Rock the Joint - Gloucester City's tribute to Bill Haley and the Comets

Bill Haley and The Comets playing in Wildwood.

"Rock the Joint" with Tommy Conwell on July 14,2007, in Gloucester City, New Jersey! Tommy will be performing from 2-3 pm at a concert event honoring one of the first and original rock 'n' rollers, Bill Haley. 

Other musical appearances will include Bill Haley's Original Comets, Charlie Gracie and Full Blown Cherry.

The free rockabilly concert at the corner of Broadway and Market Street, outside Jack's Bar and Grill, will celebrate Gloucester City's claim to fame as rock's birthplace.

It is hoped that the the link to Haley, who in 1955 had the genre's first big hit with "Rock Around the Clock," will boost the city's profile -- and help economic-revival efforts. 

For 18 months in 1951 and 1952, Haley and his country band, the Saddlemen, played at Jack's when it was the Twin Bar, mixing country and western with rhythm and blues. City officials have declared this riverfront community to be the birthplace of rock 'n' roll and the outdoor concert to draw attention to their claim.

Below is an excerpt from the Atlantic City Weekly, "Bill Haley:  Rockin' Around the Jersey Shore"

Over the course of a decade, Haley transformed himself from a struggling country singer to national rock ‘n’ roll star and the land between the Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean played a key role in Haley’s path to stardom.

“South Jersey was our launching pad, our home base. That’s where we created our sound,” said Boccelli, an Ocean City resident who used the stage name of Dick Richards during his tenure with the Comets.

Born in Michigan in 1925, Haley and his family moved to Eastern Pennsylvania in the early 1930s. He crossed the Delaware and lived in Salem between 1949 and 1951 and had a radio show on WSNJ-AM in Bridgeton.

As a country musician, Haley was influenced by Gene Autry and Hank Williams. By the early 1950s, as commercial success was eluding him, Haley was heading in a new direction. Haley and his backing band, the Saddlemen who became the Comets, were fixtures on the South Jersey musical scene, ranging from Andy’s Log Cabin in Camden to the Shelter Haven Hotel in Stone Harbor and at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. 

The Twin Bar in Gloucester City, may have been the most important venue of Haley’s career. “Bill called the Twin Bar the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll,” said John von Hoelle, co-author with Jack Haley, the singer’s oldest son, of Sound and Glory, a 1990 biography of the rock ’n’ roll pioneer. 

During an 18-month engagement at the tavern in the early 1950s, Haley used the bar as a musical laboratory, a place to experiment with his sound. He introduced a loud, amplified beat that he called “cowboy jive” on the rhythm and blues tune “Rock The Joint” that was enthusiastically received by the Twin Bar patrons.

Released as a single on the Philadelphia-based Essex label in 1952, it became Haley’s biggest seller to date. Haley never forgot the importance of “Rock The Joint.” When he recorded “Rock Around The Clock” two years later, Haley had session guitarist Danny Cedrone repeat the guitar solo from the earlier “Rock” for the newer one.

“Rock Around The Clock” was released in the spring of 1954 and initially sold about 75,000 copies. Like a firecracker with a delayed fuse, the song would explode on the singles charts a year later. Played over the opening credits of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle, starring Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, and Vic Morrow, the song would enjoy an eight-week run at No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s singles charts.