Editing Carl Perkins (section)

===Beginnings as a performer===
Perkins and his brother Jay had their first paying job (in tips) as entertainers during late 1946 at the Cotton Boll tavern on Highway 45, twelve miles south of Jackson, Tennessee, starting on Wednesday nights. Perkins was 14 years old. One of the songs they played was an up-tempo country blues shuffle version of [[Bill Monroe]]'s [[Blue Moon of Kentucky]]. Free drinks were one of the perks of playing in a tavern, and Perkins drank four beers that first night. Within a month, Carl and Jay began playing Friday and Saturday nights at the Sand Ditch tavern near Jackson's western border. Both places were the scene of occasional fights and both of the Perkins brothers gained a reputation as fighters.<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, pp. 36–41.]]</ref>

During the next couple of years, as they became better known, the Perkins brothers began playing other taverns around Bemis and Jackson, including El Rancho, the Roadside Inn, and the Hilltop. Carl persuaded his brother Clayton to join them and play the [[upright bass]], to complete the sound of the band.<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, p. 48.]]</ref>

Perkins began performing regularly on [[WTJF (AM)|WTJS]] in Jackson during the late 1940s as a sometime member of the [[Tennessee Ramblers (Tennessee band)|Tennessee Ramblers]]. He appeared on the radio program ''Hayloft Frolic'' on which he performed two songs. One was "Talking Blues" as done by Robert Lunn on the ''Grand Ole Opry''. Perkins and his brothers began appearing on ''The Early Morning Farm and Home Hour''. Positive listener response earned them a 15-minute segment sponsored by Mother's Best Flour. By the end of the 1940s, the Perkins Brothers were the best known band in the Jackson area.<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, pp. 48–49.]]</ref> Perkins had day jobs during most of these early years including picking cotton, working at various factories and plants and as a pan greaser for the Colonial Baking Company.<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, pp. 32, 70–71.]]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rockabillytennessee.com/legend_carl_perkins.htm |title=The Legend Carl Perkins |publisher=Rockabillytennessee.com |date=1998-01-19 |access-date=2011-11-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117221958/http://www.rockabillytennessee.com/legend_carl_perkins.htm |archive-date=November 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> His brothers had similar pick up jobs.

In January 1953, Perkins married Valda Crider, whom he had known for a number of years. When his job at the bakery was reduced to part-time, Valda, who had her own job, encouraged Perkins to begin working the taverns full-time. He began playing six nights a week. Later the same year, he added [[W. S. Holland|W.S. "Fluke" Holland]] to the band as a drummer. Holland had no previous experience as a musician but had a good sense of rhythm.<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, pp. 70–71.]]</ref>

[[Malcolm Yelvington]], who remembered the Perkins Brothers when they played in [[Covington, Tennessee]] in 1953, noted that Carl had an unusual blues-like style all his own.<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, p. 77.]]</ref> By 1955, Perkins had made tapes of his material on a borrowed tape recorder and sent them to record companies such as Columbia and RCA. But he used addresses such as Columbia Records, New York City and seemed dismayed at the lack of response. "I had sent tapes to RCA and [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] and had never heard a thing from 'em."<ref name="Top Beats Bottom"/>

In July 1954, Perkins and his wife heard a new release of "[[Blue Moon of Kentucky]]" by [[Elvis Presley]], [[Scotty Moore]] and [[Bill Black]] on the radio.<ref>[http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/pics/d03/3318.htm]{{dead link|date=November 2011}}</ref> As the song faded out, Perkins said, "There's a man in Memphis who understands what we're doing. I need to go see him."<ref>[[#gocatgo|Perkins, pp. 79–90.]]</ref> According to another telling of the story, it was Valda who said that he should go to Memphis.<ref>''Rockabilly Legends''. Naler. p. 121.</ref> Later, Presley told Perkins he had traveled to Jackson and had seen Perkins and his group playing at the El Rancho.<ref name="Top Beats Bottom">"The Top Beats the Bottom: Carl Perkins and his Music". ''The Atlantic''. December 1970. p. 100.</ref>

Years later, the rockabilly singer [[Gene Vincent]] told an interviewer that, rather than Elvis's version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" being a "new sound", "a lot of people were doing it before that, especially Carl Perkins."<ref>VanHecke, Susan (2000). ''Race with the Devil''. St. Martin's Press. p. 219. {{ISBN|0-312-26222-1}}.</ref>