Memoir of Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley's first guitarist and manager.
When Elvis Presley first showed up at Sam Phillip's Memphis-based Sun Records studio, he was a shy teenager in search of a sound. Sam asked guitarist Scotty and bass player Bill Black to work with Elvis—and the music they created as the Blue Moon Boys launched what became known as rock ‘n’ roll. Scotty and Bill toured with the young singer, and played on all of his Sun sessions and his first recordings for RCA; Scotty also served as Elvis’s manager. With Bill Black and Elvis both dead, Scotty is the only remaining member of the original trio who can tell the true story of how Elvis transformed popular music---and how Scotty created the guitar sound that has become the prototype for all rock guitar that followed, prompting Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards to proclaim, “Everyone else wanted to be Elvis—I wanted to be Scotty.”
James L. Dickerson is an award-winning writer, author of the music histories "Mojo Triangle" and "Goin' Back to Memphis."
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