Sweet Nothings: Women in Rockabilly Music: LaVern Baker and Janis Martin

Abstract

Rockabilly music is an exciting and vibrant style of early Rock and Roll that originated in the 1950s. With its aggressive beat and anti-establishment connotations, rockabilly is considered a widely male-dominated genre, a point supported by the majority of scholarship and literature on the subject. However, a review of available contemporary recordings, television shows, advertisements and interviews show that women were an integral part of the history of rockabilly music. In this thesis, I will discuss women in rockabilly music and address how issues relating to gender and race in 1950s culture affected women performers. More specifically, I will examine the experiences of two performers, LaVern Baker and Janis Martin, concentrating on formative and important events in their careers and how they affected rockabilly music overall. I will also include interview transcripts with Janis Martin and her mother, Jewel Martin, that are previously unpublished.