Sun record #209. First Elvis Presley record: That's All Right & Blue Moon of Kentucky.

Presley, Elvis.

Published by Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee, 1954.

About this Item

'That's All Right' (Side 1) and 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' (Side 2). 10 inch record (78 RPM), Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee, 1954. Sun #209. Label credits: Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill (see below). Yellow and brown Sun label near fine. Record itself is very good or very good minus (superficial scratches). Elvis Presley's first record.The following is from The Sun Records Label Story (David Edwards, w w w . b s n p u b s . c o m / s u n s t o r y . h t m l --- without the spaces). Sam Phillips started Sun Records in February 1952. The first Sun record was Sun #174. 'Eight months later, in 1954, when he needed a singer for a song called 'Without You', Sam called Elvis Presley into the studio. Elvis was terrible on the song, so Phillips asked him what else he could do. Elvis sang religious, gospel, western and even Dean Martin material. Elvis told Sam he was looking for a band and Sam put him in touch with Scotty Moore and Bill Black. Elvis rehearsed with Scotty and Bill and then went back to the Sun studios. The first song recorded was 'I Love You Because' and some other country oriented songs. During a break, Elvis, Scotty and Bill were messing around in the studio, Elvis was banging on a guitar and singing 'That's All Right, Mama' an old country blues song by Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup. When Sam Phillips heard this, he told Elvis to start over and he would record it. Sam Phillips recognized that in Elvis he had what he had been looking for, a white singer who sounded black. They knew that 'That's All Right, Mama' (Sun 209) would be the first single for Elvis Presley. During the next few days, they recorded Bill Monroe's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' for the second side of the single. Sam took a dub of the record to Dewey Phillips, Sam's former business partner and top DJ on WHBQ. Dewey played the song over and over, listeners called in with their enthusiastic reaction. Dewey called Elvis into the studio for an on-air interview, emphasizing that Elvis was a graduate of Humes High School. Dewey said later he wanted to get that out since many listeners thought Elvis was black and Humes was an all-white school. Sam Phillips and his artists had merged white country music with black rhythm and blues to create a new sound. Elvis made five singles for Sun records, each of them combining a blues song on one side with a country song on the other, but both sung in the same vein. Each release got more and more attention.'.

Seller Inventory # 188

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Sun record #209. First Elvis Presley record: That's All Right & Blue Moon of Kentucky.
• Publisher: Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee, 1954.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included