Chuck Berry-related albums (What other artists play)

If you like listening to Chuck Berry music, you may also be interested in music by other artists which is related to Chuck Berry in one way or another.

Chuck Berry's music is known to have influenced generations of musicians all over the world. This chapter displays some records which demonstrate both the origins of the Chuck Berry sound and later interpretations.

This section of our Chuck Berry site has been created in close cooperation with Morten Reff, who provided most of the images and a huge part of the text about cover versions.

Is it Chuck Berry music?

The Roots of Chuck Berry Many songs we hear, we automatically associate with Chuck Berry. Often you are confident the song was authored by Chuck Berry and in some cases even a record's composer notes tell you so.

But there was music before Chuck Berry, and of course in his own work he used many of the songs, melodies, or styles he heard by himself when listening to the radio and to records. Chuck Berry recorded a lot of cover versions of blues and pop standards and he used segments of other works as a base for what we call "Chuck Berry music".

The Roots of Chuck Berry (Catfish KATCD204, 2001) is a very nice collection of songs which show where Chuck Berry's music comes from. The recordings included were made between 1938 and 1951, thus clearly before Chuck's own career. Fred Rothwell, author of Long Distance Information: Chuck Berry's Recorded Legacy (Music Mentor Books, 2001) wrote the liner notes and not only collected all the information about the recording (date, place, musicians) but also describes how each song affected Chuck's work.

The 20-track CD contains original versions of Mean Old World, Drifting Blues, Route 66, and more. In addition there are examples of guitar playing by Goree Carter, Charlie Christian, Carl Hogan, and Elmore James, who played Chuck Berry chords note by note, just ten years before him.

It is Chuck Berry music!

But not only Chuck Berry re-recorded other people's hits. The Chuck Berry songbook has been played by musicians of almost every type, era, and style. Some Chuck Berry numbers like Johnny B. Goode or Roll over Beethoven have been recorded and released hundreds of times. Really.

As of May 2024, Morten Reff's counting results in this top list of Berry songs covered. Included are only those cover versions which have been released on Vinyl or CD to the public more than one hundred times. Other recordings such as those from live performances, TV shows, bootlegs or Berry's multiple own recordings do not count in this regard.

Rank

Chuck Berry Song

Cover Versions Count

1.

JOHNNY B. GOODE

814

2.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

536

3.

ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN

438

4.

SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN

317

5.

MAYBELLENE

273

6.

YOU NEVER CAN TELL

268

7.

RUN RUDOLPH RUN

248

8.

ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC

243

9.

PROMISED LAND

220

10.

LITTLE QUEENIE

157

11.

NADINE

156

12.

TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS

150

13.

CAROL

148

14.

NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO

145

15.

THIRTY DAYS

143

16.

BYE BYE JOHNNY

142

17.

AROUND AND AROUND

141

18.

SCHOOL DAY

133

19.

BROWN EYED HANDSOME MAN

126

20.

LET IT ROCK

122

21.

I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU

116

22.

REELIN’ AND ROCKIN’

109

Lesser known Chuck Berry songs, even the most obscure ones have been covered as well. Here is the complete list as of May 2024 which once again proves the importance of Chuck Berry’s lyrics and melodies to the evolution of pop and rock music throughout the decades.

'Run Rudolph Run' (Marvin Brodie-Johnny Marks), 'Too Pooped To Pop' (Billy Davis) and “Mad Lad” (Billy Davis) are included in this survey because they are Berry originals, even though they were not written by him (at least, that's what the composer credits say). Conversely, although Berry's versions of 'I Got To Find My Baby' (1960) and 'Too Late' (1975) were both credited to him, they were actually covers of originals by Little Walter and Jimmy Wakely respectively. In addition there’s a lot more cover versions of 'My Ding-A-Ling', but this is not an original song by Berry in the first place. Written by Dave Bartholomew and recorded by him in 1952, although Berry changed some of the lyrics and added new ones.

Song title

original year

no. of artists

no. of covers

ALL ABOARD

1961

8

8

ALMOST GROWN

1959

46

58

ANTHONY BOY

1958

2

2

AROUND AND AROUND

1958

116

141

BACK IN THE USA

1959

76

79

BACK TO MEMPHIS

1967

15

18

BEAUTIFUL DELILAH

1958

41

44

BETTY JEAN

1959

10

10

BLUE FEELING (instr)

1957

2

2

BLUES FOR HAWAIIANS (instr)

1958

1

1

BROKEN ARROW

1959

2

2

BROWN EYED HANDSOME MAN

1956

115

126

BYE BYE JOHNNY

1960

120

142

CAROL

1958

125

148

CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART

1959

2

3

CHRISTMAS

1970

1

1

CLUB NITTY GRITTY

1966

2

2

COME ON

1961

35

36

COUNTY LINE

1959

3

3

DARLIN’

1994

1

1

DEAR DAD

1964

17

18

DEEP FEELING (instr)

1957

5

5

DOWN BOUND TRAIN

1955

23

26

DRIFTING HEART

1956

3

3

FORTY DAYS (see THIRTY DAYS)

GO, GO, GO

1961

4

4

GO BOBBY SOXER

1964

2

2

GOOD LOOKING WOMAN

1969

1

1

GUITAR BOOGIE (instr)

1957

17

18

HAVANA MOON

1956

28

29

HAVE MERCY JUDGE

1969

1

1

HELLO LITTLE GIRL, GOODBYE

1973

1

1

HOW YOU’VE CHANGED

1957

4

4

IF I WERE

1979

1

1

I GOT A BOOKING

1965

2

2

I LOVE YOU

1972

1

1

I’M A ROCKER

1970

6

18

I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU

1961

102

116

I STILL GOT THE BLUES

1961

1

1

IT DON’T TAKE BUT A FEW MINUTES

1958

11

11

IT’S MY OWN BUSINESS

1965

14

14

IT WASN’T ME

1965

8

11

I'VE CHANGED

1958

1

1

I WANT TO BE YOUR DRIVER

1964

17

17

JAGUAR AND THE THUNDERBIRD

1960

14

14

JO JO GUNNE

1958

4

4

JOHNNY B. GOODE

1957

697

814

LA JUANDA

1957

2

2

LET IT ROCK

1959

100

122

LITTLE MARIE

1964

3

3

LITTLE QUEENIE

1958

141

157

LOUIE TO FRISCO

1968

3

3

MA DEAR

1968

2

2

MAD LAD (instr)

1960

1

1

MAN AND THE DONKEY

1961

3

3

MAYBELLENE

1955

242

273

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

1958

484

536

MOVE IT

1979

2

2

MY DING-A-LING

1972

29

30

MY LITTLE LOVE LIGHT

1965

3

3

MY MUSTANG FORD

1965

3

4

NADINE

1963

149

156

NO MONEY DOWN

1955

60

65

NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO

1964

126

145

OH BABY DOLL

1957

14

16

OH LOUISIANA

1957

1

1

OH WHAT A THRILL

1979

12

13

OH YEAH

1958

1

1

OUR LITTLE RENDEZVOUS

1960

6

6

PROMISED LAND

1964

170

220

RAMONA SAY YES

1966

3

3

REELIN’ AND ROCKIN’

1957

101

109

ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC

1957

228

243

ROCK AT THE PHILARMONIC (instr)

1957

3

4

ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN

1956

376

438

RUN RUDOLPH RUN

1958

242

248

SCHOOL DAY

1957

115

133

SOUL ROCKIN’

1967

1

2

STOP AND LISTEN

1960

2

2

SWEET LITTLE ROCK AND ROLLER

1958

71

80

SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN

1958

282

317

THE LITTLE GIRL FROM CENTRAL

1963

1

1

THIRTEEN QUESTION METHOD

1958

12

12

THIRTY DAYS

1955

128

143

TOGETHER (WE’LL ALWAYS BE)

1955

1

1

TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS

1956

131

150

TOO POOPED TO POP

1959

2

2

TRICK OR TREAT

1961

1

1

TULANE

1969

22

25

VACATION TIME

1958

3

3

VIVA, VIVA ROCK & ROLL

1966

4

4

WEE WEE HOURS

1955

53

56

WHY SHOULD WE END THIS WAY

1965

1

1

WUDEN’T ME

1979

1

1

YOU CAN’T CATCH ME

1956

59

61

YOU NEVER CAN TELL

1964

255

268

YOU TWO

1960

1

1

For those readers who don’t want to search the complete Volumes 3 and 4 as well as the updates in this site's blog for a specific cover version, we provide here a PDF file containing an update to the corresponding chapter in the book. It lists all the artists and recording dates which make up for the No. of Artists column in the table above. For more details about the corresponding album such as label and release date, read the books and the updates on this site's blog.

As mentioned so many times before, this survey of Berry covers will never be completed in full since his catalog is always interesting for various artists without regard to musical genre. And also there will be covers that we still don’t know about.

Complete albums full of Berry covers

You will find Chuck Berry songs (or the Chuck Berry arrangements of other people's songs) in the recording catalogues of all the 1950's Rock and Rollers, of all the 1960's Beat bands, of all the 1970's Rock bands and even today no month passes without publication of another Chuck Berry cover version. For a start you should listen to Chuck B. Covered: A Tribute to Chuck Berry and to Rock And Roll Music: The Songs of Chuck Berry

Chuck B. CoveredChuck B. Covered: A Tribute to Chuck Berry (Hip-O HIPD-40076, 1998) contains only 14 of the thousands of Berry cover versions, but a nice collection of artists and styles. It starts with Buddy Holly's 1956 version of Brown Eyed Handsome Man and ends with the Stray Cat's Beautiful Delilah from 1986. There is a country version of You Never Can Tell by Emmylou Harris, a Raggae version of Johnny B. Goode by Peter Tosh, and an instrumental version of Memphis, Tennessee by Lonnie Mack. Additionally included are many other well-known names such as Rod Stewart, the Beach Boys, and Linda Ronstadt.

Rock And Roll MusicRock And Roll Music: The Songs of Chuck Berry (ACE CDCHD 1491, 2017) contains much more giving 24 Berry cover versions. Only three of them are duplicates to the HIP-O CD. The 16 page booklet not only explains the recordings in detail, it also shows cover and label images of each. In addition the selection itself is astonishing. They not only included some of the oldest cover versions (Marty Robbins: 1955, Helene Dixon: 1956, Ken Colyer: 1956 in the UK!!). They also selected both prominent names (Elvis, Buddy, Jerry Lee) and groups I had never heard of. The recordings span more than 40 years from 1955 to 1997. Many of the interpretations are notably different from Berry's original tunes.

The Chuck Berry SoundEven more differently sounding cover versions are on The Chuck Berry Sound (Atomicat Records ACCD162, 2024). This 30-track CD concentrates on late 1950s and early 1960s releases. However, it does not only include cover versions but also songs which sound like they were Berry covers – but aren’t. In addition there are non-Berry songs on which you can easily hear that the guitar player had listened to Chuck Berry records a lot before recording these. With Rock At The Hop (The Dusters) and Big Berry (Big Daddy G) the CD even includes two very early tribute songs to Chuck Berry. For details about this CD see this blog article.

Missing from these albums are the Beatles and the Stones, both of which could have their own Chuck Berry tribute album. And indeed the Rolling Stones have complete Chuck Berry tribute albums. An official one named "Rolling Berry's" (London L20P-1126, 1983) was released only in Japan and contains eight Berry covers (You Can't Catch Me / Around And Around / Carol / Bye Bye Johnny / I'm Talking About You / Come On / Carol -Live / Little Queenie -Live) plus four Berry-related songs (Route 66 / Confessin' The Blues / Down The Road A Piece / Route 66 -Live). "The Rolling Stones Play Chuck Berry" is a 10 inch album that came out in 2017. The front cover has pictures of Mick and Chuck's faces. It was released as a blue vinyl LP with a limited edition of a 1000 copies. Songs taken from various live sources. Tracks: Come On / Memphis, Tennessee / Roll Over Beethoven / Don't You Lie To Me / Bye Bye Johnny / Beautiful Delilah / Carol / Around And Around. A bootleg CD named Rolling Stones play Chuck Berry (no label, 2005) contains a collection of even 20 Berry-related recordings ranging from a pre-Stones 1962 recording of Beautiful Delilah to Keith Richard's version of Run Rudolph Run. In addition the CD comes with four versions of Down The Road Apiece by Bradley/McKinley/Stack, Amos Milburn, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones plus two unrelated bonus tracks. As is common with bootlegs, there are various slightly different versions of this CD including a Vinyl version containing just a few of the tracks.

Rolling Berry's Rolling Berry's Rolling Stones play Chuck Berry The Rolling Stones play Chuck Berry

Brown Eyed Handsome Man Quite the contrary to the Stones are the artists which contributed to another pure Berry-covers CD published in 2004. As a supporting project for St. Louis' community radio KDHX FM 88.1 musician Kip Loui asked 19 local St. Louis bands and artists to cover their favourite Chuck Berry number. Brown Eyed Handsome Man: Saint Louis Salutes the Father of Rock & Roll (Undertow UTCD025) provides a very broad range of cover versions including various rarely covered songs such as Club Nitty Gritty (Tinhorn) or Why Should We End This Way (Jay Farrar). Some interpretations stay close to the original, e.g. Ramona Say Yes (The Gentlemen Callers), while others are barely recognizable. e.g. No Particular Place to Go (Waterloo). Some of the recordings such as Fontella Bass's Brown Eyed Handsome Man and Fairchild's Almost Grown are truely excellent. In contrast, others are close to noise, e.g. Little Queenie (The Phonecapters). Anyway all of these are interesting interpretations: Who would have thought of performing Around & Around (Magnolia Summer) in a Rap-like fashion or of playing the intro to Bye Bye Johnny (Bob Reuter & Palookaville) on a fiddle?

The ARC ClassicsAlso in 2004 another CD surfaced containing various strange Berry covers. The ARC Classics (ARC Music Group ARC CB 0402) however was a not-for-sale promotional item distributed by ARC Music, the publishers of a larger set of Chuck Berry songs. For details see the section on Radio Show and Promotional Records. In addition to 13 recordings by Chuck himself, the CD presented cover versions by The Groovie Ghoulies, Emmylou Harris, Carson City Playboys, Dr. Feelgood, Taj Mahal, and Nina Simone. As a bonus the CD contains the single Chuck Berry song not recorded by himself: Hey Good Looking was written for and performed by Bo Diddley.

BRONCO BR 069 - A tribute to Mr. RockIn 2005 Bronco Records of Spain released another record (yes, vinyl!) containing 18 cover versions of Chuck Berry numbers performed by little known bands from the U.S., Spain, Mexico, France, Sweden, and Norway: A Tribute to Mr. Rock (Bronco Records BR 069). This is the track listing: Carol by Sonny Vincent, Come On by the Jerry Spider Gang, I Want to Be Your Driver by the Paybacks, Dear Dad by the Hentchmen, Viva Rock & Roll by Los High Sierras, I Love You by the Murrays, Bye Bye Johnny by Foggy Mental Breakdown, School Days by Rockzilla, Sweet Little Rock & Roller by Nullskattesnylterne, I Got to Find My Baby by the Bellrays, Club Nitty Gritty by the Maggots, Nadine by Sin City Six, Oh Baby Doll by Los Chicos, Let It Rock by the Cool Jerks, Driftin' Heart by Speedballbaby, Thirty Days by the Callahans, Man and the Donkey by the Gore Gore Girls, and finally Little Queenie by Lost Acapulco. While most of the versions are played too loud and too fast, a few are really nice. One example is the last track, which is an instrumental version played in surfsound style. Also very good is the Norwegian Nullskattesnylterne's version of Sweet Little Rock & Roller recorded during a soundcheck in Germany. And the best interpretation of these comes from Spain just like the record itself: Foggy Mental Breakdown play Bye Bye Johnny as it is to be played, similar to Berry or the Stones, only better. The record was only available directly from Bronco Records and limited to only 525 copies, which makes it pretty unique and very hard to find.

Amongst earlier albums concentrating on Berry covers an interesting item stems from Sir Albert Douglas who recorded an album which in France is called "10 Succèes de Chuck Berry" (Trema 310 020, 1976) and in Germany "Strings, Licks and Things" (Bellaphon BEE-44003, 1978). Despite its title the album contains only nine Berry covers: Johnny B. Goode / Memphis, Tennessee / Carol / School Days / Roll Over Beethoven / Sweet Little Sixteen / Rock And Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny / Reelin' And Rockin'. Number 10 is Blue Suede Shoes, which was written by Carl Perkins and never recorded by Chuck.

10 Succèes de Chuck Berry Strings, Licks and Things

The very first album completely dedicated to Chuck Berry songs was released in 1964 in the US. Bill Black is best known for his bass playing at Elvis Presley's early SUN sessions. Here "Bill Black's Combo Plays the Tunes of Chuck Berry" (HI LP SHL-32017): School Days / Sweet Little Sixteen / Roll Over Beethoven / Maybellene / Carol / Little Queenie / Brown-Eyed Handsome Man / Nadine / Thirty Days / Johnny B. Goode / Reelin' And Rockin' / Memphis, Tennessee. All of these are instrumentals. The Bill Black's Combo tribute album was also released in South Africa, but there it was titled "Bill Black's Combo Plays The Hits" (London ZA-6233). However the label says Plays Tunes By Chuck Berry (strange idea).

Bill Black's Combo Plays the Tunes of Chuck Berry Bill Black's Combo Plays The Hits

Berry Pickin' in the CountryBluegrass versions of Berry's songs appeared in 1965. "Berry Pickin' in the Country" (Epic BN-26176) came from the duo Jim & Jesse McReynolds. Included were the songs Memphis, Tennessee / Johnny B. Goode / Sweet Little Sixteen / Roll Over Beethoven / Reelin' And Rockin' / Maybellene / Bye Bye Johnny / Too Much Monkey Business / Back In The U.S.A. / Brown-Eyed Handsome Man. Chuck Berry himself provided (well, at least signed) the liner notes to the album: "I think it is a fabulous experience to hear various artists perform a song. Their different versions not only bring out the song's special qualities, but they also reveal how many individual approaches there are to it. [...] I won't deny that I'm flattered to have my music played by such a talented group as Jim & Jesse and The Virginia Boys. I won't even attempt to put into words my emotions as I listen to their performances."

The Routers Play the Chuck Berry SongbookTwelve instrumental versions of Berry covers make the album "The Routers Play the Chuck Berry Songbook" (Warner Brothers WS-1995, 1965): School Day / Sweet Little Sixteen / Too Much Monkey Business / Wee Wee Hours / Bye Bye Johnny / Memphis, Tennessee / Johnny B. Goode / Maybellene / Rock And Roll Music / Roll Over Beethoven / You Never Can Tell / No Particular Place To Go. This album has a lot of drive and is performed with a true admiration for the music, not so strange since it turns out that the songs were actually performed by top Los Angeles session musicians, like Hal Blaine or Earl Palmer on drums, Carol Kaye on bass, Leon Russell on keyboards or whatever musicians were available at the time.

In 1973 Don Adams released "Rock It Over Again" (Polyband CS-233 (12 31127-4)). As far as we know, this tribute album is only available on musicassette! Besides four original songs by Adams, the MC includes cover versions of Reelin’ And Rockin’ / Too Much Monkey Business / Nadine / Wee Wee Hours / Sweet Little Sixteen / Memphis, Tennessee / Bye Bye Johnny / Roll Over Beethoven / Rock And Roll Music / No Money Down.

Cub Digs ChuckIn 1989 the Detroit singer and guitar player Cub Koda released "Cub Digs Chuck" (Garageland BF 625). Not only the cover reminiscing "One Dozen Berrys", even the catalogue number of this Swedish release is a hint to Chuck's famous BBC show "Six Two Five". Included are Maybellene / Johnny B. Goode / Around And Around / Little Queenie / Memphis, Tennessee / Guitar Boogie / Carol / It Don't Take But A Few Minutes / Roll Over Beethoven / Blues For Hawaiians.

Lilla Läckra ChristineOnly five songs contains Chuck Berry Mania's Mini-CD "Lilla Läckra Christine" (World Wide Songs WWSCD-0597, 1997). The title song is a Swedish variation of Sweet Little Sixteen while the other four songs are sung in English language: Roll Over Beethoven / Johnny B. Goode / Run Rudolph Run / Little Queenie.

The only band having two official albums full of Berry covers is HANK T. MORRIS & THE AMAZING BUFFALO BROTHERS. "House Of Blue Lights" (Sunjay SJCD-606) is from 2000 and includes nine studio recordings: Almost Grown, Around And Around, Childhood Sweetheart, I Got To Find My Baby, Little Queenie, Roll Over Beethoven, Thirty Days, Wee Wee Hours, and You Can't Catch Me. "Live At..." (Enviken ENREC-128) is from 2005 and contains live recordings made in 2001. The live CD contains almost the same song selection of Berry covers but adds Back in the USA, Promised Land, and Too Much Monkey Business.

In the early 2000's CDs full of Chuck Berry covers came from the WILD BERRYS and from CORKSREW. The WILD BERRYS, a band from Holland, published a CD containing 21 Berry covers: Oh Well Oh Well (Rarity Records C192702, 2002). Not all songs are Berry originals, but you know where they got them: Let it Rock, Betty Jean, Maybellene, House of Blue Lights, You Can't Catch Me, Roll Over Beethoven, Dear Dad, Memphis, Tennessee, Carol, Reelin' and Rockin', Wee Wee Hours, Come On, Sweet Little Rock and Roller, Little Queenie, Can't Find My Baby (= I Got to Find My Baby), I Want to Be Your Driver, Down the Road Apiece, Around and Around, Nadine, Bye, Bye Johnny, and Merry Christmas, Baby. The CD CORKSCREW play Chuck Berry (Corkscrew, 2005) comes with 15 Berry numbers: Johnny B. Goode, Sweet Little Sixteen, Maybelline, Come On, Roll Over Beethoven, No Money Down, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Around And Around, Memphis Tennessee, Reelin' & Rockin', Carol, Too Much Monkey Business, Promised Land, No Particular Place to Go, Thirty Days.

Oh Well Oh WellCORKSCREW play Chuck Berry

Tribute to a PoetIn 2006 Billy Peek, a St. Louis guitarist who toured and recorded with Berry in the 1970s, published his own Tribute to a Poet CD album. Tracks are Roll Over Beethoven, Nadine, You Can't Catch Me, Wee Wee Hours, Too Much Monkey Business, Maybellene, Carol, No Money Down, No Particular Place To Go, Sweet Little Sixteen, Johnny B. Goode, Bye Bye Johnny.

Eddy Mitchell Chante Chuck BerryAs a special tribute after Berry's death French rock singer Eddy Mitchell released in 2017 a 2-CD set titled "Eddy Mitchell Chante Chuck Berry" (Universal Music France [MCA] 2CD 5377491). It contains 16 Berry covers sung by Eddy, or rather the Berry songs that Eddy has recorded in the studio and released throughout his career. He sings in French making them with his own trademark the Berry way. The second CD on the set is Berry's original Chess recordings of the same songs. Anyway, as you will notice from Vol.3 of the Chuck Berry International Directory, Eddy Mitchell always performed Berry songs during concerts, many released on LPs and CDs, 2 of them featured on this set. The tracks: Bye Bye Johnny B. Goode / Á Credit et en Stereo / C'est Un Rocker / C'est la Vie Mon Cheri / Une Terre Promise / Les Traines Tard et les Ródeurs / Sirop Rock'n'Roll / Rock And Road / Français Made In USA / Memphis, Tennessee / Maybellene / Detective Privé / Donne-Moi Une Idée / J'Aime Le Rock'n'Roll (live) / Repose Beethoven (live) / Eddie Sois Bon. CD 1 with Eddy's covers was also available as a stand-alone 180gr. vinyl release.

Let It Rock — The Chuck Berry TributeThe Swedish rock'n'roll band The Refreshments recorded and released a tribute CD in 2013 titled "Let It Rock — The Chuck Berry Tribute" (Darrow-Universal NRCD-120). It contains 15 tracks, 13 Berry covers, one tribute "You Can't Beat A Chuck Berry Song" and an original song. It's a very good statement from the band and featuring a couple of songs that seldom are covered, however, the sound on the album is not the best, kinda woolen and the drums are often kept in the back ground in the mix. Tracks: You Can't Beat A Chuck Berry Song / My Mustang Ford / Memphis, Tennessee / Sweet Little Sixteen / Come On / It Wasn't Me / Wee Wee Hours / Nadine / Havana Moon / You Never Can Tell / You Can't Catch Me / No Money Down / Carol / Vacation Time / Southern Belle, the latter being an original.

Also sounding Scandinavian but indeed from France is singer Mikka Gytviken. His album "My Chuck Berry Tribute" is a digital-only product but comes with an interesting selection of songs which includes Darlin' from Berry's last studio album. The remaining tracks are: Carol / Maybellene / Route 66 / Oh What A Thrill / You Never Can Tell / Sweet Little Sixteen / It Don’t Take But A Few Minutes / Little Queenie / Johnny B. Goode / School Day.

Phantom Brothers - Go Johnny GoThe old '60s German beat group The Phantom Brothers released a tribute album to Chuck in 2005, titled "Go Johnny Go" (Street-Beat SBR-120). It contains 9 covers, 8 by Berry and one by Bo Diddley, "Before You Accuse Me". It was recorded in November/December 2004 at Power Sound Studios Bielefeld, Germany. It was made, pressed and released by the band itself and looks like it, but the sound is very authentic. Tracks: Johnny B. Goode / Sweet Little Rock And Roller / Around And Around / Roll Over Beethoven / Oh Baby Doll / Little Queenie / Maybellene / I'm Talking About You, plus "Before You Accuse Me".

Groovie Ghoulies - Berry'd AliveBerry the punk way, is what Groovie Ghoulies is doing on their 10 inch LP and CD "Berry'd Alive" (Green Door 5005) which was released in 2005. The songs that gets the punk treatment are Don't You Lie To Me (not really Berry's) / Betty Jean / All Aboard / Carol / I'm Talking About You / Trick Or Treat. Again interesting to notice the diverse specter of artists and musical styles that sing and play Berry music. I mean it's a long way from Jim & Jesse to Groovie Ghoulies.

Rosmaity Brothers - Berry Pickin'In 2015, Fabian and Christoph Rosmaity (Germany) released "Berry Pickin' - A Salute To the Genius of Chuck Berry" (The Rocket Sound Lab, no number) containing 14 Berry songs and one related. They almost sounds like the originals, updated that is. The tracks that really work are the two blues oriented songs. Interesting to hear "Worried Life Blues" the Berry way. It's okay to record ones favourite Berry song(s) but since they have been recorded by almost who's who in the music business it's therefore important to get a personal and different approach, like they did with "Wee Wee Hours".

Just for the sake of completeness we list Adam Carter's "A Tribute To Chuck Berry" (Kives Records kv-5107, 1996) contanind covers of the ten best known Berry numbers. It's part of a Brazilian series of dozens of tribute albums.

2019 saw the release of two albums each carrying the subheading "A Tribute To Chuck Berry". Ronnie Wood of the Stones released a live album recorded at the Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne Minster, Dorset: Mad Lad - A Tribute To Chuck Berry (BMG 538527702). Imelda May helps singing and lifts the result on the two tracks she's involved in. The tribute is okay but nothing to brag about, and Ronnie is no quality singer but he's a tremendous guitar player. The Berry sound is all in there. Quite a contrast is Mike Zito's Rock'n'Roll - A Tribute To Chuck Berry (Ruf Records RUF-1269). It's a gigantic release, 20 tracks, 20 different guitar players and singers accompanying Zito! This album might help younger people to get to know Berry's music. "Memphis" with Anders Osborne is true to Berry's original, not the same but simple in structure and sound. However, most of the others are filled with musical instruments, sometimes a little too much. Chuck's grandson Charlie Berry III follows very much the arrangement of "St. Louis Blues" his grandfather did in 1965. Well performed. Luther Dickinson makes it swing on "Too Much Monkey Business" and even includes the final lyrics with I don't want your botheration, get away leave me be ... which is so often forgotten. "You Never Can Tell" with Robben Ford is without the identical piano playing but remember this is a guitar based album. "Down Bound Train" with Alex Skolnick is strange and even more "scary" than Berry's own, think 63 years difference. "School Day" is quite goode, one of two females on the album, and Ally Venable is doing a very decent job of it. Twenty songs covered and all the big hits are missing? Well, that gives you an idea of how many classic rock'n'roll songs Berry created.

Ronnie Wood - Mad Lad Mike Zito - Rock'n'Roll

Also in 2019 George Benson released an album called "Walking to New Orleans - Remembering Chuck Berry and Fats Domino". This is a tribute to both. Benson included five Berry covers: Havana Moon, How You’ve Changed, Memphis, Tennessee, Nadine, and You Can’t Catch Me.

A different type of tribute to Berry came with the album "Ridin' With Chuck" by The Midwesterners (Darlingtone DARL-21004). Besides including a cover of "You Never Can Tell" it contains 11 more tracks all with a Berry feeling in some way, especially the title track. It's actually the only Berry concept album available. All orignal songs written by singer/guitarist Richard Wiegel. Ridin' With Chuck = they certainly are. Every Berry fan should have a copy of this album.

Midwesteners - Ridin' With Chuck

More than 5000 Chuck Berry cover versions!

If you are interested in more information about Chuck Berry cover versions, you need to have Morten Reff's extensive description of Chuck Berry authored recordings. This was published in 2012 as a book called The Chuck Berry International Directory, Volume 3 (Music Mentor Books).

The earlier Volumes 1 and 2 of 2008 have 1,000 pages describing each and every Chuck Berry record issued in the U.S., in the U.K., or in any other country. The combined 19 chapters also covered bootlegs, movies, TV shows, books and much much more.

Volume 3 presents chapter 20 which has 600 pages on its own. This issue of the Chuck Berry International Directory lists and describes all those records where some other artist recorded their own version of a Chuck Berry song. Paul McCartney's Yesterday is said to have been recorded in 2,200 cover versions. Berry's Johnny B. Goode must come on one of the next places as Morten Reff here lists 648 recorded versions. And from this book we learn that McCartney and the Beatles made one of them. In addition the Beatles recorded and officially released 16 further Berry covers, while the Stones only have 11. Morten Reff included just the official releases, not counting any bootlegs or such. Still then, the book lists more than 2,400 artists having recorded one or more Berry songs. In contrast to the Beatles which besides Yesterday don't have many songs covered that much (if you excluded tribute bands), it's highly interesting to learn that almost 20 Berry songs have been covered at least 100 times, with Memphis, Beethoven and Sweet Little Sixteen following Johnny B. Goode on the list. As with the other lists, Reff included much more than just dates and catalog numbers. There's a short paragraph for each artist and for most of the recordings there's one or more additional paragraphs describing the recording or its use. Photo pages present the most interesting sleeves. Again this has been a tremendous amount of work. It is a fun to browse through it or look up famous artist's names.

The companion book The Chuck Berry International Directory, Volume 4 (Music Mentor Books, 2013) completes the coverage of cover version by including an index over song titles so one can look up those who recorded Beautiful Delilah, for instance. There's also a discussion on successful cover version which became hits on their own, on recordings which are said to be cover versions but aren't, and on Soundalikes.

As with the other volumes of this series there's only one recommendation: Hurry up and get you one!

Morten Reff: The Chuck Berry International Directory, Volume 3 Morten Reff: Chuck Berry International Directory Vol. 4

As with all printed books, the contents becomes outdated as soon as the book left the printers. Likewise CBID is never complete as new records and CDs appear and some old rarities are discovered. To overcome this limitation, a full section of this site's accompanying blog presents interesting additions and corrections to CBID. To read what Morten has discovered after the books were published, go to the blog comming with this site.


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Last modified: 06.07.2024