Dennis Quaid, Pam Tillis, Darlene Love coming to Memphis for Elvis Week

Dennis Quaid will add extra star power to "Elvis Week" when the movie actor comes to Graceland for this year's annual celebration of the life and legacy of Elvis Presley.

Quaid — who is perhaps best known locally for his role as Elvis' Sun Records labelmate and rock 'n' roll rival, Jerry Lee Lewis, in the 1989 made-in-Memphis movie "Great Balls of Fire" — joins an increasingly noteworthy lineup of Elvis Week guests that also includes Grammy-winning singer Pam Tillis, whose 1991 single "Maybe It Was Memphis" was a Top 5 song on the country charts, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Darlene Love, vocalist on such Phil Spector-produced pop/soul gems as "He's a Rebel."

A nine-day festival of performances, panel discussions, tours and other events built around the public Candlelight Vigil procession to the Presley family graves that are adjacent to the Graceland mansion, Elvis Week this year runs Aug. 9-17. This year's vigil should be especially solemn, as it will be the first such procession since the Jan. 12 death of Lisa Marie Presley, 54, Elvis' only child, who is interred in the "Meditation Garden" at Graceland alongside her father; her son, Benjamin Keough, 27, who died in 2020; and other family members.

In fact, this year's vigil, which begins at 8:30 p.m., will be preceded by a "Celebration of Lisa Marie Presley" at 5 p.m. Aug. 15. (Elvis died on Aug. 16, 1977, so the vigil begins each year on Aug. 15, and typically lasts into the wee hours of the morning of the 16th.)

The 2023 event also will mark the first Elvis Week since the settlement of a lawsuit that leaves Lisa Marie's daughter, Riley Keough, as sole trustee of the family trust that manages Graceland and owns a percentage of Elvis Presley Enterprises. An actress and director who this week was nominated for an Emmy for her lead role in the rock-'n'-roll-themed Amazon Prime miniseries "Daisy Jones & the Six," Keough, 34, has attended Graceland events in the past, and is expected to take a more active role in Elvis events along with her expanded stewardship of the estate.

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According to Graceland, Tillis, 65, and Love, 81, and Quaid, 69 — who has long fronted his own rock 'n' roll band — will take part in an "Elvis Music Salute" concert set for 7 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Graceland Soundstage. Previously announced performers for the event include John Schneider, 63, the country singer remembered for his role as " Bo" Duke on TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard," and Jay Osmond, of the Osmond Family of entertainers that most famously includes siblings Donny and Marie.

Some other Elvis Week guests include Linda Thompson, Elvis' girlfriend from 1972 to 1976; pianist Glen Hardin, who backed Elvis in concert and on record in the 1970s; longtime Elvis friend and associate Jerry Schilling, who has been involved in many recent Elvis projects, including the Oscar-nominated Baz Luhrmann movie biography; and numerous people associated with Elvis' so-called "'68 Comeback Special."

For Elvis Week tickets and a complete schedule of events, visit graceland.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Elvis Week: Dennis Quaid, Pam Tillis, Darlene Love coming to Memphis