Scotty Moore: The Tragic Fall of the Guitar Who Built Elvis

Comments · 76

• V-

  @v-g-z3689 · 8 months ago

  Just a little bit of history for those who are curious: Chet Atkins learned from Merle Travis, and Merle Travis learned from Ike Everly (father of the Everly Brothers) who himself learned from Arnold Shultz (a black guy) and Mose Rager.

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• RI

  @ricksmith9914 · 8 months ago

  I got to meet him and got one of my strats autographed by him in 1999.  Still my main guitar.

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• WI

  @winggullseagull1230 · 8 months ago (edited)

  That&apos;s true Scotty Moore &amp; Bill Black helped build the throne that would later crown Elvis the king. Scotty Moore like Elvis listened to rhythm &amp; blues &amp; hillbilly country &amp; Scotty also listened to Jazz. And together they stumbled onto a new sound not common in 1954, It was startling &amp; took time to get used to. Elvis Scotty &amp; Bill were not accepted at the Grand Ole Opry in 1954 &amp; were also turned down at The Arthur Godfrey&apos;s Talent Scouts show in 1955. They were accepted at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport every saturday night from 1954 to the middle of 1956. By this time Tom Parker was running Elvis&apos; career &amp; turned Elvis into a national phenomenon &amp; by this time Elvis added D J Fontana on drums. Scotty Moore &amp; Bill Black &amp; D J Fontana were eventually discarded as Elvis continued to evolve as an artist &amp; got into the movies in hollywood. <br><br>The thing is Elvis &amp; the Blue Moon Boys were so exciting &amp; had too much of a good thing &amp; on many shows as told by Scotty Moore the kids rushed the stage &amp; trashed D J Fontana&apos;s drums &amp; wrecked &amp; smashed Bill Black&apos;s upright bass &amp; is why on some of the Dorsey Bros. Stage Show appearances each week on TV Bill Black &amp; Elvis are using someone else&apos;s instruments because the fans wrecked &amp; destroyed their instruments &amp; had to be fixed at a music repair shop.<br><br>It was destined to end &amp; that&apos;s why Elvis &amp; his band stopped touring at the end of 1957, even if Elvis wasn&apos;t drafted in the army in 1958 it would&apos;ve still ended no matter what. Elvis&apos; concerts were so out of control &amp; unmanageable to the point Elvis &amp; the Blue Moon Boys disbanded at the end in 1957. When something is too good it has to end &amp; sure enough it did. <br>The 1960 post army era saw a completely new refined Elvis embraced by the adults &amp; establishment. The side burns &amp; rebellion was gone.

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• WI

  @winggullseagull1230 · 8 months ago

  It&apos;s in the book &quot;That&apos;s All Right Elvis &quot; told by Scotty Moore, Scotty &amp; Bill quit on Elvis late in 1957 because of a pay dispute they were getting peanuts only $200 each when they toured &amp; a $100 each during their downtime. Scotty &amp; Bill took a better paying gig in the meantime. After the completion of the movie &quot;Jailhouse Rock&quot; Elvis played his annual homecoming show in Tupelo with Hank Garland &amp; another bass player. Elvis missed them &amp; wanted them back Elvis asked Scotty what it would take &amp; Scotty wanted $10,000 upfront to pay off debts Scotty was making payments on his guitar &amp; amp. Elvis said he&apos;d think about it. Elvis should&apos;ve given him the $10,000 that&apos;s pocket change to Elvis. Before Tom Parker Elvis Scotty &amp; Bill had a partnership a 50/25/25 split with Elvis getting 50% but it was never legal &amp; in writing. Can&apos;t blame Scotty &amp; Bill for quitting when they came back with Elvis under a new agreement they were paid a flat fee for their services. In other words Tom Parker realizing that selling the Elvis brand included Scotty Moore &amp; Bill Black as nobody sounded like Scotty Moore at the time his guitar sound was new &amp; innovative &amp; so Scotty &amp; Bill returned but not as band members they were hired guns paid on a per diem bases for their services. The brotherhood of Elvis Scotty &amp; Bill was gone once Tom Parker came into the picture he just wanted to promote Elvis not his band.

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• DR

  @Dru-h6n · 8 months ago

  There are interviews of him and the others! They came to play with Elvis during his 68 Comback Special. They had a good sound together!

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• KI

  @kirbonite · 8 months ago

  There have never been better solos than Scotty&apos;s on RCA. &nbsp;Heartbreak hotel, hound dog, too. Much and jailhouse rock will never be matched.

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• NA

  @nathueil1 · 8 months ago

  Out of that Trio Bill Black is the least rememberd. 😔

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• JO

  @johnhodges8264 · 8 months ago

  For those wondering about the gadget on the Gibson headstock it is a Van Epps damper which when applied stopped the open strings ringing out and sound more like a fretted note.

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• AR

  @arthurmaglieri1824 · 8 months ago

  The music they played is still as fresh today as it was when it was recorded...amazing what they did at Sun and Elvis never lost his talent despite his problems...Elvis never stopped singing until the end..amazing talent

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• LI

  @Linda-w2w2f · 7 months ago

  Elvis called scotty old man they eere friends like brother &nbsp;s i listened to mystery train today and its 2026❤❤

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• AR

  @arman6119 · 8 months ago

  listen to ANYONE singing an Elvis tune without Scotties guitar part.....empty....imo &nbsp;my opion is that they pushed each other

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• FL

  @fleadoggreen9062 · 8 months ago

  He painted sparrows yellow and sold them as canary’s!!! Huh 😊

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