Marshall Grant

Jim,

I just re-read the O.K. Houck article on the site and it reminded me of a story Marshall Grant told Scotty and me down at the opening of the International Musicians' Hall of Fame. He was talking about how he, John Cash, and Luther Perkins got started playing together.


Marshall Grant of The Tennessee Two
Photo ©

He said that he and Luther had worked at the DeSoto dealership in Memphis as mechanics. John's brother was a salesman there and when Marshall and Luther were not busy, they would play guitars in the grease pit in the back. Scotty confirmed this, saying that he had a DeSoto from there (it is in the picture of him in the car and Elvis looking through the window). He said that sometimes when he was off the road he'd go down and play with them in the grease pit. Anyway, the brother told them that his brother was in Korea, and when he got back he wanted to bring John down to meet them as he loved country music, too.


Elvis talks to Scotty in his DeSoto - 1956

So when John came home, he came down and they all began to play. As Elvis became more famous, they decided they wanted to try to be a real band and started working up some stuff. John said that it would look dumb on stage for three guys playing lead guitars, so they gave John the rhythm, Luther was the best player so he got the lead, and Marshall went down to O.K. Houck to see what he could get.


Luther Perkins, Johnny Cash and Marshall Grant
Photo courtesy web

The salesman took him to the used department and he had an old upright bass which he said Marshall could have for $15.00. Marshall took it back to the dealership and began to play it. He said that the famous "boom-chicka-boom" that was the Cash trademark was just the only thing he could play as he had never played bass in his life.

Gail Pollock
April 2, 2012

Marshall performed and recorded with Johnny Cash from 1954 through 1980, was his road manager for 25 years and performed with him for the last time in 1999 at Cash's final appearance. They remained close friends until Cash's passing. Marshall died on August 7, 2011 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he was scheduled to perform at the Inaugural Johnny Cash Festival.

page added April 4, 2012
 

 

All photos on this page unless otherwise indicated are the property of the designated persons or company, any unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.

 
Home History Discography Scrapbook Guitars etc... The Studios

The Venues

In the Press Tour Dates Links Search

This site created and managed by James V. Roy for Scotty Moore with the sole intent to help promote the arts and history of American popular music and Scotty's major role in it. Every attempt was made to give credit for any images or text borrowed from the World Wide Web and we greatly appreciate the use of it. Technical difficulties or questions dealing with this Server should be addressed to the Webmaster. Copyright © 2002, 2014