Goree Carter

Early life and career

Goree Carter was born in Houston, Texas. He was born in the Fifth Ward, and lived at 1310 Bayou Street. He began playing blues music at the age of 12, and learnt to play on a cousin's guitar. Because there were very few guitarists in his area back then, he had no one to teach him how to play the guitar, so he taught himself how to play it by listening to some of his favorite records on a Victrola machine and picking string-by-string on the guitar. He learnt a few chords from listening and then learnt more about them from a chord book. When he became a teenager, he began earning a living by hoisting sacks at the local Comet Rice Mill. He had a Gibson guitar and began fronting bands in his early teenage years.

Goree Carter and His Hepcats

In 1949, he and his jump blues band, The Hepcats, also known as Goree Carter and His Hepcats or Goree Carter & His Hepcats, signed for Freedom Records, a local record label set up by Sol Kahal, and recorded the label's first release, "Sweet Ole Woman Blues." Kahal discovered him in either late 1948 or early 1949. As well as Carter's guitar, the band featured two saxophones, a trumpet, piano, bass, and drums. Carter's electric guitar style was influenced by Aaron "T-Bone" Walker, but was over-driven and had a rougher edge which presaged the sound of rock and roll a few years later. His single-string runs and two-string "blue note" chords anticipated, and may have influenced, Chuck Berry.

At the age of 18, he recorded his best known single "Rock Awhile" in April 1949. It has been cited as a strong contender for the title of "first rock and roll record" and a "much more appropriate candidate" than the more frequently cited "Rocket 88" (1951) by Ike Turner. The intro to "Rock Awhile" resembles those in several later Chuck Berry records from 1955 onwards. The music historian Robert Palmer regards "Rock Awhile" to be a more appropriate candidate for the "first rock and roll record" title, because it was recorded two years earlier, and because of Carter's guitar work bearing a striking resemblance to Chuck Berry's later guitar work, while making use of an over-driven amplifier, along with the backing of boogie-based rhythms, and the appropriate title and lyrical subject matter. Roger Wood and John Nova Lomax have also cited "Rock Awhile" as the first rock & roll record. The song was recorded at Bill Holford's Audiophile Custom Associates Studio. However, "Rock Awhile" was not as commercially successful as later rock & roll records. Nevertheless, he had some moderate success, touring and recording for a while.

Korean War and return to Houston

In 1950, at the age of 19, he was drafted into military service. He served as a private first class infantry soldier in the Korean War for over a year. He was in Korea when many of the country's most vicious battles took place. After returning from Korea to Houston around 1951, his musical career began declining. Carter recorded for several labels in the early 1950s, including Imperial, Coral, and Modern, but last recorded in 1954. He wrote a number of songs during this time but said he "tore them up" because record labels wouldn’t let him record them, saying he "was ahead of" himself.

Later life and death

After leaving the music industry, he continued working at the local Comet Rice Mill until its closure decades later. Carter continued to play occasional local gigs in Houston, and sat-in with visiting artist B.B. King; his last live performance was in 1970. He developed arthritis later in his life, and had not been heard from again until 1982, when he was visited at his Fifth Ward home by members of the band Juke Jumpers. He died in Houston, at the age of 59, in 1990. He died at the same house where he was born, and is buried at the Houston National Cemetery. Both his old house at 1310 Bayou and the Audiophile Custom Associates Studio at 612 Westheimer no longer exist.

Discography

Goree Carter & His Hepcats songs released in 1949:

Goree Carter songs recorded during 1949-1950 and released during 1949-1951: