ROOTS of Country Music

Hillbilly Boogie Woogie Hits Country Music Style

Boogie-woogie is a style of piano-based blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, country and western music and gospel. While the blues traditionally depict a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing. It is believed boogie-woogie spawned the earliest versions of up tempo music.

In 1939 country artists began playing boogie-woogie when Johnny Barfield recorded Boogie Woogie. Cow Cow Boogie was written for, but not used in, the 1942 movie "Ride 'em Cowboy." This song by Benny Carter, Gene DePaul and Don Ray successfully combined boogie-woogie and western, or cowboy music. The lyrics leave no doubt that it was a western boogie-woogie. It sold over a million records in its original release by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack and has now been recorded many times.

What was initially called hillbilly boogie or Okie boogie (later to be renamed country boogie), became very popular in the mid-1940s. One notable country boogie from this period was the Delmore Brothers "Freight Train Boogie." In 1948 Arthur Smith achieved top-ten country chart success with his MGM Records recordings of "Guitar Boogie" and "Banjo Boogie," with the former crossing over to the pop chart, introducing many people to the potential of the electric guitar.

The hillbilly boogie period lasted into the 1950s. The last recordings of this era were made by Tennessee Ernie Ford with Cliffie Stone and his orchestra with the great guitar duo Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. Ford’s biggest chart hit “The Shot Gun Boogie” (No. 1, 1950).

Hank Snow had a very popular hit with “The Rhumba Boogie” in 1951. The boogie beat continued in country music through the end of the 20th century. The Charlie Daniels Band (whose earlier tune "The South's Gonna’ Do It Again" uses boogie-woogie influences) released "Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues" in 1988 and three years later Brooks & Dunn had a huge hit with "Boot Scootin' Boogie” More representative examples can be found in some of the songs of western swing pioneer Bob Wills and subsequent tradition-minded country artists such as Asleep At The Wheel, Merle Haggard, and even George Strait.

The following boogie-woogie titled songs are studio recorded songs that were included in the respective artist album.

1. Banjo Boogie (Arthur Smith)
2. Blackberry Boogie (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
3. Bob Wills Boogie (Bob Wills)
4. Boogie Back to Texas (Asleep at the Wheel)
5. Boogie Grass Band (Conway Twitty)
6. Boogie Man Boogie (Chet Atkins)
7. Boogie Woogie Flying Cloud (Hank Snow)
8. Boogie Woogie Flu (Jerry Lee lewis)
9. Born to Boogie (Hank Williams Jr)
10. Boogie Woogie Now (Hank Penny)
11. Boot Scootin‘ Boogie (Brooks & Dunn)
12. Browns Ferry Boogie (Zeke Clements)
13. Bump Bounce Boogie (Asleep at the Wheel)
14. Catfish Boogie (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
15. Centipede Boogie (Chet Atkins)
16. Cherokee Boogie (Moon Mullican)
17. Cho, Cho Boogie (Asleep at the Wheel)
18. Cow Cow Boogie (Ella Mae Morse)
19. Del Rio Boogie (Wayne Rainey)
20. Dixie Boogie (Rex Allen)
21. Dog House Boogie (Hawkshaw Hawkins)
22. Don’t Boogie Woogie (Jerry Lee Lewis)
23. Freight Train Boogie (Delmore Bros, R. Foley)
24. Geortgia Boogie (Curley Williams)
25. Guitar Boogie (Arthur Smith)
26. Hadacillin Boogie (Hank Penny)
27. Hadacol Boogie (Bill Nettles)
28. Heap of Boogie (Jimmie Heap)
29. Hillbilly Boogie (Cowboy Copas)
30. Hobo Boogie (Red Foley)
31. Honolulu Boogie (rex Allen)
32. Hot Rod Boogie (Faron Young)
33. Humpty Dumpty Boogie (Hank Thompson)
34. Jack & Jill Boogie (Wayne Rainey)
35. Jingle Bell Boogie (Johnny Bond)
36. Kissin‘ Bug Boogie (tennessee Ernie Ford)
37. Lewis Boogie (Jerry Lee Lewis)
38. Lost John Boogie (Wayne Rainey)
39. Luther Played the Boogie (Johnny Cash)
40. Mean Mama Boogie (Johnny Bond)
41. Milk Bucket Boogie (Red Foley)
42. Mobile Boogie (Hank Williams Jr)
43. Nirthday Cake Boogie (Skeets McDonald
44. Peach Tree Boogie (Alton Delmore)
45. Pinball Boogie (Red Foley)
46. Plantation Boogie (Red Foley)
47. Rainbow Boogie (Hank Snow)
48. Red Hot Boogie (Wayne rainey)
49. Red’s Boogie (Cliffie Stone)
50. Reindeer Boogie (Hank Snow)
51. Rhumba Boogie (Hank Snow)
52. Rock Boogie (Homer & Jethro)
53. Rock City Boogie (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
54. Rock Roll Boogie (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
55. Salty Boogie (Little Jimmy Dickens)
56. Saturday Night Boogie (Al Dexter)
57. Smokey Mountain Boogie (T. Ernie Ford)
58. Stratosphere Boogie (Speedy West)
59. Talking Boogie (Tex Williams)
60. The Shotgun Boogie (Tennessee Ernie Ford)
61. Three Way Boogie (Spade Cooley)
62. Walkin‘ Stick Boogie (Hank Cochran)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched and compiled by Richard Bell, Country Music Historian, Roots of Country Music. Dec. 6, 2010.