Sun Legend Roy Orbison’s sons united to complete an unfinished song, “The Way Is Love”. Starting off with just a tape of Orbison’s vocals, Wesley, Roy Jr. and Alex Orbison added backing vocals, drums and guitars to complete the track. Another Sun Legend’s heir, John Carter Cash, added help by co-producing the song.
A new movie is in the works, and living legend Mick Jagger will be a producer. The movie will be based off of Peter Guralnick’s book Last Train to Memphis, and will be focused on Elvis’ early years. Not much other info has been released as of right now, but we will relay new information as it becomes available.
While he may not have had as much public acknowledgement as he deserved, Roland Janes was a key part in the foundation of the Rock ‘n’ Roll genre in the 50s. He was a studio musician, playing guitar on many of the Jerry Lee Lewis and other Sun rock sessions. He was a touring musician, playing guitar with Jerry Lee in the peaks and valleys early on in his career. The stress of the road eventually drove him to working mainly in recording studios. He eventually built his own, Sonic Recording, with the same mentality as Sun Studio. There, he helped usher in the garage rock era in Memphis.
The music world lost another legend yesterday, August 8th, as Cowboy Jack Clement passed in his home at the age of 82. He was to be officially inducted in to the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year.
Sun Records, the legendary home of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison, has announced the release of “GOOD WINE AND BAD DECISIONS,” the eagerly anticipated new album from Julie Roberts. “GOOD WINE AND BAD DECISIONS” arrives everywhere on October 29th.
Johnny Cash has been memorialized by the United States Postal Service. The country legend is the first artist featured in the USPS “Music Icons” stamp series. The Cash stamp features a stunning photograph taken by Frank Bez, originally used for 1963’s Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.
Nashville record company, Third Man Records, has partnered with Sun Records to reissue three of Sun’s original 7″ 45rpm singles. The initial releases include Johnny Cash “Get Rhythm / I Walk The Line”, The Prisonaires “Just Walkin’ In The Rain / Baby Please”, & Rufus Thomas “Bear Cat / Walking In The Rain”. You can buy each record individually, or get all three with the Sun Reissue series bundle.
Sun Records artist, Cowboy Jack Clement, along with Bobby Bare and Kenny Rogers have been inducted in to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Clement joins music legends Gene Autry, Chet Atkins, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, as well as Sun legends Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Charley Pride, and many more.
On this day in 1952, Sam Phillips started the record label that launched careers for so many legends. 61 years later, Sun Records is as iconic as ever. Happy Birthday, Sun!
As was stated in an earlier post, Jack Clement was honored by some of today’s biggest artists, all of which have taken influence from him in one way or another. Recently, he was recognized my the First Lady, Michelle Obama. The congratulatory note is posted below.
