Interview Photographer Jennifer Greenburg on why you’re probably a rockabilly fan but don’t even know it

Although rockabilly helped rock music come to exist in America, its role in pop culture today has largely diminished, or so it seems. While '70s anthem rock and even '80s hair metal can still book stadiums and sell out shows, ’50s-style rockabilly is usually relegated to the smaller clubs—or on a larger scale, to casinos. But Jennifer Greenburg, a photographer and member of the burgeoning rockabilly community, is doing her part to raise the genre’s profile in Chicago with a new book of photo essays titled simply The Rockabillies. Before holding a signing of her book on Jan. 26 at the MCA, Greenburg talked to The A.V. Club about how rockabilly has infiltrated pop culture and why people probably love it without even knowing they do.

Neo-swing in the '90s

Jennifer Greenburg: In the neo-swing movement of the ‘90s, movies like Swingers introduced rockabilly to the larger culture, and that was such a breakout independent film. The Reverend Horton Heat, certainly, is a band that still tours every single year and still has a huge following that was established in that neo-swing movement of the '90s. I think in that time period, there were definitely bands that came from Chicago that thought that rockabilly was going to be the next big thing in popular culture, but Reverend Horton Heat had a hit and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies had their hit, and that was it.

Fashion

JG: There are a lot of instances [of rockabilly's influence] in fashion, where a designer will come out with a collection of garments that are so reminiscent of the rockabilly aesthetic, something usually emblematic of what a teenager in the '50s would wear. It's sort of the young rebel idea. In men's fashion, some of that never goes away, right? The birth of denim, the baseball and letterman's jacket, and the leather jacket—those creep up all the time. You'll see something come out from Marc Jacobs or Nanette Lepore and it's straight out of that era.

Jennifer Greenburg

Custom cars

JG: The difference between a rockabilly car event and a classic-car event is that all the rockabilly cars have been customized by the person who owns the car. If there's any kind of electronic or computerized part that has been added later, those cars aren't allowed in the show. And also, if the car is in perfect original condition, they're also not allowed in the show. So what happens is that you get cars that have been chopped, been dropped, the door handles have been shaved off, and there's a crazy paint job. It's a spectacle.

The open-mic-night grab bag

JG: [At the Big C Jamboree every month at Martyrs',] they'll have a host band that will play three to five sets, but the rest of the night is open mic, so rockabilly musicians from all over the Chicagoland area and beyond will show up and play two songs. And two songs can be the greatest 12 minutes of your night or the worst 12 minutes of your night. You can get turned on to somebody that you haven't heard before who maybe plays two or three times a week in your neighborhood. You really get a variety of different acts. It can be the best night in the world or the worst night in the world, and you don't know what you're going to get. I think anything where you roll the dice like that is exciting.

The A.V. Club: Do you feel like that kind of friendliness and open-mindedness is inherent to the rockabilly community?

JG: Not always. It can be the friendliest place in the world or the loneliest place in the world. When somebody new shows up to the scene, it's very obvious right away if they're just passing through or if they're a lifer. But I would say that if you look at the other youth subcultures in comparison, there is no comparison in terms of friendliness. Like if you were to go into the garage rock scene and the punk rock scene, the goth scene or any other music-based youth culture anywhere, I'd say that in the rockabilly scene, you're going to meet with the friendliest people you'd come across.