Origins of Rock and Roll - Day 1

Resource person: Audra Bullard - office@clehighlands.com

Description:

Join presenter Tom Dell for an exploration of Rock and Roll’s roots in Gospel, Country, Jazz, Blues, and Rhythm and Blues. Focusing on the early 20th Century to 1959, the class will explore how artists such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, and others crafted the twelve-bar blues, which became the staple of Rock and Roll. The genre came on full blast in the 1950s in songs by Roy Brown, Big Joe Turner, Ike Turner, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, and others. Through the use of audio and visual clips, attendees will see and hear how tunes from the early 1900s morphed into the sounds of Janis Joplin, Chuck Willis, and Bill Haley and the Comets, as well as how the Mississippi Delta Blues and the Chicago Blues laid the platform from which Rockabilly and Rock and Roll came. While this is a two-part series, attendance is not required at both sessions to join in the fun!

Presenter: Tom Dell has been playing Rock and Roll music since 1958. He played in rock bands during his high school and college years and still performs at small functions and reunions. Tom has an advanced degree in performing in seedy bars and for high schools and colleges in the Southeast, Juke Joints along the East Coast, and nightclubs in Florida, Georgia, and New York. He earned a BBA from Georgia State University while serving six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Since retiring in 2013, he developed a series of fourteen courses for senior citizens covering the origins and history of Rock and Roll. Since 2014, he has presented his courses to senior citizens in the Emory University OLLI program, Central Dekalb Senior Center, Perimeter Adult Learning, and Brenau University’s BULLI program as well as various men’s and women’s clubs in Atlanta.

Notes: Cancellation Policy Please let us know immediately if you are unable to attend a class. There is no refund for cancellations within two (2) weeks prior to a scheduled class. Programs that include food, beverage or art materials must be canceled within three (3) weeks prior to receive a refund. CLE reserves the right to cancel a program if the minimum enrollment has not been met or for circumstances beyond our control, and participants will be notified, a complete refund will be issued. All classes are held in the CLE Lecture Hall at the Peggy Crosby Center unless otherwise noted. In the event information has changed from the published brochure, it will be posted on our website and in our e-blasts. Addresses for “private home” venues will be provided to registrants within 2 days of the program date.

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