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Carl Perkins | Blue Suede Shoes and Elvis Presley

Carl Perkins was born in Tennessee on April 9, 1932. He kicked off his musical career in the mid 1940s, performing at local dances with his brothers Jay and Clayton as the 'Perkins Brothers Band'.

In 1953 drummer W.S. 'Fluke' Holland joined.

Carl Perkins first heard Elvis Presley singing ' Blue Moon of Kentucky ' on the radio in the late Summer of 1954. Called to listen by his wife Valda as she thought the sound of the band was similar to that of Carl's.

Carl had some of the same musical influences as Elvis, in this case Bill Monroe. Listening to the radio, Carl could hear the sound was close, the band clicked and thumped like Clayton's (Carl's brother and bass player), but the guitar had a full thick sound, whereas Carl played his hard and trebly. The voice was something else, at once familiar and mysterious, but Carl knew where Elvis came from stylistically, because in the sense they were kindred spirits: Bill Monroe. He could hear Monroe in Elvis' upper register, in the infliction of certain lyrics as 'Kentucky' with the emphasis on the second and third syllables (Blue moon of Ken- tucky keep on shinin').

'There's a man in Memphis that understands what we're doing', Carl said as 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' faded out.

'I need to go see him'.

Great Idea !!!! Bill Monroe on meeting Elvis, Scotty and Bill backstage at the Grand Ole Opry complimented them and said he had just cut a new version of his song for Decca following their pattern, due out the next week.

When he later heard 'That's All Right' he thought he found even more common ground in the obvious influences Elvis had picked up from black singers (Carl was taught to play guitar by the black farm hand on his Daddy's farm) and incorporated into his up tempo country style - Rockabilly.

Bethal Springs, Tennessee

Before he got to Memphis Carl had the chance to see Elvis perform at a high school gymnasium in Bethal Springs, Tennessee, about fifteen miles from Jackson.

Carl accompanied by his brothers and band members Jay and Clayton, found only about one hundred people on hand in a place that could hold, by his estimate, nearly three hundred spectators. Carl found it interesting that most of those present were young teens, as opposed to the older crowds he had been playing to. Until that moment it had not occurred to Carl that his style of music might appeal to this younger audience.

Shortly after, Elvis and the band came out to set up. While the bass player and guitar player (Scotty and Bill) were dressed in conservative sports coats and slacks, Elvis was recognizable immediately as the star by his pink shirt, white sports coat, and black pegged-and-pleated slacks. With coat and shirt turned up, and thick, sandy hair slicked back, he looked like no singer Carl had ever seen before, either in person or in photos. His appearance had an electric effect on the audience, particularly the girls, who began screaming when they laid eyes on him. He played them, especially, grinning as he stalked the stage, dark eyes searching out the prettiest one in the crowd and fixing them with a playful but seductive stare. Experience had taught Carl that Elvis' flirtatiousness and panther like pacing masked a bad case of nerves - he knew all the cover-ups too.

Carl Perkins | Blue Suede Shoes and Elvis Presley
The Million Dollar Quartet : Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis & Johnny Cash.

Elvis slung his guitar behind his back and danced free, hips swiveling and legs shaking, his entire body convulsing in the grip of a kind of hysteria Carl had seen only in the most rabid churchgoers. When he sang he would sometimes hold the microphone tenderly and caress it, or tilt it forward towards the floor and lean into it as if it were his beloved. All the girls screamed, and the boys egged him on. Carl had seen similar responses to his music, but he never knew if the tumult was more the product of genuine excitement over the sounds or the alcohol taking hold. Here there was no question - it was the music and it was the artist.

For all his apparent confidence, though, between songs Elvis revealed his unease. In his patter he stuttered badly and tripped over himself, figuratively, trying to crack jokes. But in a odd way the stuttering worked to Elvis' advantage. It might have made him even more enduring to the females, but it most certainly was a piece with his signing style, in which he incorporated a stuttering technique that added extra tension to his material.

The last set lasted about half an hour and Carl recalls in addition to 'That's All Right' and 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' Elvis sang 'Cotton Fields' and Hank Snow's 'I'm Movin' On', in which he performed an impersonation of Hank Snow, and got close enough to the real thing to generate the wildest applause of the night apart from that greeting 'That's All Right'. As Elvis was taking his bow and backing away from the mic after his closing song, his feet got tangled in Scotty Moore's guitar cord and he fell square on his backside. With the applause rising, he jumped up and scooted out of sight, heading for the fire escape that would lead him to his car.

Carl and his bothers

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