Arthur Crudup: What to know about the bluesman who wrote Elvis’s first hit and was barely paid

FRANKTOWN, Va. – FRANKTOWN, Va. (AP) — Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup helped invent rock ‘n’ roll.

His 1946 song, “That’s All Right,” would become the first single Elvis Presley ever released. Rod Stewart would sing it on a chart-topping album. Led Zeppelin would play it live.

But you wouldn’t know it if you saw Crudup living out his final years on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, dressed in overalls and leading a team harvesting cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

The Mississippi-born blues musician died 50 years ago, leaving behind one of the most searing accounts of 20th century artistic exploration. As the 70th anniversary of Presley’s recording of “That’s All Right” approaches on Friday — July 5, considered a cultural milestone — here are some key takeaways from the AP’s story on Crudup:

Crudup did not own the rights to his own music. Your original manager did. And this was a common practice at that time.

Lester Melrose initially signed and managed Crudup.

“I wouldn’t record anyone unless he transferred all of his rights to those songs to me,” he once said, according to the book “Mister Jelly Roll” by Alan Lomax.

Many black musicians signed away copyrights or were forced to share them, Kevin J. Greene, a professor at Southwestern Law School, told the Associated Press.

“A lot of what we’re talking about in terms of exploitation is still protected by copyright,” said Greene, who testified before a California reparations task force.

In 1971, Downbeat magazine estimated that Crudup should have earned $250,000 – $2 million today – for “That’s All Right” as well as “My Baby Left Me,” which Creedence Clearwater Revival recorded. High Fidelity was more conservative, writing in 1972 that Crudup’s total royalties would have been about $120,000 – still more than $900,000 today.

He said yes.

“He turned it into a kind of hillbilly record,” Crudup told the Los Angeles Times in 1969. “But I liked it. I thought it would be a success. Some people like the blues, some don’t. But the way he did it, everyone liked it.”

Presley began playing the song during a break during his tryout session at Sun Studios, according to Peter Guralnick’s book, “Last Train to Memphis.”

Guralnick told the Associated Press that Presley’s recording of “That’s All Right” set him “on what would soon become his almost unimaginable path to stardom.”

In 1956, Presley paid tribute to Crudup.

“Down in Tupelo, Mississippi, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his snare the way I do now,” he told The Charlotte Observer, “and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel everything the old man Arthur felt, I would be a man of music like no one had ever seen.”

Arguments abound about who wrote the first rock ‘n’ roll song. But “That’s All Right,” mixing elements of blues and country, makes a strong claim.

“It doesn’t sound like country, it doesn’t sound like blues, although I can hear them in there,” said Joe Burns, professor of communications and media studies at Southeastern Louisiana University. “It’s really a whole new thing.”

Crudup left music at age 50 to work on farms, eventually settling in Franktown, Virginia, on the state’s east coast. He made a living leading teams of migrant workers in harvesting fruits and vegetables.

He was heartbroken by his experience in the music business, his granddaughter said. But he didn’t sink.

“He was a man of extreme integrity,” Prechelle Crudup Shannon said of her grandfather, who embodied “those old country values” of working hard and providing for his family.

Crudup finally returned to music during the blues revival of the 1960s. He released new albums, played festivals and shared stages with BB King, Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt.

But he never received the songwriting royalties that eluded him – during his lifetime, at least.

Near the end of his life, Crudup almost reached a settlement with the company that acquired the rights to his songs when Melrose died. But the deal was canceled at the last minute.

“Naked I come into this world and naked I must leave it,” Crudup told his last manager, Dick Waterman, who recalled that day in his book “Between Midnight and Day.”

After his death, his family ended up receiving some royalties from the music publisher that took over the rights to the songs.

Even though he died in 1974, Crudup has received flashes of recognition in recent years.

He was briefly portrayed by Gary Clark Jr. 2022 “Elvis” biopic and mentioned last year by the California reparations task force that examined the long history of discrimination against African Americans.

The state of Virginia is also planning to install a road marker honoring Crudup on the east coast.

“Among others who covered Crudup were the Beatles, BB King and Elton John”, the marker will state. “Rarely receiving royalties, Crudup supported his family as a laborer and farm worker.”

Crudup’s granddaughter and others believe he should be in Rock & Roll the Hall of Fame.

“It would be amazing if this story was unique,” ​​Shannon said. “But not that. We know that this happened to black artists over time, but specifically at that time.”