Welcome to the story behind a pivotal moment in music history – the recording of “That’s All Right, Mama” by Elvis Presley. This session at Sun Records didn’t just launch the career of a shy truck driver; it ignited a musical revolution, blending country, blues, and rhythm and blues into something entirely new. For Shocknaue Entertainment News readers, understanding the genesis of Elvis’s first hit is crucial to appreciating his unparalleled impact on popular culture and music.
The Starlite Wranglers were an unlikely band to be associated with a musical revolution. Based in Memphis, they embodied a rural, unsophisticated country sound, far from the urban music scenes of other major cities. Their bass player, Bill Black, known for his straw hat and barefoot look, added comedic flair alongside conventional country elements like pedal steel and violin. Their recording on Sun Records, “My Kind of Carrying On” by singer Doug Poindexter, was a straightforward Hank Williams imitation and quickly faded into obscurity, like thousands of other country singles of the era. Yet, members of this band would soon play a crucial role in an unprecedented event in modern music history.
Sam Phillips’ Vision and the Birth of Sun Records
Sun Records was the second label founded by Sam Phillips, following the short-lived Phillips label. His previous experiences leasing masters to larger labels like Modern, Duke, and Chess had proven problematic. Phillips realized that to truly champion the music he believed in, particularly the music of black artists, he needed to control his own label’s destiny.
Sam Phillips had a profound mission: to combat racism in the US by fostering white appreciation for black music. He was convinced that if he could make black artists’ music as popular among white audiences as it was for him, he could break down racial barriers. His new label was thus driven by a moral imperative. He sought a success comparable to “Rocket 88,” a track he had leased to Chess, or an artist as significant as Howlin’ Wolf, whom he considered the greatest artist he ever recorded. Wolf’s decision to record directly for Chess highlighted Phillips’ need to find and nurture talent under his own roof.
Phillips devised a strategy to gain attention: produce an “answer record.” This was a common practice in 1950s blues and R&B, where new songs referenced existing hits. Following the success of “Hound Dog,” Phillips conceived “Bear Cat” as a female equivalent, crediting himself as the writer despite the melody and lyrics closely mirroring “Hound Dog.” He enlisted local Memphis DJ Rufus Thomas to sing it. Released as one of Sun’s first singles, “Bear Cat” became a surprising hit, reaching number three on the R&B charts – a remarkable achievement for a new label. However, its success brought legal trouble when Duke Records sued Phillips for copyright infringement, resulting in significant financial losses that Phillips resented for years.
Despite the success of “Bear Cat” and promising blues records by artists like Joe Hill Louis, Phillips still hadn’t achieved his broader goal. The primary obstacle was the audience. Phillips knew there was an appetite for the music black artists were creating, but white audiences were hesitant to buy records directly from black performers. Mainstream success, and the greater financial resources it brought, depended largely on the white market.
Phillips began to consider a revolutionary idea: find a white artist who could capture the “feeling” and essence of the black music he loved. He believed that if white audiences could hear and appreciate black music performed by a white artist, they might eventually become receptive to listening to black artists themselves, thereby dismantling the color line. This belief, though controversial in retrospect, fueled his search.
The Arrival of Elvis Presley
Sam Phillips was receptive to this idea when a young man named Elvis Aaron Presley walked into his Memphis Recording Service studio. Elvis, the son of a poor sharecropper from Mississippi, was working as a truck driver when he first paid to record a song for his mother as a gift.
Marion Keisker, Phillips’ assistant, heard the young man and believed she had found the white singer with the soul of a black performer that Phillips sought. While Phillips later claimed the discovery for himself, evidence suggests Keisker’s initial recognition. However, listening to Elvis’s first private recordings – covers of “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” – it’s hard to discern the strong “black” vocal influence Keisker reportedly heard. “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” was originally recorded by the black group the Ink Spots, but they performed in a smooth, crooner style, which Elvis emulated. These early recordings lacked a distinct blues or R&B feel in his delivery.
But Phillips and Keisker perceived something beyond the vocal style: an attitude. Elvis Presley was a profoundly quiet and introverted country boy. He had been bullied in school, wore unconventional clothes, and was deeply attached to his mother. His few friends were often unaware of his diverse interests. He spent time listening to music, reading comics, and dreaming of singing harmony in a white gospel quartet like the Jordanaires.
He associated loosely with teenagers in his housing block, including Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and Johnny Black, whose brother Bill was the bass player for the Starlite Wranglers. Despite occasional bullying from them, he would sometimes join their singing sessions, always standing slightly apart, never fully integrated. He considered becoming an electrician but was too clumsy, often giving himself shocks and causing short circuits.
Elvis had few close friends and many acquaintances didn’t know about his passion for music. Yet, he was a sponge for sounds from all directions: the country music his mother favored (like the Louvin Brothers), the hugely popular gospel quartets among the region’s religious poor, and the music heard at his white Pentecostal church, which shared the ecstatic energy of black Holiness churches where artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe originated. He also ventured down Beale Street, Memphis’s black cultural heart, listening to blues legends like B.B. King. Notably, young Elvis bought his clothes from Lansky’s on Beale, a store favored by black customers, rather than stores frequented by white teens.
He didn’t integrate into the black community like some white artists did (e.g., Johnny Otis). Instead, he was an outsider everywhere, feeling truly close only to his mother. He was seen as strange, unpopular, shy, and awkward-looking, often described by eyewitnesses focusing on his acne-covered neck and greasy hair. What Sam Phillips recognized in this insecure teenager was a deep sense of being an outsider, an attitude he saw mirrored in the great black artists he worked with, artists often marginalized by a racist society. Phillips, who had struggled with depression himself, was intrigued by what drove this young man’s insecurity, but whatever it was, Elvis possessed a demeanor that reminded Phillips of Howlin’ Wolf or B.B. King. Phillips became eager to work with him.
The Recording of “That’s All Right, Mama”
Phillips decided to pair Elvis with Scotty Moore, the guitarist, and Bill Black, the bassist, from the Starlite Wranglers. Neither was a technical virtuoso – they were considered merely competent at the time – but Phillips saw this as an advantage. They played with feeling over flash and were unlikely to overshadow an emerging talent. He particularly valued Scotty’s instincts and arranged for Elvis to rehearse with the two older musicians.
Scotty Moore was initially unimpressed, or so he thought. Yet, there was something about the kid. Despite his reservations, Moore felt he was worth a chance, a feeling he couldn’t quite explain.
A session was arranged, initially aiming to record a ballad, consistent with Elvis’s audition style. They tried several songs, but none felt right until they serendipitously landed on “That’s All Right, Mama,” originally recorded by bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup in 1946.
Arthur Crudup was a country-blues singer known for building songs around floating lyrics and similar melodies, often improvising. “That’s All Right Mama” itself evolved from earlier Crudup recordings inspired by songs like Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Black Snake Moan.” Crudup first used the line in “If I Get Lucky” and the melody in “Mean Ol’ Frisco Blues” before combining elements with a chorus from a Charley Patton song for “That’s All Right Mama.” Check out other Elvis Presley top 20 hits to see the success that followed this early session.
Crudup’s records, while foundational, followed a template. Elvis, Scotty, and Bill’s approach was different.
Elvis’s take on “That’s All Right, Mama” transforms Crudup’s country-blues into a faster-paced, echo-laden sound that would later be termed rockabilly. Bill Black’s prominent slapback bass replaced drums. Frankly, it didn’t sound overtly like the black blues musicians Phillips worked with, but rather like a distinct evolution of white country music. If Phillips sought “a white man who could sing like a black one” in a literal sense, this wasn’t it. At the time, it was likely perceived as a “hillbilly” record, though listening now, its rock and roll energy is undeniable.
Despite its “hillbilly” sound, Presley’s vocal performance carried an attitude distinct from most country music of the era – a playfulness, an irreverence closer to jazz-pop singers like Ella Fitzgerald than traditional blues or country. He handled the song lightly, unafraid to sound slightly silly, jumping between registers with astonishing confidence for someone so inexperienced on stage. This session marked the birth of a new sound and style. To explore more of his early output, you might search for elvis presley first song sun records.
The B-side they chose was Bill Monroe’s bluegrass standard, “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Elvis, Scotty, and Bill reworked this song in a similar style, employing only Elvis’s acoustic guitar strumming, Black’s slapping bass, and Moore’s basic electric guitar fills. Their secret weapon was Sam Phillips’ unique echo effect.
Phillips had rigged up a simple, ingenious system using two tape recorders. One recorded the studio sound, while the other played that sound back milliseconds later for the first recorder to capture, creating a distinct “slapback” echo. This technique became a signature of Sun Records, one other labels struggled to replicate. This echo, combined with the trio’s raw energy, gave “Blue Moon of Kentucky” a transformative sound, solidifying the emergent rockabilly style. You can learn more about his distinct version here: blue moon of kentucky elvis.
The Debut and Unexpected Reaction
Phillips took the record to his friend, DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation), who played it on his R&B show. When Elvis heard his record was about to be played, he was so nervous he went to the cinema to avoid listening. The reaction was immediate and overwhelming; Dewey played the record fourteen times that night. Elvis’s mother had to retrieve him from the cinema so he could be interviewed on air. During his first media appearance, Elvis came across naturally, partly because Dewey didn’t tell him the microphone was live until after the interview. Dewey also asked which school Elvis attended, a subtle way of indicating his race to listeners who, hearing the record on an R&B show, might have assumed he was black. Explore a comprehensive list of presley songs list to see his vast discography.
Elvis Presley had a hit – at least, as much of a hit as a country-leaning record on a blues label could be. Sadly, Arthur Crudup, having sold the rights years prior, never received royalties. Despite later legal efforts, he reportedly never collected the $60,000 in back payments he was owed. Some accounts claim his total compensation for the song was just fifty dollars and a bottle of whisky. While Elvis didn’t write these early hits, exploring the list of songs written by elvis presley reveals a different side of his musical contributions later in his career.
From Stage Fright to Sex Symbol
Perhaps the most astonishing event occurred during the band’s first live performance. As Scotty Moore recounted, Elvis’s deep shyness and stage fright caused him to shake uncontrollably. His baggy trousers, a style adopted from black fashion, amplified the shaking, making it appear not as nervousness but as a frankly sexual movement. The audience’s reaction was explosive.
Over the next couple of years, Presley shed his stage fright, becoming incredibly confident on stage, exhibiting the cocky smile and assurance seen in later footage. His iconic stage presence, however, began with him noticing how the audience reacted to his nervous leg twitching and consciously doing more of it.
Young Elvis Presley in 1954, around the time of his first Sun Records recordings
And just like that, the shy, unpopular poor boy with the spotty neck, who felt like an outsider, transformed into the biggest male sex symbol the world had ever known. The recording of “That’s All Right, Mama” was the fuse, and his accidental, nervous leg shake on stage was the spark that ignited a global phenomenon, changing the course of music and popular culture forever.
