Thanks for the comments thus far. Claymore wrote:

>I have only my memory to back this up, when Rock and Roll was first starting out, they were refering to "Roots Music" as >a code word for Black music, . . .

I was born in '54, so I can't share this memory. However, I've never heard this, despite a fair amount of reading about pop music history. Claymore--could you be recalling the term "race music," which was an explicit, and commercially used, euphemism for black music, dating back to the '20s? A quick glance at the sometimes less than comprehensive indices to some rock and roll histories, does not reveal early use of the term roots music.

Anyone else?

Peace,
Michael