Just like the title states. I have my own reasons, and was wondering how many of you have the same reasons.

So lets hear it! The best responses I will read on the air tonight.

The "Junka Junka" rhythm and beat. The Boogie type edge to it with all the loudness and proudness of what it is. Guitars and stand up basses running hand in hand with a cool back beat. Lyrics that sound like they're telling a short story or a joke. Just way out cool.

Most Rockabilly kids are ex-punks that just aren't angry anymore. At least in my experience that is what I've discovered.

A good rockabilly tune should have some kind of attitude that the listener can connect with. It might have a sense of urgency or desperation or a sense of cool detachment. A palpable attitude is can be used as a divining rod to weed out the real deal from those artists that just go through the motions. I am drawn to rockabilly artists and songs that are able to get that attitude across.

No other music just flat-out gets gone the way that rockabilly does.

Petroleum jelly in my hair, my love for PBR and Lucky Strikes, tattoos, hot rods, all the hot pinup girl action, and the simple, yet not so, song structure.

I don't know who said it, and it definitely wasn't praise, but...

"I believe that it is a contributing factor to our juvenile delinquency of today. I know what it does to you. And I know of the evil feeling that you feel when you sing it. And I know the ... the ... lost position that you get into ... and the beat ... well ... uhmm ... if you talk to the average teenager of today and you ask them what it is about rock ‘n roll music that they like, and the first thing that they’ll say, is the beat, the beat, THE BEAT"

That's what draws me to rockabilly.

It's just fun, that's all! High energy, swing, seventh chords, swing, playful vocals, swing, and swing. Did I mention swing?

What draws me to rockabilly? My excellent taste in music!

Mark T., that was from a Jimmie Snow (Hank Snow's son) sermon.

The Beat The Beat The Beat

Jimmie was a pretty successful country artist in the mid 50s, appearing on the Opry. He was a buddy of Elvis' and tried to switch to Rock 'n' Roll/Rockabilly without any success at all.

Like Little Richard a bit later on, Jimmie was torn between his music career and religion. He chose the latter.

Thanks, NitroG! A google search turned up nothing for me from here, except attributing the quote to Elvis. Ha! Appreciate the youtube link, i'll check it from home. But it does sum up everything I love about rockabilly...a lot of it still sounds dangerous...like you're doing something you shouldn't be.

in high school i was the "death metal guy" who loved listening to guys shred on guitars. then i found out rockabilly cats could shred on gretschs and that just made shredding so much cooler. plus its got so much more style.

All of the above.

And probably everything after this post too.

What Ratrod said.

Why? There's jump, jive, and wail to it and the promise of some really spicy guitar work. I love good guitar solos and stand-out playing and for the last 25+ years Brian Setzer has taken this edge to the limit. Then there's the boom- chika-boom beat that phyically gets you in the groove and lastly the lyrics.

While Blues music is more of a celebration of suffering and channeling of human emotion, Rockabilly does the same with more "let's start a revolution" theme to it....kind of in a Stray Cats "Rumble in Brixton" way. Some really good Rockabilly tells a story that puts you in the charactyer's mindset and makes you want to be involved. Add in crisp guitar twang, a spice of attitude, and a "swing all night till 'ya drop" beat, and that's the recipe for me wanting to discover, listen and love everything that is Rockabilly.

Yeah, nothing is rousing in the way that a good rockabilly song is.

Because it's purely American...raw and real. It is a style of music that could have only come out of the troubled and divided American south...born from blues pioneered by black folks and mixed with country music pioneered by white folks....black and white...red white and blue.

Bruno Mars

IMO it´s pure and uncomplicated music. We produced a Demo-CD in the studio of a Blues-Guitar player (Stevie Ray Style)15 years ago.He had no idea, how it will work out that way.After we done it he said,that he is just blown away by the pressure and the rich sound of "just" three cool cats in a room.

I like Rockabilly because it's simple and raw, slap-bass+guitar+drums. Plus I can't stand modern, overproduced radio pop with layer, on layer, on layer of studio and computer effects and what have you. Which is why I dont listen to the radio much. I like the old stuff.

Good thread, looking forward to reading.

/JR

Here´s a song I wrote.I hope you´ll like it and that´s the way of Rockabilly to me.In the verse you can hear my statement of Rockabilly: "A Jazzguitar a bass and drums are enough to have some fun,play my Gretsch hard and loud in front of the yellin´crowd.Sorry I have to go and play some Rockabilly Link...

What drew me to the music was how primal it was when I heard at a young age. It was not James Taylor or perry como, not journey or any other music I ever heard..

The guitar was it. The tone from those songs whether it's Johnny Burnette with Grady or the sun sessions, was just from nowhere I on earth I knew existed.

I am still trying to master some Grady Martin licks he did with Johnny Burnette.

the style that goes with it is cool however the magic of the sounds is really what did it for me.

Then the stray cats came out and really reinforced all I loved about it even more.

the guitar specific energy. The stripped back sound. I like the country and jazz influences. I like the snappy chimey sound of an electric guitar with slapback echo and/or spring reverb. I like the energetic solos and their heavy use of partial chords and double stops. I like the clean sound of the guitar with just the slightest push of a hot small tube combo going just barely beyond it's 'clean' setting. The primal, unpredictable, unrehearsed sound of Scotty Moore on Elvis' early recordings. The rowdy atmosphere and jazzy virtuosity guitar found on Gene Vincent's recordings.... Honestly, I couldn't care less about modern rockabilly's overly dirty sound, neck tatoos and fashion shows per-say, but if the music's pure and good, then I can dig it.

Free neck tattoos and tramp stamps for everyone!! gaaaah!

The day Elvis died both my parents spent the day in tears and even though I was groomed to keep rockabilly guitar alive in our family, it didnt register how important this was until that day and I have been fighting the good fight since then and will continue this through my kids. (as long as its not a bad 3 chords blues or punk band with an upright which seems to be ruining things these days)

Sounds good, no matter if you play it on high end or low end equipment. Plus... as a young punk in the mid 70s I thought that was cool, then years later you think, jeez... this was even cooler. When you discover some cat like the Phantom (love me - does a better record exist?) or Nervous Norvus, man...