March 19, 2017

Chuck Berry: 1926-2017

Chuck Berry, the most influential rock 'n' roll pioneer ever, is dead at 90. He wrote songs that went far beyond the Moon-June crap and made the electric guitar sing, seduce, moan and weep. “Johnny B. Goode,” "Carol,“ Too Much Monkey Business,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” "Little Queenie,", "No Particular Place To Go," "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Roll Over Beethoven”, "Maybellene," "Memphis," You Never Can Tell," “Rock and Roll Music” the list goes on and on. Keith Richards summed it up perfectly:

To me, Chuck Berry always was the epitome of rhythm and blues playing, rock and roll playing. It was beautiful, effortless, and his timing was perfection. He is rhythm supreme. He plays that lovely double-string stuff, which I got down a long time ago, but I’m still getting the hang of. Later I realized why he played that way–because of the sheer physical size of the guy. I mean, he makes one of those big Gibsons look like a ukulele!

» chuckberry.com

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