Elvis Presley - Good Rockin Tonight (1954)

Elvis at his best during his Rockabilly days. At this time he was known as "The Hillbilly Cat" and "The King of Western Bop". Thats what they called him long before they called him "The King of Rock n Roll" because before anyone had a name for this new music that Elvis, Scotty & Bill had created most people veiwed him as a country singer or a Hillbilly singer as he was called back in those days. Some people claim that Elvis just "stole" his style from black Rhythm & Blues singers but it couldn't be further from the truth. What not many people know is that country music was at least as important to Elvis as blues music. The first song Elvis ever sang in public was Red Foleys country classic "Old Shep". His first musical hero was hillbilly singer Missisippi Slim who though him how to play guitar in Tupelo, Missisippi. The first time Elvis ever performed on radio was on Slims country radio show at age 12. The way Elvis played rhythm guitar when he first started out on SUN records was pure country style. When Elvis met one of his idols Ernest Tubb in 1954 he told him that it was his real ambition to sing country music "But they tell me that if im going to make any money i got to sing this other kind of music". His first number one hit was country song "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" in 1955. In the early years Elvis only toured with country performers. He played Hillbilly Hoedowns, sung in Honky Tonks and even made an appearance on The Grand Ole Opry. When Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins & Johnny Cash jam together in 1956 and sang some of their favorite songs Elvis sang mostly country songs from people like Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe and Hank Snow. This recording is now known as "The Million Dollar Quartet". Scotty Moore and Bill Black played in a hillbilly band called The Starlite Wranglers Before they joined Elvis. Bill Blacks biggest influence was bassist Fred Maddox from The Maddox Brothers & Rose (Americas most colorful hillbilly band) while Scotty Moore was influenced by Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some examples of how Elvis music was described in the beginning. Elvis interviewed on May 13 1955 "Well, I never have given myself a name, but a lot of the disc jockeys call me boppin hillbilly" American Statesman 1955: "He has a boppish approach to hillbilly music, half-bop half-western" Elvis being introduced before a performance on May 26 1955: "We never have definitely settled on exactly what kind of music he sings, we call it country music but it sure is a lively country" Elvis being introduced before a performance on The Louisiana Hayride October 1 1955 "You couldn't call it hillbilly exactly i guess we have to call it sort of bop type western...this is the new look in western music" The Memphis Commercial Appeal October 14, 1954: "Elvis Presley, our homegrown hillbilly singer..."