It’s natural. Cool cars joined hot guitars. The rockabilly music scene and the car show circuit have become inseparable in recent years. Any good car show these days will be enhanced by a rock band or two to keep the car freaks’ engines running throughout the event.
It’s no surprise that car show organizers love rockabilly. After all, if a cat likes old cars, he probably likes vintage rock and roll too, and there’s nothing more fun than red-hot rockabilly music. Hanging out at car shows is like stepping into a different world. Car owners show off their most prized possessions, gawk at each other’s beauty, trade stats and specs, search for the missing part or insight about their car that will ultimately take them from perfect to pristine. And meanwhile, vintage car fans roam the chrome monsters, upgraded hot rods, understated classics, and custom-modified beasts that are the pride and joy of their owners.
And one thing they enjoy almost as much as their four-wheel lovers is the steady backbeat, slappin’ beat, twang-filled lead licks and breathy vocals of a good rockabilly band. And love flows both ways. There’s nothing like being on stage playing to a bunch of fans who really appreciate what you’re doing and you can see the infusion of energy a rockabilly band gets just by standing there getting ready to rock out to a crowd of car enthusiasts. Listening to rockabilly just makes looking at old cars more meaningful. And the presence of old cars makes rockabilly music that much more authentic, appropriate, and energetic.
As I write this, it’s about 20 degrees below zero (and I’m talking Fahrenheit!) here in the Midwestern United States. With that kind of cold numbing your brain, you need something to warm you up. The thought of a warm spring afternoon cruising through a parking lot full of muscle cars while a rockabilly guitar solo screams in the background… well, nothing gets the blood pumping quite like that!
Plans are made early for upcoming car shows and rockabilly bands will start booking as early as the end of the car show one year for the same event the next. There are plenty of opportunities during the summer in cooler climates and throughout the year where the weather is warmer year round to attend a car show, whether it be a small local event or a high profile car show extravaganza. . And you can bet that if it’s a show worth going to, there’s going to be a rockabilly band taking the stage at one point or another!