By Matt Chaney, ChaneysBlog.com<\/p>\n
Posted Sunday, April 2, 2017<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a92017 for original content and historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney, Four Walls Publishing<\/p>\n
By the latter 1960s, Memphis guitarist Bob Tucker knew people throughout\u00a0rock-and-roll music. Tucker led the Bill Black Combo and toured internationally, playing alongside bands such as The Beatles<\/a>. Yet Tucker hadn\u2019t met the<\/em> rock star, right at home, Elvis Presley, enigmatic icon of the music world. Tucker even worked with Presley\u2019s former band mates.<\/p>\n Elvis was notoriously reclusive, beginning on his home turf, Memphis, Tenn. But Tucker was bound to encounter him and the meeting in fact materialized, although unannounced, without introduction.<\/p>\n Late one night downtown, Tucker detected a presence looming\u2014Presley. Nocturnal signals were clicking for an Elvis sighting in Memphis. Locals knew the famed cat moved about in shadows, trusting only family members and further confidants.<\/p>\n \u201cI was dating this gal from St. Jude\u2019s Hospital,\u201d Tucker recalls in a recent interview. \u201cWe were at the Memphian Theater<\/a> in midtown, where Elvis rented it a lot to go see movies late at night. We went to a 10 o\u2019clock movie that\u2019s over about midnight, when they start poppin\u2019 popcorn like crazy. And we\u2019re the only two in the theater at the time. So I thought something\u2019s goin’ on.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker wasn\u2019t surprised to find George Klein in the lobby, an associate and radio guy. Klein was among Presley\u2019s closest pals, a leader of the entourage, tight with the living legend since junior high. \u201cG.K.\u201d was the reputed advance man for tasks like scouting women and securing safe zones in public.<\/p>\n \u201cGeorge, what\u2019s goin\u2019 on?\u201d Tucker queried. \u201cIs Elvis comin’?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Klein said. \u201cHe\u2019ll be here in a minute. If you want to, just stay.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Earth tremors of the New Madrid Fault weren\u2019t the only shaking goin\u2019 on at the Mississippi River in winter 1954-55. Genesis rock ‘n’ roll was hatching at Memphis on the valley, spreading forth through radio and stage. \u201cThe beat\u201d swept great delta flatland from Louisiana north to Missouri and flew southwesterly, taking Texas.<\/p>\n The driving force was a prophet trio from Sun Records in Memphis: Elvis Presley, age 19, on vocals and rhythm guitar; Scotty Moore, 23, at electric guitar; and Bill Black, 28, upright bass player. The three had hit breakthrough \u201crockabilly\u201d sound under Sun producer Sam Phillips, recording fresh covers of established songs like \u201cThat\u2019s All Right,\u201d \u201cBlue Moon of Kentucky\u201d and \u201cGood Rocking Tonight.\u201d They sold tens of thousands of records and garnered acclaim across the South.<\/p>\n Initially the trio worked without a drummer, a pristine sound and template, surmised Charlie Feathers, Sun musician, decades later. \u201cRockabilly consists of three pieces: the upright bass, the rhythm guitar and a lead instrument like the electric guitar. When you go beyond that, you are doing rock.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus it was rock n\u2019 roll\u2014merging country with rhythm and blues, according to Feathers\u2014when teen musicians like drummer D.J. Fontana and pianist Jerry Lee Lewis stepped in at Sun Records. The Louisiana natives were among youths inspired by the revolutionary \u201cbop\u201d beat. The Sun studio setup and tape-mastering were key, particularly \u201cslap-back\u201d echo, which Phillips drew out between near-simultaneous recorders.<\/p>\n Feathers hailed from Mississippi while college student Roy Orbison, a ballad warbler, came to Sun from Texas. In a related development, Buddy Holley, fresh high-school graduate in Lubbock, had opened once for Presley as a country steel guitarist then switched to rock. Within a couple years Buddy dropped the \u201ce\u201d from his surname and signed with Decca Records.<\/p>\n Young guitar players Carl Perkins and J.R. Cash showed up at Sun studio from Jackson, Tenn., and Dyess, Ark., respectively. Singer-guitarists Billy Lee Riley and Sonny Burgess entered the fold, along with guitarist Roland Janes, all from Arkansas. Singer-guitarist Narvel Felts drove in from Missouri, a teen cotton hand hooked on rockabilly. Charlie Rich, Arkansas, and Harold Jenkins of Mississippi were arrivals at Sun\u2014the latter to rename as \u201cConway Twitty\u201d\u2014who would follow J.R. \u201cJohnny\u201d Cash into country music.<\/p>\n A rocker concentration was gelling in the upper delta of western Tennessee, northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri. Farther north, St. Louis contributed an impact player in Chuck Berry, 28, dynamic guitarist-songwriter who adapted his smash hit \u201cMaybelline\u201d for the Chess label of Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems there\u2019s a strip that starts in St. Louis and goes all the way to the Gulf, about a hundred miles wide, where more damn good musicians came from than anyplace in the world,\u201d Bob Tucker says in retrospect, speaking recently with this author.<\/p>\n For delta rockabilly, Presley lit the fire.<\/p>\n \u201cOh! He did. Hell, yes,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cThat was such a phenomenon. It\u2019s been repeated with other actors since then, but nothing\u2019s really had the impact. He changed culture. It wasn\u2019t just a musical change. It was precipitated or enjoined with movies\u2014Marlon Brando\u2019s The Wild Ones<\/em>, James Dean\u2019s Rebel Without A Cause<\/em>. And musically and physically with his presence, Elvis was saying \u2018My generation wants to do it this way.\u2019 And every generation since then has followed that lead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cElvis made me do it,\u201d recounted Joe Keene, recording artist, composer and studio founder in Kennett, Mo. In summer 1956, following high-school graduation, Keene \u201ccaught a severe case of \u2018Elvisitis,\u2019 \u201d he wrote in opening his 2001 book, Songwriting: From Ideas to Royalties<\/em><\/a>. \u201cLike many other young men in America, I was swept up in the swirl of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll and rockabilly music.\u201d Now Keene has accompanied, wrote for and recorded talents spanning four decades. Before ceasing stage work as guitarist and singer, Keene appeared with stars like Felts, Twitty and Fats Domino.<\/p>\n Tucker was another regional product, born in Bootheel Missouri, reared in Trumann, Ark. Today Tucker lives in northeast Arkansas, across river from Memphis, as a businessman, retired journalism professor, and former touring musician. \u201cYou can imagine, as a teenager, comin\u2019 to Memphis, which was like Valhalla<\/a>, you know,\u201d he says. \u201cEverybody<\/em> came to Memphis, who was musically inclined, to try to be a picker. To be in the game<\/em>. And getting in the game\u2014that was enough, man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up on country music, and I used to go to country music shows when I was a kid,\u201d Tucker recalls. \u201cI liked The [Grand Ole] Opry when I could get it\u2014but more of rock n\u2019 roll, cause it busted wide open in Memphis. And Elvis, Cash and all of \u2019em would play little schoolhouses and things in the area, and I got to see a few of those shows.\u201d<\/p>\n One night stands vivid for Tucker. \u201cI went to a show when we were in high school, just kids. I hadn\u2019t really even got my music going yet. They had a show over at Bono, Ark., in the high school gym. Elvis played over there once or twice. This night they had Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. This would\u2019ve been about \u201956. We went over there in my \u201939 Chevrolet, me and three of my buddies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw a great show, of course. I mean great<\/em>. Roy Orbison had one record out, \u2018Oobie Doobie.\u2019 And Cash could pick forever, and Carl Perkins had \u2018Blue Suede Shoes\u2019 and \u2018Boppin\u2019 The Blues.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Tucker and his classmates\u00a0paid 50 cents each for admission, after the doorman took pity, realizing none had the dollar asking price.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Memphis wasn\u2019t so big a city in 1955, and many citizens still knew or encountered Elvis Presley on friendly terms. He\u2019d been a regular figure downtown and on the riverfront since relocating to Memphis with his parents, Vernon and Gladys. The young parents had left behind hardscrabble farming at Tupelo, Miss., in 1948, when their son was 13.<\/p>\n Before music stardom struck Elvis Presley, local folks generally viewed him as mannered and musically inclined, a church-goer. He was shy and a loner often, but a good kid. Some Memphians considered him a mama\u2019s boy, but Elvis was tough and no pushover.<\/p>\n Elvis was the only surviving child of Gladys and Vernon Presley, after his twin brother was stillborn, and the little family stayed tight-knit while hovering above poverty, no disgrace locally. As Elvis completed grades at public Humes High School, graduating in May 1953, the family residence was in \u201cThe Courts,\u201d a complex of subsidized, segregated housing. The foremost historian of this focus is biographer Peter Guralnick, who first wrote of Presley in 1967, and whose remarkable information-gathering continues in the Memphis region. Among sources, Guralnick has interviewed hundreds of firsthand witnesses to the Elvis phenomenon.<\/p>\n At outset of \u201955 young Presley was positioned to blow apart American pop culture, to refit the entire model, not only music. For a final brief period in his life, through spring, he would live and work in relatively common fashion. The local Elvis character remained personable if flashy, affable on the street, well-liked, according to his profile drawn from numerous accounts.<\/p>\n Presley likely felt at ease in driving across the bridge from Memphis and keeping north on Highway 61, the river road through Arkansas and Missouri. This carried him through familiar delta country and communities, on the highway Elvis traveled since a boy, with family, to visit Presley relatives.<\/p>\n In 1955 it became route for paying work, building his audience and popularity. Presley’s band scheduled\u00a0at least nine shows along Highway 61 from West Memphis, Ark., to Cape Girardeau, where the delta flatland ended\u00a0at\u00a0Missouri foothills. Young Elvis would appear at\u00a0roadhouses<\/a>, dance halls, schools, armories and fairgrounds. Small venues across six states would dominate the 200-plus dates for his band, according to\u00a0available news reports, advertisements and additional evidence, notably the comprehensive dateline at ScottyMoore.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n That January, northeast Arkansas, schoolkids from\u00a0Leachville High burst into a newspaper office. The giddy teens promoted their fundraiser with Elvis Presley on stage, the fabulous rockabilly heard afternoons and nights on radio from Blytheville and Memphis. \u201cHe\u2019s great! He\u2019s going to be a star!\u201d the students raved to editors.<\/p>\n The paper published a show notice complete with publicity photo of Presley’s trio<\/a>, becoming known as The Blue Moon Boys: Elvis smiles radiantly at center, darkly handsome in sporty tie and jacket, draping his arms around guitarists Scotty Moore and Bill Black, beaming in their cowboy shirts. The three had become good friends since summer, however long they\u2019d last under mounting pressure.<\/p>\n Within days America\u2019s hottest new band reached Sikeston, Mo., a bustling agri-center of about 17,000 at the intersection of U.S. Highways 61 and 60<\/a>. This Presley event, Friday, Jan. 21, 1955<\/a>, has left a quality cache of fact and credible recollection, displayed in composite at the Scotty Moore site. A portrait emerges of youthful Elvis at Sikeston, mixing freely, endearing locals. Presley charmed and impressed people, winning fans during a night\u00a0he enjoyed, apparently.<\/p>\n The rural area felt homey for Presley, with a cluster of his relatives nearby. Another factor was the presence of recording artist Onie Wheeler<\/a>, budding Nashville star by his peers at Grand Ole Opry, if not the public. Presley admired and respected the classy Wheeler, a soft-spoken music talent and war veteran.<\/p>\n Positive publicity preceded the band in Sikeston and the players were welcomed, a relief anytime on the road. But most folks were clueless about the act, promoted as cowboy pickers. The Presley trio came out on the armory stage and broke into song.<\/p>\n Elvis, billed as a \u201ccountry music star,\u201d strutted in pink suit and white shoes bought on Beale Street. He’d bust loose in a circle, strumming guitar, swinging hips and knees, dancing on toes. At the microphone he wailed familiar lyrics but to beats faster, louder. Scotty and Bill banged out rock riffs, with a box amp blaring electric guitar.<\/p>\n Mouths had to be hanging open. This wasn\u2019t country music. Armory guardsman Barney Cardwell hardly knew what to think. Later at home, his wife asked about the show. \u201cWell, he was a man named Elvis Presley and I\u2019ve never heard of him, but I\u2019ll say one thing, he\u2019s different. We\u2019re transitioning into something different.\u201d<\/p>\n Others heaped praise led by Wheeler, who had interviewed Presley on Sikeston radio. Wheeler later recalled: \u201cI knew from the very start that Elvis was absolutely the most talented and different entertainer I had ever seen. And I think I was one of the first to tell him so.\u201d<\/p>\n The performance was successful and Elvis stuck around afterward, following people to Wheeler\u2019s show at Lakeview Inn in Sikeston. Presley joined his new friend on stage at the nightspot, even playing drums as Wheeler sang. Another memorable anecdote\u00a0was the rocker\u2019s departure from town. Presley had a new car at home but still drove beaters on road trips, logging thousands of miles from Sikeston to southwest Texas. And he might leave a broken-down heap where\u00a0it sat.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was here in an older car that didn\u2019t run good and he parked it behind the armory,\u201d Caldwell later told The Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em>. \u201cWhen he left, some of the fellows had to push him to get him started, and I remember him turning back and waving to us as he drove out of town.\u201d<\/p>\n Superstardom beckoned, meanwhile. Time was running out for the local Elvis among everyday folk.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Bob Tucker, guitarist for the Bill Black Combo, would finally meet Elvis Presley in Memphis. Tucker and his girlfriend had seen the late show\u00a0at the Memphian Theater, on a weeknight circa 1966, when Elvis confidant George Klein told Tucker to stick around.<\/p>\n Tucker rejoined his girlfriend in the auditorium, where the lights were on. \u201cAnd ol\u2019 Elvis comes walking in by himself,\u201d Tucker recalls. \u201cHe walks over, sits down right in front of us. He turns around and says, \u2018You\u2019re not even gonna speak to me?\u2019 I introduced myself and later we went out in the lobby and talked about Bill Black. Bill had died by then, so it would\u2019ve been after \u201965. He was very nice. But when Elvis was in front of his cronies, he\u2019d pull out a cigarette, and of course the lighters would come out. He was different then. But one-on-one, he was okay. But this was very limited exposure on my part.\u201d<\/p>\n Elvis exposure impacted Tucker\u2019s girlfriend, compounded by another Memphis happening of timing. Next morning she met Hollywood hunk Clint Walker in her job at St. Jude\u2019s, renowned children\u2019s hospital. Clint Walker played \u201cCheyenne\u201d on TV and Tarzan in film, exuding animalistic appeal<\/a> that rated above Elvis for many fans. Women went wild over Walker\u2019s dark hair, blue eyes and major physique. At his Memphis appearance, the tanned Cheyenne star modeled a blue stretch shirt, muscles rippling, for devastating effect.<\/p>\n Tucker\u2019s girlfriend wasn\u2019t the same afterward, and he could dig it. Tucker himself, say, could\u2019ve encountered Natalie Wood<\/a> immediately followed by Raquel Welch<\/a>. \u201cWithin 12 hours, she\u2019d met Elvis and Clint Walker at their prime,\u201d Tucker says, chuckling 50 years later, amazed yet.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that next night, she tells me, \u2018Look, Bob, you know I think a lot of you, but\u2014Elvis and<\/em> Cheyenne\u2014you just can\u2019t cut it anymore. I\u2019ve been exposed to the ultimate. I said, \u2018You know what? Hell, I understand. I agree with you.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Tucker laughs, says, \u201cElvis, in his prime, I was only around him one time. But I caught him at the time when he was lean, good-looking, and he was dressed all in black. He was the best-looking guy I ever saw in my life\u2026 This was when he was young. When he got the longer hair and jumpsuits, I don\u2019t think he looked near as good then. Good lord.\u201d<\/p>\n By the mid-1970s, Presley stonewalled all media requests and hardly engaged fans. Divorced, nearing 40, battling a weight problem, Presley showed up only at concerts, \u201creduced to total self-parody\u2026 practicing his karate kicks onstage,\u201d observed biographer Peter Guralnick. The bloated, sweaty Elvis split a pantsuit up his ass under spotlight for\u00a062,000 fans in Pontiac, Mich.<\/p>\n The svelte, youthful Elvis of 20 years previous, singing new rock n\u2019 roll, signing autographs, shaking hands, smiling on the street\u2014seemed distant history. In Memphis it had come to Elvis death rumors, routine and evoking laughter, derision. Waves of fans still found\u00a0his Graceland mansion, arriving at all hours, but the scene was getting weirder. The crowds were no longer just silly girls; Elvis stalkers constantly breached the fortified fence, having to be stopped by security personnel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real truth about Elvis is that he is a lonesome person,\u201d Paul Shafer, a family friend, told Women\u2019s News Service in 1974. \u201cEverything came so fast that he didn\u2019t have time to think things out. But he\u2019s gotten used to this life-style and he knows no other.\u201d<\/p>\n Living like a phantom was survival mode for Presley, obviously. Females had chased him to tear away clothes since \u201955, and goofball males tried to fight him\u2014at least two got smacked by the paranoid star.<\/p>\n But Garbo mystique was also marketing strategy of Colonel Tom Parker, Presley\u2019s manager. \u00a0Elvis as cutting-edge artist was long over. Sure, 300 million records had moved, umpteen movies were made, two thousand shows sold-out, but much content was mediocre, a few films awful. Parker crassly commercialized Elvis while finagling exorbitant cuts of profits, high as 50 percent for himself. And Parker lost millions to gambling, sometimes dropping seven figures within hours.<\/p>\n Yet Elvis deserved no pity, intoned Guralnick. \u201cDon\u2019t feel sorry for him,\u201d Guralnick wrote. \u201cFor Elvis is merely a prisoner of the same fantasies as we. What he wanted he got. What he didn\u2019t he deliberately threw away\u2026 encapsulated in the gauze-like world.\u201d<\/p>\n Then Elvis died for real in 1977, at age 42. Doctors initially said a heart attack killed Presley, but toxicology indicated a deadly painkiller cocktail, among 10 drugs found in his system. Some members of Presley\u2019s\u00a0last male entourage said abuse<\/a> of speed, downers, alcohol\u2014and womanizing\u2014was ridiculous among them in the Elvis eras of Hollywood and Vegas. Now The King was dead and most his buddies were divorced.<\/p>\n Presley was said to have never recovered from losing his beloved mother in 1958. Some friends thought he would’ve lived\u00a0differently if Gladys hadn’t died too young herself.<\/p>\n Others saw an earlier watershed, 1956-57, after Sun Records relinquished Presley rights and Parker kicked aside Scotty Moore and Bill Black, among changes for the new Elvis. \u201cHe was in a cocoon from that point on, and the characters around him didn\u2019t challenge him to rise to the occasion intellectually,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cAnd Colonel Parker wasn\u2019t the best for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker concludes as much from the music itself, that old Sun sound, which today\u2019s production whizzes say can\u2019t be duplicated. Phillips tweaked recording machines for echo, Scotty Moore gave style on guitar, and local kid Elvis walked in the door. Even the Sun building\u2019s interior formed just right for the sound, some believe. It was rock n’ roll Brigadoon, igniting an eternal beat.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw a thing in Rolling Stone<\/em> one time\u2026,\u201d Tucker says, \u201cand it was if you\u2019re going to be locked up the rest of your life, and you only had ten albums to take with you for listening, what ten would you take? And they got a bunch of [music] folks to comment, and every one of \u2019em had the original Sun sessions in there, the collection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you listen to those early Elvis records\u2014they\u2019re so damn good.\u201d<\/p>\n Select References<\/strong><\/p>\n Appear at Leachville. (1955, Jan. 19). Blytheville Courier News<\/em> AR, p.14.<\/p>\n Blackwell, B. (2008, Sept. 11). Memories of Elvis\u2019 show in Cape remain strong as Tribute to the King takes grandstand at SEMO District Fair. Southeast Missourian<\/em>, Cape Girardeau MO [online].<\/p>\n Cp. Onie D. Wheeler. (1944, Oct. 12). Sikeston Herald<\/em> MO, p.6.<\/p>\n Drug link recurs in Elvis\u2019 death. (1977, Oct. 19). Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, p.11.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note. (1977, Aug. 18). Blytheville Courier News<\/em> AR, p.6.<\/p>\n Earth tremors reported along New Madrid Fault. (1955, Jan. 27). Sikeston Herald<\/em> MO, p.8.<\/p>\n Eisenberg, D.D. (1974, July 4). Elvis Presley: Star and country boy still. Burlington Times-News<\/em> NC, p.41.<\/p>\n Elvis Presley Gang Of Western Entertainers To Perform at Armory. (1955, Jan. 20). Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, see www.elvisconcerts.com.<\/p>\n Ex-Aide Claims Elvis Was Addict. (1977, Aug. 17). Lowell Sun<\/em> MA, p.48.<\/p>\n Fallwell, M. (1974, Aug. 31). The unknown influence of Moore. Indiana Gazette<\/em> PA, p.32.<\/p>\n For Conway Twitty. (1970, June 18). Corbin Times-Tribune<\/em> KY, p.8.<\/p>\n For Johnny Cash. (1972, Feb. 10). Salina Journal<\/em> KS, p.13.<\/p>\n Fox, M. (1980, Oct. 26). Elvis\u2014Memphis and timing created a legend. San Bernardino County Sun<\/em> CA, pp. C9 & C12.<\/p>\n Graham, C. (1976, April 27). Records In Review. Tucson Daily Citizen<\/em> AZ, p.15.<\/p>\n Guralnick, P. (1977, Aug. 20). Lonely days in high school left their mark on the man who changed history of rock. Ottawa Journal<\/em> Canada, p.34.<\/p>\n Guralnick, P. (1977, Aug. 28). A prisoner of rock & roll. Mansfield News-Journal<\/em> OH, p.2.<\/p>\n Guralnick, P. (1977, Aug. 30). ‘Rocker’ launched skyrocket career. Mansfield News-Journal<\/em> OH, p.7.<\/p>\n Guralnick, P. (1977, Sept. 1). Saga ends with ‘perfect deline.’\u00a0Mansfield News-Journal<\/em> OH, p.39.<\/p>\n Guralnick, P. (1994). Last train to Memphis: The rise of Elvis Presley<\/em>. Little, Brown and Company: New York.<\/p>\n Heuring, L. (2005, Jan. 21). Elvis visited Sikeston in 1955. Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO [online].<\/p>\n Jacobs, J.E. [Mrs.] (1954, Sept. 16). Dyess News. Blytheville Courier News<\/em> AR, p.20.<\/p>\n Kegg, J. (1974, Nov. 9). Jack\u2019s Music. Cumberland Evening Times<\/em> MD, p.12.<\/p>\n Man believes bop music is fading. (1959, May 22). Amarillo Globe-Times<\/em> TX, p.17<\/p>\n Millward, J. (1977, May 1). Greedily grasping success, Elvis sold his rebellion to top bidder. Lincoln Star<\/em> NE, p.2.<\/p>\n O’Donnell, R. (1977, Aug. 17). Rumors of Elvis’ death were heard many times. San Bernardino County Sun<\/em> CA, p.3.<\/p>\n Onie Wheeler to appear on Grand Ole Opry. (1954, Jan. 11). Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, p.6.<\/p>\n Palmer, R. (1977, Dec. 2). Southern rebels find a rock haven. Bytheville Courier News<\/em> AR, p.21.<\/p>\n Redding And Bar-Kays. (1968, Jan. 9). Kannapolis Daily Independent<\/em> NC, p.7.<\/p>\n \u201cRun \u2019Em Off\u201d Wheeler Attends Convention. (1954, Nov. 29). Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, p.3.<\/p>\n Swift, P. (1974, Aug. 18). Keep Up\u2026 With Youth. Lincoln Star<\/em> NE, p.175.<\/p>\n Tucker, B. (2017, March 10). Interview with author, Marion AR.<\/p>\n Van Matre, L. (1976, Oct. 13). The Elvis mystique: Secrecy pays off. Long Beach Independent<\/em> CA, p.26<\/p>\n Welles, R. (1976, May 27). Phillips missed Presley bonanza. Clovis News-Journal<\/em> MN, p.19.<\/p>\n Western bop king heads show in Paris Tuesday. (1955, Oct. 3). Paris News<\/em> TX, p.1.<\/p>\n Wisniewski, J. (1976, April 10). Presley’s vibes spark an era. Syracuse Post-Standard<\/em> NY, p.25.<\/p>\n Matt Chaney is a writer, editor and publisher in Missouri, USA. For more information visit\u00a0<\/em>www.fourwallspublishing.com.\u00a0Email:\u00a0<\/em>mattchaney@fourwallspublishing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Matt Chaney, ChaneysBlog.com Posted Sunday, April 2, 2017 Copyright \u00a92017 for original content and historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney, Four Walls Publishing By the latter 1960s, Memphis guitarist Bob Tucker knew people throughout\u00a0rock-and-roll music. Tucker led the Bill Black Combo and toured internationally, playing alongside bands such as The Beatles. Yet Tucker hadn\u2019t … Continue reading The Local Elvis: From Good Kid to Garbo in Rock Legend<\/span>