Carl Perkins performs at Overton Park Shell in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 1, 1956. Some 5,000 teenagers turned out for two hours of rockabilly by various artists. Elvis Presley made a surprise appearance at the show. (Robert Williams / The Commercial Appeal)
HOST ROSIE FLORES Alternative country meets the rockabilly revival meets California guitar virtuosity in the music of Rosie Flores. Since the late '70s, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rosie Flores has been an important figure on the alternative country scene in both Austin, TX, and Los Angeles. She's a hard-working, independently minded artist who's well-respected for her gritty, energetic vocals and fiery guitar solos.
A native of San Antonio, Flores moved to San Diego with her family when she was 12. Her family encouraged her singing and guitar playing, and as a girl she soaked up the sounds of southern California -- surf guitar, country and country-rock, blues, and rockabilly-flavored garage rock. By the time she was in her teens, Flores was playing in a band called Penelope's Children. During the first explosion of punk rock in the late '70s Flores formed Rosie & the Screamers, an otherwise all-male band that played hard country and rockabilly material, much of it written by Flores herself. She worked as a solo acoustic artist for a time but then formed an all-female punk band, The Screaming Sirens, who recorded the album Fiesta in 1984.
In 1987 Flores recorded her first solo album, Rosie Flores, produced by Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam's producer and guitarist) and released by Warner Brothers. The album gained critical acclaim, and among music-industry folk a Flores concert remains a strong draw to this day. But it was only modestly successful commercially, and Flores was dropped by Warner Brothers. She signed with the California independent label Hightone and in 1992 she released her second solo album, After the Farm, followed by Once More With Feeling a year later. These albums featured original songs by Flores, her own sharp guitar leads, and crackerjack session work from a variety of Los Angeles veterans. Flores then spent the better part of 1994 playing lead guitar in Butch Hancock's band.
In 1995 Flores recorded Rockabilly Filly, a spirited tribute to the music she grew up with. The album featured duets with her longtime idols Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin, both of whom Flores brought out of retirement for the project. The album led to a cross-country tour with Jackson, who hadn't played in nightclubs in over 20 years.
In 1997, Rounder re-released her Warner Bros. debut along with six new bonus tracks under the title Honky Tonk Reprise, helping to sustain the momentum of her career. That same year, the Austin label Watermelon released her duet project with Ray Campi, entitled A Little Bit of Heartache. In the late '90s, Flores moved to the folk-oriented Massachusetts label Rounder, pushing the stylistic mix of her music slightly in the direction of rockabilly but not really changing course. The 1999 live album Dance Hall Dreams was recorded at a San Antonio country club and featured several of the top session players Flores has always been able to attract, among them Texas steel guitar stalwart Cyndi Cashdollar. Flores released Speed of Sound on the Eminent label two years later, offering yet more original songs as well as a scorching cover of Buck Owens' rockabilly classic Hot Dog. Flores offered her fans an intimate perspective on her music with the solo acoustic live set Single Rose in 2004, and an album of country and rockabilly styled holiday favorites, Christmasville, followed in 2005. Her most recent project is producing an album featuring one of her idols, the rockabilly pioneer Janis Martin. Prolifically creative, Rosie Flores deserves to be numbered among the creators of the alternative country movement. Her career, never really flagging, has outlasted those of a host of other acts in that fast-moving genre.
PRODUCER LEX GILLESPIE is a public radio and television producer and a filmmaker in Washington, D.C., with an emphasis on music, history and culture. His topics range from the music of the Andes, to the disappearing American cowboy, to a hip hop opera set in a Korean convenience store. He’s made two documentary films: “The Catskills” (2024) and “The Mamboniks” (2019). Before “Whole Lotta Shakin,” he produced “Let the Good Times Roll,” a 26-hour public radio series on rhythm and blues music that won a Peabody Award. He also served as a producer at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum on the series “Jazz Singers” and “Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was.”
DIGITAL EDITOR SURAYA MOHAMED has worked in public radio for nearly twenty years. She started her career as a sound engineer for NPR then left in 2000 to start her own production company, specializing in documentary production, sound design, mixing, editing, and mastering. She has produced and engineered numerous documentary series including Jazz Singers (a Smithsonian Production), NPR's Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center, PRI's Let the Good Times Roll, and Experiencing War (presented by The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.) She recently produced 14 new Jazz Profiles episodes and won an NEA Chairman's Award for distinguished service. Other accolades include two Peabody Awards and two Gracie Allen Awards.
