Swinging to the groove of Rockabilly

Published 7:01 am Sunday, October 8, 2017

Memphis: a site known to be settled in the first millennium AD by people of the Mississippian Culture, who built earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds.

Memphis: a city of over 600,000 in southwest Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County.

Memphis: a community founded in 1819 as a planned city by a group of wealthy Americans including future president Andrew Jackson and named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River.

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Memphis: The home of Sun Records, a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips in 1950 known as the birthplace of rock & roll. Artists Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded there throughout the mid-to-late 1950s.

An impromptu jam session took place at Sun Records in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash happened to converge and spend some time playing together. Cowboy Jack Clement was engineering that day and remembers saying to himself “I think I’d be remiss not to record this” and so he did.They became known as the “Million Dollar Quartet” after a headline in the Memphis Press-Scimitar, in part because Presley was the biggest name in show business, having appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show with an estimated 55 million viewers just a few months before.

One Night in Memphis: Over 90 minutes of rockabilly, country, gospel and pure 1950’s rock and roll music created and directed by John Mueller, an official tribute to legendary Sun Records recording artists Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley performed live and starring former cast members of the Broadway smash, “Million Dollar Quartet.” True American music featuring acclaimed national talent guaranteed to get you rocking and rolling coming to the Historic Paramount Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Tickets are on sale now, main floor advanced: $45, balcony advanced: $35, main floor day of: $50, balcony day of: $40.

Coming soon at the Paramount Theatre

•Oct. 11: $5 Movie: “Beetlejuice,” 7:30 p.m.

•Oct. 13: $5 Movie: “Friday the 13th” and “Friday the 13th Part 2,” 7:30 p.m.

•Oct. 21: One Night in Memphis, 7:30 p.m.

Coming soon at the ArtWorks Center

Oct. 14: Music at the Bank featuring Part Time Ex’s, 7:30 p.m.

Find out more at www.austinareaarts.org