- FINALIST FOR THE 2024 WASHINGTON STATE BOOK AWARD IN GENERAL NONFICTION
"Blecha finally delivers his
long-awaited magnum opus on early Northwestern U.S. rock music. Having
conducted more than 300 interviews, he begins with the Northwest pioneers
of jump blues and R&B including Ray Charles, Robert "Bumps"
Blackwell, and saxophonist Billy Tolles. Showing the merger of R&B
with rock, Blecha features Little Bill and the Bluenotes, the Dave Lewis
Combo, the Wailers, and the Dynamics, which featured future jazz guitar
icon Larry Coryell. He chronicles the national breakthroughs of the vocal
trio, the Fleetwoods, and the instrumental blockbusters, the Ventures.
Blecha furnishes new insights into the early music and stage act of the
Seattle born-and-bred Jimi Hendrix and focuses on the proto-punk,
unfettered wildness of the Sonics. He concludes with the commercialization
of the Northwest sound by the highly successful Paul Revere and the
Raiders. Along the way, he highlights major venues, such as Seattle's
Birdland and the Spanish Castle, DJs, such as Pat O'Day, the role of
"Louie Louie" in Northwest rock, and pivotal record labels such
as Dolton, Jerden, and the Wailers' Etiquette Records. VERDICT: In
a tour de force, Blecha offers all music fans the definitive book about
the highly significant but much neglected story of Northwestern U.S.
rock."
[Library Journal, Dr. Dave Satzmary]
- "In a well-written and wonderfully illustrated narrative chock-full of first-hand accounts, Blecha tells the story of important Northwest rockers."
[Pacific Northwest Quarterly]
- "Stomp and Shout finally gives voice to the musicians, promoters, producers and entrepreneurs who laid the groundwork for the musical explosions to come."
[GRAMMY.com]
- "Stomp and Shout succeeds in making the case
for the Northwest Sound as a distinct musical genre and as a significant
element of both Black culture and youth culture with a lasting impact on
the regional psyche."
[Kurt Armbruster, author of Before Seattle Rocked: A City and Its
Music]
- "I can't think of
anyone who knows more about, and has a deeper love for, the early days of
NW R&B and rock 'n' roll than Peter Blecha. Lucky for us, he shares
his love and knowledge in Stomp and Shout!”
[Mark Arm, Mudhoney]
- An impressive geo-musical
chronicle of the pre-grunge Pacific Northwest music scene with an
insightful and fresh approach that adds an essential layer of voices to
this critical chorus of music writers, historians, and artists."
[George Plasketes, author of Warren Zevon: Desperado of Los Angeles]
- "Grunge fans should check
out Stomp and Shout, a meticulously detailed early history of
Northwest R&B and rock and roll. Blecha presents a fascinating narrative
of the globally influential garage bands that also inspired Sub Pop
Records. Highly recommended!"
[Bruce Pavitt, cofounder of Sub Pop Records]
- "Stomp and Shout may very well go down as the last word on the
primal music that oozed out of the Pacific Northwest’s primordial muck,
covering the world in some of the most despicable, evil, exciting music ever perpetrated. Peter Blecha is probably the only person who could have written the story."
[Marsh Gooch, NuDisc.net] -
"Long
before the world discovered grunge, the Pacific Northwest was already home to a
singular music culture. In the late 1950s, locals had codified a distinct
offshoot of rockin' R&B, and a surprising number of them would skyrocket to
success, including Little Bill & the Bluenotes, the Wailers, Ron Holden,
Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Kingsmen, Merrilee Rush, and the Sonics.
Peter
Blecha tells the story of music in the Pacific Northwest from the 1940s to the
1960s, a golden era that shaped generations of musicians to come. The local
R&B scene evolved out of the area's vibrant jazz scene, and Blecha
illuminates the musical continuum between Ray Charles (who cut his first record
in Seattle) and Quincy Jones to the rock 'n' rollers who forged the classic
jazz-tinged “Northwest Sound."
Blecha
offers highly entertaining firsthand accounts gleaned from hundreds of
interviews. DJs built a teen dance circuit that the authorities didn't like but
whose popularity pushed bands to develop crowd-friendly beats. Do-it-yourself
enthusiasts launched groundbreaking record companies that scored a surprising
number of hit songs.
Highlighting
key but overlooked figures and offering a fresh look at well-known musicians
(such as an obscure young guitarist then known as Jimmy Hendrix), Blecha shows
how an isolated region managed to launch influential new sounds upon an
unsuspecting world."
[University of Washington Press]
