The electrifying sounds of groovin' jump blues, Southern-fried rock 'n'
roll, fervent black gospel, and the simmering sounds of the Louisiana
swamp came bursting out of Nashville, Tennessee in the early 1950s
courtesy of Excello Records and its sister Nashboro label.
Operating out of Ernie's Record Mart ("the Record Center of the
South!"), Excello forged a partnership with 50,000-watt clear-channel
radio station WLAC. The influential station's dusk-to-dawn broadcasts of
rhythm & blues boomed through the stratosphere, captivating millions of
teenagers and crossing racial boundary lines. The unusual partnership
paid huge dividends as Ernie Young transformed his shop into one of the
largest mail-order record retailers in the world.
With his built-in distribution network, Ernie's own label releases by
Slim Harpo, Arthur Gunter, Lightnin' Slim, Lazy Lester, and more landed
in record collections across the US. By the early 1960s, Excello
releases were reaching the shores of the UK, where they inspired young
Brits such as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton to launch
their own R&B combos. Through extensive research and interviews, Shake
Your Hips: The Excello Records Story chronicles the tale of one of the
most unusual labels to emerge from the 1950s.
Shedding new light on Nashville's rich history as much more than a
country music town, author Randy Fox takes readers deep behind the
scenes of the rise and fall of an inimitable label whose contributions
to blues and R&B continue to reverberate today.
