James Beaty: Ramblin' Round: Elvis Presley -- Rocking in the New Year

Jan. 7—We basically have a blank slate as far as music is concerned with the New Year of 2024.

Sure, there are a few albums with their 2024 release dates already announced — but most of what will be coming our way during the coming year remains unknown.

Who knows what changes we'll see and hear? Likely there will be the rise of exciting new artists and hopefully great new recordings by some established favorites.

No doubt there will be rereleases too, with expanded box sets — sometimes to the point of where it's almost too much of a good thing.

Unfortunately, we will likely see the loss of some favorite musicians and singers, something that sadly seems to have become the norm.

But it's also likely some long-established artists will issue new releases. It's a rare year when Willie Nelson doesn't release a new album or two.

Sometimes I ponder what music fans expected at the beginning of New Years past — some of which had surprises in store that are still heard today.

Take, January, 1956 for example. Who could have known what lay in store for popular music fans during that groundbreaking year?

It started with a musical phenomenon whose presence is still felt by many — a rockabilly singer who began making musical waves in the southern and southwest part of the U.S. as early as 1954.

Signed to the regional Sun Records label based in Memphis, Tennessee, Elvis Presley had already started exciting live audiences and scoring regional hits.

They included his first recording, "That's All Right, Mama," which went to #4 on the local Memphis charts in 1954, but didn't show up at all on the national charts.

Presley backed his recording of Arthur "Big Boy " Crudup's blues rocker "That's All Right (Mama)" with a revved-up version of bluegrass great Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

One of Monroe's later-day Bluegrass Boys, Oklahoman Billy Joe Foster, once told me that some of the older band members had told him Monroe didn't think much of Presley's recording of "Blue Moon" — until those first royalty checks began arriving.

Presley performed live during those early years, mainly sticking to the regional touring circuit in the south and southwest in 1954 and 1955.

He performed onstage in cities such as Lubbock, Texas; his adopted hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and Shreveport, Louisiana, where he performed 46 times on the Louisiana Hayride.

That's where the late Bob Sullivan, of Tannehill, Oklahoma, got to know Presley during his early years.

Sullivan, who lived in Shreveport at the time, served as the sound engineer for KWKH Radio, which broadcast the Louisiana Hayride stage performances.

He become acquainted with the rising young star because Sullivan also served as the sound technician for the Louisiana Hayride shows.

Sullivan told me he and Presley would sometimes go to a nearby coffee shop — at a time when the young Presley could still go out in public without causing too much of an uproar.

Sullivan figured they hit it off because they both felt an affinity for the blues and liked to talk to each other about their favorite blues artists and recordings.

Presley also performed in places such as Carlsbad, New Mexico, where he played two shows in February, 1955, one show at an indoor facility called The Sports Arena, followed by a show at the American Legion Hut.

The American Legion Hut is described as modest building, featuring a small stage, only able to hold about 150 people.

At the time, a number of Southeastern Oklahoma residents had made the move to Carlsbad, including from the McAlester, Adamson and Hartshorne areas.

The reason: With the decline of the coal mining industry in Southeastern Oklahoma, they could find work in the potash mines flourishing around Carlsbad.

At one point, six different potash mines were in operation at Carlsbad, making it relatively easy for experienced coal miners from Southeastern Oklahoma to find work in New Mexico.

Some of my mother's sisters and cousins made the trek with their families to Carlsbad, where the men of the family indeed found work as potash miners.

Some of their family members would be in the audience for Presley's Carlsbad concerts.

My mother's cousin, Peggy Nail Peden, and my mom's sister, Deanna Smith Easter, told me about it when I was a kid. They likely attended the show at the American Legion Hut, since cousin Peggy told me about being in close proximity to Presley — then known as the Hillbilly Cat — while he performed.

It must have been an electrifying show, because I could still feel the excitement when they told me about it years later.

During February 1955, Presley played other small venues in New Mexico, including the American Legion Hall in Hobbs and even the North Junior High School Auditorium in Roswell.

Presley made his way to Oklahoma in 1955, performing a show at the Oklahoma City Municipal Auditorium, now known as Civic Center Music Hall, on October 16 — just about three months before his big breakout year of 1956.

Soon after the 1956 New Year, Presley held his next recording session in Nashville, Tennessee, after Sam Phillips of Sun Records sold Presley's contract to RCA Victor for $35,000.

On Jan. 10, 1956, Presley stode into that studio in Nashville and recorded the song "Heartbreak Hotel," written by Oklahoma's own Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden.

Performing with Presley on the recording were members of his band from his Sun Records days: Guitarist Scotty Moore, bassist Blll Black and drummer D.J. Fontana.

They were augmented by ace Nashville studio musicians Floyd Cramer on piano and guitarist Chet Atkins.

Only 17 days after Presley recorded "Heartbreak Hotel," RCA released it and the record began its climb to #1.

"Heartbreak Hotel" also performed the almost unheard of feat of hitting the top #5 songs on the pop, county and western and rhythm and blues charts simultaneously. The only other artist to achieve the feat prior to Presley was Carl Perkins, with his song "Blue Suede Shoes."

In addition to "Heartbreak Hotel," Presley also recorded and released the double-sided hit "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" in 1956, which also shot to #1 on the pop charts.

With the hit records coming, RCA had the clout to get Presley booked on national television shows.

His first television performances were on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey show, called "The CBS Stage Show."

He also performed on "The Milton Berle Show," "The Steve Allen Show" and most significantly, "The Ed Sullivan Show," where he was booked for three initial appearances — giving many Americans their first glimpse of Presley's raucous stage performances.

Presley's rocking performance on his first two appearances on the "The Ed Sullivan Show" resulted in the singer being shot only from the waist up for his third appearance on the weekly program.

That was better than how "The Steve Allen Show" protected its viewers from Presley's gyrating stage performance, by having him lean down and sing "Hound Dog" to a Basset Hound wearing a top hat — the dog, not Elvis!

Maybe some of those early audience members who saw Presley perform live in places such as Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas in 1955 had an inkling of what Presley would deliver in the then-New Year of 1956 — but much of the nation had no idea what a musical force was about to hit it when Presley went national.

One thing for certain — after 1956 Presley would never again have to perform in a junior high school auditorium.