Concert mixes Elvis' Memphis recordings, memories of the King: 'He was my favorite artist'
There’s no question Memphis helped make Elvis Presley who he was. During the course of his career, Presley would make some of his most significant recordings in Memphis. Those Bluff City sessions and songs were at the heart of a special concert at the Graceland Soundstage on Tuesday night, part of the annual Elvis Week festivities.
The “Elvis: Back in Memphis” concert was conceptually tied to the recent release of the new "Memphis" box set from Sony/Legacy, a multi-disc collection gathering (and in some cases remixing) the various sessions Presley recorded in his hometown, including those at Sun Records, American Sound Studios, Stax Records and in the Jungle Room of Graceland.
The nearly 2??-hour concert was led by veteran Elvis Week performers and vocalists Andy Childs, Terry Mike Jeffrey and Patrick Dunn, and featured several guests who had played and recorded with the King during his historic local session dates.
“Some of, if not all, the most important music Elvis recorded was in our fair city and hometown of Memphis, Tennessee,” said Childs, who served as a host for the evening, sprinkling in stories and tales of Presley history between songs.
Childs, Jeffrey and Dunn began the show in stripped-down fashion, working up some of Presley’s earliest sides at Sun — where he first began recording exactly 70 years ago last month — with a performance of classics including “Mystery Train,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “That’s Alright."
The singers were backed by Childs’ band, Sixwire, and joined by an expanded retinue of singers and horn players, as the music shifted to Presley’s late-’60s comeback recordings at North Memphis’ American Sound Studios, done with producer Chips Moman and the band known as the Memphis Boys. “This is where you saw Elvis making serious music again,” noted Childs.
A set of songs from the American sessions was highlighted by a guest appearance by American/Memphis Boys band drummer Gene Chrisman. The octogenarian Chrisman led the group through spirited renditions of “In the Ghetto,” “Kentucky Rain” and “Suspicious Minds.” “How about Gene Chrisman playing like a teenager?” cracked Childs.
ELVIS AT GRACELAND: Elvis Presley offers a look inside Graceland in 1965: See the photos here
Elvis’ 1973 sessions at Stax were the subject of the show’s next segment. Childs brought on Hall of Fame songwriter and Stax great David Porter, who sat for a mid-show Q&A session about Presley’s time at the famed South Memphis soul studio.
“It was a real honor for us at Stax Records, for [Elvis] to record there,” Porter said. “He was as soulful as anyone. He was amazing at whatever he chose to do.”
A mini set of Stax songs saw Elvis session bassist Norbert Putnam join the band. Putnam joked that he’d just celebrated his “41st birthday for the 41st time. So if I make any mistakes, don’t hold it against me.” But the veteran session man sounded sharp on funky versions of Elvis/Stax session favorites including “I Got a Feelin’ In My Body” and a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land.”
Putnam praised Elvis as a musical savant (“The guy was a quick study”) as well as a generous boss. “He was the easiest artist I ever worked with,” Putnam said. “And he was my favorite artist because he was so willing to help us while we helped him.”
As the musical journey moved toward Presley’s final sessions, which took place in 1976 in Graceland’s Jungle Room, his longtime TCB band pianist Glen D. Hardin joined the proceedings to play “My Boy” and “Hurt.”
In a rare union of Elvis sidemen, Putnam and Hardin teamed together, along with Childs, for an epic version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” while another Elvis vocal foil, bass singer Larry Strickland, joined for a version of “Way Down,” before a big group finale reprise of “That’s Alright” brought the show to a close.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Elvis concert mixes King's Memphis recordings, stories about him
