Second only to The Grand Ole Opry as a major country music radio show, The Louisiana Hayride flourished in the 1950s and, as this archival collection demonstrates, hosted Elvis Presley on several occasions at the outset of his career. Presley's initial appearance on October 16, 1954, finds the 19-year-old performing both sides of his debut single for Sun Records, "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." His rise to fame can be traced chronologically via his Hayride dates, as he develops from a nervous youngster to a more assured performer. By August 20, 1955, when his three-song set includes a cover of Chuck Berry's "Maybellene," he is horsing around confidently. His final ten-song set on December 16, 1956, reveals him as a national star at the end of a year in which he topped the charts and went to Hollywood. At this show (a benefit for the Shreveport YMCA), he has completely taken over the program, performing to an audience full of screaming girls. Presley's renditions of his early repertoire are similar to those on his records of the time and especially to his performances on television. Throughout, Scotty Moore plays some stinging guitar leads, and the instrumentation occasionally includes a piano and, on the final tracks, drums, as well as the backup vocals of the Jordanaires. Sound quality varies, with some of the earliest tracks the clearest, though the January 1955 songs (tracks four through ten) are muffled. Stage remarks by the announcer suggest there may have been additional performances that went unrecorded. These are historic tracks that Presley fans will find useful addenda to their existing collections of his earliest work.
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