A few weeks ago, I published an article arguing that Dick Dale—the surf rock pioneer and guitar hero—belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since then, legions of readers have reached out to ask me who else I think should be a rock hall-of-famer. What other music legends have been snubbed by Cleveland’s notable tourist attraction?

Okay, I’m exaggerating. When I say that “legions” have asked me, I mean “nobody.” But if someone did ask me—I would direct them to Rufus Thomas.¹

Thomas was at the absolute vanguard of rock and roll in the 1950s, recording hard-driving singles for Sam Phillips before Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, or Jerry Lee Lewis turned his Sun Records label into a rock juggernaut. Then, about a decade later, Thomas’ recordings with a different independent company from Memphis—the venerable Stax records—put Thomas squarely at the forefront of 1960s southern soul. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

A Brief Biography of Rufus Thomas

In case you’re unfamiliar with Thomas, it might be helpful to start with one of Thomas’s best-known recordings. Give a listen to Walking the Dog, which went to #10 on the pop charts in 1963.² There’s a decent chance you’ve heard the song, or one of the many covers of it, even if you don’t know Thomas by name.

By the time Walking the Dog hit the charts, Thomas had already been on the music scene since at least the 1940s.³

Thomas was born in 1917 in Cayce, Mississippi.⁴ He danced, sang, and performed comedy throughout the south with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels.⁵ A decades-long fixture of the Memphis music scene, Thomas was seemingly everywhere in that city. He performed at theaters and emceed talent shows. All while holding down a day job at a textile company.⁶ In 1950, Thomas added another line to his expansive resume when he joined Radio WDIA as a DJ. His programs included “Boogie for Breakfast” and “Sepia Swing Club,” which had previously been hosted by his friend and fellow-WDIA personality B.B. King.⁷ (Thomas is an inductee to the Radio Hall of Fame.⁸)

Within a few years of joining WDIA, Thomas would make an additional splash on the music scene. This time it was not by spinning other artists’ records as a DJ, but instead by cutting his own. In 1953, Thomas recorded the song Bear Cat for a fledgling label in Memphis. The label was called Sun. Bear Cat was its first hit.⁹ The song hit #3 on the R&B charts¹⁰ and remained in the top ten for eight weeks.¹¹

Bear Cat was an “answer song” to Hound Dog (itself a contender for first rock song, as I’ve discussed elsewhere).¹² The two songs feature functionally identical riffs and melodies. The animal metaphor and gender dynamics are different. These tweaks were apparently not enough for Sun Records to escape a “bitter” copyright infringement lawsuit from Duke Records, which had released Hound Dog.¹³ That suit resulted in Sun’s “eventual forfeiture of a considerable amount of money.”¹⁴ (Here’s a bit of tangentially-related music trivia for you: Sam Phillips would soon get a chance to repay the favor with a successful copyright lawsuit against Duke Records involving two recordings by Junior Parker, who had left Sun for Duke where he recorded a sound-alike single¹⁵).

Thomas recorded another early rocker for Sun Records with Tiger Man, which failed to chart.¹⁶ Substantively, the song has drawn some critiques.¹⁷ But it features impassioned vocals, an aggressive beat, and over-driven guitar. Just listen to Thomas roar. Literally.

Not long after Tiger Man, Sun Records pivoted from recording black R&B and blues artists to white rockers including Elvis Presley.¹⁸ It marked the end of Thomas’ tenure on the label.¹⁹

Fortunately for music lovers everywhere, Thomas got another bite at the apple in 1960 with the song Cause I Love You. He recorded the tune with his daughter Carla Thomas for a different Memphis record label. That fledgling outfit was called Satellite. It would soon change its name to Stax. The label selected ‘Cause I Love You as its very first single. It hit.²⁰

In addition to giving Stax an early taste of success, Rufus and Carla’s ‘Cause I Love You has at least two other important legacies. First, ‘Cause I Love You featured a horn part written and performed by a very young Booker T. Jones. It was the song that launched his storied career as a session musician (and perhaps by extension as a songwriter, performer, producer, and arranger).²¹ Second, the success of ‘Cause I Love You prompted Stax to embrace R&B as its main focus.²² Stax became one of the genre’s seminal labels.

For over a decade, Rufus Thomas and Carla Thomas would be major Stax stars contributing duets and solo tracks. In addition to Walking the Dog, Rufus’ solo hits on Stax included: The Dog (1963, Pop #87; R&B #22), Can Your Monkey Do The Dog (1964, Pop #48), Somebody Stole My Dog (1964, Pop # 86); Jump Back (1964, Pop #49); Sophisticated Sissy (1967, R&B #3);²³ Do The Funky Chicken (1970, Pop #28; R&B #5); Do The Push And Pull (1971, Pop #31; R&B #1); and The Breakdown (1971, #2 R&B).²⁴ Wow, that’s a lot of hits! And a lot of animal-themed hits (particularly if you count Bear Cat).²⁵

Here’s a fun non-animal themed track that was a minor hit.²⁶ It’s Thomas’ single, The Memphis Train. 

How can you not like that? Long before John Fogerty was singing Big Train (from Memphis) and eons before Chris Stapleton was growling about a Midnight Train to Memphis, Thomas was cutting one funky platter about rail travel in the Home of the Blues. All aboard! Choo choo! Count me in!

The Memphis Train is prime southern soul–quite a departure from the proto-rock that Thomas had recorded for Sun roughly fifteen years earlier. But Thomas was really just getting started. Improbably, Thomas had some of his biggest hits as a fifty-something year old after embracing an even funkier sound in the early 1970s.²⁷

In this guise, Thomas appeared at the legendary 1972 Wattstax Festival, before an audience of over 100,000 people.²⁸ Fortunately, the concert was immortalized in a documentary. So you can watch Thomas rock the six-figure crowd with his magnetism, vocal chops, and contemporary sound. Not to mention his truly wild outfit featuring white boots and a pink suit with matching shorts and cape. You can see why Thomas called himself the world’s oldest teenager.

Thomas’s improbably-long run on the charts faltered when Stax Records folded in the mid-1970s. But Thomas continued his music career as a DJ²⁹ and a recording artist for labels including Alligator.³⁰ Thomas passed away at the age of 84 in 2001.³¹

Why Rufus Thomas Belongs in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame

With this background in mind, here are five main arguments for including Thomas in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1. Rufus Thomas was an innovator

Who does the following description make you think of? “Musical shapeshifter–effortlessly updated sound to embrace blues, rock and roll, R&B, and funk; shaping each genre along the way with chart hits.” David Bowie? Van Morrison? Mick Jagger? Led Zeppelin?

Any of those Rock and Roll Hall of Famers could be reasonable guesses. But I think it’s a fair description of Rufus Thomas.

Thomas updated his sound at least three times. In his first major guise Thomas was in rock mode. Whether you think those 1950s Sun Records tracks are fully-fledged rock or merely proto-rock featuring strong beats and overdriven guitars, they are important and innovative releases.

They are also quite a bit different to listen to than the southern soul tracks that make up Thomas’s second major incarnation. His early Stax singles helped define the sound of that genre. And some of his later ones perfected the formula for Memphis soul grit.

Then, there’s Thomas’ last wave of hits in the early 1970s where he fully embraced funkiness. I’m not sure whether to consider those a third epoch, or a continuation of the second. Either way, it’s clear that Thomas had no issues modernizing his sound to stay on top of, or ahead of, musical trends.

2. Rufus Thomas was influential

Innovation and influence don’t always go hand in hand. Some music is so far ahead of its time that it takes decades for others to follow it (if they ever do).³²

But Thomas was innovative and influential. One measure is to look at the artists who covered his material. Consider Walking the Dog. It has been covered by the Rolling Stones, the Sonics, the Everly Brothers, Aerosmith, Rick Derringer, Roger Daltrey, and Green Day. Yes, really! Green Day.³³ I was surprised too. There’s even a version by my favorite Finnish rock band, the Hurriganes!

Thomas’ small batch of Sun Records tracks also attracted some cover versions. Perhaps most notably, Elvis Presley did his own version of Tiger Man.

Now, to be fair, Thomas didn’t write Tiger Man. But Thomas cut the first recording of the song and I think it’s fair to assume that Presley–a fellow Sun Records alum–had that recording in mind.

I was trying to think of other artists who have been covered by Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones. I think those dual covers put Thomas in some pretty rarified air with the likes of Chuck Berry (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1986), Jimmy Reed (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1991), Bob Dylan (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1988), the Beatles (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1988), and Leiber and Stoller (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1987).

3. Rufus Thomas had major staying power

Rufus Thomas managed to have chart hits over roughly two decades! If you’re still not convinced of his longevity, scroll back up and watch the footage of 50-something-year-old Rufus Thomas at Wattstax.

4. Rufus Thomas was majorly talented

Rufus Thomas sang. He danced. He wrote songs. He did comedy. He DJ’d and emceed. He did it all really well.

5. The It’s a Wonderful Life test: What would rock sound like without Rufus Thomas?

You know It’s a Wonderful Life? The 1946 Christmas movie where [Spoiler Alert!] Jimmy Stewart wishes he’d never been born. . . And then an angel grants his wish and the audience gets a tour of hedonistic Pottersville where Stewart’s character had indeed never been born and as a result his true love was . . . gasp . . . a librarian!?

Let’s do the It’s a Wonderful Life test and enter a parallel musical universe where Rufus Thomas had not existed. What would rock have been like?

Go back to Memphis, 1953. Thomas isn’t there to record Sun Records’ first hit. The label never gets off the ground. Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and so many others never walk in the door. Like Jimmy Stewart’s wife in the Pottersville timeline of It’s a Wonderful Life, they never have a hit single and instead become bookworms.

The situation is just as bleak a few years later. Rufus and Carla Thomas aren’t there to record the first hit for Satellite records in 1960. The label never embraces R&B, never changes its name to Stax, and promptly goes out of business. Booker T. & the MGs, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, and Johnnie Taylor also become librarians instead of major hitmakers.

Okay, okay, I know this is facetious. In all seriousness, it’s impossible to say what would have happened without Thomas’ contributions.

But I really do think Thomas deserves credit for the anomalous feat of propelling two different record labels by giving each its first hit. Particularly since each label went on to be among the most important of their respective genres. Would that alone be enough to merit induction into the Hall of Fame? Maybe not.³⁴ But on top of Thomas’s other contributions, I think it should be.

Sure, I suppose you could argue that I’m glorifying a footnote or inflating an interesting tidbit of music trivia. But I see it differently. Researching for this article, I found Thomas’ name in numerous books on rock history. Those included biographies of major figures such as Elvis Presley and B.B. King. Personally, I think he’s in those books because it’s hard to tell an accurate and reliable history of rock music without discussing Thomas. He’s almost like a Rosetta Stone for Memphis music history. And much of that city’s musical legacy is rock and roll.

Conclusion

For all of these reasons I think Thomas belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But while I’m waiting for that to happen, I’ll continue to enjoy his music. Let’s let Thomas have the last word with another gem: here’s 44 Long.

1. To their credit, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did give Thomas an award related to his radio work in the 1990s. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/21/guardianobituaries1. ↩︎
2. Rob Bowman, The Complete Stax/Volt Singles: 1959-1968, at 10 (The Atlantic Group, 1991). ↩︎
3. Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (3d. ed.) at 986 (“Singer Rufus Thomas has been a fixture on the Memphis music scene since the ’40s”). ↩︎
4. Martin Hawkins, the Sun Blues Box Set at 76 (Bear Family); cf George-Warren and Romanowski, supra, at 986 (giving place of birth as Casey, MS). ↩︎
5. Id. For more information on the history of that group, which at various times featured Ma Rainey and Louis Jordan, see, e.g., https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/rabbit-foot-minstrels. ↩︎
6. Hawkins, supra, at 76. ↩︎
7. Id. ↩︎
8. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/rufus-thomas. ↩︎
9. George-Warren and Romanowski, supra, at 986; https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/rufusthomas/ (crediting Thomas with “putting Sun Records on the map”). ↩︎
10. George-Warren and Romanowski, supra, at 986. ↩︎
11. Hawkins, supra, at 77. ↩︎
12. Hawkins, supra, at 77. ↩︎
13. Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis, at 112 (Back Bay Books 1994). ↩︎
14. Id. ↩︎
15. See Colin Escott, liner notes on Mystery Train (Rounder 1990), ↩︎
16. Colin Escott & Hank Davis, the Sun Blues Box Set at 109 (Bear Family). ↩︎
17. See Id. ↩︎
18. See https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/21/guardianobituaries1 (describing Thomas as a “voluble critic” of Sun’s pivot towards white rockers). ↩︎
19. https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/rufusthomas/; see also Hawkins, supra, at 77 (providing similar quote with additional critiques of Phillips). ↩︎
20. I am not entirely sure of the magnitude of the hit. The Stax records website describes it as having been “a local sensation.” https://staxrecords.com/spotlight/rufus-carla-thomas/. The liner notes to The Complete Stax/Volt Singles: 1959-1968; Bowman, supra at 1, writes, “After three years of plugging, [Stax boss] Jim Stewart suddenly found he had a hit on his hands” with Cause I Love You. ↩︎
21. You can read his first-hand account of the session in Booker T. Jones, Time Is Tight: My Life, Note By Note, at 16 (Little, Brown and Company 2019). ↩︎
22. Bowman, supra at 1. ↩︎
23. Chart position information gathered from the liner notes to The Complete Stax/Volt Singles: 1959-1968, at 10 (The Atlantic Group, 1991). ↩︎
24. George-Warren and Romanowski, supra, at 986. ↩︎
25. Thomas had other animal-themed songs including Do the Funky Penguin, but I couldn’t find chart statistics for that one. ↩︎
26. Check out Page 40 of this PDF, which some kind and ambitious soul linked on Wikipedia. https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1968/CB-1968-04-06.pdf#page=40. ↩︎
27. https://concord.com/concord-albums/rufus-thomas-do-the-funky-chicken-stax-remasters/. ↩︎
28. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1158876105/wattstax-drew-100-000-people-this-1972-concert-was-about-much-more-than-music. ↩︎
29. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/rufus-thomas. ↩︎
30. https://www.alligator.com/artists/Rufus-Thomas/. ↩︎
31. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/21/guardianobituaries1. ↩︎
32. Hey, that’s going to be my excuse for a complete lack of fans and listeners. I was just too far out, man. ↩︎
33. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kAwglvLP_Y. ↩︎
34. Although executives associated with each label are inductees–Jim Stewart of Stax, Class of 2002; Sam Phillips of Sun, Class of 1986. ↩︎