SURPRISE!!
Every now and again a release comes along that doesn’t seem to be all
that much…but turns out to be a REAL SHOCKER!!
This little 45 RPM record is a piece of history!!
Released on the Chicken Records 101 label in 1978, this record is the
first release of Elvis, Scotty and Bills’ first performance on the Louisiana
Hayride on October 16, 1954!! The
general public had, up until this time, never heard the now familiar
performances…but this little 45 changed all that!!
This 45 is very understated in terms
of packaging; a funny little chicken graphic mimicking the RCA Dog Nipper
listening to a gramophone. The
performance date on the label is incorrectly listed as December 1954, no big
deal that’s for sure. Side one
contains “That’s All Right” complete with Frank Page’s introduction.
Side two contains Frank Page’s comments regarding Elvis, Scotty and
Bill being rather new in the folk music field.
Upon “flipping the record over” they tear into the bluegrass standard
“Blue Moon of Kentucky.” What a shock it must have been to the traditional
country-western fans in the audience! This
sound was different and the Hayride management noticed!!
Elvis, Scotty and Bill signed a one-year contract with the Hayride after
the performance. The rest is
history! This little 45 was the
first to capture the magic of that first night of Elvis, Scotty and Bill on the
Hayride!
The sound quality is fantastic, very
clear and well balanced and the record is a very clean pressing.
The 45 was counterfeited in 1979 on the same label, however the
counterfeit is on red wax. The
original is on black wax. The
original is the collectors item because it was the first.
The red wax is nice to have if you like colored wax.
I was fortunate enough to stumble across a lot auction of 14 original
copies a few years back on e-bay. I
got the lot at a decent price and they have been great trade items over the past
few years!!
In closing, don’t be a Chicken if you happen to run across a nice copy of this 45 at a record convention or record store. This is a MUST HAVE for any serious Elvis vinyl collector, and even for the casual Elvis collector!
Ernie Boyes Jr.