| SPRING 2003 FEATURE... |
It's Still Rock 'n Roll to Me
"I remember seeing the name 'Elvis Presley' written on a brick wall and not knowing who it was. Can you imagine a time not knowing who Elvis Presley was?"
These are the words of Penn State Altoona professor Jerry Zolten, though they could have been uttered by anyone who grew up in the late 1950's. Jerry, like so many others, would soon discover a new kind of music called rock 'n' roll. But where others viewed rock 'n' roll as mere entertainment and developed only a passing interest, Jerry discovered the potential for great art. He discovered a new and passionate form of expression whose growth and development he would track for the rest of his life. And he would love every second of it.
If you were a high school music lover in the late 1950's and early 60's, you probably attended record hops on a regular basis. If you grew up in McKeesport, just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, you may have even attended one where a young man named Jerry Zolten was spinning the records. Over a period of time, Jerry developed quite a collection of 45s and LPs, though his real passion was for live music.
"I would invite local black R&B groups to come and perform. They wouldn't play the whole night, but maybe for half an hour or so in the middle of the dance. They'd do a set and it gave the evening a whole different feeling."
Though he enjoyed this first taste of musical entertainment, Jerry desperately wanted to be a performer himself. Only one thing seemed to be stopping him — his voice. Jerry just didn't have the kind of voice that he thought he needed to pull off the R&B music he loved so much. He had to come to terms with the fact that he might never be a performer. Or so he thought.
 "I was working in a music store, selling records—this would have been around 1962—and I came upon a record by some guy named Bob Dylan. And I thought, 'This looks cool. I'll give it a shot.' I became obsessed with his style and I started imitating it…to make his sound work for me. I realized that a guy with my skills just might be able to find a niche."
Jerry had indeed found his niche. Yet he would soon discover that there were many others like him, people also searching for their place in the rock 'n' roll industry. While attending Penn State in the late 1960's, Jerry became involved in an organization called the Penn State Folklore Society, a group of musicians and fans caught up in the folk music boom of that period.
As a member of the Folklore Society, Jerry worked with his peers and fine-tuned his musical abilities. The group ran the "This and That Coffee House," which was also a performance venue for members of the Society and for visiting artists. Jerry's wish had come true. He was a performer. But in the process, Jerry had learned much more than how to sing and play the guitar. He learned a lot about producing by organizing both fellow students and well-known artists, including the likes of Bonnie Raitt and blues legends Skip James, John Hurt, and Son House.
 In the late 60's, Jerry Zolten and three of his best friends formed a folk-rock group called the "Wooley Thumpers," a name lifted from Southern slang for the sex act. Were they embarrassed by the name? Not at all. If anything, they took rebellious delight that few caught on to the hidden message. After graduating, they moved to New York City where they performed in clubs and small venues. The band, while performing mostly folk and R&B music, sometimes took a stab at some of the more popular kinds of rock 'n' roll music.
"There was a movement in rock 'n' roll of 'bubble gum' music that was kind of silly and poppy and fun, music marketed to 'teeney-boppers,' as pre-teens were called back then. When the Wooley Thumpers performed, we had a song that we did that was a parody of 'bubble gum' music called
Ring Around My Rosie. We performed it at a club one night and a record producer was there. He heard it and wanted us to record it. So we did. Our only condition was that they couldn't put our name on it. We didn't want to get ourselves associated with that kind of music. So they released a 45 and on it was the song
Ring Around My Rosie by some band called "Protazoa." I don't know who came up with the name. I guess the executives at the label, Buddah Records, thought that sounded cool. The song actually did well. It made it to 114 on the Billboard charts and even made it into the top 10 most requested songs in some east coast cities."
That was in 1969. For the next few years, Jerry would continue to perform while at the same time working on a master's degree in communication arts & sciences, then called speech communication. By 1975, with a record behind him and his post-graduate degree in hand, he was ready to move on to something new. What was next? Why, a move to San Francisco and a taste of stand-up comedy.
"When I performed with any of my bands, like the Wooley Thumpers, I was always the announcer. I was always the one on stage who did the talking. And i got to be pretty good at it. So I moved to San Francisco and took a shot at both musical performance and stand-up comedy. I performed all over the city, in clubs and on the streets. At that time ther were always performers out on the streets working for change. I remember performing one block down from Robin Williams, who was doing mime," smiles Zolten. "I guess I should have gotten to know him better!"
 Jerry lived in San Francisco for a few years before returning to Penn State to pursue a doctorate. By the early 1980's, his list of accomplishments had grown. Along with a Ph.D. in communication arts & sciences, he had performed on stage in both solo performances and with a band. He had recorded one of his songs on a 45. He was a journalist, writing articles about music for influential music magazines. He was a seasoned stand-up comedian. Many would say that he had already accomplished enough for a lifetime. But as far as Jerry was concerned, he was just getting started.
Jerry continued to perform with musical groups. At any given time, you might find Jerry performing with a swing band, or an R&B group, or a folk band. American "roots" music has clearly become his passion. At the same time he continued to write articles for magazines both about music and about stand-up comedy.
Then along came the "The Fairfield Four," a long-retired African American gospel group, based in Nashville, that had decided to make a comeback. Jerry heard the group, loved their music, and took on the task of bringing this talented group of men back into the limelight. For the time being, Jerry put aside his performances and writing and focused on the daunting task of being a producer.
"As a performer, I was just responsible for performing. But as a producer, I was responsible for formulating ideas, finding places to perform or record, getting and moving equipment, finding financial backers, making recordings, mixing recordings, finding labels to release albums, etc., etc. I had to be able to do it all."
And he did. Jerry had great success working with "The Fairfield Four." He spearheaded their return to commercial success, publishing articles about them, securing them professional management, producing two of their four contemporary CDs, and accompanying them on tours worldwide. In 2000, members of the group made a triumphant debut performance on the silver screen in the film
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Three of the group's members can be seen in one of the film's final scenes, and all of them can be heard on the soundtrack. That soundtrack, incidentally, won a 2001 Grammy award for best soundtrack album.
It's amazing to consider that while Jerry has been busy accomplishing so much in the music industry, he's still found time to become one of the best-loved faculty members at Penn State Altoona. His life experiences have caused him to approach the subject of communication from a different angle. His course, the Cultural Roots of Rock 'n' Roll, is one of the more popular courses at the College.
 "We don't talk about notes or music theory. We talk about sounds, and words, and genres. We talk about the music as it relates to the times. We talk about music as a form of communication and we try to see what the music tells us about the state of the world when it was written."
He also teaches a communications course in stand-up comedy, with a focus on how stand-up material and the performance of comedians reflects on the state of the world and society.
While busy teaching classes and producing for groups, Jerry continues to write for music magazines. His love for writing music profiles inspired him to write the book
Great God A'Mighty - The Dixie Hummingbirds: Celebrating the Rise of Soul Gospel Music. The book has received much praise and was recently reviewed in the
New York Times.
One might guess that after so many years spent studying music Jerry might be getting tired of the subject. Yet somehow his passion and love for rock 'n' roll continues to grow.
"I feel very fortunate that I grew up in a time when rock 'n' roll was new. And I'm happy to say that it is alive and well."
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