James Govan (left) with producer and engineer Mickey Buckins in the studio. Courtesy of Ace Records hide caption
Ed Ward Ed Ward is the rock-and-roll historian on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
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Ed Ward
Label for Warren Smith's "Ubangi Stomp" on Sun Records. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Beach Boys in 1964. Top row: Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson. Bottom row: Mike Love, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
The Shangri-Las on the cover of the "Leader of the Pack" single. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Prisonaires, a band formed in a Memphis-area prison, created one of Sun Records' early hits. Courtesy of Bear Family Records hide caption
Fame Studio hide caption
Barbara Mason had had one minor hit on Arctic by the time "Yes I'm Ready" came out in March 1965, and hit the Top 10 on both the R&B and pop charts. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Jerry Lee Lewis shot to fame in the 1950s with hits such as "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire." Courtesy of the artist hide caption
A new 63-disc box offers a complete retrospective of the Man in Black's storied career. Sony Music hide caption
Before ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons (second from right) was in the more psychedelic Moving Sidewalks. Rancho Deluxe Productions hide caption
Aretha Franklin became a star on the Atlantic record label after leaving Columbia. Express Newspapers/Getty Images hide caption
Joe Barry was a pioneer of "swamp-pop" in the early 1960s. Johnny Vallis hide caption
Joe Hill Louis, B.B. King and Rufus Thomas appear on a new multi-disc compilation of electric blues, Plug It In! Turn It Up! Bear Family Records hide caption
The Insect Trust. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
No figure in the history of rock 'n' roll is more incongruous than Big Joe Turner. Heinrich Klaffs/Wikimedia Commons hide caption