SECRETS OF ELVIS’ JUKEBOX

The contents of the Graceland jukebox have recently been auctioned, providing a fascinating insight into The King’s musical tastes. MEGAN MURPHY tells the story…

Growing up in East Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley knew poverty too well; but music made a big impact on him very early in his life. His family lived not far from the ‘Shake Rag’, a segregated African-American neighborhood. Many of the residents in Shake Rag worked as house servants, cooks and nurses for the wealthy in Tupelo. And these particular African-American families were a bit wealthier than the Presley clan. It was here that Elvis learned the blues, while it was Sunday mass with his mother that introduced him to gospel music.

Elvis also was influenced by Mississippi Slim , a local disc jockey who played a variety of bluegrass and country music. So although Memphis is better known than East Tupelo as a music city, Elvis’ wide range of musical influences developed long before he ever reached Memphis. Yet Memphis was the town where he realised his dreams. Something that would not have happened if his family did not relocate to the big city when Elvis was just 13. It’s very likely that he would have been driving a truck instead of changing music history had they stayed in Tupelo.

Once in Memphis, Elvis was exposed to many more genres of music. He would listen to WDIA, the only black station in the south. It was this station that was playing a newer style of the blues. WDIA would play ‘race music’ …

by MEGAN MURPHY
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