 |
Sun Commemorative Concert
As part of Memphis' 50th Anniversary Rock and Roll celebrations a daylong concert was held in the street in front of Sun Studio on July 5th immediately following the "Global Moment in Time". Scotty and D.J. took the stage at 11:30 AM for a short set along with Ronnie McDowell, Billy Swan, Steve Shepherd, James Lott and Dave Smith.
In addition to being the full time road manager and keyboardist for Ronnie McDowell's Rhythm Kings, Steve Shepherd is virtually Scotty's right hand man (and a blue shirt member of Moore's Feel Good Mafia). He also engineers in Scotty's home studio.
Much to the crowds delight the set opened with Billy Swan taking the vocals on "Mystery Train" and then Ronnie McDowell joined them onstage for "Heartbreak Hotel", "Don't Be Cruel", "Baby Let's Play House", "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and closed with the song that started it all 50 years earlier "That's All Right".
Though never actually recording at Sun with Scotty, Elvis and Bill, DJ had been performing with the band live since the Sun days when they first me at the Louisiana Hayride. He first recorded with them at RCA on the session that produced Heartbreak Hotel.
Though Scotty took the stage at 11:30, he had been there that morning since long before the the "Global Moment in Time" event at 11:00. Its his nature to be prepared and oversee the the setup up of the band and his equipment. He had been on and off stage doing that all morning in between interviews. He even bowed out of an appearance on the Today Show because of the time constraints. His interest and focus is and always has been the music and the performance.
At 16, singer/songwriter Billy Swan wrote "Lover Please' which was a hit for Clyde McPhatter but was recorded first by Bill Black with the Bill Black Combo in 1960. He wrote and released the single "I Can Help" in 1974 which topped the US charts for two weeks. Scotty has played and engineered on several of his albums since the '70s and they remain friends to this day.
James Lott and Scotty have been friends for years. He's the head engineer at Sun now and though not related, bears a similar name to Jimmie Lott, the drummer who recorded with Scotty and Elvis at Sun years ago. James was a big help to Scotty when Scotty and Carl Perkins recorded "706 ReUnion" at Sun, which was the first time Scotty had recorded in years.
Ronnie has been friends with Scotty since Scotty returned to performing live in the early '90s. Though really a country artist in his own right, both Scotty and D.J. regularly perform with him and his band on his Tribute to Elvis shows. In addition Ronnie has done the singing voice of Elvis in many TV shows and movies. In fact, Curb records will be releasing his new album, "The E Connection" in August recorded in Scotty's studio last April. It was only natural for him to fill in on vocals for the performance here at the concert.
Dave Smith, a veteran of the late Luther Allison's recording band, is one of the Memphis area's top players and session musicians. He played bass with the band on this set and then again later in the day with Billy Swan and James Lott.
Almost as accidentally as Elvis, Scotty and Bill found their sound in "That's All Right" in 1954, it was Bill Black that inspired the flip side of that single with his up-tempo'd interpretation of "Blue Moon of Kentucky". It was only fitting that Bill's family were there 50 years later to sing along to it on stage.
During the performance of "That's All Right" Ronnie also got a little help from the crowd.
Though they only performed five songs, the set was very well received and it definitely set the pace for the entertainment to follow. The rest of the line up for the day's music was as follows:
Some of the other performances of the day (click each to enlarge)
Unfortunately we weren't able to get photos of all the bands that played that day but if any of you were there and took or posted some let us know and we'll try to put them up or link them.
|
|
All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited. |
