PD Presents Dewey Phillips, WHBQ Memphis, 1957 (03:46)

. . . If you can't drink it, you can freeze it and eat it . . .

Description by Uncle Ricky

This short aircheck of Dewey Phillips on WHBQ/Memphis in 1957 was featured on Volume I, Issue 7 of Programmer's Digest, dated November 6, 1972. Opening narration is by Stuart Hamilton, at that time with WMAK/Nashville.

Phillips was having trouble with the microphone on this show, which opens with him singing and then asking "What's wrong with this pea-pickin' thing?. ("Old birdbrain Dizzy Dewey" was known to have been rough with the equipment.) The unfortunate static and intermittent audio is part of the recording as published by PD.

Unlike the 1953 recording of Phillips, Dewey's music selection was no longer limited to to obscure "race" records. In 1957, Rock 'n' Roll was entering the mainstream. Even Ricky Nelson was getting spins on Red, Hot and Blue.