The metro Washington, D.C. area is famous for the many musicians who passed thru the area before they made their mark, some of whom were Mama Cass, Jim Morrison, and even Jimi Hendrix. Others would make their mark there, such as Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean, and Link Wray. But in later years, things would happen that never let the 50s leave us. Country music merged with rock & roll and was called rockabilly. Link was part of that. He also discovered that by poking holes in the tweeters of his amp would create a neat fuzzy sound which he perfected. He also introduced a new dance step to it called the stroll. In the late 60s, FM radio was breaking out and stealing the more informed listeners from the old 'top 40' format simply by playing more types of music by lesser known artists and didn't suffer from the tight confines of a playlist dictated by marketing types. The old WHFS broke Bruce Springsteen into the D.C. region many years before his singles were ever played by the top 40 stations of the day in the area. They also kept playing, at other times, music by Link Wray and his Wraymen. 'From Accokeek, Md...' I can still hear ole Weasel saying to this day. And as it turns out, many of the other musicians whose music was played on WHFS had listened to Wrays recordings as well.
The metro Washington, D.C. area is famous for the many musicians who passed thru the area before they made their mark, some of whom were Mama Cass, Jim Morrison, and even Jimi Hendrix. Others would make their mark there, such as Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean, and Link Wray. But in later years, things would happen that never let the 50s leave us. Country music merged with rock & roll and was called rockabilly. Link was part of that. He also discovered that by poking holes in the tweeters of his amp would create a neat fuzzy sound which he perfected. He also introduced a new dance step to it called the stroll. In the late 60s, FM radio was breaking out and stealing the more informed listeners from the old 'top 40' format simply by playing more types of music by lesser known artists and didn't suffer from the tight confines of a playlist dictated by marketing types. The old WHFS broke Bruce Springsteen into the D.C. region many years before his singles were ever played by the top 40 stations of the day in the area. They also kept playing, at other times, music by Link Wray and his Wraymen. 'From Accokeek, Md...' I can still hear ole Weasel saying to this day. And as it turns out, many of the other musicians whose music was played on WHFS had listened to Wrays recordings as well.
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