Originally recorded in 1927 by 'Father of the Texas Blues' Blind Lemon Jefferson, this landmark country blues lamented a drifter's hardship whose worldly goods could fit into a matchbox.
In 1957 at Sun Studio, Carl Perkins overhauled the piece into a hard-driving rockabilly anthem retitled 'Matchbox'. By superimposing slurred electric riffs and a walking slap-bass over the original blues framework, Perkins redefined early Delta/Texas folklore into the definitive vocabulary of early rock and roll—later immortalized by The Beatles.
Blind Lemon Jefferson's country blues was decisively redefined into Carl Perkins' rockabilly anthem 'Matchbox'.