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Carl Perkins
When Carl Perkins shuffled off this mortal coil in 1998, the world lost a true rock & roll giant. Not only did his fleet-fingered, country-flavored picking help define rock & roll guitar (as well as provide Brian Setzer plenty of riffs to rip off), but Perkins also wrote perhaps the definitive rock & roll party anthem in "Blue Suede Shoes." Sure, that guy from Tupelo, Mississippi, with the sideburns and swivel hips may have the more well-known version, but the version Perkins waxed topped the country, R&B and pop charts, the first record to ever do so. Not bad for an old cotton picker from Jackson, Tennessee. In 1996, Perkins released what would be his final album, Go Cat Go, an all-star tribute that featured such luminaries as John Fogerty, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Paul Simon and Willie Nelson. |