It’s a natural. Cool cars teamed up with hot guitars. The rockabilly music scene and the car show circuit have become inseparable over the past several years. Any good car show these days will be made better by a rockin’ band or two to keep car nuts’ motors running during the event.
It’s no surprise that organizers of car shows tend to love rockabilly. After all, if a cat’s into old cars, then he’s probably into old rock and roll too, and nothing’s more rollicking than red-hot rockabilly music. Hanging out at cars shows is like entering a different world. Car owners showing off their prized possessions, gawking at the other guy’s beauty, swapping stats and specs, searching for the missing part or piece of knowledge about their car that will finally enable them to take it from perfect to pristine. And all the while, fans of old cars wander through the chrome monsters, the hopped up hot rods, the understated classics, and the custom modified beasts that are the pride and joy of their owners.
And one thing they dig almost as much as their four-wheeled lovers is the steady backbeat, slappin’ rhythm, twang-filled lead licks, and hiccupy vocals of a good rockabilly band. And the love flows both ways. There’s nothing like being on stage playing to a group of fans who really appreciate what you’re doing and you can see the energy infusion that a rockabilly band gets just by standing up there getting ready to rock to a crowd of car enthusiasts. Listening to rockabilly just makes looking at old cars more meaningful. And the presence of old cars just makes rockabilly music that much more authentic, appropriate, and energetic.
As I type this, it’s about 20 degrees below zero (and I’m talkin’ Fahrenheit!) here in the Midwest of America. With that kind of cold numbing your brain, you need something to warm you up. The thought of a balmy spring afternoon wandering through a parking lot full of muscle cars while a rockabilly guitar solo screams in the background…well, nothing gets the blood moving quite like that does!
Plans are made for upcoming car shows early and rockabilly bands will start being booked already as early as the end of the car show one year for the same event the next. There’s plenty of opportunity throughout the summer in colder climates and throughout the year where the weather’s warmer all year ’round to catch a car show, whether it’s a small local event or a huge high-profile car show extravaganza. And you can bet that if it’s a show that’s worth the time to go to, there’ll be a rockabilly band hitting the stage at one point or another!
