In 2005, the British Rev-Ola label released The Roots of Elvis, a fascinating compilation which brought together 28 classic recordings that were later covered by
Elvis Presley, and two years later the label has attempted to offer another glimpse into the range of
Elvis' influences with Roots and Rumours: The Roots of Elvis, Vol. 2. For this disc, producer Dave Penny has turned to the pages of the book Elvis: A Musical Inventory, which attempts to catalog every song
Elvis ever recorded or performed in public, and while Penny acknowledges that a certain amount of this book is simply guesswork (at least as far as lost recordings and early live shows are concerned), if the 28 songs gathered here never made it into
Presley's active repertoire, it's not hard to imagine most of them catching his attention when they enjoyed their brief season of radio exposure.
Elvis' well-documented love of the blues is represented by classic sides from
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup,
Ivory Joe Hunter,
Rufus Thomas, and
Wynonie Harris, but Roots and Rumours devotes more of its playing time to the country music that was also a key part of his musical diet, and one consistent theme is that
Elvis was hardly the first country boy to cut the blues, even if he did present the formula in a whole new way.
The Delmore Brothers' versions of "Blues Stay Away from Me" and "Midnight Special" show how country-blues made their way into bluegrass,
Sheb Wooley's "Blue Guitar" carries of trace of
Presley's smooth R&B crooning, the version of "Milk Cow Blues" from
Bob Wills suggests an alternate route from
Kokomo Arnold's original to
Elvis' sessions for Sun, and the boozing and fighting of "Tennessee Saturday Night" by
Red Foley would do
Ike Turner proud. Roots and Rumours is considerably more suspect as history than Rev-Ola's earlier compilation, simply because many of these numbers have rarely been associated with
Elvis in the past, but as an examination of the crossroads between country and blues before
Presley made this meeting point fashionable, it's fine musical archeology. It's also thoroughly enjoyable listening as well, with more than two-dozen classic tunes that don't need the approval of the Hillbilly Cat to find a place in your personal hit parade. ~ Mark Deming