Part I: Hitmakers and bold-faced names. Carl Perkins meets Elvis in a high school parking Lot / with Shawn Pitts ; LaVern Baker : play it fair ; Frankie Laine : bringing passion to pop ; Ella Johnson : since I fell for you ; Charlie Rich : before the fox was silver ; Betty Johnson : no more singing for her supper ; Rosco Gordon : just a little bit ; Ella Mae Morse : so much, so soon
Part II: One-hit wonders, wannabees, and supporting characters. Chuck Miller : fryers, broilers, and the House of Blue Lights ; Huelyn Duvall : close but no cigar ; Eddy Bell : his alter ego became a star ; Sherry Crane : a parakeet visits 706 Union Avenue ; Ben Hewitt : the best known unknown ; Joey Riesenberg : the scrapyard drummer ; Troy Shondell : the early years of a one-hit wonder ; Carl Mann : that "Mona Lisa" boy
Part III: Chasing the story. How Elvis and the Jones Brothers ended up in the Memphis landfill ; Hannah Fay and Jeannie Greene : searching for missing singers ; Allerton and Alton : black, white, and bluegrass ; Donna Dameron loses her gig in an Iowa cornfield ; The Kirby Sisters : envy wrapped in red velvet ; "Unchained melody" : the pre-ghost story ; Chuck Berry and other passengers on the hellbound train ; Delia's not gone : the musical legacy of the late Delia Green / with Paula Cimba
Part IV: Doo wop stories. A brief introduction to doo wop ; The Paragons meet the Turbans ; The Channels : the closer you look ; God or girlfriend? : the Prisonaires create a very confusing love song ; Going steady with the Pearls ; The Six Teens meet the Cleftones
Part V: The bigger picture. The first rock 'n' roll record and other creation myths ; politically incorrect music in the 1950s / with Scott Parker ; "Sugartime" and other subtle sexual content in '50s music ; Looking under the covers / with Scott Parker ; The dozen most influential records of the 1950s ; Instrumental hit records : no words were necessary / with Scott Parker ; Ancestors of the Chipmunks ; The Bobbys : an antidote to all that rockin'.
