The Boldness of Betty

Whitebread in a Good Way. Marty Elkins swings her ass off. In a gentle sort of way, I might add. She has got a Betty Carter delivery that is just inside of the ballpark of the boldness of Carter. Elkins is very exact, taking some chances vocally, but only those she is confident of claiming. This is no mean criticism, Marty Elkins is Anita O'Day without the hyperkinetic scat. There is nothing to not enjoy (double negatives and all). Gosh, I can really find little wrong with this disc. Elkins has done her homework and she is accomplished in all corners of her craft. "Day In, Day Out" is a straight-ahead romp, "Stars Fell on Alabama" is almost colloquial and "In The Wee Small Hours" sounds as if it could have been included in the score of The Wizard of Oz with "Over The Rainbow".

Rockabilly is a music genre that has a rather peculiar status in the history of modern music.
As a trend, rockabilly lasted only a few years, but it generated a near-unmatched number of recordings from hundreds of studios from as many American cities and small towns. This phenomenon can be explained partly by youth's sudden urge to express itself in a time when the USA was the richest country in the world and people were drawing maximum benefits from the spirit of entrepreneurship that was taking the whole continent by storm. Back then, you could very easily improvise yourself a record producer or label owner: all it took was a little bit of equipment and a small garage, basement, or backstore space. You started by pressing a hundred-copy run for the artist's family and friends. Sometimes, the product reached the ears of bigger label owners who would ensure its wider distribution.Rockabilly appeared in the early 1950s. This form of musical expression can be summed up as a white, typically southern, and rural kind of rock and roll born in Memphis in 1954. The lyrics are often about recurring themes in '50s American pop culture, like cars and teenage love.