With his boyish charm, unfailingly cordial manners, and firm beliefs in religion and the family, singer Pat Boone became the parentally approved antidote to the sexually charged rock 'n' roll acts of the 1950s. The precursor to the "safe" teen idols of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Boone has long been lampooned by critics and historians for his squeaky-clean image, and because he rose to fame by singing cover versions of tunes initially performed by black artists. But by no means was Boone an untalented nor an irrelevant musical force.

At the time that he was delivering renditions of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill," many mainstream radio stations did not play so-called "race" artists. Certainly, Boone's versions were tame compared to the raw delivery of the original artists, but they also allowed the music to be introduced to audiences...