.
Mahalia Jackson’s early hits, such as “How I Got Over,” are great and very, very influential. For a good example of Western swing becoming honky tonk, there’s the drinking song “Driving Nails in My Coffin.” Floyd Tillman and Ernest Tubb both did great versions of it. “Route 66” by Nat King Cole is a classic. It’s not really a R&B song, but there have been many interpretations of it across all the genres. It transcends everything.
What do you hope readers take away from your book?
When I’m selling the book at an event, I tend to give people a selection CD with the book. I don’t want people just to read a book, I want people to experience the music.
I was at an event in West Texas recently, and I had some headphones with me and a player, and this 13-year-old young woman put the headphones on and walked around and listened to everything. She came back and said, “These songs are really good and made me so happy.” That’s somebody hearing it for the first time and connecting with it.
I just want people to have the experience that I had and get a fuller, deeper awareness and appreciation for this music that, from my point of view, changed everything afterward.
Watch the entire interview with Hank Ewert on our YouTube channel, @360degreesound:
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