TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Following the apparent roaring success of Baz Luhrmann's "EPiC" at the Toronto International Film Festival, Justin and Bec decided rather than merely recap reviews and discuss the hype (though there is a bit of that, too!), to look backwards toward the original 1970 and 1972 films "That's The Way It Is" and "Elvis On Tour," and the component elements that have made "EPiC" possible. The duo ponder whether the voracious (and vocal) collector mindset that has taken over the fandom, demanding immediate access to every scrap of available content, has caused some fans to miss the narrative and artistic voices of the directors and creatives who sought to create genuinely artful and thematically resonant documentaries while capturing Elvis as a phenomenon and as an artist. Going further - what to make of other fan-focused releases derived from the same components like "The Lost Performances" and "That's The Way It Is: Special Edition" that delivered on the promise of new footage but lost the sense of authorial voice and storytelling in favor of Colonel Parker's preferred, and more readily digestible, "personal appearance film" style? Also... why is Baz Luhrmann on Justin's sh*tlist now? For Song of the Week, Bec checks Girl Happy's ho-hum rock pastiche "I've Got To Find My Baby" off the list while Justin has "Words" with Elvis's cover of the Bee Gees' 1968 hit.

Bec and Gurdip this week are setting themselves up for some fiery listener emails with their hottest takes yet as they pose the question: what are the biggest Elvis hits that they feel have become overrated?! (Or maybe just overexposed?) For Song of the Week, it's an Elvis movie double feature as Gurdip sets his course and picks "Go East, Young Man" from 1965's "Harum Scarum" while Bec decides to head out to the World's Fair and selects the cutesy "How Would You Like to Be?" Also discussed are last-minute teases by Baz Luhrmann that dropped just ahead of EPiC's Toronto premiere , including a new mash-up! This episode was recorded before the Toronto premiere and reviews began to release - check back for our reactions to all the excitement soon!

John Heath joins Justin as they get any final thoughts we've had off their chests after having sat with Peter Guralnick's "The Colonel & The King" a bit longer, watching other fans' reactions start to stream in over the last month or so. Consider this a follow-up to both the TCBCast and EAP Society reviews, as well as John's excellent Atomic Wax breakdown (if you hadn't seen it - here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdxN0xeTT1o) The guys also take a look at a number of things Peter has stated in public interviews surrounding the book's release and whether they stack up with what he writes in the book or go further. For Song of the Week, John's got HIS mojo working as he walks us through the deep Memphis lore around "Got My Mojo Working" - the 1970 warm-up jam on an old blues number (perhaps most famously known from Muddy Waters but previously done by Ann Cole) which Elvis turned into a medley with Priscilla Bowman & Jay McShann's R&B hit "Hands Off." Elvis's version surfaced with added overdubs on the Love Letters from Elvis album in '71 and the unedited version on "From Elvis in Nashville" remains a rocking treat. Justin's Song of the Week is the underrated "Anyone (Could Fall in Love With You), written for inclusion in "Kissin' Cousins" but removed from the production - yet still left on the soundtrack album. However, its songwriters' most famous non-Elvis hit from the 1940s - which Elvis almost certainly knew - might inadvertently give us a small insight into Elvis's gentle, one might say even "Spot-y," vocal approach. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. If you'd like to support us another way, please drop a positive review on your favorite podcast platform!

Justin and Bec have compiled their lists of a half-dozen essential alternate studio takes apiece that every Elvis Presley fan, from total newbies to lifelong fans should hear! For Song of the Week, Bec decides to spotlight Elvis's melancholy 1973 cover of Danny O'Keefe's folk-country hit song "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" - but in the hosts' pre-show off-air chat, the duo realized that the song had a lot of overlap with the world of outlaw country, given that the bluesy "Charlie" would go on to be covered by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and others. So Justin takes the opportunity to learn Bec some of the history of the burgeoning "outlaw" scene in Nashville in the early 1970s that led to Jennings' iconic "Honky Tonk Heroes" album, largely comprised of material by songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, including "You Asked Me To," which Elvis also recorded in late 1973. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. If you'd like to support us another way, please drop a positive review on your favorite podcast platform!

In this extra beefy episode, Ryan and Justin get together to discuss and rank Elvis's major live albums, from 1969's "In Person" to the posthumous "Elvis in Concert" For Song of the Week, Justin explores the history and original Mexican song "La Golondrina," behind "She Wears My Ring," which Elvis recorded in 1973 and released on 1974's "Good Times" album. Ryan then goes for the biggest SotW he's ever tackled on the show, looking into the iconic "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," including Elvis's concert performances across the 1970s, and the story of the original by The Righteous Brothers. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. If you'd like to support us another way, please drop a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! Timestamps: (Just in case - this one's pretty big!) Intro & News: 0:00 Main Topic: 9:10 She Wears My Ring: 1:21:35 You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling: 1:49:10

After spending a little time mulling over the post-release feelings surrounding "The Colonel & The King," Justin and Bec give their thoughts on the newest Elvis box set from Sony Legacy, Sunset Boulevard, which encompasses recordings and rehearsals done between 1970-1975 at RCA's Studio C in Hollywood. The duo reflect on the the successes and shortcomings of this era of box sets that seems to be drawing to a close.  From Elvis in Nashville, Back in Nashville, Memphis and Sunset Boulevard mark a period where producer Ernst Jorgensen and mixer Matt Ross-Spang have seemingly reinterpreted Elvis's multi-track studio work in the 1970s through a more "rockist" lens; that is to say, one that promotes and emphasizes the perceived authenticity or purity of raw material recorded in-studio by Elvis and a core rhythm band without additional backing vocalists, strings and horns.  Despite great, modern-sounding re-mixes, these box sets have also marred by inconsistent mix decisions that contradict the claims that you're only hearing what Elvis heard in the studio - selectively leaving some overdubs, removing contributions from musicians that were physically in the studio with Elvis, and much more. It's a thought-provoking discussion about what the goals were, what value these sets have added, and whether they have helped us understand Elvis's creative process any better. For Song of the Week, Bec picks a childhood favorite, the sweet ballad "A Boy Like Me, A Girl Like You" from the Girls! Girls! Girls! soundtrack. Then, Justin uses "Good, Bad But Beautiful," an instrumental intended for Elvis to finish, to explore the fascinating circumstances of sessions, publishing, and release schedules that led to its recording at Stax in July of 1973... and Elvis's rejection of the Clive Westlake-penned song (later done by Shirley Bassey) at a late September 1973 session at his Palm Springs home, less than three weeks after having attempted to fire his manager.  This is one you won't want to skip... because there's a special Elvis Week surprise in this Song of the Week segment, courtesy of our good friends Jamie and John over at the EAP Society. 

Baz Luhrmann has released a teaser promoting the world premiere date of September 6, 2025, for "EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert" by dropping newly restored clip of Elvis's 1970 rehearsal performance of "Oh Happy Day." Gone is the grainy, washed out video, in are pristine, sharp film, vibrant colors... but also new audio! Elvis's vocal track sounds better than it ever has, which implies a new source & substantial clean-up, but the instrumentation screams "overdub." What is EPiC even going to be? Gurdip and Justin are on the case to discuss this tiny Elvis Week tease from Baz and his team. Check it out for yourself on Luhrmann's social pages: https://www.instagram.com/p/DNQUuK4p9KZ/

Gurdip, Justin, Ryan, and Olivia all gathered round to discuss their thoughts on Peter Guralnick's new book, "The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World." Full spoilers within. We recommend people buy it to make their own judgment. It is available through most major retailers - you can learn more about the book and where to buy it here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/peter-guralnick/the-colonel-and-the-king/9780316399449/

The TCBCast gang is waist-deep in preparing to discuss Peter Guralnick's new book but Gurdip and Justin snagged listener Kirsty Garland who currently runs the "Exposing Elvis Photoshops" pages on Facebook and Instagram for a quick episode. They dig into why Kirsty decided to take on the effort of debunking and providing sources for badly digitally manipulated photos of Elvis that have seemed to proliferate in the wake of Elvis's resurgence in popularity, her thoughts on why so many pages create them, and also her feelings about the coming onslaught of AI Elvis images. Naturally, there's also coverage about recent Elvis news - not just confirmation of the world premiere of Baz Luhrmann's EPiC at the Toronto International Film Festival in September (and its 100-minute runtime), but there finally is confirmation of the substance of London's immersive theatre experience "Elvis Evolution." Billed (and previewed in teaser videos) as containing the first AI deepfake Pepper's ghost-style hologram... this mystery train has seemingly gone wildly off the tracks in its first couple weeks, with reports of angry fans demanding refunds, being escorted out of shows, and the company behind the experience claiming to the BBC and other media outlets that they had "made clear when tickets went on sale" that there would be no AI Elvis in the way fans expected. Tickets went on sale in October - here's an article from IQ Magazine from October 2024 of them talking about AI Elvis still being in the show: https://www.iqmagazine.com/2024/10/behind-the-scenes-of-elvis-evolution/ Here's the October 21, 2024, video of Layered Reality from their own YouTube channel showing off Work-in-Progress versions of the deepfake Elvis, implying inclusion in the show at the time tickets went on sale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7bPqwtHRp0 And finally, here's an article from as recently as July 2025 - right around the premiere - from Fast Company magazine, with new quotes and information not seen in any report or coverage prior to the premiere, directly from CEO & Head of Studio, still talking about AI Elvis being part of the show: https://www.fastcompany.com/91368335/inside-elvis-evolution-ai-and-immersive-tech-bring-the-kings-life-to-the-stage-in-london Take from all that what you will. No Songs of the Week this week - but we promise "The Colonel and the King" will be a doozy worth the wait! Kirsty's pages can be followed at instagram.com/exposing_elvis_photoshops/ or searching for Exposing Elvis Photoshops on Facebook. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

After an intensive two week deep dive reassessing the work of producer Felton Jarvis, Justin comes up for air only to find one Gurdip Ladhar waiting patiently at the surface.  Gurdip eases his way into the water, bringing along a favorite comfort Camden, 1971's "I Got Lucky," a collection of songs mostly comprised of movie material previously only available on Extended Plays (and one excellent non-movie single B-side!)   But we're not quite done with Felton yet - the last two episodes provoked some great responses long and short from Elvis fans of all kinds, and we tackle some of the most pointed questions and queries to result from the effort. Gurdip also gives his thoughts on recent Elvis news. For Song of the Week, Gurdip picks up right where he left off, picking the upbeat "I Love Only One Girl" from the feature film "Double Trouble," while Justin goes all-in on another one of Elvis's singularly iconic 1950s rock-and-blues recordings that's wildly out of season: "Santa Claus is Back in Town." 

After setting the stage by understanding producer Felton Jarvis's career leading up to his early collaborations with Elvis, we continue to investigate and interrogate the fan belief that he was singularly to blame for the "syrupy" overdubs that diminished the "pure" unfinished tracks. Helped along by a 1980 interview done between Felton and Jerry Flowers of RCA in which the producer talks about his career retrospectively, Justin and Bec trace Felton's journey as Elvis hires and hand-picks him to be his exclusive producer, taking Felton away from RCA and other artists so that Elvis can, as a largely autonomous artist whose only studio commitments during this decade are to send periodic deliverables to RCA, work at his own pace and create the kind of recordings that he truly wants. But was Felton truly to blame for the overindulgent strings and horns that were added to Elvis's music, or is there someone else that we've collectively overlooked? And has the narrative been all wrong and the way we even talk about "overdubs" been clouded by a widespread "rockist" misunderstanding of both Elvis and Felton, their respective jobs and tastes, and misunderstood expectations of the kind of music both fans & critics thought Elvis "should" be making?  The duo examine Elvis's live performances in relation to his studio work, touch on a few more non-Elvis records produced by Felton, and even revisit the 1981 "Guitar Man" project Felton spearheaded before his early death to see if it provides clearer insight into the producer's preferences and tastes. For Song of the Week, Bec makes a promise that "It Won't Be Long," covering the recording cut from "Double Trouble," while Justin goes prospecting because he's pretty sure "There's Gold in the Mountains" still to be dug up from "Kissin' Cousins." Some of the resources consulted for this and the last episode included, even if not quoted or mentioned in the final episode: Felton Jarvis's 1980 Interview with Jerry Flowers of RCA William Bozeman: "Felton Jarvis: The Man Behind the Music" from Elvis Express Magazine Peter Guralnick: Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley Roben Jones: Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios Rick Hall: The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame Norbert Putnam: Musical Memories, Volume 1 Ernst Jorgensen: Elvis Presley - A Life in Music Ernst Jorgensen & Peter Guralnick: "Elvis Day By Day" and "The Complete Masters" Ernst Jorgensen, Johnny Mikkelsen & Erik Rasmussen: Reconsider Baby: The Definitive Elvis Sessionography Elvis Music FAQ by Mike Eder Alanna Nash: "Revelations from the Memphis Mafia" & "The Colonel" Luther Moore: "Felton Jarvis Re-Appraised" from Elvis: The Man & His Music magazine Brian F. White's Interview with Norbert Putnam: https://www.brianfwright.com/interviews/norbert-putnam Michael Nesmith: Infinite Tuesday - An Autobiographical Riff TapeOP's Interview with Chip Young: https://tapeop.com/interviews/124/chip-young Various reviews, articles, editorials, and interviews compiled from across Elvis Australia, Elvis Information Network, Elvis-History-Blog, Elvis Monthly, Strictly Elvis, Arjan Deelan as well as Discogs, KeithFlynn.uk, Elvisconcerts.com and other resources online.

Intrigued by the premise presented by the recent Sony box sets like "Sunset Boulevard" describing Elvis's undubbed recordings as "pure," Justin decided to investigate the story behind the man who has borne most of the heavy criticism aimed at the production on Elvis's music, Felton Jarvis, who was Elvis's main producer from 1966-1977. While we've previously touched on Felton's work as a producer in our "Elvis and His Producers/Elvis as a Producer" episode, realizing we may not have given him a fair shake, on this episode Justin and Bec investigate Felton's early work at National Recording Corporation (NRC) in Atlanta, Georgia, his time at ABC-Paramount working with Tommy Roe, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and.... "Vince Everett"? They trace Felton's move to RCA Victor producing many successful acts and hit records in the field of country music in the mid-1960s and, naturally, his first sessions with Elvis across 1966-1968, chief among which was the How Great Thou Art project, which won Elvis his first-ever Grammy Award. Laced throughout are stories of a warm-hearted, good-natured Georgia boy - who loved Elvis Presley and dreamed so hard to one day produce his hero's music that he manifested it - from collaborators, friends and historians who have tried to relay some of Felton's story, as well as audio from Felton himself in conversation with RCA's Jerry Flowers in 1980, discussing his career in hindsight. Part 2 will even more directly interrogate the idea that Felton was, as so frequently repeated by Elvis fans over nearly 4 decades, singularly to blame for the "syrupy" overdubs that were a hallmark of Elvis's 1970s output, as Justin builds a case to convince Bec that she and everyone else - including sometimes even Justin himself - has been wrong all these years! If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Olivia Murphy-Rogers joins Justin for an extra-special episode of TCBCast as they trace the real history behind the song "Frankie and Johnny," the title track of Elvis's 1966 film. They learn who Frankie Baker was, the man who "done her wrong," the song she couldn't escape, and the identity of the most likely songwriting candidate to have penned the original folk lyrics - on the very day of the true murder.  The duo also react to the news about Sony's upcoming  "Sunset Boulevard" box set recently announced that will encompass studio recordings from 1972, 1975 and rehearsals from 1970 and 1974, all done at RCA Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Justin has first impressions of the "Harum Scarum Sessions" FTD set, and then the two take a little time discussing Riley Keough and Gina Gammell's "In Process" short films for Tribeca; not just the one everyone else saw, "Chapter 1: Writing" which was filmed at Graceland and stars Riley herself narrating a short essay about her writing process for both film generally and more specifically about "From Here to the Great Unknown," but also the other two less-appreciated Chapters, "A Self Tape" and "Shooting A Scene," all of which were also co-directed by Riley. Justin's Song of the Week is a breezy listen to "The Meanest Girl in Town" from Girl Happy - and Olivia's Song of the Week IS our main topic! FYI - this episode does intentionally end without a proper "sign-off."  If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Justin and Bec put on their sombreros, pour margaritas and head South of the border for an exploration of the January 1963 movie soundtrack sessions that gave us the "Fun in Acapulco" album. With its unusual genre stylings that evoked more Latin-flavored stylings, traditional Mexican songs and the whole Acapulco nightclub destination scene of the early 1960s, "Fun in Acapulco" offered Elvis Presley a chance to dabbled in the types of songs he might never have otherwise done but takes the challenge head on, such as "Guadalajara," "Marguerita" and "Vino, Dinero Y Amor." Of course, while they touch on the iconic "Bossa Nova Baby," a cover of a Leiber/Stoller-penned hit originally for The Clovers, and ponder what on earth happened to "Mexico" on the original album, the duo also briefly glimpse the extensive careers of some of the unique musicians who helped Elvis nail the tone (such as The Four Amigos), as well discuss a few ways Fun in Acapulco has popped up in pop culture.  For Song of the Week, Bec takes it light and breezy with the bluesy "Hard Luck" from "Frankie and Johnny" while Justin gives a little love to Lee Hazlewood's "The Fool," originally a hit for Sanford Clark but surfacing both as a home recording by Elvis and eventually on the "Elvis Country" album. Note: We recorded this episode just before the "Sunset Boulevard" box set news dropped, before seeing Riley Keough's "In Process" short film and a few other news tidbits that cropped up, which we'll tackle all on the next episode! If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Justin was recovering from his madcap trip to the Hawkeye State, so we took a brief hiatus but will be returning next week with a "Fun," summery feeling sessions-and-album discussion (hint hint).  Enjoy this blast from the past in two ways: Justin & Gurdip's 2021 bonus discussion of the Billboard Top 10 from May 26, 1958, which offers up iconic rock and pop tracks, from Elvis's "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" to less-well-remembered hits like The Four Preps' "Big Man". But the guys ended up going deeper when Justin start pulling in the top songs on the R&B and country charts as well, realizing that mid-1958 is a point of huge musical overlap between the major mainstream genres.  Then, the guys also discuss some of the other Elvis-related items featured in this historical issue of this music industry magazine, including a contemporary review of King Creole and an incredibly fascinating story about Elvis bootlegs pressed into unconventional materials in Soviet Russia in the 1950s! For your listening convenience and pleasure, we've built a Spotify playlist of the songs featured on these charts, plus a handful of other tracks included in the discussion, at this link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6PeM4TMYaXx8ToQOfS84GH?si=de7dee88f6bf4e81  For more on the X-Ray Audio Project, visit: https://x-rayaudio.squarespace.com/ If you enjoyed this kind of content, please consider consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. We have an archive of over 4 years (and growing!) of bonus discussions just like this! Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Justin and Bec give their reactions to watching Disney's live action remake of the 2002 animated classic "Lilo and Stitch," which prominently featured Elvis's music. The remake does, too, so we primarily center our discussion initially around how Elvis is used; but since Bec had never seen the original before, she gave it a watch after having gone to see the reworking in theatres, and the duo compare notes on things that were different, what worked and what didn't. For Song of the Week, since the "Blue Hawaii" album is seen prominently in the new "Lilo and Stitch", both hosts decided to pick songs from the 1961 classic, with Justin first picking "Ku-U-I-Po," the ballad also written by "Can't Help Falling in Love" cowriters Peretti-Creatore-Weiss for "Blue Hawaii." Bec then dives headfirst into the multi-faceted history behind "Aloha Oe," the traditional Hawaiian song penned by the last Queen of Hawai'i, Liliʻuokalani, and its double meaning as both a simple romantic farewell as well as symbolizing the loss of indigenous sovereignty. This prompts further discussion on how the song is used in "Blue Hawaii" and in both versions of "Lilo and Stitch," bringing the whole thing together. Be warned - if you haven't made it out to see the movie, this whole episode contains numerous spoilers for both the 2002 and 2025 versions of "Lilo and Stitch." If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Ryan Droste returns to TCBCast, this time to guide us through his response to an intriguing listener email all about how history teachers like him may choose to discuss Elvis's place in the broader story of American history, and how he specifically teaches his teenage students about Elvis, Sun Records, race relations and the music industry of the 1950s. For Song of the Week, Ryan picks the beautifully sung ballad "Today Tomorrow and Forever" from one of his all-time favorite Elvis movies, Viva Las Vegas, both as a solo cut and as a duet with Ann-Margret. Then, Justin pieces together an unexpectedly heartbreaking story behind the cheerful Olivia Newton-John hit "Let Me Be There" that Elvis famously covered in his March 20, 1974, Memphis concert (released as an album itself) as well as resurfacing a few years later again on the Moody Blue album. This is a Song of the Week that you do not want to miss - it may change how you think of the song entirely. uge thanks goes out to David "Ghosty" Wills of "We Say Yeah" for his assistance with research materials for this Song of the Week. You can check out more of Ryan's history content at youtube.com/MrDrosteHistory as well as find him as usual discussing pro wrestling on Top Rope Nation. CONTENT WARNING: the SOTW segment starting at 1:39:15 contains discussion about suicide. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy. Patrons receive early access to episodes, exclusive new bonus episodes and an extensive archive of over 4 years of bonus episodes covering a range of topics related to Elvis and early rock and roll!

This week, Justin and John Michael Heath from "EAP Society" discuss some recent Elvis news including the discovery of a longer, extended clip of behind the scenes footage from the making of Love Me Tender, confirmation from Disney of more Elvis songs returning in the Lilo & Stitch remake (review coming next week!), and then the guys talk about their recent adventures having their attention drawn to two artists Elvis openly acknowledged as influences but are only infrequently discussed: vocalists Arthur Prysock and John Gary, the former a semi-operatic soul singer whose dulcet tones blurred genre lines between jazz, R&B, pop and country, and the latter a remarkable tenor whose strong, controlled and nuanced voice clearly resonated with Elvis.  Then for Song of the Week, John highlights Elvis's recitation of Hank Williams's "Men with Broken Hearts" and explores the way Elvis seemed to draw from music to explore and articulate his feelings about real life. Meanwhile, Justin tries his best to make amends with the 1961 minor hit ballad, "I'm Yours," a track laden with Floyd Cramer's heavy organ, after learning where songwriters Don Robertson and Hal Blair intended the song to be used. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Bec and Justin discuss their favorites of the many songs Elvis recorded or performed titled after the women and girls they're about by name. From Caroline to Petunia, Marguerita to Marie and Annie to Kathleen, the tunes span the breadth of love, heartbreak and stories of unique musical characters. For Song of the Week, Justin takes the opportunity to jump from Elvis's messy but fun home recording of "San Antonio Rose" to explore a bit of the history behind Bob Wills' iconic western swing hit, examine contemporary perspectives that challenge our ideas of what the boundaries of oldies "country" music were, and how the Texas Playboys' work paved the way for rockabilly and rock and roll. Then Bec celebrates a belated Easter, spotlighting Elvis's heartfelt 1973 cover of Dottie Rambo's "If That Isn't Love," a gospel record all about Jesus's sacrifice, as well as explore a bit of the detail behind the friendship Elvis and Dottie shared and his deep appreciation for the music of her family group, The Rambos.  If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

This week, John Michael Heath from EAP Society joins Justin to reflect on the music of pianist, producer, and songwriter David Briggs, who first joined Elvis in the recording studio in 1966 and continued working through the rest of Elvis's career periodically in and out of sessions and live shows. David passed away this past week at the age of 82. The guys select some of their favorite tracks featuring David's work, and also remember Wink Martindale and Will Hutchins who both passed away as well. For Song of the Week, call it a belated Easter segment, with Justin selecting Elvis's versions of the country standard "There Goes My Everything" and its gospel counterpart "He Is My Everything" from the early 1970s. John then gives us a quick primer on how to interpret Elvis's approach to the melding white and black gospel traditions for the How Great Thou Art sessions before spotlighting the more direct influence of Jimmy Jones & The Sensationals on "So High." Justin then takes the baton and together the duo explore the earlier (and Biblical) roots of the song and a couple neat secularized R&B versions of the same song. You can hear more from John and Jamie Kelley at youtube.com/EAPSociety or visiting eapsociety.com. If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.