Elvis Presley Unravelled #19
Elvis’s Only Appearance at the Grand Ole Opry
Elvis’s only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on 2 October 1954 did not go well and he was advised backstage to stick to truck driving.
28 January to 3 February
guest feature on the Mop Tops and The King show
Steve Chelmsford presents the Mop Tops and the King show. As the name suggests, the show is all about the music of The Beatles and Elvis Presley.
Every other week, author of Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Derek Shelmerdine presents The Beatles Unravelled, alternating with Elvis Presley Unravelled.
The podcast provides a one-minute look at a little bit of Beatles and Elvis Presley history.
The MTK Network broadcasts the show with nearly 100 radio stations around the world. Consequently, the show is playing somewhere in the world, every day of the week.
Show Schedule for times and radio stations.
(Times on the Show Schedule are Eastern Time. The UK is five hours ahead.)
Listen Again – PODCAST
Elvis’s Only Appearance at the Grand Ole Opry
Elvis did not impress the Grand Ole Opry patrons
Elvis made his one and only appearance at the legendary Grand Ole Opry on 4 October 1954. He was a tad too rock’n’roll for the sensitivities of the Oprygoers and never returned.
For his debut, Elvis performed Blue Moon of Kentucky, in Hank Snow’s segment of the show. This was the B-side of Elvis’s 1st Sun single, released 2-weeks earlier.
The country audience didn’t warm to Elvis’s style and he received a lukewarm reception at best. Opry manager Jim Denny supposedly told Elvis, “[he] should stick to truck driving”. Although, people who knew Jim Denny denied that he made the comment.
Elvis performed on the Louisiana Hayride a couple of weeks later. The Hayride was Opry’s biggest competitor and Elvis received a warm welcome. So much so, that he became one of the Hayride’s most popular performers.
Ironically, Elvis’s first national hit was on the Billboard Country Top-40. In the summer of 1955 he scored a top-5 hit with his fourth Sun single, Baby Let’s Play House.
Elvis’s last hit in his lifetime, Way Down c/w Pledging My Love was a double-sided country #1. This gave him his 55th hit on the Billboard Country Top-40.
Extracts from Rock’n’Roll Unravelled
All of the Elvis Presley Unravelled and The Beatles Unravelled podcasts are based on extracts from Derek Shelmerdine‘s book Rock’n’Roll Unravelled. Consequently, more background to this story is in the extracts highlighted below.
The particular extract for this story
Elvis’s Only Appearance at the Grand Ole Opry
This extract provides further background to the story.
2 October 1954: Elvis’s only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry
About the book – Rock’n’Roll Unravelled
Rock’n’Roll Unravelled tells the story of rock’n’roll from its roots to mid-1970s punk. In addition to the music, the book looks at the social factors influencing the music. The Vietnam War, fear of communism and Civil rights struggle certainly helped to shape the sounds of the time.
The book has three sections: Timeline, What Happened Today and Pocket Histories.
Cross-references for the events in What Happened Today are provided in the other two sections, Timeline and Pocket Histories. Consequently, the Timeline section provides context for the stories in What Happened Today. Similarly, the cross-references in Pocket Histories build a picture of the lives and times artists and bands.
TO BUY – a signed copy of Rock’n’Roll Unravelled
For all the previous editions of…
The Beatles Unravelled and Elvis Presley Unravelled
First Broadcast: Elvis’s only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry
22 January to 3 February 2022, on the MTK network.
