For a little bit of musical trivia, when Johnny Cash recorded “Folsom Prison Blues” on July 30, 1955, he couldn’t afford a backup drummer.
Instead, Cash used what merchandise to create that particular sound of a snare drum on his track?
If you understand the reply, you is perhaps a faithful Johnny Cash fan. Or you may need visited Sun Studio in Memphis the place the up-and-coming singer as soon as recorded, together with his hit “Folsom Prison Blues.”
The reply?
“In those early days, Johnny Cash would slip a dollar bill between his guitar strings to dampen them, producing a soft, rhythmic sound instead of harmonic chords,” says Sun Studio information Daniel, who picked up a guitar and demonstrated how the greenback invoice labored.
Since it was a gorgeous day in Memphis, I walked to Sun Studio from the Peabody Hotel the place I used to be staying. That is one other benefit of staying on the Peabody on an American Queen pre-cruise journey. The Peabody is across the nook from well-known Beale Street and inside walkable – or an inexpensive Uber experience – to many Memphis sights.
Sun Studio is small so the variety of folks on a tour is stored to a minimal of about 25. While I waited for my tour, I noticed a pair dozen guests turned away as a result of excursions have been already full. Be positive to get there early and know that you simply may need to attend.
Coffee and sodas are offered on the counter. A present store presents T-shirts, jackets, CDs and different souvenirs. Picnic tables exterior are a cushty place to chill out and wait.
8 Night – Memphis to St. Louis – American Queen
Wealth of musical memorabilia
For my Sun Studio tour, we climbed the slim stairs to a cave-like room full of musical memorabilia in wall-to-wall glass exhibit circumstances. Look for a Humes High School yearbook with a photograph of younger Elvis.
One exhibit homes unique WHBQ radio station gear, together with the desk the place disc jockey Dewey Phillips launched Elvis to Memphis airwaves listeners. Dewey was the primary to play Elvis’ first document and the primary to interview the younger singer on air.
Dewey’s approval of a track was a significant increase. If he didn’t like a track the primary time he performed it, Dewey would smash the document in opposition to the nook of his desk to indicate that he was by no means going to play it once more. A damaged document within the exhibit illustrates that.
Then Daniel performed a track by Jackie Brenson & His Delta Cats, together with Ike Turner. While we listened, Daniel famous the unmistakable origins of rock ‘n’ roll. What occurred, Daniel says, was that again in March 5, 1951, Jackie, Ike and the band got here to document at Sun Studio.
But they unintentionally broke the speaker cone for guitarist Willie Kizart’s amp. Without funds or time for a substitute, they stuffed the damaged cone with newspapers. The end result was a distorted sound. Sam Phillips appreciated the bizarre sound a lot he amplified it to document “Rocket 88.”
Sam later stated that document had a raucous, unbridled energetic sound that signaled what was to come back.
The Million Dollar Quartet occurred when 4 entertainers stopped by Sun Studio for an impromptu jam.
Elvis makes first recording
When 18-year-old Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studio for the primary time, he was requested who he appeared like. His reply, “I don’t sound like nobody.”
When he sang, “That’s all right, momma,” listeners agreed. Sun Studio grew to become referred to as the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll.
On July 5, 1954, Presley recorded his first single, “That’s All Right.” Sun Studio has modified little by the years. It has the identical acoustic ceiling, the unique lights and the previous ground that so many legends as soon as trod — Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison, amongst others.
Radio engineer Sam Phillips began the Sun Label in 1952 and shared his tiny workplace together with his secretary Marion Keisker. Legend has it that Marion is the one who was working when a younger Elvis plopped down $4 to make his first recording.
On a sizzling summer time day in 1953, a shy Elvis stopped by the studio to make a recording of “My Happiness.” Local lore says the recording was meant as a birthday current for his mom. More doubtless, tour information Daniel says, the teenager hoped to be found. He was craving for stardom.
And that’s precisely what he discovered — greater than anybody might ever dream.
Tour information Daniel demonstrates how Johnny Cash used a greenback invoice for a drum sound in his guitar.
Marion Keisker hears expertise in Elvis
At the time, Elvis was delivering electrical home equipment for Crown Electric. “He probably stopped by here while he was out delivering or maybe after work,” Daniel says. “Crown Electric was less than a mile from here so it was easy for Elvis to come by.”
However, Sun Studio proprietor Sam Phillips was not thrilled by what he heard on Elvis’ recording. It took urging from Marion for Sam to even take an opportunity on recording Elvis for a brand new sound Sam was searching for.
“Truth be told, it was Marion Keisker who first recorded Elvis. And it was Marion Keisker who discovered Elvis,” Daniel says.
As the story goes, Sam relented and had Elvis in for a recording session. But it didn’t go properly. Sam was about to present Elvis the unhealthy information that the younger singer simply didn’t have it.
First, Sam took a break. That’s when Elvis and fellow musicians, Bill Black and Scotty Moore, began messing round, bouncing music off the Sun Studio partitions.
The end result was pure gold.
Visitors take images with an previous Elvis microphone.
Still a recording studio
Without Sun Studio, would Elvis have made that first recording? Would somebody have seen his expertise and given him an opportunity?
“Who knows?” Daniel solutions. “If Marion hadn’t kept encouraging Sam to listen. If Elvis and the musicians hadn’t begun playing around when they weren’t being recorded. If Sam hadn’t realized what he heard in young Elvis.”
The end result was magic. Even right now, when Daniel performs that early recording, it’s simple to grasp why musicians nonetheless document within the historic studio – U2, Def Leppard, John Mellencamp – and why folks nonetheless flock to Sun Studio, take the excursions and pose for cellphone images clutching an old-timey Elvis microphone in tiny Sun Studio.
When Bob Dylan visited the studio, it’s stated he knelt and kissed the X mark on the ground the place Elvis stood to document.
“History was made here,” Daniel concludes. “When you stand on this floor, you stand on sacred ground.”
Replica of DJ Dewey Phillips’ WHBQ radio studio.
X marks the spot the place Elvis stood to document in Sun Studio.
Photos by Jackie Sheckler Finch
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