TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Justin and Bec wrap their discussion on the recorded and filmed rehearsals undertaken for the Las Vegas engagement documented in the feature film "That's The Way It Is". The duo continues through July and August 1970's rehearsal dates, right up to August 10, the day Elvis would take the stage in front of paying customers, and reflect on the insights into Elvis and his band's creative processes along the way.

Then Gurdip taps in for Song of the Week, selecting the rowdy gospel number "If the Lord Wasn't Walking By My Side", which Elvis cut for his "How Great Thou Art" album. Justin's Song of the Week is Elvis's 1970 version of Joe South's plea for empathy and understanding, "Walk A Mile in My Shoes."

Our primary resource for this episode was the content contained within the Follow That Dream release "That's The Way It Is: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition" including the book by David English and Pal Granlund. 

Don't forget that the Netflix documentary "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley" releases today, November 13, 2024 on Netflix. We intend to have a full-group discussion soon!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Justin and Bec begin to explore the recordings that remain from the rehearsals leading up to the August 1970 concerts that would become the centerpiece of the 1970 documentary film "That's The Way It Is." The film's director, Denis Sanders, was fascinated by Elvis as a creative force and wanted audiences to get a glimpse of his working process - some of which briefly appeared in the final film, some surfaced in the MGM collection "The Lost Performances" and further material in the Special Edition re-edit of the film from 2001 - but despite several official releases of select material and numerous bootlegs over the years, it wasn't until 2020 that Sony's FTD sub-label officially released the vast majority of the audio of the TTWII rehearsals for the most ardent fans to hear and learn from.

In this first part, the duo only cover the first two days of rehearsals filmed & recorded, July 14-15, 1970, but also lay the groundwork for the more dense back portion of the rehearsals. Our next episode will cover the rest from July and August 1970 as well as Songs of the Week from Gurdip and Justin.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Justin and Bec have a relaxed discussion about all the exciting Elvis news from within the last week or so, including the trailer for "Return of the King," a behind the scenes preview from Layered Reality's upcoming Elvis Evolution show, Ernst Jorgensen's experimentation with Peter Jackson's MAL de-mixing technology and more. Plus, Elvis trivia returns for a week!

For Song of the Week, Bec tackles the romantic "Speedway" ballad "Who Are You? (Who Am I?)" then Justin - just for the laugh of doing them both in a single episode - digs into the understated but similarly named 1969 gospel number "Who Am I?"

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Olivia joins Justin for their thoughts on the TV special Riley Keough did with Oprah, filmed at Graceland, Riley's Graceland Q&A, and the rest of Lisa Marie's book now that things have started to finally settle.

The duo also answers a bunch of listener feedback, discuss dialogue edits on "The Last Tours, Volume 1" FTD, and a recent video Olivia watched about one of Elvis' Ed Sullivan performances of Hound Dog.

For Song of the Week, Justin selects Elvis's cover of the Waylon Jennings hit "You Asked Me To," and ponders the implications of a minor lyrical change Elvis made in his final version. Olivia highlights Elvis's 1976 recording of Larry Gatlin's "Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall." 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Netflix has dropped the trailer for the new documentary about the making of the 68 Comeback Special releasing November 13. Gurdip and Justin were in the middle of recording another episode when the trailer landed, so the guys dropped everything to react immediately.

Watch the trailer for "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHStpufGGzA

This week, you're getting to hear a special bonus episode from our special Patreon miniseries "TCBCast After Dark." Justin is joined by Rabia and Felix of "Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast" for this discussion. There is a new introduction providing additional context.

Aired in 1991, produced by Mel Bergman, "The Elvis Files" was a LIVE TV broadcast hosted by "Clambake" and "Speedway" co-star Bill Bixby presenting Elvis conspiracy theorist Gail Brewer-Giorgio's array of so-called "evidence," but here's the genuinely shocking twist out of all of this: one of the things they dug up from the FBI's declassified files on Elvis Presley was actually partly true.

However, its association with the Elvis conspiracy world and it being used to claim that Elvis faked his death as an undercover agent has prevented the real, genuinely historical facts of how Vernon Presley was scammed out of nearly $400,000 in 1976 from being an integral part of the tellings of the last years of Elvis' life, making TCBCast first within the Elvis world to reintroduce it properly and give it serious attention.

Critical resources for this episode include:

Chasing Phil: The Adventures of Two Undercover Agents with the World's Most Charming Con Man by David Howard: https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Phil-Adventures-Undercover-Charming/dp/1101907428

Retired FBI Agent J.J. Wedick's website FBIRetired's article about Operation Fountain Pen: https://fbiretired.com/retired-fbi-agents-talk-about-opfopen-case/

A discussion with David Howard at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada: https://livestream.com/accounts/6847704/events/7955041/player?width=640&height=360&enableInfoAndActivity=true&defaultDrawer=&autoPlay=true&mute=false

Additional clippings from contemporaneous articles referenced herein will be posted alongside this episode on the TCBCast Facebook page. If you appreciated this, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. The entire "After Dark" miniseries in available in full is available to patrons at all tiers.

Gurdip, Ryan, Bec, Olivia and Justin all are at different stages of reading Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough's new book, but the team was able to get together to record a brief initial impressions bonus episode.

We strongly recommend the book. There are spoilers in this episode but not for the whole book. Please be aware that there is discussion of sexual abuse from ~7:00-13:40. If that may be upsetting to you, please skip over that portion.

We did not feel it appropriate to pepper the episode with clips, music, etc. It's just us and our largely raw reactions this time. We have had as much time as everyone else to process what we've in the book, and only one of us has completed it in full, so please be generous with us, and be kind to everyone else out there as this book's contents are sure to create some contention in the Elvis world. It's a very raw, emotional read/listen but we cannot recommend it more highly, both as a book and in audiobook form. 

As you'll hear in our intro discussion, Justin and Bec have pushed out their TTWII Rehearsals episodes just a bit due to some extenuating circumstances, but still got together for a discussion about the lightweight, wholesome 1970 budget release on the Camden label, "Let's Be Friends," which compiled a mix of late-60s tracks (and one inexplicable 1962 recording). 

For Song of the Week, Justin soaks in the "Fountain of Love" from 1962's Pot Luck, and Bec gets funky with the Leiber & Stoller-penned Stax track "If You Don't Come Back."

Next week, we'll be uploading a bonus episode for Tuesday while the TCBCast gang will be busy reading and getting together as soon as we can for an in-depth discussion about Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough's "From Here to the Great Unknown" as well as the Oprah special airing October 8.

Gurdip and Justin wrap up their coverage of the March & April 1960 recording sessions that resulted in "Elvis is Back!" and three number one singles and the guys ponder whether these may have been the best sessions Elvis ever undertook.

Then after the main topic, Gurdip taps out and Ryan Droste hops into the ring for a bit of Elvis news regarding the upcoming Oprah special with Riley Keough on October 8 and then Song of the Week, with Ryan returning to his favorite Elvis movie, "It Happened At the World's Fair" and its smoldering song of seduction, "Relax." Then, Justin closes things out by trying to put Elvis's 1957 recording of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" in context by showcasing how different it is from the only prior recorded versions between Bing Crosby's original and Elvis's version, and attempting to forget all about the other several thousand versions that followed.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Gurdip and Justin delve into the landmark 1960 recording sessions in which Elvis declared that he was indeed back, both literally from the Army as well as on top of the charts, with the sessions giving him three massive US number one hits in "Stuck On You," "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" 

As many of our listeners know, Elvis is Back is perhaps Gurdip's favorite Elvis album ever, and these are his favorite sessions, so he's thrilled to bits. Armed with the "Elvis is Back Sessions" FTD, we explore how Elvis had evolved as an entertainer in the two years since his last sessions in Nashville and appraise the choice of material, from covers/reworkings of existing songs that he'd been practicing at home, such as "Soldier Boy," "Like A Baby" and "There's No Tomorrow" as well as wholly new songs written expressly for him, like Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman's first song for him "A Mess of Blues," and, of course, the stunning doo-wop ballad "Fame and Fortune."

Part 1 covers the March session and the first half of the April session, ending with "It's Now or Never." Part 2 will cover the rest of the April session, plus Song of the Week with Ryan!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

It's a fairly light episode this week, with Justin and Bec discussing the latest in Elvis news, including Graceland's big "Presley for a Day" tour announcement, briefly reacting to the Guitar Man Sessions FTD, Bec's latest Elvis book pick-ups and more.

For Song of the Week, Bec spotlights Elvis' cover of the obscure Ivory Joe Hunter song "It's Still Here." Meanwhile, Justin cracks into the Guitar Man sessions FTD to explore the outtakes and early alternate arrangement of "Singing Tree," which languished for decades as a "Clambake" soundtrack bonus song.

We have some beefy topics coming up in the coming weeks that we're busy preparing for, including discussions on the 1960 "Elvis is Back!" recording sessions, "That's The Way It Is" rehearsals and much more!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Olivia & Justin continue their exploration of how "Viva Las Vegas" was made, on the 60th anniversary year of its release! The duo spends a good chunk of time on the filming schedule, deleted scenes, pondering why certain creative choices were made, and also digging a bit into post-production aspects like editing, scoring and marketing. The most critical resource by far for this episode was the excellent FTD book and CD set "The Making of Viva Las Vegas" which is sadly no longer in print after its 2019 release.

For Song of the Week, Olivia picks "Love Letters," the song Elvis recorded in 1966 and then revisited again in the studio in 1970. Justin selects a holiday highlight with "If I Get Home on Christmas Day" off the "The Wonderful World of Christmas" album.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

We've talked so much about Elvis' recording sessions that it's fairly easy to understand how an Elvis record came together. Less clear to many, however, is how an Elvis movie was made. Olivia got super curious to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking, so Justin & Olivia decided to center the discussion around the making of one of the most celebrated and successful movies to star Elvis, 1964's Viva Las Vegas, in the year of the 60th anniversary of its release - since no one else is seeming to commemorate it!

From concept and script to pre-production efforts like location scouting, casting, crew (and especially the music, as always!), from getting song demos all the way up to the initial recording sessions, we break down how it happened in part one. Part 2 will focus largely on filming, post-production and marketing, along with our Songs of the Week! One of our most vital resources this week is FTD's immaculately researched The Making of Viva Las Vegas by David English and Pal Granlund, which is unfortunately no longer in print. 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. Patrons get early access to new episodes (including Part 2 of this episode) and plenty of bonus content!

John Heath of EAP Society joins Justin for an extensive (but still HIGHLY abbreviated!) discussion about the history of the music industry in Memphis before and during Elvis' career, from early blues recordings made by Ralph Peer to Sam Phillips' Sun Records, from indie labels inspired by Sun's success to the monumental Stax Records, how Chips Moman's American Sound came together, and up through Elvis's Jungle Room recordings as the city's music industry wound down in the late 70s. It's all explored through a playlist of about two dozen tracks compiled by John, linked below.

If you've been exploring the 2024 Sony box set release "Memphis," you will find this a great supplemental discussion. There are no specific songs of the week this week, just a ton of amazing music history to delve into.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0a1G2qR6gFfQT13UzrBTLg?si=09505e6244c44da8&fbclid=IwY2xjawEdLxBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHTrNyBF-6SkoS9goKzglqEqOstRBysdp99mM1miKBy5StaEBDUZ1HVJJjw_aem_hAjH3ZILor4p4CAcxsoarw&nd=1&dlsi=f85c2bdb288d4a43

You can also find the final track intended for this playlist, which is not on Spotify, on YouTube at this link (current as of release): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipqz1oIt4TA

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Justin is joined by John Michael Heath of EAP Society (youtube.com/EAPSociety) to give their first impressions of the new Sony Legacy box set, "Memphis" which released today, August 9, 2024. 

Marketed as "a comprehensive collection" of 111 recordings of Elvis made in his adoptive hometown from his time at Sam Phillips's Sun Records through to Chips Moman's American Sound, the iconic Stax, live at the Mid-South Coliseum and at his home, Graceland, "Memphis" is said to contain "newly mixed versions of the select recordings, pure and without overdubs" overseen by award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang and producer Ernst Jorgensen. 

Spoilers: there's good news for those who want to re-experience the 1973, 1974 and 1976 material in a different light than you may be familiar with, and a faithful collection of the Sun material... but this set's presentation of the 1969 American Sound music is a different story altogether. And that "pure and without overdubs" claim? Well, you'll hear.

The guys also answer listener feedback on this episode, including several about a recent Song of the Week, but since this discussion ran long, Justin and John will be back later with a separate, full length episode for the main topic intended to supplement and compliment the "Memphis" set, focused on the history of the music industry in Memphis, how Elvis was influenced by it, and how he in turn helped reshape it. 

Justin was out last week, so we've pulled this from deep in the archives buried in the back of the TCBCast salt mines: Gurdip and Justin's 2022 review of Pat Boone's landmark 1963 Elvis tribute record "Pat Boone Sings Guess Who?" No, we're not joking! 

This may be the most we're ever gonna talk about Pat Boone at one time so we crammed in a few of his other hits into the discussion on top of this... album? Experience? Prank?

It's the project that got Boone inducted into Colonel Parker's Snowmen's League of America and features arrangements by credible jazz pianist Paul Smith. Part spoof, part homage... if you can only say one thing, well you can't say that Pat Boone was never in on the joke!

Then, from the July 2022 edition of TCBCast Now, Justin heads west for our "Song of the Month" segment, selecting Marty Robbins' iconic 1959 showdown ballad "Big Iron," while Gurdip was inspired to pick Englebert Humperdinck's sweeping 1968 recording "A Man Without Love" by a recent movie viewing. Both songs Elvis was likely to have been familiar with, released during his lifetime from contemporaries!

Next week on TCBCast, we'll be bringing our first impressions of the "Memphis" box set which releases THIS FRIDAY, August 9 - plus EAP Society co-host John Michael Heath will be joining in for a special episode about the history of Memphis' music industry. 

If you like this kind of content, you can hear more bonus content just like this that we do for our supporters over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. We kindly thank all our Patreon backers - your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy!

Ryan & Justin convene to revisit one of their all-time favorite live Elvis albums, "On Stage 1970," which was conceived as an album full of new songs, compiled from a mix of Vegas shows from February 1970, padded out with a couple leftovers from the August 1969 engagement.

Both of the guys had the album early in their respective fandoms and have a huge appreciation for this period of Elvis's career, just a few months prior to the famous "That's The Way Is It" run in August 1970. The duo also briefly touches on the bonus tracks included on the 1999 expanded edition, the 2010 Legacy edition, and "The On Stage Season," the FTD release which featured a high quality soundboard of the closing show from February 23, 1970, which gives a better idea of what an Elvis show during this period felt like front to back than the sort of fantasy concert presented by the album.

For Song of the Week, Justin goes back into the history behind Bob Wills' "Faded Love," which Elvis cut in mid-1970 for the "Elvis Country" album, which stretches as far back as an incredible, heartbreaking true story from the mid-19th century that inspired "Dear Nellie Gray," the song whose melody that became Faded Love. Ryan, on the other hand, takes it light with the breezy "There's A Brand New Day on the Horizon" off the 1964 "Roustabout" soundtrack.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Gurdip was really feeling the season, so in between prepping for next week's meaty episode with Ryan on "On Stage 1970", Justin and Gurdip had a breezy little classic TCBCast-style discussion about the Elvis songs that evoke memories or give them vibes of warm summer days. 

The guys also quickly tackle two Songs of the Week, with Gurdip giving "Once is Enough" from "Kissin' Cousins" the second chance he feels it deserves, and Justin simmering with the understated (and oft-overlooked) Don Robertson-penned ballad "Love Me Tonight" from the early 1963 sessions that should have led to a studio album (later known as The Lost Album or For the Asking), but instead the song was buried as a bonus on the soundtrack for "Fun in Acapulco."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

After 5 1/2 years, TCBCast returns to the subject of books about Elvis as a full episode! Gurdip and Justin did an early episode of the show about some of their favorite reads on the life, career and phenomenon of Elvis, but this time Bec gets to open up her extensive Elvis library to talk about her favorites, and Justin gets to talk about some of the ones he's read and appreciated most in the intervening years. These aren't necessarily recommendations to rush out and buy immediately after listening, as a few that are referenced are quite difficult to find nowadays (especially the FTD books) but there are definitely a few that you may want to pick up afterwards.

For Song of the Week, Bec picks "I'm Falling in Love Tonight", the Don Robertson ballad that the songwriter himself got to play on for the "It Happened At the World's Fair" soundtrack, while Justin highlights "Take Good Care of Her," which Elvis had a Top 10 country hit with in 1974.

One of the news items we reference at the top of the show: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/graceland-elvis-presley-scam-naussany-branson-missouri-rcna157155 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Originally recorded in August 2022 as a TCBCast Patreon exclusive, Bec and Justin sit down with the 1993 NBC TV movie "Elvis and the Colonel: The Untold Story," starring Rob Youngblood as Elvis and Beau Bridges as Colonel Parker, directed by William Graham, the real director behind Elvis's own 1969 movie "Change of Habit." 

Recorded a mere two months after the release of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, watching this first attempt at a biopic about Elvis through the lens of Colonel Parker ends up feeling like watching a low-budget knock-off despite arriving almost 30 years earlier. Our duo (including one host who watched it twice in preparation) tries to give the attempt its best case possible, giving it as much leeway as other, more beloved depictions... but if you haven't seen this unintentionally hilarious project before, it has to be seen to be believed! 

If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast! Patrons get exclusive access to an archive of over three and a half years of bonus content just like this, with more commentaries, movie & TV reviews, album discussions, early access to new episodes and more! We sincerely thank all our past and current patrons for their support. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

TCBCast will be returning with a brand new episode next week!

Justin, Bec and Gurdip managed to coordinate a quick but fun Song of the Week, news & listener message episode (though naturally recorded JUST before "In The Ghetto" off the "Memphis" box dropped). The gang briefly discusses the Memphis Recording Service "Las Vegas On Stage February 1973" box set, Bec pleads forgiveness for a "verbal typo" on her most recent episode, and then examine a provocative editorial about Elvis, Graceland and America sent to us by one of our patrons.

For Song of the Week, Gurdip goes flying high on a "Harem Holiday," Bec puts on her Sunday best to listen to both the 1966 and 1968 versions of "Where Could I Go But To The Lord" and Justin delves into "Put the Blame On Me" off the "Something for Everybody" album (and subsequently featured in "Tickle Me.")

Link to Michael Bertrand's editorial: https://theconversation.com/could-elvis-graceland-hold-a-key-to-bridging-americas-cultural-divide-230841

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Justin and Olivia are joined by guest host Chris Jones (former host of the wonderful "Hall of Songs" podcast, you can find him as @jonesca17 on social media) to explore the surprisingly heartfelt and thought-provoking world of songs that either reference or are about Elvis, explicitly or implicitly. Spanning a wide array of genres, eras and artists, each of us pick five of our favorites to examine the common themes that begin to surface like fame, commercialization, celebrity obsession, mythology, religion, the Deep South, America, transportation/travel, class, race relations, and the closeness of family.

For Song of the Week, Olivia selects "Drums of the Islands", a "Paradise Hawaiian Style" track that's rooted in real Polynesian culture. Justin chooses to delve into "Only the Strong Survive," Elvis' cover of Jerry Butler's classic 1968 hit, and Chris takes us home by covering Elvis' down and dirty 1971 version of the iconic holiday blues number, "Merry Christmas Baby."

A special episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yrvYGYK6c7W8ysEwbh7nM?si=f9e75a2706694579

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

This episode begins with a TCBCast-mini-style intro with Gurdip and Justin discussing the passing of singer-songwriter Mark James and the news of Sony's "Memphis" box set, out August 9, 2024. 

Then, Gurdip taps out and Bec taps in for a fun exploration of some of our favorite deep cut Elvis concert rarities - the songs he almost never pulled out, from ones done only once (like Oh Happy Day or Rubberneckin') to those done at best for maybe a handful of shows (Memphis Tennessee, anybody?)

For Song of the Week, Bec ponders "(Such An) Easy Question" which Elvis recorded in 1962 but that was also reused in the 1965 movie "Tickle Me." Then Justin closes us out with a quick exploration of "I Will Be Home Again," the Golden Gate Quartet homage that Elvis and Charlie Hodge harmonized on for "Elvis is Back" in 1960.

For those who haven't seen it yet elsewhere, Sony released a behind the scenes mini-doc about the new "Memphis" set on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8XGKNVko-g

Our live rarities playlist (on YouTube, since other streaming services don't have FTDs or bootlegs!): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg-DEia9bCgaA-7wTppzt2tTFXJkHaXGA

Interview with Orlandus Wilson of the Golden Gate Quartet sourced from: http://tofuhut.blogspot.com/2009/02/glisten-work-of-father-3-more-info-on.html and its archived version on the Internet Archive.

Selah Jubilee Quartet version of "I Will Be Home Again" available to hear here: https://archive.org/details/78_i-will-be-home-again_selah-jubilee-quartet-lou-singer-bennie-benjemen-raymond-levee_gbia0077522a

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Gurdip and Olivia sit down for a super fun discussion picking one song from each of Elvis' narrative films (from Love Me Tender through Change of Habit) from within the movie itself that they especially enjoy, not including those just on the soundtrack or recorded for but cut from the final film.

They also discuss the title, cover design and release date for Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough's new book "From Here to the Great Unknown," set to release later this year and speculate on what kind of book it may be.

There's no Song of the Week this week due to a scheduling issue, but this is still a full-length show. SOTW returns next week with Justin and Bec! This episode was recorded before the news of the passing of Mark James, writer of "Suspicious Minds," "Always On My Mind," "Moody Blue" and others.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Special guest Darin Evans joins Gurdip and Justin for a brief exploration of what each think were Elvis' best 5 singles, considering the strength of the A & B-sides, overall success and (naturally) personal taste.

For Song of the Week, Darin piggybacks off Justin's choice of "Kissin Cousins No. 2" last week and goes for "Kissin' Cousins," the upbeat single from the 1964 movie which featured Elvis musically portraying two different characters within a single song.

Then Justin explores the understated and oft-neglected 50s country ballad "How's The World Treating You," including how Elvis altered the original's lyrics and intent in the recording that featured on his 1956 sophomore LP "Elvis," before Gurdip closes out the episode by zeroing in on the last of the four original demo recordings that Elvis recorded at Memphis Recording Service to be released to the public: "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You." 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Bec crashes an episode with Gurdip and Justin covering the 1971 Camden "C'mon Everybody," a compilation collecting a handful of tracks that at the time of its release had previously only been available on the Extended Play soundtracks for Follow That Dream, Kid Galahad, Viva Las Vegas and Easy Come, Easy Go. It turns out to be one of the breeziest, enjoyable Camdens and the gang has a ton of fun digging into it.

Also discussed are news items including the upcoming Guitar Man Sessions FTD, the false Graceland foreclosure, and Justin's recent Elvis finds - which includes a copy of our main topic album!

For Song of the Week, Bec hangs around just to commentate on our picks, with Gurdip selecting the title track of 1967's "Double Trouble" which leads to reading songwriter Mort Shuman's hilarious recollection (or lack thereof) about the song in Ken Sharp's "Writing for the King, before closing out with Justin's Song of the Week, the short" opening title version of "Kissin' Cousins" often referred to as "No. 2."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Bec & Justin bask in some nostalgia for their days as younger Elvis fans at the turn of the 21st century, reflecting on the major mainstream BMG Elvis releases from 1999 and how those releases influenced the crew's perspectives on Elvis' creative journey. From period retrospectives "Suspicious Minds: The 1969 Anthology," "Sunrise," "The Home Recordings," "Burning Love" and "Tomorrow is A Long Time" to hits compilations like "Can't Help Falling in Love: The Hollywood Hits" and "Artist of the Century" - and, naturally, the first ever Follow That Dream releases - 1999 was a good year for Elvis fans.

For Song of the Week, both hosts go for fairly reflective, contemplative songs, with Justin selecting 1969's understated "This is the Story" and Bec digging into "It's Over," most famously featured in Elvis' "Aloha From Hawaii" special from 1973.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Ryan, Bec and Justin conclude their discussion on 1962's "Girls! Girls! Girls!" losing their minds just a little bit at the twists, turns and amount of songs about fishing in the back half of the movie, but have a ton of fun discussing such famous scenes as "Return to Sender," "Song of the Shrimp" and "The Walls Have Ears" as well as pondering the deleted sequence "I Don't Want To."

Ryan has to bow out for Song of the Week, but Bec pushes forward with the movie songs theme, making a case for "Animal Instinct" from 1965 "Harum Scarum". On the other hand, Justin spotlights the less-familiar "Girl of Mine" from the 1973 Stax sessions - which came from the pens of British songwriters more known for writing for Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck; so much so that Englebert himself did a version of this country-flavored pop ballad before Elvis!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Justin, Ryan and Bec begin to unpack the 1962 Paramount rom-com "Girls! Girls! Girls!" starring Elvis, Laurel Goodwin, Stella Stevens, and Jeremy Slate, directed by Norman Taurog (his third Elvis picture) and written by Edward Anhalt from a story by Allan Weiss. 

It was filmed in Hawaii, but that's not where it was supposed to be set - and the last minute change (following the blowout success of "Blue Hawaii" at the box office just a few short months before filming) is clearly felt throughout. The crew take a look back to see how the movie holds up - an unusually strong soundtrack helps, but not everyone even agrees on that!

Before that though, Justin subjects Ryan & Bec to a "Guess That Soundalike" challenge, whereby they'll have to guess which of 6 Elvis soundalikes is which based on short audio snippets. It's a ton of fun! Part 2 will be out next week; it's available in early access for TCBCast patrons!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

It's not everyday that new Elvis audio from the 1950s surfaces, but this past week that very thing did happen, as European label Memphis Recording Service released newly discovered audio from Elvis's November 22, 1956, concert in Toledo, Ohio, recorded originally by local radio DJ Ron Ross. Subsequently, the original mono audio was also uploaded to YouTube by another fan who had sourced the audio himself as well.

Gurdip and Justin break down the content itself, and contrast the YouTube upload and the MRS audio, the latter of which is a flawed restoration that clearly prioritizes general listening experience over historical accuracy. Some will appreciate it, others may take issue. But aside from the minor quibbles there - what new insights does the audio tell us? That's what we aim to find out.

The fan upload of the audio is available here, presumably worldwide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm6HJKJCGmo

Memphis Recording Service's restoration is available in numerous other regions around the world also on YouTube, though it is region-locked, American listeners will have to import the audio, but others including Canada, Australia and European countries as well as elsewhere should be able to hear the tracks at this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kgzE2ikYXBylwLjyysg2NfIq5h4lg4vvU

Alan Hanson's write-up on the Toledo concert is highly recommended, since we didn't have a chance to do our own deep-dive during the short time between the announcement/release and us recording this mini-sode, and as usual, Alan's work is impeccably researched, written and insightful: http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-toledo-56.html

This week Justin and Olivia are exploring the recordings (both final masters and alternate dubs that were considered) where Elvis sang with himself, starting from "I'm Yours" in the early 60s, working their way up through the very dense 1969 recordings, and well into the 1970s. There's both more than you'd think, and not enough! They ponder what sort of creative choices were made to lead Elvis to lay down these special vocals. It's a very unique angle (and frequently exquisite listening) from which to examine Elvis' music!

For Song of the Week, Olivia digs into the absolutely massive treasure trove of outtakes from the multiple different versions Elvis recorded of the title track from 1957's "Loving You" plus a few minor later live versions and covers, while Justin puts on my detective hat to try to solve some mysteries about the obscure home recording "Apron Strings," made while Elvis was in the Army.

Special thanks to David "Ghosty" Wills of the "We Say Yeah" podcast for some additional info on Cliff Richard's recordings of "Apron Strings"!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Gurdip and Justin put their heads together for an interesting and provocative thought experiment: what Elvis songs would they pick if they had to remove 5 songs from each decade of his career? Would they just pick our least favorites - or consider the historical, social and cultural ramifications of each decision? Plus, are some periods of Elvis' career easier to prune than others? 

And then in the second part of the episode, Justin's joined by Olivia as they look at streaming data from a popular digital music platform to examine what the least listened-to Elvis songs (of ones originally released during his lifetime) are in modern times - the ones that at least one contingent of Elvis fans themselves seem to have inadvertently given away that they'd prefer not going out of their way to listen to.

For Song of the Week, Justin knocks out "This is Living" from the soundtrack of Elvis's 1962 boxing-musical-drama Kid Galahad, while Olivia similarly picks an early 60s movie song, the sweetly-sung lullaby "Big Boots" from 1960's G.I. Blues. 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Gurdip returns this week for a lively discussion about the soundtrack to Elvis' 1968 film "Speedway," which co-starred Nancy Sinatra, who features on two tracks, making her one of the few artists to ever appear on an album with Elvis during his lifetime.

The guys dig a bit into the recording sessions (which, minus Sinatra's contributions, were primarily done at MGM's soundstage instead of at RCA Studio B as usual) and how this move affected the production quality of the album, the poor choice of promotional single material, unfortunate timing of the film & soundtrack's release, and ponder how Elvis' final soundtrack LP for a fictional film managed to, like the first movie album from 11 years earlier, end up with nearly half the songs featured not even appearing in the film itself. 

The guys also catch up on a bunch of listener emails, and then for Song of the Week, Gurdip selects Elvis' unique 1957 interpretation of the spiritual "I Believe," while Justin goes much lighter, picking "Poor Boy," recorded for and featured in his first feature, Love Me Tender.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Justin is joined on this episode by longtime guest and inquisitive mind Olivia Murphy-Rogers, who Gurdip, Ryan, Bec & Justin are pleased to announce is joining the TCBCast crew!!

Justin and Olivia explore the concept of the "fool" in Elvis' music - song titles, lyrics, and at critical moments in his life from his childhood in Tupelo to his final television special. Justin continues the theme with his Song of the Week, Elvis' 1971 version of "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" and they look at the history of both the song (which dates back to the 1940s) but also the phrase itself. Olivia's Song of the Week, by contrast, is the final "studio" recording Elvis laid down in the Jungle Room in 1976, a cover of Jim Reeves' crossover hit "He'll Have to Go."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

(Note from Justin: We're already aware we somehow missed "Love Me, Love the Life I Lead"! Sorry!")

Justin and Bec pull out all the stops for a thorough exploration of the remaining Nashville studio sessions from 1970: June 6, 7 & 8 as well as the brief September 22, 1970, session where Elvis laid down four more tracks to polish off "Elvis Country" and prepare a single. As they begin to sense the material's strength (and Elvis' interest) waning, they ponder whether the "marathon" approach may have done more harm than good in the long run. There are still numerous highs, like much of the material that landed on the country record, but there's also... "Life."

This episode's main topic is extra jam-packed so there's no Song of the Week this week, just a buttload of fun and thoughtful discussion about the huge pile of music Elvis & the band laid down that year, and how it was released throughout the rest of 1970, 1971 and even sprinkled a bit into 1972. 

Want to hear a wonderfully curated collection of Elvis' 1970 session material? We highly recommend Sony's "From Elvis in Nashville" 4-disc box set from 2020, as of this posting still available physically, digitally and on streaming, and most of the final masters can be heard on the streaming versions of the albums "That's The Way It Is," "Elvis Country," and "Love Letters from Elvis" with a handful more on "Elvis Now." 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Justin & Gurdip are joined this week by Roy Hamilton, Jr, the son of famous "Rock'n'Soul" icon Roy Hamilton, who was a major influence on Elvis' musical style and development. Roy graciously spent some of his Easter Sunday answering questions about his father's influence on rock and roll, connections to Elvis, and how the Hamilton family has continued Roy Sr.'s legacy over the years.

Then, for Song of the Week, the guys head to the big screen as Justin highlights the title track from the 1966 film "Spinout," while Gurdip discovers the rich cultural history of "We'll Be Together" from Girls! Girls! Girls!

We sincerely thank Roy for sharing his often-intimate personal memories and industry insights. We would also like to thank Lisa Lauren & Maria Hamilton for working to help connect us with Roy. If you want to learn more about Roy Hamilton, please visit royhamilton.net.  Featured Songs of the Week:

Justin: Spinout

Gurdip: We'll Be Together

Gurdip's on vacation and between day jobs and personal emergencies, timing isn't lining up just yet Part 2 of the Nashville sessions, so Bec and Justin got together for a quick spur of the moment episode and managed to rope in John Michael Heath of EAP Society for a loose Elvis discussion among the three. The team discusses John & his father's Elvis artifacts in their collection, favorite Elvis movies, the 1969 American Sound Sessions and the 1970 Nashville Marathon both come up, as well as John's recent acquisition of Memphis photographer William Speer's non-Elvis collection of decades worth of photos.

For Song of the Week, John revisits a 1969 track previously featured as SotW (early in our run by Gurdip's nephew Roman) to give his heartfelt interpretation of Elvis' reading of Johnny Christopher's "Mama Liked The Roses." Justin's Song of the Week similarly focuses on a surprising, unexpected alternate interpretation of the December 1973 Stax recording "Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming" direct from the mouth of its writer, Rory Bourke, as well as a mini-SOTW side discussion on a January 1974 Las Vegas one-liner Elvis sang of the Rory Bourke co-write, Charlie Rich's "The Most Beautiful Girl."

If you'd like to hear more from John and Jamie Kelley, please visit youtube.com/EAPSociety or EAPSociety.com for details on their upcoming "Spring Festival" event in Iowa.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Justin and Bec explore Elvis' "marathon" sessions from June 1970, starting with laying the groundwork for the return to Nashville's RCA Studio B, pondering why Elvis may not have chosen to return to Chips Moman's American Sound in Memphis. Instead Elvis is joined this time by a new band led by his live guitarist James Burton but otherwise comprised largely of country-soul players who had worked alongside producer Felton Jarvis in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, including Chip Young, Jerry Carrigan, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam and Charlie McCoy, and rather than a meticulous planned session with Chips' guiding vision... they tear through dozens of songs across four nights, with a follow-up session later that September. Part 1 focuses on the establishing information and the first two nights, June 4-5 and June 5-6, 1970. 

For Song of the Week, Bec highlights "I Met Her Today," the understated Don Robertson ballad that was cut in 1961's Pot Luck sessions but held until the hodgepodge Elvis For Everyone album four years later. Meanwhile, Justin goes way back to the Sun era, selecting the middle child single "Milkcow Blues Boogie" - couched between Good Rockin' Tonight and Baby Let's Play House, yet containing that same genius melding of blues (it was written and originated by Kokomo Arnold) and country (also highly popularized by western swing artists like Bob and Johnnie Lee Wills) in a new rockabilly style as anything else he did at Sun.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

You're about to be taken on a journey...  Justin is joined by Rabia of Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast to tackle Australia's near-exclusive 1983 compilation "Elvis Blue" (also released in Japan & South Africa) which compiles all 19 songs Elvis released during his lifetime with the word "blue" in the title. 

This strange collection of songs that, when initially described, sounds like a novelty cash-in, ends up becoming a compelling, thoughtful alternate exploration of the span of Elvis' entire artistic journey, from Sun Records to the last song he ever sang. Justin & Rabia examine the lyrics of these songs and spend time reflecting on the themes of loss, loneliness, sadness, love-gone-wrong and - surprisingly - a sort of disaffected, comedic flippancy in there, too. 

For Song of the Week, the theme is carried forward, with Justin picking two Red West-penned 1966 home recordings "I've Been Blue" and "It's No Fun Being Lonely," one of which explicitly would fit the main topic's subject, and another that fits tonally. Rabia selects "I Need Somebody to Lean On," the understated, jazzy ballad from "Viva Las Vegas" and tries to root out some potential inspirations Pomus/Shuman may have had for it, and together Justin & Rabia ponder the potential influence of Ol' Blue Eyes himself on Elvis' crooning.

Rabia's show "Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast" is available on all major podcast platforms where you can find TCBCast, with more info at suddenlypod.gay.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. 

Ryan returns this week to look back on his time and findings exploring the world of Elvis bootlegs, from soundboards and audience recordings to studio material and fan-made spliced takes. Justin takes the opportunity to loosely discuss some of the history of Elvis bootlegs and try to contextualize where Elvis bootlegs have fit within the larger rock bootleg scene, and the guys ponder whether there is even a future for Elvis bootlegs to offer anything new or interesting now that A) the official collector's label, Follow That Dream, has done a lot of the work both clearing out the vaults and clawing back material originally found on bootlegs and releasing it in the best possible quality and B) not many people buy CDs at all anymore to begin with, with YouTube and digital trading in online circles are the predominant way of obtaining material nowadays.

For Song of the Week, Ryan selects the bopping 1957 hit "I Beg Of You" and celebrates its cowriter, Rose Marie McCoy, while Justin picks the 1969 track "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road", effectively an album cut that Elvis still felt strongly enough about to consider bringing into his live setlist a couple times in the 70s.

Oh yeah, we went there. Gurdip & Justin sit down with the 1978 compilation album, intended for children but so often cited by Elvis fans who were around at the time as one of the worst and most misguided projects Colonel Tom Parker ever spearheaded... but is it, really?! Closer examination may be necessary! (Note: the guys ponder why the presence of an elephant in the artwork; Bec reached out after the fact and reminded us that Colonel Parker's favorite animal was, in fact, the elephant!)

Also discussed is the newly surfaced Forth Worth, TX footage of Elvis from early 1958 (available here through the University of North Texas: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2049375/m1/?fbclid=IwAR1d8oliLIWVkU29QBzgdovqXuai1MqaWMZClyo3eYU3hHMPQjYTj8typek) and the upcoming release of numerous demos from songwriter Randy Starr on the Bear Family Records label "Randy Starr - Presley Style" as well as a rarely-seen or discussed November 1957 article about Elvis from TAN magazine that was dug up by friend of the show John Michael Heath.

For Song of the Week, Gurdip knocks out another classic 50s track with the early country ballad "I'm Counting On You" that featured on Elvis' debut LP, while Justin sifts through the web of interconnected gospel songs that connect to "You Better Run," which Elvis was recorded and filmed singing during the rehearsals for "Elvis On Tour" in 1972 and also performed in concert at least a couple more times later in the 1970s.

Source for the TAN magazine scan: https://archive.org/details/sim_tan_1957-11_8_1/page/30/mode/2up?view=theater

One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready...

For our main topic this week, Justin's extensive Song of the Week takes priority, as the guys dig into the history of "Blue Suede Shoes," originally written and recorded by Carl Perkins and famously associated with Elvis throughout his career and beyond. What was Carl tapping into when he wrote it in 1955, why did it have such appeal, and has it been overplayed? Numerous versions by both Perkins and Elvis over the years are covered and discussed.

The story doesn't stop there - Justin's dug up what he believes to be some history behind when the soft, delicate dyed leather itself leapt the gender line and was introduced into men's footwear after decades of being associated with women and European nobility. 

Then Gurdip, for his Song of the Week, selects "I Love You Because," the country-pop ballad that Elvis toyed around with alongside Scotty and Bill during that first professional Sun session that would later explode with "That's All Right." 

An irreplaceable source this week was the book "Go Cat Go: The Life and Times of Carl Perkins, the King of Rockabilly" by Carl Perkins and David McGee and is highly recommended reading.

Here's a link to the auction site with photos of Elvis' blue suede shoes as worn on the Steve Allen Show: https://rockhurstauctions.com/1956_Elvis_Presley_Owned_and_Worn_Blue_Suede_Shoes-LOT7513.aspx

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Valentine's Day's coming up soon, so Justin and Bec decided to round up their favorite Elvis songs about love and relationships, and Bec even wrangled Gurdip and Ryan's lists from them as well. It's a total gush-fest over some of the most expressive and memorable romantic recordings Elvis ever made.

For Song of the Week, Bec stays on theme, picking the more downbeat "Something Blue" from the album "Pot Luck" while Justin spotlights "Tell Me Why," one of Elvis' more underrated and obscure 1957 recordings, left unreleased until surfacing on a single in the mid-1960s.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

The TCBCast gang is off for one week, but we've got something special from the archives: one of our earliest previously Patreon-exclusive unofficial commentaries, for the 1992 heavily-Elvis-inspired rom-com "Honeymoon in Vegas" starring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan, written & directed by Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, The Freshman) with a soundtrack jam-packed with covers of Elvis songs and the movie itself containing numerous original Elvis recordings as well.

Gurdip and Justin sat down with the film back in early 2021 for the first time in years to see if it held up. "Honeymoon in Vegas" is, as of this upload in 2024, available to buy digitally on a handful of platforms including Apple & Amazon - or you can do like we hosts did and cue up our old DVDs (or even VHS!) to watch along - or just enjoy the listen! And let us know if you watched it when it first came out. whether you've seen it recently, or if you're a fan of the Elvis-inspired soundtrack, as always you can email us at tcbcast@gmail.com

If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast! Patrons get exclusive access to an archive of three years of bonus content just like this, with more commentaries, bonus movie and album reviews, early access to new episodes and more! If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Justin and Bec take a closer listen to Elvis' sessions from March 1972 at RCA Studio C in Hollywood, which gave us iconic hits like "Burning Love," "Always on My Mind" and "Separate Ways" along with several cuts relegated to B-sides and later LPs. They also ponder what might have been, looking at the cancelled 1972 album "Standing Room Only," that would have been largely comprised of this studio material mixed with live tracks from a Vegas engagement earlier that year.

Bec is in the hotseat for a round of Elvis trivia early in the episode, then for Song of the Week, she picks the deep cut "I Want You With Me" from 1961's "Something for Everybody" while Justin digs into "I've Got Confidence" from a different 1972 album, "He Touched Me"!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Gurdip & Justin ring in 2024 by looking at one of the earliest posthumous albums from 1978, "A Canadian Tribute," created to celebrate Elvis' 1957 tour of Canada and the songs Elvis recorded that have Canadian connections. Gurdip, as our resident Canadian, had this one in his youth so the guys decided to see if it holds up as well as it did back in the day. 

The guys also discuss the announcement of Lisa Marie's new book, coming this October completed by Riley Keough, additional information on the Elvis Evolution experience scheduled to premiere this November, and the announcement that EPE has acquired what is claimed to be the original 1954 acetate of "That's All Right" played on the air by Dewey Phillips, the authenticity of which has been called into question in numerous fan groups and most prominently by our friends at EAP Society (please check out their video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDKGo5lpx40)

Gurdip grills Justin on a different type of Elvis trivia, and for Song of the Week, he takes on "Are You Sincere" from the 1973 "Raised on Rock" album, while Justin ponders "What Now, What Next, Where To?" - a solid 1963 cut that undeservedly languished as a bonus track on the soundtrack for "Double Trouble."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Marking Elvis Presley's 89th birthday (and 6 years and 300 episodes of TCBCast), Justin, Gurdip, Ryan and Bec gather to give their thoughts on writer-director Sofia Coppola's adaptation of Priscilla Presley's autobiography. The gang dig in and ponder whether it's any better or offers anything more than the other previous depictions of the Elvis & Priscilla story: e.g. the 1988 TV adaptation, the 2005 CBS miniseries, the handful of scenes in Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis"... but ultimately pitting it against its source: Priscilla & Sandra Harmon's original 1985 bestselling book "Elvis & Me."

As we expect most of our listeners will already be familiar with the story of "Elvis & Me," the discussion is more broad, generally covering the main beats. While there is minor discussion on Elvis news at the start, since this particular topic was always going to bit a bit chunkier, the first Songs of the Week of 2024 will arrive on TCBCast 301. 

Warning: this episode contains audio of a fictionalized portrayal of sexual violence from the 1988 TV movie starting at around 2:16:30. Please skip about a minute around there if this may be upsetting for any of our listeners in any way. We apologize for not including a warning in the episode itself as we usually would.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Happy New Year!! Justin is out sick so episode 300 is delayed! So what is this? Well if you add up all the various bonus episodes along the way we've well blown past 300 long ago anyway so the number's arbitrary, so give us this weird one!

Gurdip is joined by John Michael Heath from EAP Society to briefly discuss news and the recent "Elvis: Now In Person 1972" FTD 4-CD set and book by David English and Pal Granlund, as well as to bond over gospel and doo-wop. Plus - a round of Elvis Trivia returning this week as John is in the hotseat! There's no Song of the Week this week - just a fun, lightweight discussion. The gang will be back next week for the proper 300!

Want to hear more from John and Jamie Kelley? Visit youtube.com/EAPSociety

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Like socks. underwear and an ugly sweater from a relative you never see, you didn't ask for it but you're getting it anyway. 

The biggest gathering of guests on a single episode of TCBCast ever convene for the strangest of holiday events: Clambake. We know exactly what you're thinking, but it turns out there's SO MUCH MORE we didn't talk about last year, there's less overlap than you might expect in terms of things to learn about 1967's "Clambake." We even managed to squeeze a Song of the Week in mid-show for "A House That Has Everything," digging into its roots as Mexican melody "Te Quiero Dijiste" and its other English adaptation "Magic is the Moonlight."

And you know, even these end-of-year holidays aren't often so much about the holiday itself - it's the coming together with the people you care about.

Speaking of which, here's who all makes an appearance:

Gurdip, Justin, and Bec 

Rabia and Felix from Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast

John Michael Heath from EAP Society

David "Ghosty" Wills from We Say Yeah: A Cliff Richard Fan Podcast 

And special guests Olivia Murphy-Rogers, Darin Evans and Garrett Cash.

The entire listening audience gets to vote whether this tradition continues next year, email "Clambake Yes" or "Clambake No" to clambake2024@gmail.com.

Chapters: 

0:00: Preshow

8:23: Official Introductions & Clambake Memories

31:44: Will Hutchins Memories w/Ghosty Wills

51:00: "Who Needs Clambake?"

1:01:17: Gildersleeve and Good

1:23:28: Shelley Fabares Discussion

1:31:18: Song of the Week: A House That Has Everything

1:50:24: Confidence, Agent Elvis and Italian James Bond

2:09:50: Clambake's Story Is Broken... But Didn't Have to Be!

2:23:25: Shortnin' Bread... and Bikinis, Too!

2:49:17: Post 'Bake Clarity

2:58:13: Clambake Down Under, GOOP and Daddy Issues

3:06:12: Soundtrack, Bonus Songs & Metacommentary

3:38:44: In Praise of Jeff Alexander

3:47:12: Arthur H. Nadel & The Lost OTHER Agent Elvis

3:58:25: Closing Thoughts & A Very Merry Clambake To All

Gurdip & Justin react to recent Elvis news, including Elvis' current charting holiday hits, the release of streaming data for "Agent Elvis" on Netflix for the first half of 2023, and Baz Luhrmann's statements that he intends to eventually, "one day" create an episodic version of his "Elvis" film. They guys also reflect on both the year 2023 for TCBCast, and the last six years of the show. 

For Song of the Week, Gurdip selects "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)" from 1967's "Double Trouble." For Justin, the question is: how do you handle discussing "Silver Bells," one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time that everyone's heard? You try to ignore all the noise, talk about the movie it was written for, one which quite never became a perennial holiday favorite, and the songwriters' hilarious original title.

We'll have one more episode of TCBCast dropping later this week - before Christmas - and it's a doozy. Stay tuned!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

This week, Gurdip and Justin finally do an episode they've been threatening to do for some time now, exploring the work of Italian DJ Agostino Carollo, aka "Spankox," who in the late 00s began remixing Elvis songs that had fallen into the European public domain and ended up getting the endorsement of EPE/Graceland for his first two albums, making them technically official releases... an endorsement subsequently lost for the third, holiday-themed project. 

The guys cover those first three albums, and also touch upon an obscure 2003 Elvis-inspired movie project, "DJ Hound Dog," that Spankox worked on and produced before turning in his "Baby Let's Play House" remix, as well as what else he's been remixing in recent years since he has mostly stopped producing new Elvis mixes. Even people who don't like remixes might find this episode interesting and funny - and if you really don't like these remixes specifically, you may feel a little schadenfreude by the time we get to "Christmas Remixes."

In the news segment, the guys also briefly discuss the announcement of "Priscilla" coming to digital platforms (FYI this episode was recorded prior to the announcement of Cailee Spaenee being nominated for a Golden Globe), "Elvis' Golden Records" rising up into the Top 50 country albums chart earlier this month, and Justin give my initial impressions of the new book "Elvis and The Colonel: An Insider's Look at the Most Legendary Partnership in Show Business" by Greg McDonald and Marshall Terrill. 

For Song of the Week, Gurdip picks the home recording "Sweet Leilani," most famously done by Bing Crosby, and Justin decided to go with the holiday season theme and highlight the lesser-appreciated "It Won't Seem Like Christmas Without You" from the 1971 "Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas" album. 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Ryan and Bec take the reins this week for a fun-filled episode as both dig into their favorite Elvis performances that were professionally filmed, from TV appearances, network specials & documentary films. Ryan also gives his thoughts on the Christmas at Graceland NBC special, and both react to news from Baz Luhrmann about his future Elvis-related projects.

For Song of the Week, Bec explores the history behind "I Believe in the Man in the Sky" from the "His Hand in Mine" album, while Mr. Droste takes us back to "Poison Ivy League" from 1964's "Roustabout."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Gurdip & Justin discuss their thoughts on the NBC special "Christmas at Graceland," which aired Wednesday, November 29, 2023, hosted by Riley Keough and featuring musical acts including Lainey Wilson, Lana Del Rey, Kane Brown, Alanis Morrisette, Post Malone, The War and Treaty, John Legend and Kacey Musgraves as well as a handful of surprise cameos. 

Gurdip is out unexpectedly so special guest Darin Evans joins Justin once again, this time for a loose, lighthearted (and unexpectedly beefy) ranking of all of the Elvis movie title songs, from Love Me Tender to Change of Habit; weighing the songs themselves, how they're used in their respective movies, and how well they represent the films they're from. 

The team also react to listener feedback regarding the recent Elvis and Country Music miniseries as well as recent news including the Christmas at Graceland lineup (airing November 29!!) and Dolly Parton's new Elvis-themed duet with Ronnie McDowell, and Darin gives his thoughts after having seen "Priscilla" - FYI, Justin has also finally seen "Priscilla" and his initial impressions bonus episode with John Michael Heath of EAP Society is up over at the TCBCast Patreon.

For Song of the Week, due to Darin jumping in at the last minute since Gurdip had an unexpected emergency at the day job, Justin's the only one with a song of the week, but brings the funky "Find Out What's Happening" from Elvis' 1973 Stax sessions.

Timestamps

0:00 - News & Listener Feedback

31:30 - Main Topic

2:01:20 - SOTW: Find Out What's Happening

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

On this episode, Justin is once again joined by Chris Jones, co-host of the Hall of Songs podcast (HallofSongs.com), for a discussion on Elvis' various Grammy awards nominations and wins as well as how he fared in other music industry award ceremonies and briefly touching on which major genre Halls of Fame Elvis has been inducted into. With Chris' experience on their show having to nominate the best songs of given years, the guys have a ton of fun digging into what else was getting nominated, what Elvis was up against, and pondering where else he potentially could have been nominated for the big awards.

Then, for Song of the Week, Chris uncorks one of the big ones: Elvis' cover of Chuck Berry's iconic rock and roll anthem, "Johnny B. Goode." Yes, you read that right, somehow it had not yet been covered as a Song of the Week! Finally, Justin close out the show by admitting that he's really come around on Elvis' version of James Taylor's satirical blues cut, "Steamroller."

Please be sure to check out Hall of Songs, which Chris co-hosts with Tim Malcolm, again at HallofSongs.com or on your podcast platform of choice!

Gurdip and Justin dig into the September 1967 and January 1968 sessions that brought country singer-songwriter Jerry Reed into Elvis' circle for a brief moment, until business interests got in the way. Through spread out across various singles, soundtracks as bonus tracks, and budget compilations, these sessions collectively show Elvis already embracing material that returns him to his blues and country roots, leading him to his comeback. Justin also provides some context on Jerry Reed's early career before his breakout hit "Guitar Man," famously covered by Elvis during these sessions. 

For Song of the Week, Justin takes the opportunity of covering these sessions to talk about "The Prisoner's Song," a deeply important pivotal 1924 recording in more ways than one, which Elvis, Jerry and the band attempted to comedically subvert during these sessions, only for their jam to have been partly recorded by Felton Jarvis, surfacing decades later on bootlegs re-titled as "Wings of an Angel", revealing in hindsight a disappointing moment of casual carelessness on Elvis' behalf. Gurdip, on the other hand, spotlights the fantastic #1 1958 hit "Hard Headed Woman" from the King Creole soundtrack... a hit that barely features in the movie it's from!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Gurdip & Justin react to the virtual holiday duets with Pentatonix and Kane Brown released within the last week or so, briefly discuss the leaks of emails sent from Lisa Marie to Sofia Coppola, and dig into Songs of the Week.

Gurdip selects the bubbly "It's A Wonderful World" from 1964's "Roustabout" while Justin goes deep on the obscure 1960 Elvis home recording "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano" - not just songwriter Leon Rene and the famous hit version by the Ink Spots, but also the actual event of the Return of the Swallows observed each year at the Mission San Juan de Capistrano. 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

In the finale to the epic Elvis and country music miniseries, Justin and guest host Garrett Cash briskly fly over nearly four and a half decades of time, tracing Elvis' impact and influence on country music, starting with several of the tributes paid to him immediately following his death and his posthumous country hits, including the success of the 1981 "Guitar Man" country overdub project and its proposed follow-up, cut short by the untimely passing of producer Felton Jarvis.

They follow the progression of country from "urban cowboy" to "neo-traditional" in the late 1980s-early 1990s, as artists begin paying homage directly to Elvis following milestone anniversaries marking his passing, with tribute albums, movie soundtracks and direct covers, and the guys try to reckon with the induction of Elvis into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the CMA's backhanded recognition of his influence and importance.

The late 90s give Justin and Garrett a chance to talk about country at its pop crossover peak of the 20th Century, with acts like Shania Twain, The Chicks and Garth Brooks all reaching mainstream audiences just the way Elvis did, as well as how innovations in technology and changes in regulations affected the country industry, including Brooks' successful attempts to overtake Elvis as the best selling solo artist in the United States.

Moving into the 21st century, there's an aside to listen to some of virtual duets on the 2008 "Christmas Duets" album, which featured all prominent women country artists adding their vocals alongside Elvis, and then ponder what Elvis' career and rockabilly/rock'n'roll music can teach us about the 2010s "bro country" fad. Lastly, they briefly examine how Taylor Swift rose from the field of country music to become the Elvis equivalent of the current generation; and to connect to the themes we've been developing throughout the series, they even take a look at the unexpected roots of perhaps the biggest hit in country music this very month - one that has now crossed into the pop mainstream.

You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819

As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash 

This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this 5th episode are:

Ken Burns’ Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack

How Nashville Became Music City USA by Michael Kosser

The Garth Factor by Patsi Bale Cox

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King (Documentary, Glimmer Films)

Pure Country (Movie, Warner Bros. Pictures)

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/blogs/our-country/blake-shelton-infuriates-traditionalists-grandpa-baiting-comments-215927626.html

https://www.npr.org/2009/08/20/112056043/without-further-ado-songstress-tracy-chapman-returns

Other Recommended Resources:

The Encyclopedia of Country Music by The Staff of The Country Music Hall of Fame

Finding Her Voice: Women in Country Music by Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann

MUSIC PLAYLISTS: Note: neither playlist is complete for everything included in the series as some tracks do not exist on one platform, the other, or both. The YouTube playlist was compiled while editing so includes some songs not ultimately included, while the Spotify playlist was done afterwards.

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg-DEia9bCgYw0crdiUuT6x41ooG2wyKk

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7m4mB4DlTIlfwNKIL1Rs8K?si=5be5b9c064374e37 

Thank you to all of our amazing TCBCast Patreon supporters. If you enjoyed this miniseries, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Part 5 of the Elvis and Country Music miniseries brings the curtain down on the 1970s. Justin and Garrett Cash begin by discussing the state of pop music and country-pop crossovers in the '70s and the history of Country Music Month before stopping off at Stax Studios in Memphis as Elvis lays down the tracks that would comprise the albums "Raised on Rock," "Good Times" and "Promised Land" and those accompanying albums' singles.

1974 is a pit stop to discuss the country industry backlash to Olivia Newton-John and Elvis' live covers of her iconic country hits, on the way to the "Today" album, which reflected more contemporary and diverse country sounds in a way that "Elvis Country" had not.

Finally, we arrive in 1976 and the guys try to pick up the pieces of the Jungle Room sessions and the of-the-era pop arrangements slathered over the country songs featured on "From Elvis Presley Boulevard" and "Moody Blue" before ending on - what else? The final two songs Elvis Presley ever sang on this earth.

Next week, alongside the finale exploring Elvis' posthumous country legacy, we will be releasing both YouTube and Spotify playlist with as many songs featured on this series as possible. Stay tuned to our social media pages for details. This series would not be possible without the support of TCBCast Patreon backers, thank you to all of our patrons!

You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819

As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash 

This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this 5th episode are:

Ken Burns’ Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Elvis Presley: A Life in Music by Ernst Jorgensen

How Nashville Became Music City USA by Michael Kosser

https://www.npr.org/2007/02/18/7484160/the-conservative-evolution-of-country-music

https://www.goldminemag.com/articles/the-happiest-man-alive-ivory-joe-hunter

https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/olivia-newton-john-played-a-pivotal-role-in-country-music-rip/

FYI - not "new" - we had some sort of technical hiccup we only just noticed that seemed to have unpublished the except on YouTube and Patreon, just making sure it's reposted! Gurdip, Justin, Ryan and Bec are back together for the first time since January; the gang is reacting not only to the exciting news from Baz Luhrmann confirming via Instagram that he is in fact still working on a project involving officially unreleased TTWII & EOT footage, but also to the new trailer for Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla," starring Cailee Spaeny, which gave us a better glimpse (and sound) of Jacob Elordi's Elvis, along with more rapidfire scenes to break down. It's not as extensive or thrilling as the Luhrmann trailer breakdowns from last summer, but it was a ton of fun to get together once again to do it! Enjoy!

Remembering our friend Jaime Kay, host of The Jungle Room Podcast and recurring TCBCast guest.

We reflect as best we can on her passing and her impact on the Elvis community, then we're grateful to be able to share with you one last gift from Jaime Kay: the 2019 crossover episode of the Jungle Room when we first joined her on her show, an episode otherwise now completely unavailable and inaccessible online, restored from a lucky backup of the original raw audio. 

Guest host Garrett Cash and Justin begin Part 4 of Elvis and Country Music journey right where they left off: Elvis’ iconic 1969 sessions at Memphis producer Chips Moman’s American Sound, which provide Elvis his first country hits – as the industry considered them – in a decade. They then trace Elvis’ path from Las Vegas, where he brings together the finest country-rock band ever assembled in the TCB Band, back to Nashville where he not only embraces the “Countrypolitan” evolution of the Nashville sound, but pays homage to the genre’s diverse pop, blues, and folk roots with his only concept album, an artistic triumph which fully showcased how Elvis viewed the history of country music, with its many lineages all under one banner: “Elvis Country.”

Our hosts also take sidebars to reflect on women’s rising voices in country music during this period, the development of a movement within Nashville that came to be dubbed “outlaw country,” and songwriters such as Mac Davis, Dallas Frazier, Lee Hazlewood, and Dennis Linde, whose “Burning Love” once again drives home the failings, inherent flaws and revealing biases in the way we discuss genre using the music industry’s classifications; a “rock” hit from a “country” writer, originally recorded by “soul” singer Arthur Alexander.

Finally, we arrive in Hawaii, where – as Jimmie Rodgers once reminded us – everybody does “it.” What is “it,” exactly? Sure seems like country music, since “Aloha from Hawaii” is jam-packed with it! And what to make of Elvis’ interpretation of country writer Mickey Newbury’s “An American Trilogy?” All that and more – next week’s episode (we promise it’ll be shorter!) will take us from Elvis’ 1973 Stax Sessions all the way to the morning of August 16, 1977.

You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819

As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash 

In late October 2023 we will be releasing a YouTube and Spotify playlist with as many songs featured on this series as possible. Stay tuned to our social media pages for details. This series would not be possible without the support of TCBCast Patreon backers, thank you to all of our patrons!

This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this 4th episode are:

Ken Burns’ Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Elvis Presley: A Life in Music by Ernst Jorgensen

How Nashville Became Music City USA by Michael Kosser

Cocaine and Rhinestones: "Dallas Frazier: Can’t Get There from Here" by Tyler Mahan Coe: https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/dallas-frazier

Cocaine and Rhinestones: “Billy Sherill’s Nashville Sound” by Tyler Mahan Coe: https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/billy-sherrill

Garrett Cash rejoins Justin for Part 3 of the epic Elvis and Country Music saga as they start by breaking down the Nashville Sound, the members of the Nashville A-Team and the state of country music in the early 60s as the establishment puts up artificial barriers in an attempt to shun Elvis Presley and his irreversible influence.

Then, Elvis arrives home from the military and we find him both fully embracing, and influencing, the evolution of the Nashville Sound through the early 1960s. There's a brief sidebar in the mid-60s to discuss the folk movement, what Bob Dylan's producer had to do with Elvis movie songs, and Elvis' place in the evolution of the genre of country-rock. 1966 then marks the arrival of country producer Felton Jarvis to Elvis' RCA sessions before delving into the "quiet comeback" era as Elvis goes hard into traditional country both at home, in the studio and in his movies in the lead-up to the 1968 Comeback. 

This episode close just before hitting American Sound, as Garrett & Justin decide they want to do that material the justice it deserves, but not before setting everyone up to better appreciate what Elvis and Chips were going for by exploring the links between country and soul music. This episode sets out to try to do some impossible tasks in a limited amount of recording time available, making it perhaps one of the most information-dense episodes of TCBCast yet. 

You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819

As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash 

In late October 2023 we will be releasing a YouTube and Spotify playlist with as many songs featured on this series as possible. Stay tuned to our social media pages for details. This series would not be possible without the support of TCBCast Patreon backers, thank you to all of our patrons!

This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this 3rd episode are:

Ken Burns’ Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Looking Back to See: A Country Music Memoir by Maxine Brown

John Gilliland's Pop Chronicles & The Pop Chronicles Interviews via University of North Texas: https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/JGPC/

Cocaine and Rhinestones: "The Nashville A-Team" by Tyler Mahan Coe: https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/nashville-a-team 

Goldmine Magazine: "Dylan producer Bob Johnston recalls lifetime of musical memories" by Patrick Prince: https://www.goldminemag.com/features/dylan-producer-bob-johnston-recalls-lifetime-of-musical-memories 

Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity by Richard Peterson

Writing for the King by Ken Sharp

Elvis Presley: A Life in Music by Ernst Jorgensen

Holler: "Solomon Burke: The Country Star?" By Marcus K. Dowling: https://holler.country/feature/solomon-burke-the-country-star

The Nashville Sound by Paul Hemphill

How Nashville Became Music City, USA by Michael Kosser

Part 2 of the Elvis and Country Music saga picks up right where Justin and guest host Garrett Cash left off, with a deconstruction of both sides of Elvis' first Sun single. Elvis's country career is traced through his time at Sun and on the Louisiana Hayride, dedicating time to sidebar the realities of how flawed the way we discuss and understand country music as a genre during this period will always be due to the historical omission of the countless non-white artists who loved performing country music, but were disincentivized from recording in that genre by A&R reps and studio execs, and rarely allowed a welcome presence with country audiences. And to that end, was Chuck Berry just a country music artist hiding in plain sight all along?

We also begin to see the beginnings of the development of the Nashville Sound as Elvis joins RCA and single-handedly popularizes the gospel backing group sound in country music by demanding to work with The Jordanaires. Zig-zagging between the "traditional" country songs Elvis dabbled in during the 1950s and the actual charting country hits he had between 1956-1958, like, you know, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock and Hard Headed Woman, we land on the popular notion held in country lore that Elvis simply outgrew country by the late 1950s... but what if the truth was more complicated - and malicious - than how the Nashville establishment, and even more contemporary retrospectives like Ken Burns' Country Music, has told it?

You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819

As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash 

In late October we will be releasing a YouTube and Spotify playlist with as many songs featured on this series as possible. Stay tuned to our social media pages for details. This series would not be possible without the support of TCBCast Patreon backers, thank you to all of our patrons!

This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this 2nd episode are:

Ken Burns’ Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack

The Birth of Rock and Roll: The Illustrated Story of Sun Records by Colin Escott and Peter Guralnick

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music and the True Story of Heartbreak Hotel by Tony Plews

Cocaine and Rhinestones by Tyler Mahan Coe

The Nashville Sound by Paul Hemphill

How Nashville Became Music City, USA by Michael Kosser

TheMusicalDivide.com: "Pop Goes the Country" Blog

The epic saga begins. Music aficionado Garrett Cash joins Justin for the first part of a sweeping miniseries on Elvis Presley's lifelong, intertwined history with country music. We begin with the complex web of myriad influences that paved the way for rock and roll, and we start by treating the history of the genre not as strictly "hillbilly music" but as part of a vital continuum of American music that has always, in practice, blurred social, racial and class lines, encompassing blues, pop, swing & big band, jazz, showtunes, and gospel - and we bring receipts.

We deep dive the history of its stereotypical sounds like the fiddle, banjo and steel guitar, the development of country as a commercial entity following Ralph Peer's Bristol sessions and the introduction of The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, and trace the development of its subgenres, such as western swing, bluegrass, jug bands and hokum music, singing cowboys, honky-tonk and country boogie, leading us directly to the doorstep of 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.

You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819

As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash 

In late October we will be releasing a YouTube and Spotify playlist with as many songs featured on this series as possible. Stay tuned to our social media pages for details. This series would not be possible without the support of TCBCast Patreon backers, thank you to all of our patrons!

This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this first episode are:

Ken Burns’ Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack

American Epic - Documentary & Soundtrack Sets

Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: How America’s Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century by Barry Mazor

The Birth of Rock and Roll: The Illustrated Story of Sun Records by Colin Escott and Peter Guralnick

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music and the True Story of Heartbreak Hotel by Tony Plews

Cocaine and Rhinestones by Tyler Mahan Coe

The Nashville Sound by Paul Hemphill

African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions by Cecelia Conway

A History of Rock in 500 Songs by Andrew Hickey

Protobilly: The Minstrel & Tin Pan Alley DNA of Country Music from JSP Records

At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight by Bear Family Records

Gurdip and Bec join forces to gush over Bec's very first Elvis album, Elvis' Golden Records, Volume 2, aka 50 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong. Encapsulating singles released between 1957-1959, this iconic album captures the Elvis of the 50s at perhaps his very best, accompanied on many tracks by more members of the Nashville A-Team.

For Song of the Week, Justin tags in for a brief discussion on the obscure song "The Titles Tell," recorded originally by Elvis' Memphis friend Barbara Pittman while under contract with Sam Phillips, but never released at the time and never done by any other artist - yet we have a home recording of Elvis singing a very credible version of it in Germany! Gurdip, interestingly enough, goes for another Germany home recording, picking "Oh Lonesome Me," the Don Gibson hit, of which Elvis' home version only first surfaced in 2018.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Gurdip is back! The guys discuss the latest FTD releases, early reviews of "Priscilla" and listener feedback before Justin is joined for a brief Elvis chat by young Elvis fan Mal, of TCB Discussions (instagram.com/tcbdiscussions), who has been posting and blogging about Elvis, his career, his life and his influences. It's a very loose talk, but Justin picks her brain on how she became an Elvis fan during the height of pandemic lockdowns, and her journey as a fan these past couple years. You can visit Mal's blog as well over at https://tcbdiscussions.wixsite.com/tcbdiscussions

Gurdip re-joins for Song of the Week and he settles in with the Mexican-flavored crooner ballad "You Can't Say No In Acapulco" from 1963's Fun in Acapulco, while Justin finally close a 5-and-a-half-year-long gap, finally tackling the song he'd originally intended to feature way back on Episode 5... and digs into Elvis's 1968 collaboration with Jerry Reed on Chuck Berry's 1956 hit "Too Much Monkey Business," the lyrical changes Elvis made from the original, and of course, the 1980 overdubbed "Guitar Man" version.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

At the request of (and joined by!) previous TCBCast guest (and fellow Patreon supporter) Olivia Murphy-Rogers, we look back at the #1 UK & Australia album, which is now 8 years old as of this recording, along with the bonus tracks from the expanded deluxe version of the album, to see if it has held up. Bec also joins Justin and Olivia, wanting to make sure someone was around to stick up for one of her all-time favorites, bonus track "What Now My Love." 

Justin briefly tackles the title theme for Elvis' 1960 western film "Flaming Star" and its earlier iteration "Black Star" as Song of the Week, while Olivia digs deep on the bluesy fan favorite "Don't Leave Me Now," that featured on the soundtracks for both "Loving You" (which it wasn't in) and "Jailhouse Rock" (which it was!) 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Justin and Bec go a little experimental and offbeat this week, deciding to formally and "scientifically" rank 11 of Elvis' home, studio and live performances which have "lonely," "lonesome" and "alone" in the title, as well as loosely exploring how Elvis is so frequently linked to the concept of loneliness - and some of the things Elvis himself had to say about feeling alone.

It's been a bit since we've had a full-on, proper Song of the Week, so the hosts wipe the dust off as Bec brings the deceptively challenging bossa-nova-esque ballad "Almost in Love" from 1968's "Live A Little, Love A Little" while Justin digs into the country roots of "Release Me (And Let Me Love Again," a song Elvis periodically brought in and out of his setlists from 1970 (as featured on the "On STage 1970" album) all the way to his final concert.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Part 2 of the TCBCast gang's review of Elvis' 1961 movie for 20th Century FOX, "Wild in the Country," goes "wildly" off the rails as the "High Tension" and drama of the weighty back half is undercut by some giggle fits. Justin, Ryan and Bec also discuss where the known deleted songs "Lonely Man" and "Forget Me Never" would have likely slotted into the script, and offer their thoughts on the choice to change the much more downbeat ending after test audiences disapproved of the original ending, which was more faithful to the source material.

Sadly, no Songs of the Week on this episode - Bec & Justin prepared information but we ran a bit long and too late into the evening for us to feature those, so you will hear our Songs of the Week on next week's episode! Next week you'll also hear more in-depth reactions to the "Reinventing Elvis" documentary, the 50th Anniversary "Aloha From Hawaii" set and more!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Ryan reports in on his recent trip to Graceland and Memphis, Bec gives her initial impressions of the new documentary "Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback Special" (which releases today, August 15, on Paramount Plus in the US) and the gang begins to dig into the first part of 1961 drama "Wild in the Country," starring Elvis, Tuesday Weld, Hope Lange, Millie Perkins, John Ireland, Gary Lockwood and a highly publicized cameo by Olympic athlete and actor Rafer Johnson.

Wildly underperforming at the box office compared to Paramount's G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii, Wild in the Country has quietly occupied an unusual spot in Elvis' filmography, but was there ever actually anything wrong with it, or did it just not pander to expectations of who and what Elvis should be in the early 60s? Bec also gave the obscure book that inspired the film, "The Lost Country" by J.R. Salamanca, a read, and together she and Justin (who previously read it in 2021) report in on some of the major differences in plot, character and overall structure. 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Bec joins Justin for a very loose, silly, and not-remotely-serious discussion about some of our least favorite Elvis songs and performances. Not "the worst," just some of the ones that don't hit us in quite the same way they might hit everyone else. The subject is so spirited that there are both giggle fits and strong disagreements!

For Song of the Week, Justin revisits one of the songs he featured on his very first "least favorite" list, and makes amends with "Golden Coins" from the "Harum Scarum" soundtrack. Bec, on the other hand, calls attention to an unironically passionate and thrilling 1970 vocal turn from Elvis on the very underrated "The Sound of Your Cry" and its session outtakes (coincidentally, both songs this week are from the SAME songwriters!!)

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

In 2004, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" director Joel Zwick unleashed the comedy film "Elvis Has Left the Building" onto the world. Starring Kim Basinger as a makeup saleswoman whose seemingly supernatural bond to Elvis Presley leads to the accidental string of deaths of Elvis impersonators across the American Southwest.

Co-starring  John Corbett, Denise Richards, Annie Potts, Sean Astin and many others, this lightweight, zany Elvis-related film is packed with stars and surprising cameos but seems only infrequently remembered nowadays, even in Elvis fan circles, despite having been given official support of Elvis' estate and record company at the time for its Elvis-laden soundtrack.

While Gurdip went in blind, Justin, who'd seen the movie following its original DVD release, brought all the tidbits and trivia he could find, and together they sat down for a TCBCast Patreon bonus commentary for it back in August of 2021. "Elvis Has Left the Building" is still readily available for rental or purchase in most regions relatively inexpensively on streaming platforms, so cue it up, grab a bowl of popcorn and join the guys for this watch!

If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast! Patrons get exclusive access to two and a half years of bonus content just like this, with more commentaries, bonus movie and album reviews and more! If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

This week, enjoy a sampler from the TCBCast Patreon bonus episode archives as Gurdip and Justin revisit the 7th episode of the 2016 HBO program "Vinyl," a show centered around a struggling fictional record label in the 1970s trying to scoop up real life popular artists. In the episode "The King and I," the series protagonists visit Vegas in an attempt to sign Elvis (played by ETA Shawn Klush) to leave RCA and Colonel Parker, and get him back to his rock roots. 

Also featured post-discussion are two "Songs of the Month" from the July 2022 episode of TCBCast Now, both songs from Elvis peers as Gurdip spotlights Englebert Humperdinck's 1968 hit "A Man Without Love" and Justin rides into the town of Agua Fria to celebrate Marty Robbins' "Big Iron."

TCBCast 279 and the first two volumes of the upcoming Elvis and Country Music miniseries are available now in early access on our Patreon. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

This week, we're talking about the topic voted upon by our Patreon backers, loosely exploring how Elvis's time in the US Army affected his life & career, both in the short term and the long term. 

For Song of the Week, from similarly poll-winning tracks, Gurdip & Justin tackle both ends of Elvis' career, with Justin handling the flip side of Elvis' very first demo acetate, "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," and the handful of times Elvis would revisit it throughout his career, while Gurdip reflects on the old country standard "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," which Elvis recorded in 1976, and is sadly the last known song to have been sung by Elvis before his death.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Justin is joined by John Michael Heath from EAP Society to mark 2023 as the 20th anniversary of the release of "2nd to None," the follow-up to the smash compilation "30 #1 Hits." Unrestrained by the limitations of only including #1 chart hits, "2nd to None" showed a broader flavor of what Elvis was capable of, but the constraints of the physical medium also placed limits on just how many selections could feature from each era of Elvis' career. However, "2nd to None" also offered something its predecessor couldn't - a brand spanking new Elvis song, "I'm A Roustabout," unearthed from a rare acetate kept in the private collection of songwriter Winfield Scott, and John was among the first group of fans to hear it played publicly at Graceland back in 2003.

The guys also reminisce about the CD's marketing campaign, including numerous official RCA-approved remixes of "Rubberneckin'" (did you know there was more than just Paul Oakenfold's?!) and spend time comparing tracklists with "Hitstory," the final disc in the trilogy which was issued only as part of a box set with the earlier compilations, and touching upon the extremely rare official "third" remix that never got a commercial release, Paul Oakenfold's take on "I Got Stung."

And, of course, Justin brings up John and EAP Society co-host Jamie Kelley's recent A.I. reconstruction of "Poor Man's Gold," and we hear a little bit of behind the scenes of how it came about. Then, in a shocking twist, a revelation is made about one of the music clips featured in TCBCast 276 that no one seems to have noticed or called us out for!

"2nd to None" is still widely available to hear on digital platforms, and in CD & Vinyl formats, as well as in packages with "30 #1 Hits" and "History." 

You can hear more from John and Jamie, including "Poor Man's Gold" at YouTube.com/EAPSociety.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Gurdip and Justin get together this week to dig into the 1965 compilation album "Elvis for Everyone" and ponder what reasons there might have been behind the scenes for this oddball collection of previously unreleased tracks put out to mark the 10th anniversary of Elvis's RCA contract. 

Before that, though, the guys briefly discuss the trailers for "Priscilla" and the Paramount+ documentary "Reinventing Elvis" being produced by Steve Binder, and then get into a substantial discussion about the ramifications of breakthrough technology that's made potential AI-assisted songs featuring the voices of artists like Elvis much more viable on a user level - and the reaction EPE gave Rolling Stone when asked their thoughts on AI Elvis songs... and some exclusive news on that front that Justin has been holding onto and unable to discuss until now.

For Song of the Week, Justin waltzes his way to "This is Our Dance," the Les Reed-Geoff Stephens ballad that was a loose re-imagining of their own Engelbert Humperdinck hit, "The Last Waltz" surfacing on the "Love Letters from Elvis" album in 1971. Then, Gurdip steps right up to "The Love Machine" from the 1967 film "Easy Come Easy Go."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Timestamps

0:00 - Start/News

14:45 - A.I. Discussion

42:30 - Main Topic "Elvis for Everyone"

1:19:30 - SotW: This is Our Dance

1:30:50 - SotW: The Love Machine

Justin joined this week by Elvis fan and host of "Stories We Could Tell: A Mavericks FANCast" Mark Potter, and together they dive into the deeply-felt influence of Elvis's music on Raul Malo, lead singer of the band The Mavericks, famously known as the Grammy-award winning country music band that had their most mainstream success in the 1990s.

Gurdip and Justin have discussed and praised Raul and The Mavericks a number of times on TCBCast, particularly on our "Elvis covers" episodes. From Raul's unique insights on "It's Now or Never" and his longstanding love of "Aloha from Hawaii" to The Mavericks' opportunity to collaborate with Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana on the "All the King's Men" album and beyond, Mark and Justin hit on as much as we can!

For Song of the Week, Mark selects "Alla En El Rancho Grande," which, although Elvis joked around with in the rehearsals for "That's The Way It Is," quickly reveals itself to have a vast amount of history and alternate versions dating all the way back to Mexican cinema of the 1930s. Then, Justin opts for Elvis's 1961 take on "Judy," originally from 1960 by writer Teddy Redell. 

If you'd like to hear more of Mark's podcast episodes, which features fan interviews, former band members and deep-dives into The Mavericks' discography and other influences, you can check out "Stories We Could Tell" at https://mavericksfancast.podbean.com/ and on any other major podcast platforms, and follow along at facebook.com/StoriesWeCouldTell

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

The TCBCast gang is taking it relatively light this week; no main topic but Gurdip and Justin discuss the news about the newly announced Aloha from Hawaii 50th anniversary set from Sony, Gurdip takes a round of trivia, and Justin talks about his trip at the start of the month to visit Jamie Kelley, John Michael Heath and Ryan in Iowa.

Then, for our Songs of the Week, Gurdip sings the praises of "Santa Lucia," which Elvis recorded for "Viva Las Vegas." Meanwhile, Justin spotlights some Elvis memories from Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, whose 1972 smash throwback hit "Your Mama Don't Dance" is one Elvis would incorporate into "oldies" medleys through 1973-1974. 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Julius Adame, who appeared on the show last summer to talk about For LP Fans Only, returns to discuss the 1985 blues compilation "Reconsider Baby". Gurdip bemoans the fact Elvis never did a proper blues album during his lifetime, while Justin dig into the originals that inspired Elvis, and overall the crew has an excellent conversation celebrating this remarkable release from the year of Elvis's 50th birthday.

We also take a bit of time at the top of the show to remember Tina Turner, Cynthia Weil and Bill Baize. Gurdip skips Song of the Week this week but hangs around to comment on Julius' pick, the perfectly-themed "A Mess of Blues" from 1960, and Justin selects the quite obscure "Blue River," which was recorded in 1963 but RCA dug up a couple years later for a single release.

You can follow Julius' Rock My Soul Records at instagram.com/rockmysoulrecords

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

The TCBCast gang wrap up the second part of their review of 1961's "Follow That Dream" pondering where it ranks among Elvis's best acting roles.

For Song of the Week, Bec bows but from featuring a song but hangs around to comment on the boys' picks, with Ryan tackling Elvis' live performances of Neil Diamond's iconic American classic, "Sweet Caroline" throughout the 1970s, while Justin pops back to the early 60s to appreciate a song from the other film Elvis made for The Mirisch Company, Kid Galahad, with the humble, cozy crooning of "Home Is Where the Heart Is."

"Follow That Dream" is available on all major digital movie services to buy or rent. Richard Powell's "Pioneer Go Home" is also available where all eBooks are sold at the time of this episode's release and is highly recommended.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast. Part 2 of this review is already available in early access for patrons!

Ryan, Bec and Justin get together this week to review Elvis' 1961 film "Follow That Dream." Based on Richard Powell's book "Pioneer Go Home," Follow That Dream tells the story of Toby Kwimper (Elvis), his Pop (Arthur O'Connell), their live-in babysitter Holly (Anne Helm) and their band of adopted orphans claiming a homestead and building a business on land set aside in Florida as a nature preserve. Together, they fend off a highway supervisor who wants to cut them off the benefits they receive, a seductive social worker and a gang of mobsters who set up a casino next to their spot. Part 1 covers up to the mid-film musical sequence featuring the title song, "Follow That Dream."

The gang also briefly discuss the new release of archival PJ Proby demos that were submitted for consideration in Elvis' movies: "Presley Style - Lost Elvis Songwriter Demos 1961-1963."

"Follow That Dream" is available on all major streaming services. Richard Powell's "Pioneer Go Home" is also available where all eBooks are sold at the time of this episode's release and is highly recommended.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast. Part 2 of this review is already available in early access for patrons!

Justin and Gurdip take some time this week to spotlight some notable or interesting versions of songs associated with Elvis that have been covered by other acts, both during and after Elvis' lifetime.

For Song of the Week, while Gurdip hops aboard the "Frankfort Special," from the 1960 flick "G.I.  Blues," Justin relaxes with the more mellow but sweetly performed ballad "All That I Am" from "Spinout."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

This week, Justin and Bec cover an extensive main topic discussion selected by our TCBCast Patreon supporters, Elvis' time at Shreveport's Louisiana Hayride! From his iconic, albeit nervous first performance in October 1954, to his rip-roaring YMCA benefit concert in December 1956 and everywhere in between, we discuss Elvis and the Blue Moon Boys' evolution over the duration of their contract with the Hayride. We also ponder the songs they are known to have performed there but never formally got around to recording, and dip into recordings of some of Elvis' country influences and contemporaries performing on the Hayride as well, both before, during and after his tenure to give better context to the community he was rising out of.

Then, Gurdip tags in for Song of the Week, tackling the title theme of 1965's "Girl Happy," a song with surprisingly strong songwriting pedigree despite its speed-and-pitch-shifted master recording, only for us to find an even more fascinating story related to a cover version recorded the following year. Justin, meanwhile, highlights the underrated country ballad "When I'm Over You," recorded in 1970 and released on 1971's "Love Letters From Elvis."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Just a brief technical note: this episode was edited from a backup, so our apologies if there are any audio quality issues. We've "Patched It Up, Baby" as best we can.

This week's TCBCast is structured a little differently, Gurdip does his Song of the Week first while discussing legendary Canadian folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot's recent passing at age 84, digging into Elvis' version of Lightfoot's "(That's What You Get) For Loving Me."

Then, our main topic and Justin's Song of the Week meld together as he gives an abbreviated biographical sketch remembering the life of Elvis' Sun Records peer Billy "The Kid" Emerson, writer of "When It Rains, It Really Pours" as well as the rockabilly classic "Red Hot," as Emerson passed away on April 25 at age 97.

Next week, we dig into Elvis' time on the Louisiana Hayride!

https://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/the-second-coming-of-billy-the-kid/2191119/

https://www.suncoastnews.com/news/rock-n-roll-legend-honored-at-city-hall/article_ffc75dd6-29d3-11e7-91f6-f3b69b9a3847.html

https://www.suncoastnews.com/news/officials-agree-to-preserve-historic-tarpon-home/article_d1033e2c-195b-11eb-965c-5f4b8f16fb03.html https://www.bear-family.com/emerson-billy-the-kid-red-hot-the-sun-years-plus.html

https://fredbals.medium.com/credit-where-due-bob-dylan-billy-emerson-and-false-prophet-89c708aa4e1

Peter Guralnick & Colin Escott: Sun Record Company, The Birth of Rock and Roll and the 70 Recordings That Changed the World

Also, liner notes for the 1982 Charly Records Emerson compilation "Crazy 'Bout Automobiles"

Was there ever a more brainless, incoherent, intelligence-insulting cash grab of a music album released during Elvis' lifetime than Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies, Volume 1? 

As Gurdip and Bec discuss this week, at least many of the other Camden releases prior to this bothered compiling material fans might not have otherwise had from EPs, singles and unreleased studio cuts. But 1972's "Hits From His Movies" hit new lows in Colonel Tom Parker's attempts to snow Elvis' fans and part them from their money... which makes it all more fun to deconstruct all these years later!

Then, both hosts still seem to have Easter on the brain, with Gurdip picking the Million Dollar Quartet jam on the gospel traditional "I Shall Not Be Moved," while Bec praises the uplifting take Elvis & the band gave on Charles Albert Tindley's old spiritual "By and By" on the "How Great Thou Art" album!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.

Gurdip sits down with returning guest and longtime friend of the show Jaime Kay to review one of her all-time favorite collections of Elvis music, the 2010 CD release of the soundtrack for MGM's "Viva Las Vegas." In its time, VLV never had a proper soundtrack LP, only a single and an EP, due to disagreements between Colonel Parker and the movie studio largely over Ann-Margret's prominence in the film. But Sony's 2010 release offered a great, inexpensive "what if" album for fans, missing only the few non-Elvis songs from the movie.

Jaime Kay also takes a round of trivia themed on her specialty, Elvis's love life, and they briefly give their thoughts on Ann-Margret's newest album, "Born to Be Wild," discuss new FTD announcements, her thoughts on Agent Elvis, and naturally, what's been going on in Jaime Kay's world since we last heard from her this past fall.

Due to Jaime Kay's time restrictions on research, they omitted Song of the Week, but Song of the Week will be making its awaited returning for TCBCast 267!

Author, "Talking Elvis" co-host and past TCBCast guest Vince Wright returns to the show to discuss his latest effort, "8MM Elvis," with Gurdip. "8MM Elvis" is a book cataloguing and documenting the long-forgotten and neglected history of home 8MM releases of Elvis footage in the pre-VHS era.

After catching up on what Vince has been up to in the last couple years since his previous TCBCast appearance, Gurdip follows Vince through his history as a longtime collector and enthusiast of this ephemeral viewing format of days gone by. From rare, trimmed-down edits of Elvis's feature films to bootleg copies of 68 Comeback Special outtakes, it's a fascinating discussion - plus, Gurdip challenges Vince to a bit of Elvis trivia!

Then, you get to hear a sampling of "Songs of the Month" from our Patreon-exclusive spinoff TCBCast Now, as Gurdip and David "Ghosty" Wills of "We Say Yeah: A Cliff Richard Fan Podcast" cover the histories behind two songs from Elvis' peers: Jackie Wilson's 1958 recording "Right Now" and Sir Cliff's 1962 take on Jerry Lee Lewis' "It'll Be Me," respectively. 

To learn more or order Vince's book 8mm Elvis, please visit www.8mmelvis.com

Gurdip and Bec get together for a rollicking TCBCast featuring listener feedback, trivia and a brief discussion on Riley Keough's latest hit show, Amazon's "Daisy Jones and the Six" before digging into their main topic: what Elvis "deep cuts" they would suggest to new fans! Rest assured, though, even longtime fans might enjoy hearing what picks they spotlight! 

No Song of the Week this week as this episode was wrangled together quickly to cover while Justin is out, but it's nearly a full-length episode as is - enjoy hearing Gurdip and Bec go toe to toe!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.

In this mini-TCBCast, Gurdip sits down for a short interview with Brandon Yip, author of the book "Elvis: All Shook Up In Canada," a thorough history of Elvis's only concerts outside the United States in Toronto, Ottowa and Vancouver. As Vancouver locals, Gurdip and Brandon share memories of growing up there as Elvis fans in the 80s, discuss some of Brandon's thoughts as a fan on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, remixes and favorite albums before they dip into a discussion about Elvis's brief time in Canada in 1957 primarily centered around the Vancouver concert. 

This episode was recorded before the passing of Red Robinson on April 1, 2023. As you'll hear them talk about, Red was instrumental in getting Elvis up to Canada and remained a huge Elvis enthusiast to the end of his life. Rest in Peace, Red! Brandon's book is available at the link below in both physical and e-book formats and features interviews with fans and media members, rare photos of Elvis taken in Vancouver as well as reflections from several prominent Canadian music industry personalities, including Red Robinson - it's TCBCast-(and Gurdip especially!)-recommended!

https://www.amazon.com/Elvis-Presley-All-Shook-Canada/dp/1659249597

Justin had the opportunity to sit down with Ewan Shand (OurEwan on YouTube) who recently produced an extensive 90+ minute video essay on all 31 of Elvis' narrative feature films, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aloGdnDx8Y

Justin and Ewan unpack his essay's findings, Elvis' overall filmography, responses (good and bad) from Elvis fans, Elvis' search for his own identity, his hobbies and spiritual pursuits, later career, and ultimately, the value of the story of Elvis - and Elvis' acting career - to new and future generations. Plus - Ewan takes a round of Elvis trivia!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.

Yes, you're seeing this correctly - it's a weekend TCBCast!

Gurdip and Justin get together for their initial impressions of the first three episodes of Netflix's "Agent Elvis" starring Matthew McConaughy, Kaitlin Olson, Don Cheadle, Johnny Knoxville, Tom Kenny and Priscilla Presley. As Gurdip had not had a chance to catch up on the whole season as of recording, discussion is mostly limited to the early episodes and analysis on the show's overall story, themes and ideas will wait for another day.

For Song of the Week, Gurdip picks Danny Fisher's Leiber & Stoller-penned alma mater, "Steadfast Loyal and True" from 1958's "King Creole." Justin skipped SOTW this week in favor of watching the whole Netflix series!

For those not interested in "Agent Elvis" (it is NOT a show for everyone, that's for sure), here are the timestamps for the show to skip ahead to Songs of the Week:

0:00 Start

3:20 Trivia

8:45 Main Topic

1:20:50 SOTW: Steadfast, Loyal and True

Justin and Bec wrap their extensive exploration of Elvis' time at Chips Moman's American Sound Studio by covering the material recorded there in February 1969, from "Power of My Love" to "Kentucky Rain" and more, before pondering the many reasons, good and bad, why Elvis never returned to American.

For Song of the Week, 1960's the year to focus on, as Justin picks "I'm Gonna Walk Dem Golden Stairs" from the His Hand in Mine album while Bec spotlights "Shoppin' Around" from the "G.I. Blues" soundtrack.

Justin & Gurdip's initial impressions of Agent Elvis episodes 1-3 is out early at the TCBCast Patreon and will go up on the main feed in the near future, to be followed by a proper series review later. 

Timestamps:

Start 0:00

Listener Feedback 10:00

Main Topic 26:00

SotW: I'm Gonna Walk Dem Golden Stairs 1:37:48

SotW: Shoppin' Around 1:50:00

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.

This week, Gurdip and Justin sit down with a handful of their favorite Elvis country recordings.

For Song of the Week, Gurdip picks the traditional Mexican song "Guadalajara," an ode to the city of the same name, which Elvis recorded for a 1963 film set in Acapulco, a city over 500 miles away... oops!

Then, Justin bites the bullet and makes the case that "Barefoot Ballad" from Kissin Cousins was a lazy attempt to mock the country genre that had no teeth, pairing a genuinely credible country instrumental by the Nashville A-Team with lyrics that don't actually have any satirical bite.

NOTE: Recorded before the Academy Awards ceremony, our reactions to that news will come next week.

Gurdip's back! This week we're visiting the 1983 overdub project "I Was the One" which paired Elvis' original recordings with new backing by Scotty, DJ, Emery Gordy, Dale Sellers and the Jordanaires, overseen by two of Elvis's own concert pianists, David Briggs and Tony Brown, as well as the medley they oversaw the production of. Is the album a lost classic, or was its flop status merited?

Then, for Song of the Week, Gurdip picks "Sound Advice" from the movie "Follow That Dream" and, inspired by Elvis' 1972 recording of the Paul Williams song, Justin ponders the question "Where Do I Go From Here?"

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.

This week, Justin and Bec go deep into the first portion of Elvis's iconic 1969 sessions at Chips Moman's American Sound studio in Memphis, starting from Long Black Limousine and concluding with what would become his first #1 hit since 1965. They also discuss what was so remarkable about Chips as producer, several of American Sound's other hit recordings, and the brilliance of the American house band, The Memphis Boys. Also explored are the five known songs released from Elvis influence Roy Hamilton's American Sound sessions from that same period as well.

There are no Songs of the Week this week. We would like to encourage our listeners to consider donating to the GoFundMe for the Tyre Nichols Memorial Fund if you have not already.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/tyre-nichols

Previously recorded in February 2022 as an exclusive bonus episode for Patreon backers, Gurdip and Justin sat down with iconic-but-deeply-underrated soul singer Chuck Jackson's 1966 Elvis tribute album "Dedicated to the King" and briefly discuss Chuck's lengthy entertainment career as well, including his biggest hit, "Any Day Now."

Sadly, Chuck Jackson passed away at the age of 85 on February 15, 2023, so we are bringing this one out of the archives for all of our listeners to hear on the main feed and appreciate him tackling some of Elvis's greatest hits and knocking them out of the park!

Rest in peace, Chuck!

Video referenced toward the end of the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ESPMZDwko

Continuing on from TCBCast 255, Justin and Bec give an overview of some of their favorite songwriters for Elvis, how their material shaped Elvis's career, and why their work resonates with us, along with spotlighting some of the songs they wrote for other acts as well, whether they were solo singer-songwriters, regular collaborators, or Brill Building coworkers. 

For Song of the Week, we're tackling the winning songs from the most recent Patreon poll, with Bec snagging "Patch It Up," the memorable Eddie Rabbitt-penned rocker from "That's The Way It Is" and Justin reflecting on the meaning of Mac Davis' "Don't Cry Daddy" across generations of the Presley family and to Elvis fans.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.

This week's episode became an unexpected two-parter! After Justin's major misunderstanding the assignment from the Patreon-voted main topic, this first portion will cover not just the usual news, trivia and listener feedback but also the topic as suggested: some of the comments and perspectives from famous 70s-era singer-songwriters, offering their thoughts on Elvis' versions of their songs and a light discussion on how Elvis's music was shaped, and restricted, by the advent of the singer-songwriter in popularity.

Then, TCBCast 256, going up next Tuesday, will be tackling an in-depth discussion between Justin and Bec on our favorite Elvis songwriters plus featuring the two patron-voted Songs of the Week! 

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.