ABSTRACT
Songs from the Specialty sessions became hits and were subsequently consolidated into the debut album Here's Little Richard in 1957. Two years later, 'Rockin Pneumonia' headlined Huey Smith and his Clowns' first album, Having A Good Time on Ace Records. Having a Good Time is an exciting, but atypical debut record. As a debut record, Here's Little Richard was fresh but familiar, with attributes of a 'greatest hits' compilation. Little Richard's dynamic debut record conceals as much as it reveals about its title character. Piano players like Huey Smith populated the 20th-century performing landscape and propelled wide diversity within American popular music. Huey 'Piano' Smith's lyrical wit and unquenchable zeal for producing dance numbers eventually prompted him to assemble his own crew of off-the-wall instrumentalists and singers. The personal controversies in Little Richard's life may have been distractions, but ultimately did not fully devalue his pioneering crossover contributions and musical legacy.
