Music News

It was 64 years ago today (July 19th, 1954) that Sun Records released the first Elvis Presley single, “That’s All Right” backed with “Blue Moon Of Kentucky.” The songs, which both scored on the country charts, featured Presley on acoustic guitar and vocals, Bill Black on double bass, and Scotty Moore on lead guitar. The single broke new ground, mixing R&B, country, and rockabilly, and is widely regarded as the first rock n’ roll single.

“That’s All Right” was originally written and recorded by one of Presley’s main inspirations, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, with “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” already on its way to becoming a bluegrass classic by Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys.

Paul McCartney, who has covered the song several times over the years, with the Beatles, as a solo artist, and with Scotty Moore, and DJ Fontana, says that the birth of rock n’ roll not only changed his life but the world at large: “It was America reawakening the world ’cause, y’know, we were into sort of other stuff then, and suddenly Elvis, Little Richard came screaming out of across the Atlantic, y’know, and it was just so exciting for us all. That is a very exciting time, so to remember it was very exciting, but also being a teenager at that time was a very exciting, interesting time.”

AUDIO: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ON ELVIS PRESLEY AND SOCIETY
AUDIO: ELVIS PRESLEY ON EARLY INFLUENCES
AUDIO: JERRY SCHILLING ON ELVIS PRESLEY’S ‘THAT’S ALL RIGHT MAMA’
AUDIO: PAUL MCCARTNEY ON FIRST HEARING ELVIS AND LITTLE RICHARD