Elvis makes legendary recordings at Sun Studios: July 5-6, 1954

l to r: Elvis Presley, Bill Black, Scotty Moore, Sam Phillips
image from thoughtontracks.com

Elvis Presley’s Sun recordings from July of 1954 are considered by some to be the beginning of rock and roll. Many historians would argue that rock and roll’s origins predate Elvis and can’t be tied to one event or recording, but Elvis’ brief tenure with Sun is indistibutably monumental in the development of rock and roll.

The July 5-6 session was not the future King of Rock and Roll’s first time to record with Sun. Nearly a year earlier, he paid $3.98 to the Memphis Record Service, now commonly known as Sun Studio, to record “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” In January 1954, he returned to record “I’ll Never Stand in Your Way” and “It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You.”

That May, Sun Studio head Sam Phillips found a demo of “Without You” and, in a search for a white performer who could sing blues and boogie-woogie, he brought Elvis back in the studio. Local Western swing musicians Scotty Moore (electric guitar) and Bill Black (slap bass) rehearsed songs on July 4 and met at Sun the next couple days to record a few songs.

Scotty Moore talks about the sessions

The first song they recorded was “I Love You Because.” After a few more country-oriented songs, Elvis started playing around with Arthur Crudup’s blues song “That’s All Right, Mama.” Also among the songs they recorded were a faster version of bluegrass musician Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “Harbor Lights.”

“Mama” and “Kentucky” were released as a single before the end of the month and garnered some success in the South. The trio would record at Sun through 1955 before Phillips sold Presley’s contract to RCA for a then-record $35,0000 to $40,000, depending on the source. It was in 1956 that Elvis would claim the throne as the King, but he’d established himself as royalty via those 1953-55 Sun recordings.

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Elvis Presley Awards:

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Resources and Related Links:

• Elvis Presley’s DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
• Bill Black’s DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
• Scotty Moore’s DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
• Sam Phillips’ DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry
• DMDB page for The Sun Sessions
• Wikipedia: Elvis Presley’s Sun recordings

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50 years ago: Elvis Presley recorded “Blue Moon of Kentucky”

Blue Moon of Kentucky Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys

Writer(s): Bill Monroe (see lyrics here) Recorded: September 16, 1946 Released: September 22, 1947 First Charted: -- Peak: -- (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.2 video, 6.47 streaming

Blue Moon of Kentucky Elvis Presley

Recorded: July 7, 1954 Released: July 19, 1954 First Charted: -- Peak: 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.17 video, -- streaming

Awards (Monroe): Click on award for more details.

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Awards (Presley): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Country singer William Smith Monroe was born on 9/13/1911 in Rosine, KY. He grew up playing mandoline and in 1938 at age 27 formed the Blue Grass Boys. They integrated gospel, country, and string band music in a faster style which came to be known as bluegrass – named after the band. TC It has also been described as “a form of country music which combines harmony singing with the banjo and the fiddle.” LW In 1946, they recorded “Blue Grass of Kentucky,” which music historian Steve Sullivan called “the beloved theme song of the Father of Bluegrass.” SS As Monroe said, “it seems every trip we made was from Kentucky to Florida driving back and forth…I always thought about Kentucky and wanted to write a song about the moon we could always see over it. The best way to do this was to bring a girl into the song….I wrote it in the car on the way home from one of those Florida trips.” TC The song was composed in waltz time with the barn dances in mind which Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys often played. LW The recording featured the famed duo of guitarist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs. SS It not only became the state song of Kentucky, but the B-side of Elvis Presley’s first single, “That’s All Right,” recorded at Sun Records. He sped the song up to become “a giddy rockabilly raveup” SS and “one of the first rock & roll songs.” TC Music critic Dave Marsh called it “high lonesome with ants in its pants.” DM He also said that Elvis’ covers of “country standards like this was as audacious as his blues reworkings.” DM He “radically recasts one of the most sacrosanct number in all bluegrass.” DM The song features “gutbucket bass and rocketing guitar solos and that relentless rattling – probably Elvis baning on the body of his guitar ‘like it was the lid of a garbage can,’ as he once described it.” DM Sun Records’ founder Sam Phillips thought if he could market Presley to a country audience, he could make some money. LW However, the country market suffered more than R&B did from the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll. “To admit Elvis to the C&W charts was an acknowledgment that there was an essential vitality missing.” DM Monroe himself liked Elvis’ version enough that he re-recorded it more in the King’s style. SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bill Monroe DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Elvis Presley TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 530-1. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 90. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 397-8. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 606. Related Links: First posted 8/22/2023.