Walk A Lonely Street - now available

[Alan_K]

Happy 65th birthday to the song that changed the world:

Someone should write a book on it.

[Steve Morse]

I am progressing through the book after a brief hiatus and have done some more cheating too, i.e., reading ahead.

I decided to read ‘Crudup’s After Hours’* (p.299) and, after reading, was compelled to believe that it could be the most telling piece in the book. Following on from the ‘chapter’ describing the That’s All Right session, it re-examines the supposed spontaneity of the famous and seminal moment when the earth began to rock, i.e. when Elvis started strumming that old Arthur Crudup blues song. It* seems in fact to be a rewritten and shortened version of 'The Crudup Connection', featured on this very message-board on 16 October 2012. In simple terms, Elvis constructed the lyrics to That’s All Right himself.

To me it screams, “The world needs to know this!”. Not the world, perhaps, but the rock world, the rock ‘n’ roll scholars and music journalists who know the story . . . but (and not through any fault of their own) don’t really know the story. The legend has long since taken root and long-standing inertia dictates that it has become fact.

The fact that Elvis always seemed to play down the event in the manner of, “Well, sir, we just stumbled across it”, confirmed – or even originated – that legend. I find a parallel here with Elvis’s Jaycees speech in 1971. I believe that, when asked about it afterwards, Elvis implied that it was not prewritten, yet I believe it must have been. It’s not credible that he would go to the rostrum totally unprepared for what he was going to say on such a prestigious occasion. Also, in the back of my mind, I seem to recall Priscilla saying that he had discussed what he was going to say with her – but I could be wrong about that.

Incidentally, January 16th will be the 50th anniversary of the Jaycees event. Surely someone could have come up with a 400-page heavyweight book, with 300 previously unseen photos, in celebration ?

[George Smith]

I decided to read ‘Crudup’s After Hours’* (p.299) and, after reading, was compelled to believe that it could be the most telling piece in the book. Following on from the ‘chapter’ describing the That’s All Right session, it re-examines the supposed spontaneity of the famous and seminal moment when the earth began to rock, i.e. when Elvis started strumming that old Arthur Crudup blues song. It* seems in fact to be a rewritten and shortened version of 'The Crudup Connection', featured on this very message-board on 16 October 2012. In simple terms, Elvis constructed the lyrics to That’s All Right himself.

To me it screams, “The world needs to know this!”. Not the world, perhaps, but the rock world, the rock ‘n’ roll scholars and music journalists who know the story . . . but (and not through any fault of their own) don’t really know the story. The legend has long since taken root and long-standing inertia dictates that it has become fact.

The fact that Elvis always seemed to play down the event in the manner of, “Well, sir, we just stumbled across it”, confirmed – or even originated – that legend.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. There is, as someone kindly pointed out, a lot going on in this book, and a lot more than just the True Story of "Heartbreak Hotel".

I remain confident that my hypothesis on what happened during the big-bang moment is at least partly correct, and that Elvis Presley deserves substantially more credit than he has ever been given for what he did that night.

I was also wondering if anyone had yet picked up on that particular chapter title ...

[Steve Morse]

I decided to read ‘Crudup’s After Hours’* (p.299) and, after reading, was compelled to believe that it could be the most telling piece in the book. Following on from the ‘chapter’ describing the That’s All Right session, it re-examines the supposed spontaneity of the famous and seminal moment when the earth began to rock, i.e. when Elvis started strumming that old Arthur Crudup blues song. It* seems in fact to be a rewritten and shortened version of 'The Crudup Connection', featured on this very message-board on 16 October 2012. In simple terms, Elvis constructed the lyrics to That’s All Right himself.

To me it screams, “The world needs to know this!”. Not the world, perhaps, but the rock world, the rock ‘n’ roll scholars and music journalists who know the story . . . but (and not through any fault of their own) don’t really know the story. The legend has long since taken root and long-standing inertia dictates that it has become fact.

The fact that Elvis always seemed to play down the event in the manner of, “Well, sir, we just stumbled across it”, confirmed – or even originated – that legend.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. There is, as someone kindly pointed out, a lot going on in this book, and a lot more than just the True Story of "Heartbreak Hotel".

I remain confident that my hypothesis on what happened during the big-bang moment is at least partly correct, and that Elvis Presley deserves substantially more credit than he has ever been given for what he did that night.

I was also wondering if anyone had yet picked up on that particular chapter title ...

Well, I've just Googled it and it's the title of a double CD collection by old Arthur but, otherwise, I'm none the wiser. I'm still laughing at "Byrd leaves Tree", though !

[George Smith]

Well, I've just Googled it and it's the title of a double CD collection by old Arthur but, otherwise, I'm none the wiser. I'm still laughing at "Byrd leaves Tree", though !

I had lots of giggle-fits making up some of the titles and some are so obscure I doubt anyone will uncover their root, but they do all have a point.

Try this link for clarification: https://www.discogs.com/Arthur-Big-Boy-Crudup-Crudups-After-Hours-Thats-All-Right/release/4831687

[George Smith]

I've just added a new video to my YouTube channel which demonstrates the shift between what I believe to be the style of Mae and Tommy's original demo (i.e. the piano sheet music) and Glenn's recording.

Enjoy!

[drjohncarpenter]

I decided to read ‘Crudup’s After Hours’* (p.299) and, after reading, was compelled to believe that it could be the most telling piece in the book. Following on from the ‘chapter’ describing the That’s All Right session, it re-examines the supposed spontaneity of the famous and seminal moment when the earth began to rock, i.e. when Elvis started strumming that old Arthur Crudup blues song. It* seems in fact to be a rewritten and shortened version of 'The Crudup Connection', featured on this very message-board on 16 October 2012. In simple terms, Elvis constructed the lyrics to That’s All Right himself.

To me it screams, “The world needs to know this!”. Not the world, perhaps, but the rock world, the rock ‘n’ roll scholars and music journalists who know the story . . . but (and not through any fault of their own) don’t really know the story. The legend has long since taken root and long-standing inertia dictates that it has become fact.

The fact that Elvis always seemed to play down the event in the manner of, “Well, sir, we just stumbled across it”, confirmed – or even originated – that legend.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. There is, as someone kindly pointed out, a lot going on in this book, and a lot more than just the True Story of "Heartbreak Hotel".

I remain confident that my hypothesis on what happened during the big-bang moment is at least partly correct, and that Elvis Presley deserves substantially more credit than he has ever been given for what he did that night.

I was also wondering if anyone had yet picked up on that particular chapter title ...

Maybe someone.

470405_RCA Victor 2205_Crudup After Hours.jpg

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "Crudup's After Hours" (RCA Victor 2205, April 5, 1947)
B-side was "That's All Right"

Billboard Apr 12 1947_p22.jpg

Billboard - April 12, 1947





This Crudup single was reissued by RCA on 45rpm in April 1949, "That's All Right" still the B-side:

490400_RCA Victor 50-0000_That's All Right.jpg

When RCA first issued 45rpm singles, they used colored vinyl to identify genre, with r&b being orange.







Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!





This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

[George Smith]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "Crudup's After Hours" (RCA Victor 2205, April 5, 1947)
B-side was "That's All Right"

Spot on, John -- congratulations -- you win the encore.

And thanks for the potted history lesson too.

[elvis4life]

https://www.georgesmithpublications.com/copy-of-tcbcast

Reviews for Walk A Lonely Street

Review by Paul Richardson, March 2021,
for Elvis: The Man and His Music magazine

Nearly ten years in the making, Walk A Lonely Street is the most compelling, thought-provoking, original and unique book on Elvis Presley to have been published in recent years. Its principal remit is to present the history of "Heartbreak Hotel", the song that first brought Elvis to the world's attention in January 1956. However, this book is so much more than a study of a single tune or of one entertainer. As the author states in his foreword, this collection of several hundred stories -- chronologically presented and arranged into individual mini-chapters -- combines to document the history of country music from the time of the American Civil War, the role of women in the music industry, and countless other related topics.

This wide-ranging and epic work runs for 689 pages, contains approximately 200,000 words that are divided into three main sections, and features more than thirty illustrations of newspaper articles, assorted documents and rare photographs. The most poignant images relate to the death of Alvin Krolik, a 27-year-old artist and former Marine who was shot dead while trying to rob the Busy Bee Liquor Store in El Paso, Texas, on August 20th 1955. A few days later, a local newspaper covered the story and -- using words taken from his unpublished autobiography -- described Krolik in the article's title as a "Person Who Walked Lonely Street". This very report resonated with musician and songwriter Tommy Durden and it provided him with the inspiration for a song which, with some crucial input from Florida-based teacher and music promoter Mae Boren Axton, became "Heartbreak Hotel". The rest, as they say, is history.

The complete biography of "Heartbreak Hotel", and the individual stories of the people who contributed to its genesis and realisation, is told by Plews in methodical detail. This is the work of an author who has done significant original research, delving into resources held by archives across the States, making use of materials generously made available by the Axton estate, and conducting interviews with individuals who had important memories to share, It is also the work of an author who knows how to write, has a masterful control of his craft, and has taken incredible care to provide a meticulously checked and factually accurate book.

However, Walk A Lonely Street is far from being a dry academic tome or heavy reference work. Complete with complex, overlapping plot lines and a parade of interesting major and minor characters who command attention, it is as compelling a read as a best-selling work of crime fiction. The book also contains some light touches of pithy humour, and, where essential to the narrative, it seamlessly melds pure historical research with creative writing.

Walk A Lonely Street teems with more than its fair share of enlightening and acutely perceptive insights, which do not necessarily concern "Heartbreak Hotel". For example, nestled just before the work's halfway point is a section that deals with Elvis' July 5th recording of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right". As Plews reveals, Elvis' take on this blues standard is not what it seems to be. It is, in fact, a compilation of as many as five Crudup recordings that were blended with some original Presley words. The startling conclusion reached is that, far from spontaneously covering an old number, Elvis turned up at 706 Union Avenue that evening with his own song, a pre-prepared "Crudup montage -- a medley of Crudup lyrics and new Crudupesque phrases -- in the hope that Mr. Phillips would invite him to sing it" (p. 300). Should anyone need to provide eveidence of Elvis' originality, then look no further than this particular chapter.

If there were an award for the best Elvis-related book of the past year, Walk A Lonely Street would be an automatic contender to win. In a time when the trend seems to be one of producing extravagant, limited edition audio-visual packages that come with wallet-busting price tags, it is refreshing to see on the market an intelligent book that does not cost an arm and a leg to buy and which treats the text as king. Tony Plews deserves to be congratulated for his efforts and, if you are in any doubt, is unreservedly recommended to every reader of this magazine.

[PiersEIN]

https://www.georgesmithpublications.com/copy-of-tcbcast
Reviews for Walk A Lonely Street

Review by Paul Richardson, March 2021,
for Elvis: The Man and His Music magazine

Nearly ten years in the making, Walk A Lonely Street is the most compelling, thought-provoking, original and unique book on Elvis Presley to have been published in recent years. ,,,

If there were an award for the best Elvis-related book of the past year, Walk A Lonely Street would be an automatic contender to win. Tony Plews deserves to be congratulated for his efforts and, if you are in any doubt, is unreservedly recommended to every reader of this magazine.

Absolutely right.
A brilliant book which I do keep going back to.
There is so much to investigate and enjoy it will take me years before I have time to follow up all the footnotes I made.
Cheers
Piers

[pmp]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

[pmp]

https://www.georgesmithpublications.com/copy-of-tcbcast

Reviews for Walk A Lonely Street

Review by Paul Richardson, March 2021,
for Elvis: The Man and His Music magazine

Nearly ten years in the making, Walk A Lonely Street is the most compelling, thought-provoking, original and unique book on Elvis Presley to have been published in recent years. Its principal remit is to present the history of "Heartbreak Hotel", the song that first brought Elvis to the world's attention in January 1956. However, this book is so much more than a study of a single tune or of one entertainer. As the author states in his foreword, this collection of several hundred stories -- chronologically presented and arranged into individual mini-chapters -- combines to document the history of country music from the time of the American Civil War, the role of women in the music industry, and countless other related topics.

This wide-ranging and epic work runs for 689 pages, contains approximately 200,000 words that are divided into three main sections, and features more than thirty illustrations of newspaper articles, assorted documents and rare photographs. The most poignant images relate to the death of Alvin Krolik, a 27-year-old artist and former Marine who was shot dead while trying to rob the Busy Bee Liquor Store in El Paso, Texas, on August 20th 1955. A few days later, a local newspaper covered the story and -- using words taken from his unpublished autobiography -- described Krolik in the article's title as a "Person Who Walked Lonely Street". This very report resonated with musician and songwriter Tommy Durden and it provided him with the inspiration for a song which, with some crucial input from Florida-based teacher and music promoter Mae Boren Axton, became "Heartbreak Hotel". The rest, as they say, is history.

The complete biography of "Heartbreak Hotel", and the individual stories of the people who contributed to its genesis and realisation, is told by Plews in methodical detail. This is the work of an author who has done significant original research, delving into resources held by archives across the States, making use of materials generously made available by the Axton estate, and conducting interviews with individuals who had important memories to share, It is also the work of an author who knows how to write, has a masterful control of his craft, and has taken incredible care to provide a meticulously checked and factually accurate book.

However, Walk A Lonely Street is far from being a dry academic tome or heavy reference work. Complete with complex, overlapping plot lines and a parade of interesting major and minor characters who command attention, it is as compelling a read as a best-selling work of crime fiction. The book also contains some light touches of pithy humour, and, where essential to the narrative, it seamlessly melds pure historical research with creative writing.

Walk A Lonely Street teems with more than its fair share of enlightening and acutely perceptive insights, which do not necessarily concern "Heartbreak Hotel". For example, nestled just before the work's halfway point is a section that deals with Elvis' July 5th recording of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right". As Plews reveals, Elvis' take on this blues standard is not what it seems to be. It is, in fact, a compilation of as many as five Crudup recordings that were blended with some original Presley words. The startling conclusion reached is that, far from spontaneously covering an old number, Elvis turned up at 706 Union Avenue that evening with his own song, a pre-prepared "Crudup montage -- a medley of Crudup lyrics and new Crudupesque phrases -- in the hope that Mr. Phillips would invite him to sing it" (p. 300). Should anyone need to provide eveidence of Elvis' originality, then look no further than this particular chapter.

If there were an award for the best Elvis-related book of the past year, Walk A Lonely Street would be an automatic contender to win. In a time when the trend seems to be one of producing extravagant, limited edition audio-visual packages that come with wallet-busting price tags, it is refreshing to see on the market an intelligent book that does not cost an arm and a leg to buy and which treats the text as king. Tony Plews deserves to be congratulated for his efforts and, if you are in any doubt, is unreservedly recommended to every reader of this magazine.

Agreed.

[chop983]

Picked the book up for Christmas and I'm about to start reading it today.

[George Smith]

Thanks for highlighting the very flattering ETMAHM review, elvis4life.

A brilliant book which I do keep going back to.
There is so much to investigate and enjoy it will take me years before I have time to follow up all the footnotes I made.
Cheers
Piers

Thank you, Piers.

Agreed.

Much appreciated, Shane, thank you.

Picked the book up for Christmas and I'm about to start reading it today.

Hope you enjoy, chop983.

First half of the discussion Tony & I had about "Walk A Lonely Street" is up today, with this first part ending right around "That's All Right" as discussed in this thread:

I had great fun doing this, Justin, many thanks for making it such an enjoyable experience.

[drjohncarpenter]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?

Nope, not saying that at all.

You really miss the forest for the trees.

[AndrewJ]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

Come on Shane, you're just trying to provoke a fight here. DJC does not mention a record player - Elvis could have heard it via a jukebox, the radio, blaring out of some other venue. He may have known someone with a record player and a record. From what we know about Elvis he sought out and absorbed the sounds of the blues from his surroundings - and from Tony's excellent book we have an excellent hypothesis as to how this process led to his breakthrough as an artist in 1954.

[jurasic1968]

I think the majority of the families in US had a radio in 1949. So it's very possible that Elvis heard the song from the radio.

[pmp]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

Come on Shane, you're just trying to provoke a fight here. DJC does not mention a record player - Elvis could have heard it via a jukebox, the radio, blaring out of some other venue. He may have known someone with a record player and a record. From what we know about Elvis he sought out and absorbed the sounds of the blues from his surroundings - and from Tony's excellent book we have an excellent hypothesis as to how this process led to his breakthrough as an artist in 1954.

And you think other people would have been playing a 45rpm disc just a couple of weeks after the medium was introduced? You think there'd be a jukebox with rpm records when Elvis was 14. You think his friends would have gone out and bought one in 1949 - or that the radio would be playing it when there were only a handful of discs released - and only RCA was using the format?

Did you go out and buy a blu ray player on the week they were first issued? Or a CD player?

Obviously not.

And so no, the 45 is NOT where Elvis would have first heard the song, it would have been on the 78rpm disc that was released in 1947. To suggest otherwise is downright ridiculous.

[AndrewJ]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

Come on Shane, you're just trying to provoke a fight here. DJC does not mention a record player - Elvis could have heard it via a jukebox, the radio, blaring out of some other venue. He may have known someone with a record player and a record. From what we know about Elvis he sought out and absorbed the sounds of the blues from his surroundings - and from Tony's excellent book we have an excellent hypothesis as to how this process led to his breakthrough as an artist in 1954.

And you think other people would have been playing a 45rpm disc just a couple of weeks after the medium was introduced? You think there'd be a jukebox with rpm records when Elvis was 14. You think his friends would have gone out and bought one in 1949 - or that the radio would be playing it when there were only a handful of discs released - and only RCA was using the format?

Did you go out and buy a blu ray player on the week they were first issued? Or a CD player?

Obviously not.

And so no, the 45 is NOT where Elvis would have first heard the song, it would have been on the 78rpm disc that was released in 1947. To suggest otherwise is downright ridiculous.

Nobody is saying when he heard it; but this release is likely to have played a big role in Elvis becoming familiar with the song.

[pmp]

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!


This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

So, you're saying that a poor family in April 1949 was going to have a record player that played 45s?
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you?
How many such households do you think had that kind of equipment less than one month after the first 45rpm single and the first player was released to the public at the end of March?

Think it through, Doc.

Come on Shane, you're just trying to provoke a fight here. DJC does not mention a record player - Elvis could have heard it via a jukebox, the radio, blaring out of some other venue. He may have known someone with a record player and a record. From what we know about Elvis he sought out and absorbed the sounds of the blues from his surroundings - and from Tony's excellent book we have an excellent hypothesis as to how this process led to his breakthrough as an artist in 1954.

And you think other people would have been playing a 45rpm disc just a couple of weeks after the medium was introduced? You think there'd be a jukebox with rpm records when Elvis was 14. You think his friends would have gone out and bought one in 1949 - or that the radio would be playing it when there were only a handful of discs released - and only RCA was using the format?

Did you go out and buy a blu ray player on the week they were first issued? Or a CD player?

Obviously not.

And so no, the 45 is NOT where Elvis would have first heard the song, it would have been on the 78rpm disc that was released in 1947. To suggest otherwise is downright ridiculous.

Nobody is saying when he heard it; but this release is likely to have played a big role in Elvis becoming familiar with the song.

Which bit of "This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it" is difficult to understand?

If he was 14 and a ninth grader, then it was clearly 1949 when he heard it.

[Ryan73]

I decided to read ‘Crudup’s After Hours’* (p.299) and, after reading, was compelled to believe that it could be the most telling piece in the book. Following on from the ‘chapter’ describing the That’s All Right session, it re-examines the supposed spontaneity of the famous and seminal moment when the earth began to rock, i.e. when Elvis started strumming that old Arthur Crudup blues song. It* seems in fact to be a rewritten and shortened version of 'The Crudup Connection', featured on this very message-board on 16 October 2012. In simple terms, Elvis constructed the lyrics to That’s All Right himself.

To me it screams, “The world needs to know this!”. Not the world, perhaps, but the rock world, the rock ‘n’ roll scholars and music journalists who know the story . . . but (and not through any fault of their own) don’t really know the story. The legend has long since taken root and long-standing inertia dictates that it has become fact.

The fact that Elvis always seemed to play down the event in the manner of, “Well, sir, we just stumbled across it”, confirmed – or even originated – that legend.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. There is, as someone kindly pointed out, a lot going on in this book, and a lot more than just the True Story of "Heartbreak Hotel".

I remain confident that my hypothesis on what happened during the big-bang moment is at least partly correct, and that Elvis Presley deserves substantially more credit than he has ever been given for what he did that night.

I was also wondering if anyone had yet picked up on that particular chapter title ...

Maybe someone.













Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "Crudup's After Hours" (RCA Victor 2205, April 5, 1947)
B-side was "That's All Right"







Billboard - April 12, 1947





This Crudup single was reissued by RCA on 45rpm in April 1949, "That's All Right" still the B-side:









When RCA first issued 45rpm singles, they used colored vinyl to identify genre, with r&b being orange.







Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!





This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

Fantastic post Doc and as always thanks for providing links and sources which always bring depth to the conversation.

[pmp]

I decided to read ‘Crudup’s After Hours’* (p.299) and, after reading, was compelled to believe that it could be the most telling piece in the book. Following on from the ‘chapter’ describing the That’s All Right session, it re-examines the supposed spontaneity of the famous and seminal moment when the earth began to rock, i.e. when Elvis started strumming that old Arthur Crudup blues song. It* seems in fact to be a rewritten and shortened version of 'The Crudup Connection', featured on this very message-board on 16 October 2012. In simple terms, Elvis constructed the lyrics to That’s All Right himself.

To me it screams, “The world needs to know this!”. Not the world, perhaps, but the rock world, the rock ‘n’ roll scholars and music journalists who know the story . . . but (and not through any fault of their own) don’t really know the story. The legend has long since taken root and long-standing inertia dictates that it has become fact.

The fact that Elvis always seemed to play down the event in the manner of, “Well, sir, we just stumbled across it”, confirmed – or even originated – that legend.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. There is, as someone kindly pointed out, a lot going on in this book, and a lot more than just the True Story of "Heartbreak Hotel".

I remain confident that my hypothesis on what happened during the big-bang moment is at least partly correct, and that Elvis Presley deserves substantially more credit than he has ever been given for what he did that night.

I was also wondering if anyone had yet picked up on that particular chapter title ...

Maybe someone.













Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "Crudup's After Hours" (RCA Victor 2205, April 5, 1947)
B-side was "That's All Right"







Billboard - April 12, 1947





This Crudup single was reissued by RCA on 45rpm in April 1949, "That's All Right" still the B-side:









When RCA first issued 45rpm singles, they used colored vinyl to identify genre, with r&b being orange.







Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup "That's All Right" (RCA 50-0000, April 1949)
The first blues 45!





This 45 release is very likely when 14 year-old Elvis Presley, 9th grader at Humes High in Memphis, first heard it.

Fantastic post Doc and as always thanks for providing links and sources which always bring depth to the conversation.

Yeah, thank the Doc for a post that couldn't possibly be true - on a thread about one of the best researched books yet published on Elvis. But who cares about the truth, right?

[Ryan73]

Glad to see my posts still occupy your time and that you find them quotable. Other than the notification, I have no idea nor intention to read what I can only guess will be more sarcasm as you've thrown at myself and other's on the board with probably another 'like' thrown in as usual. If you had bothered to read, I informed you that to save mod's from intervening again and again over your actions I've added you to my foe list. Hope this is clear this time, but feel free to keep quoting me to instigate issues where there are none and yet constantly seek out and I'll be happy to pass this on to the mods once again.
My post was only a direct quote of the Doc's informative and link rich thread as so often contributes to this board and has zero to do with you.
Again, thanks Doc for your contributions here and the education that you and others' put forth

[pmp]

Glad to see my posts still occupy your time and that you find them quotable. Other than the notification, I have no idea nor intention to read what I can only guess will be more sarcasm as you've thrown at myself and other's on the board with probably another 'like' thrown in as usual. If you had bothered to read, I informed you that to save mod's from intervening again and again over your actions I've added you to my foe list. Hope this is clear this time, but feel free to keep quoting me to instigate issues where there are none and yet constantly seek out and I'll be happy to pass this on to the mods once again.
My post was only a direct quote of the Doc's informative and link rich thread as so often contributes to this board and has zero to do with you.
Again, thanks Doc for your contributions here and the education that you and others' put forth

You want to report me to the mods for quoting your posts? Don't think that's on the guidelines list. And if you really think I have a little black book of who has and hasn't foed me, you can think again.

[Ryan73]

Well again I see you are quoting me...again...why...I have zero clue. It is a shame as it's truly taking away from the great title topic of this this thread and also the research done by George and also given by the Doc (whom both I've praised). What any of this bothers you to the point you have to quote me is truly beyond me, but for whatever reason you seem to enjoy it and again...it's at the expense of a great thread dedicated to the work of a great book. I'm not going to be posting in this thread anymore as I no longer want this great work be muddied or detracted by endless requotes of my posts because of whatever issues you have with them. Have yourself a good day as I'm sure you'll be reading this.