Sid King

One of the first white rock & rollers to record for a major label (Columbia), Sid King was also one of the first young Southern musicians to travel the line from Western swing to rockabilly in the mid-'50s. He never quite jumped into rock head over heels, though, nor did he ever break through to a national audience. The only vintage King available on CD domestically is an interesting but not wholly representative set of radio broadcasts from the mid-'50s that fall closer to hillbilly than rockabilly; his Columbia recordings have been reissued in Germany on Bear Family's Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight. ~ Richie Unterberger