Elvis Presley Unravelled #39
The Blue Moon Boys
…where it all started for Elvis

This is where it all started for Elvis. He teamed up with guitarist Scotty Moore, upright bassist Bill Black and slightly later drummer DJ Fontana – The Blue Moon Boys.

Podcast

Author of the book Rock’n’Roll Unravelled, Derek Shelmerdine, is a fortnightly guest on The Mop Tops & The King. In short, host Steve Chelmsford’s radio show is all about the music and the times of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Consequently, the show is broadcast on the MTK network of nearly 100 radio stations around the world.

To hear this show live…

weekly schedule – times and stations
During the week: 18 to 24 November 2022

The Blue Moon Boys
Where it all started for Elvis

In July 1954 Sun Records owner Sam Phillips invited Elvis to cut a record. As a result, he introduced Elvis to guitarist Scotty Moore, who introduced Elvis to upright bass player Bill Black. Scotty and Bill were with Doug Poindexter’s Starlite Wranglers who were also at Sun Records. During this time, they released the single Now She Cares No More c/w My Kind of Carrying On, Sun 202. The single failed to excite the record buying public and sold just 330 copies.

Elvis’s first Sun recording session was on 5 July 1954. Following this, two weeks later he was backed onstage by Scotty and Bill. He also occasionally played onstage with Doug Poindexter’s Starlite Wranglers. Doug Poindexter worked with Elvis at Sun and is uncredited on some of Elvis’s Sun singles.

Shortly after Elvis’s first single, That’s All Right, Scotty and Bill broke away from Starlite Wranglers. After that, they teamed up with Elvis and performed as a trio, The Blue Moon Boys.

Scotty Moore managed the Blue Moon Boys and also became Elvis’s first manager.

In the summer of 1955 drummer DJ Fontana joined Elvis, Scotty and Bill on tour. In late 1955 he officially joined the band. This was shortly before Elvis signed to RCA Records.

This certainly kick-started Elvis’s career and the rest, as they say, is history…