Vintage Rock

VINTAGE ROCK celebrates a time when music changed the world - 45s, youth culture and the odd thrusting pelvis. Vintage Rock chronicles all the stellar artists and music, the enduring legacy of those early pioneers - and why it’s still the best way to live. Spanning the dawn of the 50s to early Beatles (pre Eastern mysticism!), Vintage Rock covers a time of Mods and Rockers, crinoline skirts and blue jeans, rock star movies and screaming-girl concerts. This special magazine rejoices in the music and verve of Elvis, The Shadows, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent and a host more, and speaks to a contemporary audience that relishes the vitality and flair of the era.

Vintage Rock

Welcome

The Beatles Are Back! • Thirty years on from its original release, the Fab Four’s Anthology documentary film series and its accompanying albums return!

SONNY CURTIS • 9 MAY 1937-19 SEPTEMBER 2025

SWING OF THINGS

Brian Wilson’s Second Coming!

Marie & Rosetta At The West End

TOUCHING BASS

HEMSBY DOUBLE BILL

VICKY TAFOYA • 15 MAY 1968-24 AUGUST 2025

STEVE EARLE JOINS GRAND OLE OPRY

EVENTS

Charlie And The Tropicales • From summoning the sound of a band on a 1950s steamship sailing the Caribbean to mining the seam that links New Orleans and Jamaica, Charlie Halloran leads The Tropicales on a voyage of discovery

Emilio Santoro • Last time we spoke to Emilio Santoro he had his sights set on winning the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Contest, and in 2024 he finally managed it. We speak to the world’s finest Elvis tribute about competition glory and his current tour…

RETURN OF THE ROCKABILLY KING • The rock’n’roll world was overjoyed to hear news of Some Things Never Change, an album’s worth of mostly unreleased Carl Perkins material. Vintage Rock spoke to its producer Bill Lloyd in Nashville about its creation and subsequent disappearance.

FAMILY AFFAIR

ROCK’N’ROLL RUSHMORE

RAISING THE SALUTE • Peter Guralnick’s new book The Colonel And The King puts forwards a sympathetic view of Elvis Presley’s controversial manager Tom Parker. “He’s somebody who enjoyed life so much,” the author explains.

AT EASE, GENTLEMEN • How Sam Phillips and the Colonel reached a truce

SLIDING DOORS • Could a role in A Star Is Born have saved Elvis?

SONGS THE LORD TAUGHT US THE CRAMPS • Born of rockabilly rebellion and deeply entangled with the punk era in which it was conceived, The Cramps debut album is the unrelenting thriller that birthed the psychobilly movement. On its 45th anniversary, Vintage Rock revisits a frighteningly good long-player…

THE CRAMPS ON ROCK’N’ROLL

BEST OF THE CRAMPS • Vintage Rock handpicks ten of the finest offerings outside of the band’s classic debut album

Breaking Rocks • The mighty Sonny Curtis was an early bandmate of Buddy Holly and a celebrated songwriter in his own right. Vintage Rock remembers one of the golden era’s finest rock’n’rollers, revisiting parts of an eye-opening interview we had with the great man back in 2013.

LISTEN UP

CLAIM TO FAME

Experience: THE SKIFFLE CRAZE • Marking the upcoming 70th anniversary of Lonnie Donegan’s breakthrough hit single Rock Island Line, we journey back to the uniquely British phenomenon of the Skiffle Craze…

10 KEY SONGS • Relatively few skiffle songs were hits, yet the best of them showed a good variety of approaches

THE KING OF SKIFFLE • Lonnie Donegan was the most successful British recording artist of his generation…

THE BIG THREE • Apart from Lonnie Donegan, only three other skiffle acts enjoyed chart recognition…

Say NO TO Socks GIVE THE GIFT OF INSPIRATION!

BRENDA LEE Sweet Nothin’s DECCA (1959) • She was the singer...