CONTAINS

Sun 201-210 Audio Series
 
For Biographies of Artists see: > The Sun Biographies <
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Sidney Louis Hardrock Gunter
"GONNA DANCE ALL NIGHT"
Composer: - Hardrock Gunter
Publisher: - B.M.I. - Tannen Music
Matrix number: - U 113 - Master (2:20)
Recorded: - January 1954
Unknown Studio Location
Birmingham, Alabama
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single Sun 201-A mono
GONNA DANCE ALL NIGHT / FALLEN ANGEL
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-23 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Sidney Gunter - Vocal and Guitar
Ted Crabtree - Steel Guitar
Linda Lane - Bass
Bob Summer - Drums
Alvin Tunkle - Piano
Tony Duke - Saxophone

''Gonna Dance All Night'', sold to Sun in January 1954, is a fusion of rhythm and blues and country music, yet very different from the fusion that Phillips achieved later that same year with Elvis Presley. The reason are clear: Presley was drawing from hillbilly music and country blues; Gunter was drawing from uptown rhythm and blues and western swing. This uptempo side was very close to the sound that Bill Haley was peddling with increasing success on Essex Records but, despite the fact that the group had a nice feel for the rhythm. Gunters' vocal is unmistakably white. Gunter had recorded earlier versions of this song in 1950 for Bama Records, and, ironically, both the Sun and Bama records were numbered 201. Phillips' cheque register shows a series of cheques made payable to Gunter's then current band and the song was copyrighted with Tannen Music on June 24, 1954. (MH)

 

Sidney Louis Hardrock Gunter
"FALLEN ANGEL"
Composer: - Hardrock Gunter
Publisher: - B.M.I. - Sheldon Music
Matrix number: - U 112 - Master (2:44)
Recorded: - January 1954
Unknown Studio Location
Birmingham, Alabama
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single Sun 201-B mono
FALLEN ANGEL / GONNA DANCE ALL NIGHT
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-24 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Sidney Gunter - Vocal and Guitar
Ted Crabtree - Steel Guitar
Linda Lane - Bass
Bob Summer - Drums
Alvin Tunkle - Piano

Sidney Hardrock Gunter made his name in and around Birmingham, Alabama, but in 1952 he moved to WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia. In July the following year he quit WWVA to return to Birmingham to resume his TV career. At the same time, he landed a disc jockey gig on an rhythm and blues station, WJLD, where the program director was Sam Phillips' brother in law, Jim Connally. Told by Connally that Gunter would record for Sun. Phillips asked Gunter to come to Memphis, but Gunter demurred. Instead he cut two songs at a Birmingham radio station. Only the sax break distinguishes ''Fallen Angel'' from the country mainstream of 1954, but the sax was very much in keeping with Birmingham's uptown blend of country music and swing (the same blend heard in Cuck Murphy's music). The theme is familiar (in fact, Bob Wills issued an unrelated ''Fallen Angel'' in March 1964) and Gunter's vocal owes a heavy debt to western swing balladry. This is a very straight performance with none of the off-the-wall character of Phillips' best work. It actually stood a fair chance of garnering some action in the country market of that far-off year. Gunter was a known quantity and the single was a strong double-sided contender by the standards of the time. It was probably Phillips' lack of promotional capital and his unfamiliarity with the market that doomed it. (MH)

Doug Poindexter & The Starlite Wranglers
"NOW SHE CARES NO MORE" - B.M.I. - 3:00
Composer: - Scotty Moore-Doug Poindexter
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 110
Recorded: - April 25, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 202-A mono
NOW SHE CARES NO MORE / MY KIND OF CARRYING ON
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-25 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Scotty Moore - Guitar
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass
Doug Poindexter - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Millard Yeow - Steel Guitar
Clyde Rush - Rhythm Guitar
Tommy Seals – Fiddle

This recording features such a determinedly backwoods vocal that it makes Poindexter's hero, Hank Williams, sound uptown by comparison. The melody bears a similarity to Williams ''I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry'', but no matter, this is pure country soul with some real pain in the vocal. To underscore the Williams connection, steel guitarist, Milard Yow, even has some of Don Helms' directness and bluesy tone. The cowriter, Bud Deckelman, soon put Memphis country music on the map with ''Daydreamin''', a hit that Phillips missed. Hit or not, Poindexter's record was fiercely unafraid of its raw edges. (HD) (MH) (CE)
Doug Poindexter & The Starlite Wranglers
"MY KIND OF CARRYING ON" - B.M.I. - 2:00
Composer: - Scotty Moore-Doug Winston Poindexter
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 111
Recorded: - April 25, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 202-B mono
MY KIND OF CARRYING ON / NOW SHE CARES NO MORE
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-26 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Scotty Moore - Guitar
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass
Doug Poindexter - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Millard Yeow - Steel Guitar
Clyde Rush - Rhythm Guitar
Tommy Seals – Fiddle

Scotty Moore kicking off with some striking notes and settling into a persistent bass-string figure. Doug Poindexter telling the risque story in his hillbilly tenor with a hard-edged echoed sound. "My Kind Of Carryin' On" was supported by a more conventional hillbilly performance on "Now She Cares No More For Me", written by Doug's friend, country singer Bud Deckelman. However, Sun's accounts show that the record sold only 330 copies in the first year.

The song itself was an important record. It was honky tonk shading toward rockabilly. Listen, for instance, to the dirty-toned electric guitar up in the mix. There is a lot of fire in this recording, perhaps due less to Poindexter's vocal than to the backing group led by Scotty Moore and Bill Black. From the evidence afforded by this song, they were already marching to the beat of a different drummer. Moore says that he wrote both sides of the record, but gave a share to his brother, Carney, for writing the lead sheet and a share to Poindexter because he was the singer, but that would be easier to swallow if he'd written more songs that sounded like this. It would have been good to say that this record deserved to be a massive hit but, of course, it did not stand a prayer. Billboard identified the major problem: ''Okay chanting from nasal voiced Poindexter. Big city buyers might not go big this but it should do well in the back country''. (HD) (MH) (CE)
Billy ''The Kid'' Emerson
"I'M NOT GOING HOME" - B.M.I. - 3:12
Composer: - William Robert Emerson
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 114
Recorded: - April 12, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 203-A mono
I'M NOT GOING HOME / THE WOODCHUCK
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-27 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
William Robert Emerson - Vocal and Guitar
Ike Turner – Guitar
Jesse Knight – Bass
Robert Prindell – Drums
Bobby Fields – Tenor Saxophone
Raymond Hill – Tenor Saxophone

''I'm Not Going Home'' is, as Billboard used to say, ''minor key opus''. It is also one of Emerson's lesser efforts. Which is precisely why B-sides were created: not to interfere with attention garnered by the A-side. The ending is further evidence that Sam Phillips, for all his genius in the studio, could or would not master the art of the fade-out. Here, the echo rises as the volume fades. And we still manage to hear the instruments quit before the fade is complete. (HD)
Billy ''The Kid'' Emerson
03 - "THE WOODCHUCK" - B.M.I. - 3:06
Composer: - William Robert Emerson
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 115
Recorded: - April 12, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 203-B mono
THE WOODCHUCK / I'M NOT GOING HOME
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-2-28 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
William Robert Emerson - Vocal and Guitar
Ike Turner – Guitar
Jesse Knight – Bass
Robert Prindell – Drums
Bobby Fields – Tenor Saxophone
Raymond Hill – Tenor Saxophone

This was the second of five Sun singles Billy Emerson had released under his name. Sam Phillips was obviously impressed with this artist and was continuing to spend time in the studio with him, as well as invest in pressing.

''The Woodchuck'' gives us the first clear glimpse of Emerson's penchant for novelty. He had the ability to take popular expressions or nonsense rhymes and convert them into saleable songs. Although Emerson was not usually one to string together a series of blues cliches and hope for the best, ''The Woodchuck'' contains as incoherent a story line as one night imagine. Only the chorus is memorably, which is precisely what Emerson intended. The whole recording exudes such a good natured spirit that all is forgiven. As a bonus, rockabilly fans will notice that Ike Turner contributes some stinging licks here that would have been welcome several years hence at a Warren Smith session. (HD)
Raymond Hill
"BOURBON STREET JUMP" - B.M.I. - 2:38
Composer: - Raymond Hill
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 117
Recorded: - April 12, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 204-A mono
BOURBON STREET JUMP / THE SNUGGLE
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-1 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Raymond Hill - Tenor Saxophone
Bobby Fields - Tenor Saxophone
Billy Emerson - Piano
Ike Turner - Guitar
Jesse Knight - Bass Guitar
Robert Prindell – Drums

In the late 1940s, there was a vogue for muscular sax instrumentals, and Savoy Records cornered the market with Wild Bill Moore, Big Jay McNeely, Hal ''Cornbread'' Singer, Paul Williams, and Sam ''The Man'' Taylor. The honkers' hey-day earned a swift reprise here. It's possible that Phillips saw ''Bourbon Street Jump's'' simple riff as a radio theme tune, and hoped that he would make back in BMI radio airplay money what he lost in session and pressing costs. And perhaps that's why he uncharacteristically grabbed fifty percent of the composer's share. (CE)
Raymond Hill
"THE SNUGGLE" - B.M.I. - 2:00
Composer: - Raymond Hill
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 116
Recorded: - April 12, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - May 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 204-B mono
THE SNUGGLE / BOURBON STREET JUMP
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-2 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Raymond Hill - Tenor Saxophone
Bobby Fields - Tenor Saxophone
Billy Emerson - Piano
Ike Turner - Guitar
Jesse Knight - Bass Guitar
Robert Prindell – Drums

On April 12, 1954, Ike Turner A&R'd a Billy Emerson session at Sun that yielded ''The Woodchuck'' b/w ''I'm Not Going Home''. Before or after Emerson took the vocal mic, Turner persuaded Sam Phillips to let his longtime saxophonist, Raymond Hill, cut a couple of instrumentals. When Hill had recorded earlier at Sun he was a vocalist as well as a reed man, and the result can best be described as mixed. As a saxophonist, he's on safer turf, and so keen to show off his chops that he hardly lets anyone else squeeze in. This, the slow and greasy side, was probably the flip. The session costs, $112.50, were split between Emerson and Hill. For some reason, Phillips took fifty percent of the composer's share of both sides of this single. He did the same thing when Billy Love recorded a few weeks earlier; otherwise, he rarely cut himself in. (CE)
Harmonica Frank
"THE GREAT MEDICAL MENAGERIST" - B.M.I. - 3:07
Composer: - Frank Floyd
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated - Copyright Control
Matrix number: - U 124
Recorded: - July 1, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 205-A mono
THE GREAT MEDICAL MENAGERIST / ROCKIN' CHAIR DADDY
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-3 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Harmonica Frank Floyd - Vocal, Guitar and Harmonica

What is a medical menagerist? Most of us long ago stopped wondering. Frank apparently wrote this song about his days in the Happy Phillipson Medical Show although parts of the song seem to derive from Chris Bouchillon's ''Born In Hard Luck/The Medicine Show'', which apparently sold 90,000 copies in 1927, one of them quite possibly to Frank Floyd. Frank runs through his schtick, throwing a few humorous couplets to get the folks gathered around. Just a few years before Frank recorded this tune, Hank Williams and a galaxy of stars were participating in the Hadacol Caravan and the blackface duo of Jamup & Honey was still on the Opry, so perhaps it is not quite as anachronistic as it seems. In any event, this is a fascinating little glimpse back into a past that none of us will ever experience. The blues may have timeless relevance but ''The Great Medical Menagerist'' is charmingly trapped in a lost world of salves, balms, notions, purgatives, tonics, and cure-alls. (HD)
Harmonica Frank
"ROCKIN' CHAIR DADDY" - B.M.I. - 3:04
Composer: - Frank Floyd
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 125
Recorded: - July 1, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 205-B mono
ROCKIN' CHAIR DADDY / THE GREAT MEDICAL MENAGERIST
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-4 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Harmonica Frank Floyd - Vocal, Guitar and Harmonica

If Sam Phillips was after a fusion of black and white music, he'd found it. The problem was that it was the black and white music of the 1920s, if not the 1890s. Sun 205 was delightfully at variance with everything that was selling in 1954, but so, it must be said, was Elvis Presley who trailed Frank by just a few months. Frank used to say this was the first rock and roll record, which, of course, it wasn't, but there's a wonderful drive and contagious energy here that has survived the years well. Sam Phillips maintained that he recorded these titles in 1954 and not 1951 as had once been supposed. Certainly, aural evidence would bear out that Frank returned for another session. The sound quality is markedly improved and Phillips obviously used two tape machines to achieve the slapback effect. A mighty thank-you to Sam Phillips from posterity for preserving Harmonica Frank for us. (HD)
James Cotton
"COTTON CROP BLUES" - B.M.I. - 2:58
Composer: - James Cotton
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 120
Recorded: - May 14, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 206-A mono
COTTON CROP BLUES / HOLD ME IN YOUR HANDS
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-5 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
James Cotton - Vocal possibly Percussion
Pat Hare - Guitar
Mose Vinson - Piano
John Bowers - Drums

By any criterion, this is one of the finest blues records ever made, easily transcending its origin as a barely disguised rewrite of Roosevelt Sykes' ''Cotton Seed Blues''. Here, country and city merge. The words are so deeply rooted in the Delta and the sharecropper's grimly predictable life, it's surprising that ''Cotton Crop Blues'' even got as far as Memphis, but Pat Hare's vituperative guitar seems born and bred of the city. hare plays the intro and under the vocal, he plays fills between the vocal lines, taken the solo, and has the last word. He's so omnipresent, ''Cotton Crop Blues'' is almost a guitar solo with guest vocal. Cotton replicated Sykes' lyrics, throwing in brooding asides like ''so dark and muddy on this farm''. It's Hare, though, who elevates the record to greatness. The Ominously pounding drums and piano underscore the mood. The solo was obviously preconceived (parts of it are reproduced note for note on other Hare recordings) but the fact that Cotton gave Hare the solo and allowed him to play under his vocal suggest that Cotton knew he was hearing something special. (CE) (HD)
James Cotton
"HOLD ME IN YOUR ARMS" - B.M.I. - 2:45
Composer: - James Cotton
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 121
Recorded: - May 14, 1954
Memphis Recording Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 206-B mono
HOLD ME IN YOUR ARMS / COTTON CROP BLUES
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-6 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
James Cotton - Vocal possibly Percussion
Pat Hare - Guitar
Mose Vinson - Piano
John Bowers - Drums

Every note of this song, from Pat Hare's intro to the simulated fadeout, is borrowed from Little Junior's ''Love My Baby'' although Cotton claims that he had guitarist Floyd Murphy first conceived ''Love Me Baby'' and played it over radio KWEM. In truth, if one had to plagiarize this is as good a place to start as any. In an interview, Cotton vividly recalled this session down to the fact that he had contributed to the rhythm section by playing ''drums'' on a cardboard box. Billboard picked it as the A-side, calling it ''listenable wax for the southern market''. (HD) (CE)
The Prisonaires
"THERE IS LOVE IN YOU" - B.M.I. - 2:53
Composer: - Johnny Bragg-William Steward
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 122
Recorded: - May 8, 1954
Tennessee State Penitentiary, Nashville, Tennessee
Released: - July 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm single SUN 207-A mono
THERE IS LOVE IN YOU / WHAT'LL YOU DO NEXT
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-7 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Johnny Bragg - Lead Tenor Vocal
John Drue - 2nd Tenor Vocal
William Steward - Baritone, Vocal and Guitar
Marcell Sanders - Bass Vocal
Ed Thurman - Tenor Vocal
Probably Hubbard Brown – Bongoes

''There Is Love In You'' is worth a long second listen. The big question is simply. Is this a secular or a religious recording? To whom is Bragg singing? His girlfriend or God? While artists like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke or Aretha Franklin have made careers of blending gospel and secular music, it has never been done like this. Initially, it seems a safe bet that Bragg is singing about God. There is joy, there is peace, there is hope, and there is rest in the object of his affection. These are not usually qualities associated with one's girlfriend, at least in popular music. The idea that he follows in the footsteps of this adored being, further suggests a religious theme. But then, suddenly, the other shoe falls. ''There is rest in you/When you're in my arms''. Hardly the place one expects to find the Big Guy: in Johnny Bragg's arms.

What has happened here? Perhaps the most reasonable account is that somewhere in his lonely cell, Johnny Bragg thought about those things most missing in his life and wrote a simple love song to them. A devotional, if you will. Peace and Love are simple things, rendered that much more desirable by their absence. Both and women are ways to achieve them, and the distinction between these sources was of secondary importance in Bragg's lonely soul. And so the lyric stands, in all its unorthodox ambiguity and honesty. Just the way Sam Phillips would have liked it. (HD)
The Prisonaires
"WHAT'LL YOU DO NEXT" - B.M.I. - 1:31
Composer: - Johnny Bragg-William Stewart
Publisher: - Hi Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 123
Recorded: - May 8, 1954
Tennessee State Penitentiary, Nashville, Tennessee
Released: - July 1, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm single SUN 207-B mono
WHAT'LL YOU DO NEXT / THERE IS LOVE IN YOU
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-8 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Johnny Bragg - Lead Tenor Vocal
John Drue - 2nd Tenor Vocal
William Steward - Baritone, Vocal and Guitar
Marcell Sanders - Bass Vocal
Ed Thurman - Tenor Vocal
Probably Hubbard Brown – Bongoes

In the 50 or so years since its original release, no fewer than half-a-dozen versions of both sides of this single by the Prisonaires have surfaced on various compilations. Both sides are compelling records, worthy of attention regardless of the group's novel status.

''What'll You Do Next'' has appeared both with and without percussion on different anthologies. Phillips expended considerable time recording it and rightly so. It is a fine song, worthy of his effort. The final released version is superb, if a bit thin on the bottom end. With the addition for a string bass to drive it, this record would have been a classic. As it is, the recording features fine interplay between the bass singer and harmony vocals. The arrangement builds considerable tension going into the final release (''Don't tell me you're not giving...''). Sam Phillips picket the correct take for release; virtually every element meshes in this effective and minimalist recording. (HD)
Buddy Cunningham & Cliff Parman's Orchestra
"RIGHT OR WRONG" - A.S.C.A.P. - 2:48
Composer: - Lew Douglas-L. Laney-Clif Parman
Publisher: - Midway Music - Copyright Control
Matrix number: - U 127
Recorded: - Probably end May 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July 15, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 208-A mono
RIGHT OR WRONG / WHY DO I CRY
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-9 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Buddy Cunningham - Vocal
Cliff Parman Orchestra

Many, probably most, Sun collectors have never heard this single, which gives new meaning to the notion that ignorance is bliss. The earliest Sun catalogs, those simple one page sheets that were replete with typing errors, ominously listed Buddy Cunningham's record under the category ''Popular''. Now you know why. Hearing either side of this single for the first time may be the cruelest part of being a completist. (HD)
Buddy Cunningham & Cliff Parman's Orchestra
"WHY DO I CRY" - B.M.I. - 2:30
Composer: - Eddy-Hubbs
Publisher: - Hi-Lo Music Incorporated
Matrix number: - U 126
Recorded: - Probably end May 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July 15, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 208-B mono
WHY DO I CRY / RIGHT OR WRONG
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-10 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Buddy Cunningham - Vocal
Cliff Parman Orchestra

Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, Buddy Cunningham had given up a career as a minor league pitcher to concentrate on singing. In July 1954 he was living in Memphis very close to Sam Phillips, and he was the closest thing to a star on the Sun roster that month too. His Valley recording of ''Angel In The Sky'', which, like this record, was also directed by Cliff Parman had been a good regional seller earlier in 1954.

Did Sam hear something special here he thought he could sell? God knows what might have happened to the fledgling Sun label if this record had sold. Still, Sam gave Buddy a second kick at the can on Phillips International in 1957, and Buddy's son, B.B., went on to become a luminary in the local scene as a member of the Hombres. Buddy himself went on to start a collection agency which may have repo'd the automobiles of several members of the Sun roster. (HD) (CE)
Elvis Presley - Scotty & Bill
"THAT'S ALL RIGHT" - B.M.I. - 1:55
Composer: - Arthur Crudup
Publisher: - Wabash Music Corporation- Crudup Music
Matrix number: - U-128 - Master Take 4
Recorded: - July 5, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
The lyrics "my mama she done told me, papa done told me too" came from
Arthur Crudup's old blues song "Mean Old Frisco Blues", recorded April 15, 1942.
Released: - July 19, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 209-A mono
THAT'S ALL RIGHT / BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-11 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Scott Moore - Electric Lead Guitar
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass

This is it. Rock and roll may not start here, but this is undeniably Elvis' first record. True, there were other Elvis recordings before Sun 209, but this is the first time Sam Phillips (or any record company owner) decided the sound of fledgling Elvis Presley was worth duplicating and unleashing on an unsuspecting world. (HD)

Note: Very scarce first 45rpm pressing with ''209'' upside-down in the left portion of the label (U-129). The second edition had this corrected and also had the full ''Wasbash Music'' (side one) printed. Third pressings had ''209'' in the bottom. (HD)
Elvis Presley - Scotty & Bill
"BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY" - B.M.I. - 2:04
Composer: - William Smith "Bill" Monroe
Publisher: - Peer International Music
Matrix number: - U-129 - Take 4
Recorded: - July 6, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - July 19, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single releases SUN 209-B mono
BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY / THAT'S ALL RIGHT
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-12 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Scott Moore - Electric Lead Guitar
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass

Through extensive archaeology, most Sun fans have by now heard the preliminary recordings surrounding ''Blue Moon Of Kentucky''; the sound of an excited Sam Phillips bursting into the studio after a preliminary take, exclaiming, ''Hell, that's different. That's a pop song now''! Pop it wasn't - at least not the kind of pop typified by Buddy Cunningham, but it sure wasn't country anymore - at least not in the way intended by its composer, Bill Monroe. what Sam Phillips had finally produced here after months, maybe years of experimenting, was hybrid music.

What Sun 209 exuded on both ''Blue Moon Of Kentucky'' and ''That's All Right'', was, to borrow a perfect phrase from Darwin, hybrid vigor. The power of that vigor might not have surprised Darwin, but it sure took Sam Phillips and most of the music world by suprise. Within several moths of its release, both sides of Sun 209 were on the Memphis charts, ''That's All Right'' landing at number 7, and ''Blue Moon Of Kentucky'' edging out Hank Snow to grab the number 1 position. (HD)
Elvis Presley - Scotty & Bill
"GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT" - B.M.I. - 2:12
Composer: - Roy Brown
Publisher: - Blue Ridge
Matrix number: - U-131
Reeltape With Alternate Takes Complete Destroyed
Recorded: - September 10, 11, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - September 22, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 210-A mono
GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT / I DON'T CARE IF THE SUN DON'T SHINE
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-13 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1

Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Scott Moore - Electric Lead Guitar
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass

This time, Sam Phillips was not going to lose momentum. two Presley records in a row. Never before again in Sun's history were there consecutive releases by the same artist (Sun 234 and 235 might have been an exception, had 235 not been withdrawn from release). The message was clear: Phillips was concentrating all attention and resources on the new phenom - this alternately shy and outrageous truck driver from Crown Electric.

This time Phillips paired a pop song, ''I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine'', with another rhythm and blues tune, Roy Brown's ''Good Rockin' Tonight''. Even after just two records, it was becoming clear that conventional musical categories had little meaning in Elvis Presley's hands. (HD)
Elvis Presley - Scotty & Bill
"I DON'T CARE IF THE SUN DON'T SHINE" - A.S.C.A.P. - 2:27
Composer: - Mack David
Publisher: - Famous Chappell Limited
Matrix number: - U-130 Take 3
Recorded: - September 10, 11, 1954
Memphis Recording  Service
706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee
Released: - September 25, 1954
First appearance: - Sun Records (S) 78/45rpm standard single SUN 210-B mono
I DON'T CARE IF THE SUN DON'T SHINE / GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT
Reissued: - 1994 Bear Family Records (CD) 500/200rpm BCD 15801 DI-3-14 mono digital
THE SUN SINGLES COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
 
Name (Or. No. Of Instruments)
Elvis Presley - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Scott Moore - Electric Lead Guitar
Bill Black - Acoustic Upright Bass

A Presley record, whether it originated with a Patti Page single he heard on the radio, or an old King 78, sounded essentially the same: supercharged, emotional, sexy music. Dean Martin meets Billy Ward, as filtered through the Spirit of Memphis Quartet. A hybrid of disparate and passionate elements.

No one knew what to make of this young man or his music. These records were beginning to sell. Presley was attracting attention. People stopped and listed when his songs were played on the radio, and they pressed closer to the stage when he performed. If you were an established country star, it was no fun having this gyrating upstart performing before you as an opening act. Likely as not, by the time you got to go on, the audience was already spent. A revolution was quietly brewing after just several months and two releases. (HD)
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