FRANKTOWN, Va. — Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup helped invent rock ‘n’ roll.
His 1946 song “That’s All Right,” an easygoing shrug to a lover, would become the first single Elvis Presley ever released. Rod Stewart would sing it on a chart-topping album. Led Zeppelin would play it live.
But you wouldn’t have known it if you saw Crudup living out his later years on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, dressed in coveralls and leading a crew picking cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.
Despite being dubbed “the father of rock ‘n’ roll,” Crudup received scant songwriting royalties in his lifetime because of a recording contract that funneled the money to his original manager. Crudup died 50 years ago, leaving behind one of the starker accounts of 20th century artist exploitation.
“Of course materialistic things don’t mean everything,” said Prechelle Crudup Shannon, a granddaughter. “But they took so much more than just money. They left him with all of the burdens of a…
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