Roll 'Em Pete

"Roll 'Em Pete"
Single by Joe Turner & Pete Johnson
Released1939
RecordedDecember 30, 1938
GenreBoogie-woogie
Length2:50
LabelVocalion 4607
Songwriter(s)Joe Turner, Pete Johnson[1]

"Roll 'Em Pete" is a boogie-woogie song, originally recorded in December 1938 by singer Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson.[2] The recording is regarded as one of the most important precursors of what later became known as rock and roll.[3][4][5]

"Roll 'Em Pete" was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2018, as one of the five new entrants in the "Classic of Blues Recording (Song)" category.[6]

  1. ^ "Roll 'Em Pete - Big Joe Turner | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  2. ^ Scott Yanow. "The Boss of the Blues - Big Joe Turner | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  3. ^ Nick Tosches, Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll, Secker & Warburg, 1991, ISBN 0-436-53203-4
  4. ^ Peter J. Silvester, A Left Hand Like God : a history of boogie-woogie piano (1989), ISBN 0-306-80359-3.
  5. ^ M. Campbell, ed., Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on (Cengage Learning, 3rd edn., 2008), p. 99. ISBN 0-495-50530-7
  6. ^ "News: The Blues Hall of Fame Welcoes Roebuck 'Pops' Staples, Sam Lay, Mamie Smith, Georgia Tom Dorsey and the Acesas its newest Members on May 9 at the Blues Foundation's 39th Annual Induction Ceremony - Blues Foundation". Blues.org. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.