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Four original, vintage concert posters spanning 1956-57 from the rockabilly master himself, Carl Perkins.

I’ve got one from spring 1956, a pair from the summer of 1957 and one from the fall of ’57 to show you today.

The first cardboard Carl Perkins poster board comes from right in the middle of “Blue Suede Shoes” mania… March 24, 1956, in Big Springs, Texas.

The timing of this one is awesome because Carl’s version of the classic single had just been released a few weeks ago, and Elvis Presley’s version was just coming out (on an EP)… to Carl had the king beaten by almost a month.

Despite being rich in musical history like that, this first Carl Perkins placard is admittedly somewhat drab in appearance. On top of that, the show never happened, at least not for Carl… he was laid up in a New England hospital after being involved in a serious car accident on March 22.

The second Carl Perkins in-person poster I show you really steps up the color quotient… it’s a classic split-fountain placard with red printing over the yellow-turns-to-blue background.

And what fun wording! They call the rockabilly god “Mr. Blue Suede Shoes Himself,” a “Sun Recording Artist,” and then list a couple more of his Sun sides at the bottom.

So there are several elements that elevate this second Carl Perkins billboard above the first one I show you. Bright colors, three song titles, a title for Perkins himself, great ticket prices (Children – 25 cents!) and “Sun Recording Artist.”

And oh – this one’s from a drive-in movie theater, no less… in Murray, Kentucky. How quaint! Pay a quarter (kids) and see one of the founding fathers of rock & roll at an outside drive-in movie theater!

The third Carl Perkins window display today is from the very next night, believe it or not… Wed., Aug. 28. In Columbia, TN… but guess what… also at a drive-in movie theater! This is just so, so cool.

“The Sundown Drive-In Theater,” it states across the top… great name. Same show times as Murray, same ticket prices.

And then the fourth & final Carl Perkins event poster I show you dials back the color a bit… it’s just simple black on white. It’s from Dec. 1957, and the locale was Brunswick, Georgia.

But the LARGE wording is really fun on this one… “Big Rock & Roll Show & Dance,” it proclaims. And then at the bottom it adds, “And His Rock & Roll Band.” This is so wonderful to have on poster if you’re a collector of American ’50s rock ’n’ roll… and who isn’t?

So which Carl Perkins show placard, out of these four, would you opt to have in your collection? Tough to say, isn’t it?

Personally, I would lean toward the third one… Columbia, TN. That’s because it has the best colors, it has three song titles including the important one, it has fun ticket prices, the drive-in theatre venue, and it’s in the same state as Memphis was. Bingo!

This Carl Perkins concert sign – in fact, all four of them – were shown to you today by long-time collector Peter Howard. I live in the central coast of California, and can be called on (805) 540-0020 or written to using pete@postercentral.com. Please remember that as a serious collector, I pay the BEST MONEY IN THIS HOBBY, BAR NONE, for any Carl Perkins boxing-style concert poster or vintage ’50s-’60s rock & roll stuff.

And in fact, to feast your eyes on a few more gems from rock’s first decade, just slide your mouse or cursor over to this page right here: http://www.postercentral.com/rocknroll.htm