Roots of Elvis Presley

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Catfish UK
• ASIN: B00005AKN1
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,173 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Love You Because - Leon Payne

2. That's All Right - Arthur Crudup

3. Blue Moon of Kentucky - Bill Monroe

4. Tomorrow Night - Lonnie Johnson

5. Just Because - The Shelton Brothers

6. Good Rockin' Tonight - Wynonie Harris

7. My Baby Left Me - Arthur Crudup

8. Down by the Riverside - Sister Rosetta Tharpe

9. Little Cabin on the Hill - Bill Monroe

10. Precious Lord - The Golden Gate Quartet

11. I Need You So - Ivory Joe Hunter

12. So Glad You're Mine - Arthur Crudup

13. Frankie and Johnny - Jimmie Rodgers

14. I'm Movin' On - Hank Snow

15. Faded Love - Bob Wills

16. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Hank Williams

17. See See Rider - Wea Bea Booze

18. Aura Lee - The Shelton Brothers

19. Milk Cow Blues - Johnnie Lee Wills

20. Old Shep - Red Foley

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for serious students of Elvis, March 23, 2006

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roots of Elvis Presley (Audio CD)

When Elvis Presley recorded That's All Right Mama on 5 July 1954 he changed the face of music forever, though he couldn't know it at the time. Of course his music did not appear fully formed out of nowhere and he barely wrote a song in his life. That's All Right Mama had been recorded by its author Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup nearly ten years earlier in Chicago and is just one of 21 recordings that provided source material for the aspirant rock and roller to be found on this instructive collection.

Elvis was equally at home with hillbilly, gospel and blues music, as well as mainstream pop, and it was his amalgamation and assimilation of these influences that led to the creation of rockabilly and to his incendiary success. 

The earliest recording is the Jimmie Rodgers version of Frankie And Johnnie from 1929, which had been recorded by Mississippi John Hurt the year before for Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music, and the most recent included here, although he continued to cover contemporary material throughout his career, is from 1950, by Ivory Joe Hunter. He went on to become a friend of Elvis' and wrote several songs for him, such as My Wish Came True. Elvis's musical tastes were wide and while few would argue with the merits of Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys or Wynonie Harris, some might query his love of Old Shep by Red Foley.

One of his rare composer credits turns up on Love Me Tender, alongside that of Vera Matson. This comes from the film of the same name about the American Civil War, starring Elvis, and so it was fascinating to discover that it had been adapted from a Civil War poem from 1861 which had been set to music as Aura Lee, and recorded by many artists including the Shelton Brothers in 1937.

Other CDs in this series have been sparse on information but, apart from a lack of composer credits, the sleeve notes here break down every track with pertinent details (a couple of songs are written about that do not appear on the final version of the CD). No serious student of Elvis can afford to be without a thorough collection such as this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's decent; a couple of songs are missing, August 11, 2009

By 

Candi L. Bruneau - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roots of Elvis Presley (Audio CD)

My husband writes the following:

It's got Big Boy Arthur's first recordings of the songs, Hank Williams, Ivory Joe Hunter's original I Need You So, and Bill Monroe which is good.

Unjustly excluded are Lowell Fulson's Reconsider Baby, and Little Junior Parker's Mystery Train. These songs should definitely not be left out of any roots of Elvis set.

Though there are other 'roots of Elvis' CDs, this one is pretty good.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Where's The Beef?", November 9, 2008

By 

G. J. Cook (key west fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blues Roots of Elvis Presley (Audio CD)

I'm really interested in this product,but, even if a sample of the songs are unavailable, where's the song titles? Who, in thier right mind would buy this product without even knowing what is on it? Like I said before....Where's The Beef? jersey slim