From his work at Sun Records to his final recordings at Graceland, Memphis holds a special place in Elvis Presley's career. After leaving his hometown of Tupelo, Miss., Presley discovered a world of music on Beale Street. He cut his teeth at Sun Studio, and once successful, he bought a farmhouse there that would become a mecca to fans for generations, Graceland.
There's a newly released five-disc collection, titled Memphis, that chronicles the King's time in Grind City. In this session, Grammy Award-winning record producer Matt Ross-Spang, who mixed a good chunk of these songs, talks about Elvis' connection to Memphis, what you'll hear in these performances and, notably, what you won't.
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.