MERRILL E. MOORE

MERRILL E. MOORE:

Born: September 26th,1923,Iowa.
Genres: Country,Blues.
Styles: Western Swing,Boogie Woogie,Ragtime,Jazz,early Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Influences: Moon Mullican,Freddie Slack,Bob Wills.
Similar artists: Moon Mullican,Jerry Lee Lewis,Chuck Miller,Mickey
Gilley.
Artists Merrill influenced: Jerry Lee Lewis,Sonny Burgess.
Artists Merrill did songs by: Freddie Slack,Jelly Roll Morton,Bob Wills,
Hank Thompson,Frankie Jaxon,Felix Arndt,Hoagy Carmichael,
Leadbelly.

Merrill Everett Moore was born in Iowa on September 26th 1923 - a few
days after Hank Williams. He took up piano at age 8 & recorded his
first demos in 1935,when he was 12. His style drew from the influence
of his early idol Freddie Slack.Moore also soaked up the sound of Bob
Wills’ Western Swing.
When Moon Mullican came on the scene in the ‘40s,Merrill Moore was
awestruck - someday he wanted to do the same type of stuff. In the
‘50s,he followed in his idol’s footsteps with records like ‘House of
blue lights’, ‘Down the road apiece’, ‘Rock Rock-ola’, ‘Big bug boogie’
& ‘Nola boogie’. His style was very like that of Moon’s & was certainly
a precursor to roots based rock ‘n’ roll. These in fact were all recorded for Ken
Nelson at Capitol - just months before Nelson discovered Gene Vincent.
Unlike Mullican,Moore never saw himself as a country artist
(despite a stetson hat & the same type of clothes as any other C&W
star of the ‘50s). Certainly,Merrill had a lot less pure country in
his work than Moon did,but there is still a lot of country style in
his songs. Moore didn’t see himself as a 'rock ‘n’ roller' either - in
fact,he had a distinct dislike for what he heard of it in 1956 : he
says Bill Haley had no real sense of rhythm. He had respect for Carl
Perkins,though,but no other guitar-playing rocker appealed to him.
His views on rock 'n' roll,of course,with hindsight were very much
accurate.
Instead,Merrill Moore clearly saw himself as a Jazz artist,with an
obvious respect for Count Basie & Nat King Cole. However,there is a
lot of rock ‘n’ roll beat in Moore’s work - the double C.D on Bear
Family ‘Boogie my life away’ never slows down as can be seen on
excellent fast boogie rockers like ‘Saddle boogie’, ‘Hard top race’,
‘Cow cow boogie’ & ‘Boogie my blues away’. Even on the jazz,pop &
ragtime numbers like ‘King porter stomp’, ‘Music music music’,
‘Shanty town’ & ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ his rocking boogie piano is
evident. He’s also adept at playing savage blues instrumentals like
‘Moore’s blues’.
Jerry Lee Lewis proclaimed him as a big influence in the 1960s
(but later denied every hearing of him in 1976) & it’s probably from
Moore that the Killer learned ‘House of blue lights’. Both Moore &
Moon Mullican were obvious influences on Jerry Lee & shared with Jerry
Lee a unique style of singing & playing piano. Despite his influence
on 'piano rock ‘n’ roll' (which Moore prefers to refer to as 'boogie
woogie'),Moore has never received his dues. Afterall,he was only 2
years older than Bill Haley & was a better singer. He was nearly 20
years younger than Moon Mullican & was a piano player in the league
of Moon & Jerry Lee Lewis,so there was no reason why he shouldn’t
have had more success - in a more just world,Moon,Moore and some
others would’ve certainly received a lot more respect for what they did for
music.
Moore had to be content in the late ‘50s & ‘60s backing people
like Wanda Jackson & Sonny Jones at Capitol.. He played clubs in the
‘60s, ‘70s & ‘80s & is still alive doing much the same in the ‘90s.
He’s one of the great hidden secrets of American music & is a true
pioneer of - for all its attributes good and bad - rock ‘n’ roll.

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