Bo Diddley - Have Guitar, Will Travel (1960)

Bo Diddley was a highly influential American R&B singer-songwriter and guitarist, who played a key role in the laying the foundations of rock & roll.

With the start of the 60s, Bo Diddley's brief run of hits on the R&B chart was pretty much over. However he soldiered on, releasing his third album. Have Guitar, Will Travel was another exploration of his own idiosyncratic brand of prmitive, guitar-driven rock & roll. The only charting single to be taken from the album was "Say Man, Back Again", a follow-up to his recent novelty hit "Say Man" - it reached #23 on the R&B chart. However elsewhere the album did feature such Bo Diddley classics as "Cops And Robbers", "Run Diddley Daddy" and "Mona (I Need You Baby)". The musicians backing him included his regular band-mates Jerome Green, Jody Williams and Peggy Jones alongside Chess Records veterans such as bassist Willie Dixon and pianist Lafayette Leake.

The album is also noticeable for being his first to feature entertaining cover art, something he soon became known for.

Go Bo Diddley (1959) <|> Bo Diddley In The Spotlight (1960)
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Bo Diddley - Go Bo Diddley (1959)

Bo Diddley was a highly influential American R&B singer-songwriter and guitarist, who played a key role in the laying the foundations of rock & roll.

Bo Diddley's debut album had been released in 1958, though most of the singles it was made up from dated back as far as 1955, when he had scored his first R&B hit. His second run of chart successes began in 1959, with "I'm Sorry" getting to #17 on the R&B chart, "Crackin' Up" getting to #14, and "Say Man" peaking at #3 (and also breaking through to the pop chart at #20). The latter in particular was quite a surprising hit, being in effect a conversation with his percussionist Jerome Green set to a musical backing. The same year his second album was released, featuring these songs and a selection of new original material (plus one repeat from his first album). A particularly notable song was the instrumental "Clock Strikes Twelve", where he played violin.
By the end of the 1950s he had become a true R&B star, with a distinctive style all of his own. These actually proved to be his last notable successes on the single charts, though as the 60s began he would continue to release a series of similarly unique albums.

Bo Diddley (1958) <|> Have Guitar, Will Travel (1960)
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Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1958)

Bo Diddley was a highly influential American R&B singer-songwriter and guitarist, who played a key role in the laying the foundations of rock & roll.

Bo Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates in Mississippi in 1928. He became Ellas McDaniel when he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin. In 1934 his family moved to Chicago, where he was to discover his passion for music. In the 40s he began playing guitar on street corners with his friends, and by 1951 had secured himself a regular spot at the 708 Club on Chicago's South Side, becoming part of the city's rhythm & blues scene.
He first recorded for Chess Records in 1954, under his new alias of Bo Diddley. The single "Bo Diddley" came out in '55, backed with "I'm A Man". It was a remarkable tune, with a primitive, percussive sound based around an African hambone beat. This rhythm would come to be Bo Diddley's signature sound, and featured on a large number of his songs from this point onwards. The song itself was an immediate hit, getting to #1 on the R&B charts and launching his career. A number of singles in a similar style followed, the second highest charting being "Pretty Thing", at #4.
His first album didn't come out until 1958, be which time he had become a great success. It was effectively a compilation of most of his early singles and their b-sides. Alongside the three afore-mentioned songs, it had other Bo Diddley classics such as "Who Do You Love", "Before You Accuse Me", "Diddley Daddy", "Diddy Wah Diddy" and "Hey! Bo Diddley". Taken as a whole, these songs can be seen as highly influential in the evolution of rock & roll from its R&B sources. Diddley was among the first to start moving in this direction, and the songs on this first album have come to be regarded as early rock & roll classics.

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