FIRST NOTES: Elvis takes a break during a
recording session in the Sun Records studio
July 5, 1954
The King Finds His Voice
By Josh Tyrangiel
It was only an audition. That's why there were no drums, no backup
singers and no expectations. Sam Phillips had heard about a good-looking
local kid who favored ballads, knew a few guitar chords and was blessed
with the ostentatiously original name Elvis Presley. In his search for a
new sound, Phillips had run nearly every singer in Memphis through his
Sun Records studio; on that Monday summer evening, Elvis, 19, was merely
next in line.
His entire body takes on a
frantic quiver, as if he had swallowed a jackhammer. Full-cut hair
tousles over his forehead, and sideburns frame his petulant, full-lipped
face. His style is partly hillbilly, partly socking rock 'n' roll ...
the sight and sound of him drive teenage girls wild.
—May 14, 1956
Phillips asked two trusted session musicians—guitarist Scotty Moore
and bassist Bill Black—to provide backup, and at 7 p.m., after a
few minutes of small talk and nervous laughter, Phillips arranged the
trio in a circle. Then he asked Elvis what he wanted to play. There was
more nervous laughter; Elvis knew only a few songs, and most of those he
couldn't play from start to finish. Somehow, the group fumbled through
the mawkish "Harbor Lights," which had been a 1950 hit for Bing Crosby.
From the control room, Phillips drawled, "That's pretty good," although
it wasn't. Elvis sounded boring, mechanical. Phillips called for a
break.
With the formalities suspended, Elvis picked up a guitar and
started goofing around, playing an old blues song by Arthur (Big Boy)
Crudup called "That's All Right". Except Elvis wasn't singing the blues.
He sounded almost euphoric, and the rhythm was all wrong—far too
frenetic. There were no drums, so Black was slapping his bass to keep
time while Moore's guitar leaped in and out of the melody line. Phillips
knew immediately. He stuck his head out of the control room and told the
threesome to pick a place to start and keep playing. Two nights later,
"That's All Right" was played on Memphis radio, and the era of rock 'n'
roll roared into being.
TIME Cover
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