In the honkytonks in and around Memphis the Trio would often play an upbeat country and blues so that the patrons had music to do the 1940-1950s bop and jitterbug, popular at the time, and the sound later called rockabilly, which they perfected in their 1956 Coral Records album.
The trio together with Tommy Seeley and Albert Vescovo had their first recording session with the Von Theater in Boonville, which booked the Burnettes and other talent from out of town.
Their first single was "You're Undecided"(any early indication of their rockabilly style) backed with "Go Mule Go" (Von 1006), released under the name Johnny Burnette.
In an article for TV Radio Mirror, Johnny Burnette recalled that he and Dorsey had auditioned for Sun Records and had been chased back onto the street when the fiddler's bridge broke.
More importantly, however, Burlison later insisted that the group did not audition at Sun at all, and he recalled the incident of the fiddler's bridge taking place during the recording of "Go Mule Go".
As they both needed to secure regular pay-cheques, they decided to drive to New York in the hope of gaining jobs there through the electrician's union.
After discussing the move with their wives and other family members, the trio drove to New York through one of the worst snowstorms to hit the Northeast in many years.
They then found out about the Wednesday night auditions for the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour, and they joined the endless queue of show business hopefuls.
Elvis Presley had only hit the big time in late January 1956, and someone in the Mack audition crew thought that the Burnettes and Burlison might reach the same market.
A newspaper clip on the day after their third win on the Ted Mack Show referred to them as "the Rock and Roll Boys from Memphis".
Jerome also set up a corporation called Pajad (PA-ul, J-ohnny A-nd D-orsey) Enterprises in which the proceeds of their earnings were to be split equally for five years.
Jerome placed the boys on salary and he would later cut himself in for composer's royalties on some of the tunes, working under the pseudonym of Al Mortimer.
After signing with Coral, the Rock and Roll Trio were placed with A & R director Bob Thiele, who took them to the Pythian Temple in New York City for their first recording session.
They were to be paid the union scale of $41.25 each to sit and watch the Rock and Roll Trio perform their original rockabilly tunes.
Bob Thiele had, however, listened to the early Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley recordings, and he talked to the boys about creating their own sound.
He told Burlison to turn up the treble on the amp, which created a pinched, stinging tone to Paul's lead guitar.
The rest of the session produced four songs, "Midnight Train", "Tear It Up", "Oh Baby Babe" and a reprise of the old Von cut "You're Undecided".
With only one single left in the can, Coral rushed Johnny, Paul and Dorsey back into the studio, but this time it was to be in Owen Bradley's Studio at 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, from July 2–5, 1956 and teamed up with Buddy Harman on drums for the full session and the great Grady Martin on guitar for July 5.
This again failed to make the national charts, and without a hit record, the trio needed to play live dates in order to promote themselves and more particularly to earn money.
On September 9, 1956, they appeared on the final of the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour at Madison Square Garden, where amongst other songs, they played "Tear It Up" and "Hound Dog".
After Austin was hired, Henry Jerome started billing the group as Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio on live dates.
The band was constantly on the road, completing what seemed to be an endless stream of one-night stands in order to cover their living expenses.
In the meantime, Dorsey returned to Memphis and found himself a lead guitarist and a bassist whilst he switched to rhythm guitar and vocals.
French researchers Gilles Vignal and Marc Alesina, however, have produced a discography which has only Johnny Burnette present at the session.
Taking a cue from Elvis and the Jordanaires, Owen Bradley lined up a vocal group for two tracks: "Butterfingers" and "If You Want It Enough".
The Yardbirds, when Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were part of the line-up, covered "The Train Kept A Rollin" and their own rewrite of that song, "Stroll On".
Johnny Burnette died in a boating accident on Clear Lake, California, in August 1964, while Dorsey continued to write songs and remained successful in this field.
Dorsey's death may well have prompted Paul Burlison to return to the music scene in the 1980s, first with Johnny Black and Tony Austin in a recreation of the Rock and Roll Trio.
When asked about his post-Trio relationship with the Burnette Brothers, Paul Burlison made the following comments, "A year after I did that short tour with Johnny, I was working on my car one day and my wife called me to the phone.
[citation needed] Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page remarked: Lonnie Donegan inspired everyone [to play guitar] because he made it look as though it was possible to do.