Elvis Presley
Elvis Country: Legacy Edition
RCA/Legacy
www.legacyrecordings.com
By George W. Harris

Each generation has its image of Elvis Presley. For myself, who grew up
in the 60s and 70s, he was a has been who was in cheesy movies, hung
out with women with big hair, and then ended up doing Vegas acts and
dying a sad, tragic and early death. For younger people, time has
created a filter where he’s either a rebel who radically changed
popular music, or a guy that is impersonated by every lounge act in the
world. There’s a guy in LA who bills himself as “The Thai Elvis.” And
he’s good!

I bring all of this up, because this two cd set captures an Elvis that
flies under the radar to most music fans. In 1971, Elvis actually cut a
pair of albums that took him back to his roots, at least as far as he
could go at this stage in this point in his career. The album Elvis
Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old) is an amazing concept album, with The
King mixing all of the things that made him who he was into one musical
medley. Testifying gospel, sentimental love songs, and raucous juke
jointing honky tonking is all covered here, and delivered in a way that
sounds like he really put his heart into it. All of the songs are
segued by the “10,000…” song (which is featured in completed form as a
bonus track), almost serving as a link between stages in his life. Down
home rockers like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” have Elvis howlin’ like a real redneck, while “Snowbird” could be a recitative during a church service. His reading of “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water” feels
hauntingly autobiographical, making this disc a fascinating insight
into real Americana.

The second disc features his Love Letters album, and while there are
some catchy tunes like “Cindy Cindy” and brawlers like “Got My Mojo
Workin/Keep Your Hands Off It,” the music tends to tap into Elvis’
inner Branson. Most of the songs sound a bit of the Vegas lounge act
stage of his life, before there was such a genre as rockers doing that
sort of thing. As in so many parts of American entertainment, he set
the tone. Fascinating collection of a rarely explored stage of The King.