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Elvis Presley · S2 E5
Blue Moon of Kentucky
The B-side that fused country and blues into something nobody had a name for yet
It's past midnight at 706 Union Avenue, and the tape of 'That's All Right' is still warm on the reel. But a record needs two sides, and Sam Phillips needs something for the flip before the sun comes up.
"Blue Suede Shoes" (Elvis Presley, 1956). Carl Perkins wrote and first recorded this at Sun Records, the same studio where 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' was born. Country lyrics, R&B rhythm, rock and roll attitude: the sound that started on that B-side, refined into a three-chord anthem every teenager in America could sing.
The Father of Bluegrass
Bill Monroe wrote 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' in 1946 as a waltz in 3/4 time, the kind of slow, graceful country song that couples danced to at barn dances across the South. By 1954, it was a bluegrass standard, and Monroe was considered the father of the entire genre. Nobody in their right mind would take a Bill Monroe song and speed it up into something unrecognizable. Nobody except three guys in a studio at two in the morning with nothing left to lose.
Sources
Guralnick, Peter. "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley." Little, Brown, 1994.
Rosenberg, Neil V. "Bluegrass: A History." University of Illinois Press, 2005.
Blue Moon of Kentucky, Elvis Presley (1954)
Bill Monroe's waltz starts in gentle 3/4 time, the rhythm of a slow Saturday night dance. Elvis, Scotty, and Bill rip it into 4/4, doubling the tempo and stripping away the grace. Scotty Moore's guitar jabs where Monroe's mandolin glided, and Bill Black slaps his upright bass so hard you can hear the strings buzz against the fingerboard. Listen for the moment Elvis's voice leaps into a falsetto whoop near the end. He knows they've found the other side of the single.
Sources
Jorgensen, Ernst. "Elvis Presley: A Life in Music." St. Martin's Press, 1998.
Guralnick, Peter. "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley." Little, Brown, 1994.
TAP TO REVEAL: How did Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, react to Elvis destroying his song?
Sun 209
The single is pressed as Sun Records catalog number 209: 'That's All Right' on the A-side, 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' on the B-side. It's a two-sided statement: one side says this kid can sing the blues, the other says he can tear apart country music too. Sam Phillips has 500 copies pressed and starts driving them to radio stations across Memphis.
Sources
Guralnick, Peter. "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley." Little, Brown, 1994.
I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone, Elvis Presley (1955)
Elvis's fourth Sun single, released in April 1955, and one of the clearest examples of the sound that 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' helped create. The title reads like a country song, but the rhythm is pure R&B, and Elvis sings it right down the middle of both worlds. Stan Kesler and Bill Taylor, two Sun Studio musicians, wrote it specifically for Elvis after hearing what he'd done to Monroe's waltz. The country-blues fusion that started as an accident on the B-side had become a formula.
I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone, Elvis Presley (1955)
"Well I'm left, you're right, she's gone." Read the lyrics while you listen. The title sounds like a country music punchline, but Elvis delivers it with the same restless energy he brought to 'Blue Moon of Kentucky.' This is the Sun Records sound fully formed: country words, blues feeling, and a singer who refuses to pick a lane.
Sun 209: The File
What time signature did Bill Monroe originally write 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' in?
The single hits Memphis radio and the phone lines at WHBQ explode, but the biggest country music stage in America, the Grand Ole Opry, listens to Elvis Presley and says no. Next: a weekly radio show in Shreveport, Louisiana called the Louisiana Hayride says yes, and Elvis plays it every Saturday night for a year.
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