Swamp rock.

The style originated in Louisiana, the result of a musical gumbo made up of raw rock & roll and bluesy, dirty R&B, which sounded, for lack of a better word, “swampy.” Before Creedence Clearwater Revival put their musical stamp on the genre by covering “Susie-Q”, the originator of the swamp blues classic was Louisiana native Dale Hawkins.

Dale “Cousin of Ronnie” Hawkins grew up, like all musicians in the Bayou State, heavily influenced by the blues coming out of juke joints and radio speakers, but also by the new sound of rock & roll embodied by Elvis Presley (who frequently played Dale’s hometown of Shreveport). In 1957, trying to get his foot in the door, Hawkins co-wrote a song named after the daughter of an influential record store owner and producer in town. That producer, along with the wife of a prominent local DJ, received a writing credit despite having no input into the song whatsoever.

The one guy who probably should have received a credit, but did not, was guitarist James Burton, since he claims to have written all of the music for the song when he was about 15 and originally intended it as an instrumental. He certainly came up with the main riff and solo (and played it on the track), but session guitarists are rarely credited for riffs so who knows if this is a major injustice or simply standard operating procedure for the music biz. If he did, indeed, write the music, he’s missed out on a lot of cash compensation over the decades.

[Burton would still do alright for himself as one of the greatest, and most influential, behind-the-scenes guitarists of the next 3 decades, primarily known for his work with Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley, but racking up hundreds of credits with artists as diverse as The Monkees, Emmylou Harris, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Costello. In fact, he was so busy during the 60’s that he turned down offers by Presley and Bob Dylan to join their respective bands, though he would later join Presley and work with him throughout the 70’s.]

Hawkins and Burton recorded “Susie-Q” in a Shreveport radio station that doubled as a small recording studio. They had to wait until the middle of the night for the rest of the staff to go home and then they got down to recording history. Hawkins wasn’t signed to a label, but eventually the tape was acquired by Checker Records (a subsidiary of Chess) in Chicago. Released as a single in the spring of 1957, “Susie-Q” was a moderately big hit, but proved most influential with musicians and the up and coming generation of rock and rollers, most of whom had never been near a swamp.

So say that you’ll be true … to Dale Hawkins.