Justin is joined on this episode by longtime guest and inquisitive mind Olivia Murphy-Rogers, who Gurdip, Ryan, Bec & Justin are pleased to announce is joining the TCBCast crew!!

Justin and Olivia explore the concept of the "fool" in Elvis' music - song titles, lyrics, and at critical moments in his life from his childhood in Tupelo to his final television special. Justin continues the theme with his Song of the Week, Elvis' 1971 version of "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" and they look at the history of both the song (which dates back to the 1940s) but also the phrase itself. Olivia's Song of the Week, by contrast, is the final "studio" recording Elvis laid down in the Jungle Room in 1976, a cover of Jim Reeves' crossover hit "He'll Have to Go."

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. 

(Note from Justin: We're already aware we somehow missed "Love Me, Love the Life I Lead"! Sorry!")

Justin and Bec pull out all the stops for a thorough exploration of the remaining Nashville studio sessions from 1970: June 6, 7 & 8 as well as the brief September 22, 1970, session where Elvis laid down four more tracks to polish off "Elvis Country" and prepare a single. As they begin to sense the material's strength (and Elvis' interest) waning, they ponder whether the "marathon" approach may have done more harm than good in the long run. There are still numerous highs, like much of the material that landed on the country record, but there's also... "Life."

This episode's main topic is extra jam-packed so there's no Song of the Week this week, just a buttload of fun and thoughtful discussion about the huge pile of music Elvis & the band laid down that year, and how it was released throughout the rest of 1970, 1971 and even sprinkled a bit into 1972. 

Want to hear a wonderfully curated collection of Elvis' 1970 session material? We highly recommend Sony's "From Elvis in Nashville" 4-disc box set from 2020, as of this posting still available physically, digitally and on streaming, and most of the final masters can be heard on the streaming versions of the albums "That's The Way It Is," "Elvis Country," and "Love Letters from Elvis" with a handful more on "Elvis Now." 

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. 

Gurdip's on vacation and between day jobs and personal emergencies, timing isn't lining up just yet Part 2 of the Nashville sessions, so Bec and Justin got together for a quick spur of the moment episode and managed to rope in John Michael Heath of EAP Society for a loose Elvis discussion among the three. The team discusses John & his father's Elvis artifacts in their collection, favorite Elvis movies, the 1969 American Sound Sessions and the 1970 Nashville Marathon both come up, as well as John's recent acquisition of Memphis photographer William Speer's non-Elvis collection of decades worth of photos.

For Song of the Week, John revisits a 1969 track previously featured as SotW (early in our run by Gurdip's nephew Roman) to give his heartfelt interpretation of Elvis' reading of Johnny Christopher's "Mama Liked The Roses." Justin's Song of the Week similarly focuses on a surprising, unexpected alternate interpretation of the December 1973 Stax recording "Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming" direct from the mouth of its writer, Rory Bourke, as well as a mini-SOTW side discussion on a January 1974 Las Vegas one-liner Elvis sang of the Rory Bourke co-write, Charlie Rich's "The Most Beautiful Girl."

If you'd like to hear more from John and Jamie Kelley, please visit youtube.com/EAPSociety or EAPSociety.com for details on their upcoming "Spring Festival" event in Iowa.

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 explore Elvis' "marathon" sessions from June 1970, starting with laying the groundwork for the return to Nashville's RCA Studio B, pondering why Elvis may not have chosen to return to Chips Moman's American Sound in Memphis. Instead Elvis is joined this time by a new band led by his live guitarist James Burton but otherwise comprised largely of country-soul players who had worked alongside producer Felton Jarvis in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, including Chip Young, Jerry Carrigan, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam and Charlie McCoy, and rather than a meticulous planned session with Chips' guiding vision... they tear through dozens of songs across four nights, with a follow-up session later that September. Part 1 focuses on the establishing information and the first two nights, June 4-5 and June 5-6, 1970. 

For Song of the Week, Bec highlights "I Met Her Today," the understated Don Robertson ballad that was cut in 1961's Pot Luck sessions but held until the hodgepodge Elvis For Everyone album four years later. Meanwhile, Justin goes way back to the Sun era, selecting the middle child single "Milkcow Blues Boogie" - couched between Good Rockin' Tonight and Baby Let's Play House, yet containing that same genius melding of blues (it was written and originated by Kokomo Arnold) and country (also highly popularized by western swing artists like Bob and Johnnie Lee Wills) in a new rockabilly style as anything else he did at Sun.

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. 

You're about to be taken on a journey...  Justin is joined by Rabia of Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast to tackle Australia's near-exclusive 1983 compilation "Elvis Blue" (also released in Japan & South Africa) which compiles all 19 songs Elvis released during his lifetime with the word "blue" in the title. 

This strange collection of songs that, when initially described, sounds like a novelty cash-in, ends up becoming a compelling, thoughtful alternate exploration of the span of Elvis' entire artistic journey, from Sun Records to the last song he ever sang. Justin & Rabia examine the lyrics of these songs and spend time reflecting on the themes of loss, loneliness, sadness, love-gone-wrong and - surprisingly - a sort of disaffected, comedic flippancy in there, too. 

For Song of the Week, the theme is carried forward, with Justin picking two Red West-penned 1966 home recordings "I've Been Blue" and "It's No Fun Being Lonely," one of which explicitly would fit the main topic's subject, and another that fits tonally. Rabia selects "I Need Somebody to Lean On," the understated, jazzy ballad from "Viva Las Vegas" and tries to root out some potential inspirations Pomus/Shuman may have had for it, and together Justin & Rabia ponder the potential influence of Ol' Blue Eyes himself on Elvis' crooning.

Rabia's show "Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast" is available on all major podcast platforms where you can find TCBCast, with more info at suddenlypod.gay.

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 returns this week to look back on his time and findings exploring the world of Elvis bootlegs, from soundboards and audience recordings to studio material and fan-made spliced takes. Justin takes the opportunity to loosely discuss some of the history of Elvis bootlegs and try to contextualize where Elvis bootlegs have fit within the larger rock bootleg scene, and the guys ponder whether there is even a future for Elvis bootlegs to offer anything new or interesting now that A) the official collector's label, Follow That Dream, has done a lot of the work both clearing out the vaults and clawing back material originally found on bootlegs and releasing it in the best possible quality and B) not many people buy CDs at all anymore to begin with, with YouTube and digital trading in online circles are the predominant way of obtaining material nowadays.

For Song of the Week, Ryan selects the bopping 1957 hit "I Beg Of You" and celebrates its cowriter, Rose Marie McCoy, while Justin picks the 1969 track "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road", effectively an album cut that Elvis still felt strongly enough about to consider bringing into his live setlist a couple times in the 70s.

Oh yeah, we went there. Gurdip & Justin sit down with the 1978 compilation album, intended for children but so often cited by Elvis fans who were around at the time as one of the worst and most misguided projects Colonel Tom Parker ever spearheaded... but is it, really?! Closer examination may be necessary! (Note: the guys ponder why the presence of an elephant in the artwork; Bec reached out after the fact and reminded us that Colonel Parker's favorite animal was, in fact, the elephant!)

Also discussed is the newly surfaced Forth Worth, TX footage of Elvis from early 1958 (available here through the University of North Texas: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2049375/m1/?fbclid=IwAR1d8oliLIWVkU29QBzgdovqXuai1MqaWMZClyo3eYU3hHMPQjYTj8typek) and the upcoming release of numerous demos from songwriter Randy Starr on the Bear Family Records label "Randy Starr - Presley Style" as well as a rarely-seen or discussed November 1957 article about Elvis from TAN magazine that was dug up by friend of the show John Michael Heath.

For Song of the Week, Gurdip knocks out another classic 50s track with the early country ballad "I'm Counting On You" that featured on Elvis' debut LP, while Justin sifts through the web of interconnected gospel songs that connect to "You Better Run," which Elvis was recorded and filmed singing during the rehearsals for "Elvis On Tour" in 1972 and also performed in concert at least a couple more times later in the 1970s.

Source for the TAN magazine scan: https://archive.org/details/sim_tan_1957-11_8_1/page/30/mode/2up?view=theater

One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready...

For our main topic this week, Justin's extensive Song of the Week takes priority, as the guys dig into the history of "Blue Suede Shoes," originally written and recorded by Carl Perkins and famously associated with Elvis throughout his career and beyond. What was Carl tapping into when he wrote it in 1955, why did it have such appeal, and has it been overplayed? Numerous versions by both Perkins and Elvis over the years are covered and discussed.

The story doesn't stop there - Justin's dug up what he believes to be some history behind when the soft, delicate dyed leather itself leapt the gender line and was introduced into men's footwear after decades of being associated with women and European nobility. 

Then Gurdip, for his Song of the Week, selects "I Love You Because," the country-pop ballad that Elvis toyed around with alongside Scotty and Bill during that first professional Sun session that would later explode with "That's All Right." 

An irreplaceable source this week was the book "Go Cat Go: The Life and Times of Carl Perkins, the King of Rockabilly" by Carl Perkins and David McGee and is highly recommended reading.

Here's a link to the auction site with photos of Elvis' blue suede shoes as worn on the Steve Allen Show: https://rockhurstauctions.com/1956_Elvis_Presley_Owned_and_Worn_Blue_Suede_Shoes-LOT7513.aspx

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Valentine's Day's coming up soon, so Justin and Bec decided to round up their favorite Elvis songs about love and relationships, and Bec even wrangled Gurdip and Ryan's lists from them as well. It's a total gush-fest over some of the most expressive and memorable romantic recordings Elvis ever made.

For Song of the Week, Bec stays on theme, picking the more downbeat "Something Blue" from the album "Pot Luck" while Justin spotlights "Tell Me Why," one of Elvis' more underrated and obscure 1957 recordings, left unreleased until surfacing on a single in the mid-1960s.

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

The TCBCast gang is off for one week, but we've got something special from the archives: one of our earliest previously Patreon-exclusive unofficial commentaries, for the 1992 heavily-Elvis-inspired rom-com "Honeymoon in Vegas" starring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan, written & directed by Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, The Freshman) with a soundtrack jam-packed with covers of Elvis songs and the movie itself containing numerous original Elvis recordings as well.

Gurdip and Justin sat down with the film back in early 2021 for the first time in years to see if it held up. "Honeymoon in Vegas" is, as of this upload in 2024, available to buy digitally on a handful of platforms including Apple & Amazon - or you can do like we hosts did and cue up our old DVDs (or even VHS!) to watch along - or just enjoy the listen! And let us know if you watched it when it first came out. whether you've seen it recently, or if you're a fan of the Elvis-inspired soundtrack, as always you can email us at [email protected]

If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast! Patrons get exclusive access to an archive of three years of bonus content just like this, with more commentaries, bonus movie and album reviews, early access to new episodes and more! If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music/movie history enthusiast.