Jacques Kelly’s recent article on the Royal Theater and early rock and roll shows in Baltimore was just plain terrific (“West Baltimore’s Royal Theater, a gateway to music history,” Nov. 23).
Earlington Carl Tilghman of Baltimore (Sonny Til) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Sonny Til and the Orioles are considered the fathers of rhythm and blues, blending street corner and church choir harmonies and a backbeat into the existing (meaning predominately white) crooner pop styles and creating a new sound called doo-wop with hit tunes such as “Crying in the Chapel.”
We are talking late 40s and early 50s. And then white musicians such as Bill Haley and the Comets and Buddy Holley and The Crickets started to rumble. You could say modern rock was getting started here with Sonny Til and the Orioles. Maybe their statue should fill the pedestal once occupied by two confederate generals on Art Museum Drive.
— Stan Heuisler, Baltimore
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