True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Walter Hale 4
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True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by Walter Hale 4 »

August 1972 Elvis would appear in Vegas for his seventh season and as usual on his opening night he would introduce some new songs to the setlist. In this instance the new additions would be 'My Way', 'Fever' and 'What Now My Love' as well as the reintroduction of 'My Babe' although the latter would not last past opening night. 'Fever' would receive it's introduction in Elvis' second show, the Dinner show of 5 August.


It also appears that Elvis seriously considered adding two songs from his Memphis 69 session at American Studios to the show, seriously in fact that both received full stage rehearsals the two songs in question were 'Any Day Now' and 'True Love travels On a Gravel Road'.


This full stage rehearsal of 'True Love Travels on a Gravel Road' shows Elvis in good humour with Charlie Hodge the butt of Elvis' jokes at the beginning.


Elvis had performed this song once before on opening night 26 January 1970 one of three songs from the Memphis sessions introduced that night, the others being 'Kentucky Rain' and 'Don't Cry Daddy'.


The false start as Elvis has to stop and guide The Stamps' vocal accompaniment can likely be attributed to the fact that on the previous occasion where Elvis sang this on stage it was The Imperials who were Elvis male vocalists and the song would therefore be new to The Stamps.


Whatever the reason that Elvis dropped the song before opening night just over twenty four hours later, it is a pity as it is an excellent song and this rehearsal gives an insight into it's live potential and what could have been!

Written by Leon Smith...




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Re: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by Johnny2523 »

Actually he dropped it only several hours before opening night as he also rehearsed it during the august 4 rehearsal hours before the show


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Re: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by Walter Hale 4 »

Johnny2523 wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:50 am
Actually he dropped it only several hours before opening night as he also rehearsed it during the august 4 rehearsal hours before the show
Any reason why he did so?



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Re: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by Johnny2523 »

Walter Hale 4 wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 5:57 am
Johnny2523 wrote:
Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:50 am
Actually he dropped it only several hours before opening night as he also rehearsed it during the august 4 rehearsal hours before the show
Any reason why he did so?
I wish i knew but it could be Elvis was playing it safe and didnt think it would catch on similar to the case of Any Day Now which was rehearsed but never ended up at the live shows


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Re: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by Johnny2523 »

My second theory would be that Elvis rehearsed some songs just incase they'd end up doing it whether by request or by Elvis himself wanting to do it and to atleast have an arrangement worked out. We have several versions of faded love rehearsed during these 1972 rehearsals.. but the song wouldnt show up till feb 15 1973


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Re: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by SteamrollerBlues »

Any Day Now would've been a great addition to the show. I'm not very hurt by the absence of True Love Travels On A Gravel Road, as there was/is better 1969 session material to choose from, like And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind. That would've been nice to hear live.



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Re: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road - The 3 August 1972 stage rehearsal

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Post by Walter Hale 4 »

New vid is back on youtube...


August 1972 Elvis would appear in Vegas for his seventh season and as usual on his opening night he would introduce some new songs to the set list. In this instance the new additions would be 'My Way', 'Fever' and 'What Now My Love' as well as the reintroduction of 'My Babe' although the latter would not last past opening night. 'Fever' would receive it's introduction in Elvis' second show, the Dinner show of 5 August.
It also appears that Elvis seriously considered adding two songs from his Memphis 69 session at American Studios to the show, seriously in fact that both received full stage rehearsals the two songs in question were 'Any Day Now' and 'True Love travels On a Gravel Road'.
This full stage rehearsals of 'True Love Travels on a Gravel Road' shows Elvis in good humour with Charlie Hodge the butt of Elvis' jokes at the beginning.
Elvis had performed this song once before on opening night 26 January 1970 one of three songs from the Memphis sessions introduced that night, the others being 'Kentucky Rain' and 'Don't Cry Daddy'.
The false start on the 3 August 1972 versions, as Elvis has to stop and guide The Stamps' vocal accompaniment, can likely be attributed to the fact that on the previous occasion where Elvis sang this on stage it was The Imperials who were Elvis male vocalists and the song would therefore be new to The Stamps.
The seriousness of Elvis’ contemplation about adding it to the set list is compounded by him and the band rehearsing it again on 4 August just hours before his opening night show.
Whatever the reason that Elvis declined to actually perform the song during the engagement and that it is a pity as it is an excellent song. These rehearsals gives an insight into it's live potential and what could have been but unfortunately the rendition from a previous opening night, 26 January 1970, remains but the only known live version.


written by Leon SMITH...



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