Most Elvis' Sun tracks can be heard on the playlist from 706 Union Avenue Sessions on YouTube < click
Born in the poor Buffalo Valley region of Tennessee , on February 26, 1911, Denny moved to Nashville and found work at age sixteen as a mailroom clerk for the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, owner of WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry. While rising through the ranks of the insurance company’s accounting division, Denny found himself increasingly drawn to sidejobs backstage at the Opry. When the opportunities presented themselves in the late 1940s, he eventually took over as director of WSM’s Artists Service, or booking department, while also serving as house manager for the Opry.
During his tenure at the Opry, Denny dealt with dozens of major country music acts, record label executives, and top show promoters such as A. V. Bamford, Dub Albritten, Jim Halsey, Oscar Davis, X. Cosse, and others to promote Opry performers in venues nationwide.
Denny formed Cedarwood Publishing Company early in 1953 with Grand Ole Opry star Webb Pierce, eventually forming a separate company with Carl Smith, also a rising Opry talent. Over the next decade Denny’s staff of writers churned out hit after hit, including “Detroit City,” “Tobacco Road,” and others. In 1955 Denny was voted Country and Western Man of the Year by Billboard magazine. But when he was fired from the Opry in September 1956, amid allegations of conflict of interest stemming from his involvement in booking and publishing, Denny formed the Jim Denny Artist Bureau and signed most of the Opry’s top acts. Three months later, in what was then called the largest individual package sale in country music history, he signed an agreement with Philip Morris Tobacco Company to provide the talent for the Philip Morris Country Music Show. This show simultaneously made a fortune for Denny’s talent agency and helped boost the popularity of country music across America. Denny’s company booked most of the top country acts of the day, including Pierce, Smith, Minnie Pearl, Red Sovine, Hank Snow, Goldie Hill, the Duke of Paducah, Moon Mullican, and many more. By 1963 the Denny Artist Bureau was booking nearly 4,000 country shows annually.
Denny was a hard-nosed businessman whose charismatic personality and devotion to his acts and songs earned him respect and devotion—sometimes tinged with fear—from artists, writers, and others with whom he did business. He and Pierce, who quit the Opry a few months after Denny was fired, prospered from their investment in Cedarwood, and branched out to acquire several radio stations.
At the time of Denny’s death, on August 27, 1963, Cedarwood and the Jim Denny Artist Bureau were outstanding in their respective fields. Promoter Ernest “Lucky” Moeller quickly took over the artist bureau, but without Denny’s guiding force it withered away within a few years. Denny’s sons Bill and John managed Cedarwood until its sale to Mel Tillis in 1983. Jim Denny was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966.
- Al Cunniff
Elvis Presley meanwhile drifted over the auditorium. It was bigger than the Opry, with spacious dressing rooms for the stars and a large common dressing room on the second floor. The
folding chairs on the floor could be taken up for dances or basketball exhibitions, and the balcony curved around on either side of the stage, giving the room a natural echo.
He walked out on
the stage with his eyes fixed on the floor, looked up once briefly as if measuring the crowd, and than walked back to the hotel. The Negro shacks in the Bottoms, just a few blocks from the grand auditorium entrance, were not much different than the ramshackle
structures of Shakerag, in Tupelo, or the primitive shotguns of South Memphis.
For his unitial Hayride performance, Elvis Presley appeared early in the evening in a special segment that promoted new talent and was sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes. Elvis sing both sides of his Sun release during a spot that lasted about five minutes. Both Horace Logan, the Hayride's program director, and Tillman Franks, manager of KWKH Artist Service, recall that Hayride performances were done in two parts, and on this first night, they agree that Elvis Presley appeared on both sections.
"The first show was a little slow, it was a country music audience that was used to listenin' to traditional country", said D.J. Fontana. "I think what they did was after the first show they went home and told their kids about it, all about the new boy down there that they should go see. So the next thing you know all the kids started comin' in and that helped out quite a bit".
Tommy Sands, another frequent guest on the "Hayride", remarked, "Elvis learned to work an audience. With his excellent voice and commanding stage presence, he became a local favourite". The "Louisiana Hayride" turned out to be a pleasant experience. As soon as Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black walked into the Municipal Auditorium, Horace Logan made them feel at home. A tall, slender, grandfatherly gentleman, Logan had an intuitive feeling that Elvis Presley was the forerunner of a new type of country music. As Elvis Presley prepared for the "Hayride" show, Logan talked for almost an hour with him about the distinctive appeal of his records. There was no doubt this calmed Elvis Presley prior his first "Hayride" show.
The same night, E.H. "Boss" Crump, the eighty-year-old mayor and political leader who ruled Memphis for the first half of the twentieth century - manipulating the black vote while guaranteeing segregation to white supporters, guiding the city's eastern expansion away from the Mississippi and the black ghetto's - died in his sleep at his mansion on broad, treelined Peabody Avenue in Memphis. Big changes were coming, and not just in Memphis.
The Louisiana Hayride was a live variety program that boasted of being the "Cradle Of The Stars". The Hayride was perceived to be more tolerant of new talent than the Grand Ole Opry. Hank Williams, among many others, first found fame on the Hayride before leaving for the Opry. The Hayride was held each Saturday at the Municipal Auditorium on Grand Avenue. The building could hold up to 3,800 country music fans. General admission was 60-cents for adults and 30-cents for children. A reserved section of seats cost $1.00 for adults and 50-cents for children.
The first show was an excellent one. Elvis' long nights in small clubs, the constant practice, and even the disappointment of the "Grand Ole Opry" appearance had all helped him evolve into an exciting performer. The "Hayride" audience loved him, and, after his first show, he was a local celebrity. The "Louisiana Hayride" contract called for forty-eight appearances a year with weekends off at the option of the "Hayride". The booking had been done through Sam Phillips, and Elvis was paid eighteen dollars a show, while Scotty Moore and Bill Black were paid twelve dollars each - and the four-hundred-mile drive from Memphis to Shreveport and the lodging and food expenses made it impossible to live on the guarantee. But there were other reasons for singing the "Louisiana Hayride" contract. From October 1954 through December 1955, Elvis' music matured and his stage skills improved because of his many "Hayride" appearances. It was an excellent training ground for the fledgling musician. The total budget for each "Hayride" show was $1,500. Admission was sixty cents for adults and thirty cents for children.
© - 706 UNION AVENUE SESSIONS - ©
Well, I woke up this morning,
And I looked out the door.
I can tell that old milk cow
By the way she lowed.
Hold it fellows, that don't move me.
Let's get real, real gone for a change.
Well, I woke up this morning
And I looked out the door
I can tell that that old milk cow
I can tell the way she lowed.
Well, if you've seen my milk cow,
Please ride her on home.
I ain't had no milk or butter
Since that cow's been gone.
Well, I tried to treat you right,
Day by day.
Get out your little prayer book
Get down on your knees and pray.
For you're gonna need,
You're gonna need
your loving daddy's help someday.
Well, then you're gonna be sorry
For treating me this way.
Well, believe me, don't that sun
look good going down?
Well, believe me, don't that sun
look good going down?
Well, don't that old moon look lonesome
When your baby's not around.
Well, I tried everything to
get along with you.
I'm gonna tell you what I'm going do.
I'm gonna quit my crying,
I'm gonna leave you alone.
If you don't believe I'm leaving,
you can count the days I'm gone.
I'm gonna leave.
You're gonna need your
loving daddy's help someday.
Well, you're gonna be sorry
You treated me this way.
02(1) - "YOU'RE A HEARTBREAKER" - B.M.I. - 2:12
Composer: - Charles "Jack" Alvin Sallee
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U-414 SUN - BOX 9
Recorded: - December 20, 1954 - Sales 20,600 copy's
Released: - December 28, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 215-B mono
YOU'RE
A HEARTBREAKER / MILKCOW BLUES BOOGIE
Reissued - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-24 mono
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION
- VOLUME 1
02(2) - "YOU'RE A HEARTBREAKER" - B.M.I.
Composer: - Charles ''Jack'' Alvin Sallee
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - None - Alternate Take - BOX 9
Recorded: - December
20, 1954
Released: - Unissued
"You're A Heartbreaker"
You're a heartbreaker,
You're a love faker,
A heartbreaker playing with fire.
You're a tear snatcher,
You're a quarrel patcher,
But you can't break my heart anymore,
For I just found someone else
who's sure to take your place.
Someone I can always trust
and to fill this empty space.
You're a heartbreaker,
You're a love faker,
But you can't break my heart anymore.
You're a smooth talker,
You're
a real cool walker,
But now you have talked out of turn.
You're a high stepper,
You're
a eye-catcher,
But you won't catch my glances anymore.
For I just found someone else
who's
sure to take your place,
Someone I can always trust
and to fill this empty space.
You're a heartbreaker
You're a love faker,
But you can't break my heart anymore.
You're a heart breaker
You're a love faker,
A heartbreaker playing with fire.
You're a tear snatcher,
You're a quarrel patcher,
But you can't break my heart anymore.
For I've just found someone else
who's sure to take your place.
Someone I can always trust
and to fill this empty space.
You're a heartbreaker,
You're a love faker,
But you can't break my heart anymore.
Unlike most artists who recorded for Sun, Elvis Presley did not turn up on the doorstep of 706 Union with a guitar case full of original songs. Presley was more likely to have heard a tune on the radio or jukebox, become obsessed with it, and to have worked up a novel arrangement with Scotty Moore and Bill Black. Although this gave music journalists something to write about, it was a costly procedure for Sam Phillips. Every Presley record pressed on Sun provided income for a music publisher. That income came out of Phillips' pocket.
By the third record Presley recorded for Sun, Phillips was determined to get at least one of his copyrights on the disc. This resulted in "You're A Heartbreaker", one of the weakest, least reissued tunes in the Presley/Sun archives.
When Elvis Presley left the session, he was still very happy with "Milkcow Blues Boogie". Keeping with his timetested procedures, Sam Phillips allowed that it was best to test the new tune before a live audience. Actually, all the ingredients for a mainstream rock and roll hit had coalesced during the recording of "You're A Heartbreaker". The echo used in the song, for example, contributed an early, almost mystical quality to it, and the instrumental background was raw and energetic.
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
(Martin Dreadnought 18)
Scotty Moore - Electric Lead Guitar (Gibson ES 295)
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass (Kay Maestro M-1)
Jimmie ''James'' Lott - Drums (Gretsch Round Badge Kit)
Doug Poindexter - Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
© - 706 UNION AVENUE SESSIONS - ©