SAM PHILLIPS' DEATH & MORE

Today is the 5th anniversary of the death of Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, Memphis, and therefore a friend to us all. He doesn't have his own entry in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia but he's referred to not only in the entries on Arthur Crudup, Howlin Wolf, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Billy Lee Riley, rock'n'roll and Warren Smith but also in those on the inequality of reward in the blues; T-Bone Burnett; Sleepy John Estes; Daniel Lanois; the 1964 car ride through America; 'Not Dark Yet' and Wayne Raney. Had I had more space, he would also have been cited in the entry on Roy Orbison, the only figure whose early rock'n'roll credentials straddled the long-legendary studios of both Norman Petty and Sam Phillips.

Tomorrow I hope to comment on the forthcoming Dylan Bootleg Series 8 releases.