According to Sun Records, Sid “Hardrock” Gunter was “one of the earliest country boogie artists to start shifting the music into full-fledged rockabilly.”
Hardrock was a singer, composer and top-notch guitar picker. His song “Birmingham Bounce”, recorded in 1950, has been cited as a contender for the first rock and roll record by Jim Dawson and Steve Probes in their book “What was the first rock and roll record?” Many authorities will cite Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88” in this role, but Birmingham Bounce came out a year earlier.
“Birmingham Bounce” was made into a Billboard number 1 hit by Red Foley for 14 weeks and was also covered by artists that include Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Amos Milburn, and many others.
Later that same year he recorded “(Gonna Rock and Roll) Gonna Dance All Night” which was arguably the first time that “rock and roll” was used as a musical expression. (The D.J. Alan Freed is often given credit for coining the phrase “rock and roll”, but Hardrock’s song came out a few years before Freed ever mentioned it on his radio show.)
Hardrock, who was given the nickname from bandmates while still a teenager after a car trunk fell on his head and he acted like nothing happened (they said his head was as hard as a rock) was a key figure in the creation of “Rockabilly” music. In 1951 he recorded “Sixty Minute Man” on the DECCA label with Roberta Lee, the song has been noted as probably the first white “country” act to cross over into the “R&B” charts. He later signed with Sun Records (before Elvis) but almost as soon as he made his first recording on the label he was recalled into military service during the Korean conflict. (Hardrock was a POW in Germany during World War II.) Hardrock was good friends with Hank Williams and performed with practically every musician that appeared at the Grand Ole Opry during the 1950s.