Birthplace of Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was born Jan. 8, 1935, in this house built by his father. Presley's career as a singer and entertainer redefined American popular music. He died on Aug. 16, 1977, at Memphis, Tennessee. Erected 1977 by Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Birthplace of Elvis Presley
The Birthplace
The Elvis Presley Birthplace Park was begun with proceeds Elvis donated from his 1957 concert at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair. Unchanged since it was built in the 1930's, the two-room birthplace sat unoccupied and in poor repair. As Elvis rose to stardom, thousands of fans began coming to Tupelo to see his birthplace and wishing to see inside the house. Seeing a worthy project for the park and the city, members of the East Heights Garden Club took the initiative to open the house to fans. While members scrubbed and painted, their husbands made structural repairs needed for the safety of visitors. Requests for period furnishings were published in the local paper. All items in the refitted home were donated by area residents. When the house was opened in 1971, Garden Club members served as volunteer hostesses, often meeting fans outside Tupelo to guide them to the Birthplace Park. Today the house stands as a memorial to the humble beginnings of Elvis' amazing career and fitting tribute to the vision and dedication of the women of the East Heights Garden Club.East Tupelo 1935-1948When Vernon Presley built this home for his family, he, Gladys and Elvis were part of a small low-income community strengthened by family, friends and faith. Most were related in some way: by blood, church, work and the need to survive; all were seeking a better life. Women sewed in shirt factories and men drove trucks or worked in fields. Those who didn't work depended on their wives, children, the church or the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Front porches of the small frame houses were favorite gathering places when work was done. Kids read and swapped comic books and movie star magazines and went to ten-cent movies. Moon pies and RC Colas were favorite treats. Adults looked out for neighborhood children just as they did their own. Church revivals were annual summer events. Gospel singing drifted from open church windows throughout the neighborhood. Clapping, shouting and an occasional "Amen!" rang through the night air. Although born in this tiny house to poor parents on the "other side of the tracks," Elvis' early life was enriched by the love of family and the basic goodness of his neighborhood. The charity his family often needed and received instilled in him the generous spirit that characterized his life as an adult.
Elvis Country
Raised on country here in Tupelo, first introduced as “The Hillbilly Cat,” then by RCA Victor as “the hottest new name in country music,” Elvis Presley’s revolutionary musical mix always had country as a key ingredient. Appearing on the country charts over 50 times, Presley’s music pushed traditional country towards the modernizing Nashville Sound, which followed the pop, if not the rock ‘n roll path he’d fashioned. Elvis would record the country songs he loved throughout his career.Elvis Presley Born in Tupelo on January 8, 1935, Elvis Aron Presley grew up in a household that knew and valued country music, playing records by Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills, listening to Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff on the radio. By age ten Elvis was singing Red Foley’s “Old Shep” at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair at the Fairgrounds here; he received his first guitar the following year. While rhythm and blues, Southern gospel, and pop would all be part of the Elvis Presley repertoire, country songs and his country music legacy, which began here, would have their own important place in it.He took a secondary role in a local band during his high school years in Memphis, as they played songs by his future label mates Eddy Arnold and Hank Snow. His first records, produced at Sun Records in Memphis in the mid-1950s, included tunes in roughly equal measure from country and R&B sources. The rock ’n roll style he developed there, along with band members Scotty Moore and Bill Black and producer Sam Phillips, demonstrated enough twang that it came to be known as rockabilly, and Elvis himself was promoted as “The Hillbilly Cat.” His Southern regional fame grew with regular appearances on the Louisiana Hayride, the adventurous live country broadcast out of Shreveport. It seemed completely appropriate to audiences that Presley was soon on tour with Hank Snow, Slim Whitman and Faron Young, making connections that led to his signing by RCA Victor records and, before long, global fame.Elvis would consistently place hit songs on the country charts as well as the pop charts for years to come. Ten Presley records were Number One country, and such classics as “A Fool Such as I,” “Always On My Mind,” “There Goes My Everything” and “Green, Green Grass of Home” would be as much Presley signature tunes as they were for the strictly country artists who also recorded them.In the late 1950s, the massively successful Presley pop style and rock ’n roll’s appeal to younger audiences were seen as threats to country’s future, but the modern “Nashville Sound” created as an answer took lush arrangements, rhythmic backing singers, and more from the Presley playbook, which was created in Nashville studios, often with the same musicians. Elvis Presley never stopped performing country music throughout his career. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998, twenty-one years after his death.Erected 2011 by the Mississippi Country Music Trail.
Elvis Presley and the Blues
Elvis Presley revolutionized popular music by blending the blues he first heard as a youth in Tupelo with country, pop, and gospel. Many of the first songs Elvis recorded for the Sun label in Memphis were covers of earlier blues recordings by African Americans, and he continued to incorporate blues into his records and live performances for the remainder of his career.Marker Rear:Elvis first encountered the blues here in Tupelo, and it remained central to his music throughout his career. The Presley family lived in several homes in Tupelo that were adjacent to African American neighborhoods, and as a youngster Elvis and his friends often heard the sounds of blues and gospel streaming out of churches, clubs, and other venues. According to Mississippi blues legend Big Joe Williams, Elvis listened in particular to Tupelo blues guitarist Lonnie Williams. During Elvis’s teen years in Memphis he could hear blues on Beale Street, just a mile south of his family’s home. Producer Sam Phillips had captured many of the city’s new, electrified blues sounds at his Memphis Recording Service studio, where Elvis began his recording career with Phillips's Sun label. Elvis was initially interested in recording ballads, but Phillips was more excited by the sound created by Presley and studio musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black on July 5, 1954, when he heard them playing bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s 1946 recording “That’s All Right.” That song appeared on Presley’s first single, and each of his other four singles for Sun Records also included a cover of a blues song—Arthur Gunter’s “Baby Let’s Play House,” Roy Brown’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” Little Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” and Kokomo Arnold’s “Milk Cow Blues,” recorded under the title “Milkcow Blues Boogie” by Elvis, who likely learned it from a version by western swing musician Johnnie Lee Wills. Elvis's sound inspired countless other artists, including Tupelo rockabilly musician Jumpin' Gene Simmons, whose 1964 hit “Haunted House” was first recorded by bluesman Johnny Fuller. Elvis continued recording blues after his move to RCA Records in 1955, including “Hound Dog,” first recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952, Lowell Fulson’s “Reconsider Baby,” Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and two more by Crudup, “My Baby Left Me” and “So Glad You’re Mine.” One of Elvis’s most important sources of material was the African American songwriter Otis Blackwell, who wrote the hits “All Shook Up,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and “Return to Sender.” In Presley's so-called "comeback" appearance on NBC television in 1968, former bandmates Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana rejoined him as he reprised his early Sun recordings and performed other blues, including the Jimmy Reed songs "Big Boss Man" and "Baby What You Want Me to Do." Blues remained a feature of Elvis's live performances until his death in 1977.Erected 2008 by the Mississippi Blues Commission.
Shake Rag
Shake Rag, located east of the old M & O (later GM & O) railway tracks and extending northward from Main Street, was one of several historic African American communities in Tupelo. By the 1920s blues and jazz flowed freely from performers at Shake Rag restaurants, cafes, and house parties, and later from jukeboxes, while the sounds of gospel music filled the churches. The neighborhood was leveled and its residents relocated during an urban renewal project initiated in the late 1960s.Marker Reverse:Tupelo's blues legacy is perhaps most widely known for its influence on a young Elvis Presley, who lived adjacent to the African American neighborhoods of "Shake Rag" and "On the Hill." A local explanation for the origin of Shake Rag's name refers to people "shakin' their rags" while fleeing a fight. The term was also used to describe African American musical gatherings in the 1800s and early 1900s and may be related to Shake Rag's location next to the railroad tracks; prior to regular timetables, passengers would signal for the engineer to stop a train by shaking a rag. Gambling and bootlegging were commonplace in Shake Rag and although outsiders often regarded the area as dangerous, former residents proudly recalled its churches, prosperous businesses, and strong sense of community, a quality highlighted in Charles "Wsir" Johnson's 2004 documentary about Shake Rag, "Blue Suede Shoes in the Hood." Blues guitarists such as Willie C. Jones, Charlie Reese, "Tee~Toc," and Lonnie Williams played at Shake Rag house parties, on street corners, on a stage near the fairgrounds, and at the Robins Farm south of downtown, according to musicians who have stated that Elvis may have been especially swayed by the music of "Tee~Toc" or Williams.Touring blues, jazz, and R&B acts performed elsewhere in town at more formal venues including the Henry Hampton Elks Lodge on Tolbert Street, the Dixie Belle Theater, the lounge at Vauhn's Motel on North Spring Street, and the armory at the fairgrounds (south of this marker). In the post~World War II era George "Bally" Smith, a multi~instrumentalist whose repertoire include big band jazz and rhythm & blues, led the most celebrated local band. His band members over the years include bassist Charles "Bo" Clanton, trumpeters Turner Bynum and Joe Baker, drummers James "Pinhead" Ashby and Steve Norwood, guitarists Willie "Shug" Ewing, Cliff Mallet, and "Guitar" Murphy, trombonist Fred Chambers, pianist Billy Ball, and saxophonists James Brown, Jerry Baker, Augustus Ashby, Pete Norwood, and Ben Branch, who directed the band at Carver High School. Bally also led the King Cole Trio~style group Three B's and a Bop, featuring Clanton, James Ashby, and vocalist Hattie Sue Helenstein. Bally's groups performed on radio stations WELO and WTUP, sometimes together with vocal group the Five Rockets, which included Sam Bell and Wayne Herbert, Sr.Nap Hayes of Shake Rag was among the first Tupelo performers to record (in 1928 for OKeh Records). Other Tupelo area natives who have recorded blues, R&B, or gospel included Aarib and Marion Sparks, Benny Sharp, Willie Pooch, Lester and Willie Chambers of the Chambers Brothers, Riley (Richard) Riggins, Lee Williams of the Spiritual QCs, and Homemade Jamz Blues Band. Erected 2009 by the Mississippi Blues Commission.
Shake Rag Community
From 1943~47, Elvis' father, Vernon, worked for L.P. McCarty & Son's local wholesale grocery company making deliveries to various parts of the City. Shake Rag, a historically black community, was one of his delivery areas.It was here that Elvis was influenced by the sanctified gospel and blues music he heard which contributed greatly to the style he made famous. Erected 2003 by Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Elvis Presley and Tupelo
On October 3, 1945, a ten-year old Elvis played to his first crowd on these grounds and took 5th place in a talent show.Eleven years later he returned as the King of Rock and Roll!Elvis in TupeloElvis Aron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935 to Vernon and Gladys Presley. Born in a two room house built by his father, grandfather, and uncle, Elvis was one of identical twin brothers born to the Presleys. His brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn. Elvis spent his formative years in Tupelo surrounded by his extended family. Times were financially difficult for the Presleys who moved out of the home where Elvis was born when he was three, moving many times within the city throughout the next ten years. It was at the Assembly of God church that Elvis first become enthralled with music and, more specifically, the music of gospel quartets. Elvis grew up in a household that valued country music and was often exposed to Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Willis' music. He was further influenced by the rhythm and blues and gospel music that he heard on "the Hill" and in the Shake Rag district, historically African-American communities in Tupelo. It was this unique blend of these genres that created Rock and Roll. In 1948, Elvis' family moved to Memphis to pursue a better life. Eight years later, they would take on these fairgrounds... but this time in triumph, to play a sold-out concert at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair. Elvis' life had certainly changed by this time, and it was about to change tremendously. Tupelo will always be the place where it all began."Everybody is tickled to death to have you home!"The following are words for Elvis from Governor JP Coleman in 1956…"Elvis, as the chief executive of this great magnolia state of Mississippi, your home state, I'm delighted that I was selected by the people of Lee County to present you with a document here which we hope that you will keep and treasure which I shall read to you as it will take all of a half a minute…The State of Mississippi takes pride in welcoming home on the occasion of the Mississippi-Alabama Fair, America's number one entertainer in the field of popular music, its own native son, Elvis Presley, on this, the 26th of September, 1956."-J.P. Coleman, GovernorThe Homecoming Concert - September 26, 1956In 1948, Elvis Presley left Tupelo with his parents at the tender age of 13. He was a poor, East Tupelo boy whose family struggled to make ends meet while dealing with the stigma of a father who had been imprisoned. In September of 1956, poised to become a mega superstar of historic proportions, Elvis and his family were welcomed home by a parade, thousands of screaming fans, and the Governor of Mississippi. He performed two shows and received the "key to the city" of this little town where he was so humbly born.What he played...Afternoon Show•Heartbreak Hotel•Long Tall Sally•I Was The One•I Want You, I Need You, I Love You•I Got a Woman•Don't Be Cruel•Ready Teddy•Love Me Tender•Hound DogEvening Show•Love Me Tender•I Was The One•I Got a Woman•Don't Be Cruel•Blue Suede Shoes•Baby, Let's Play House•Hound DogAbout the StatueDedicated in August of 2012, this larger-than-life statue depicts the famous photograph known all over the world as "The Hands", shot by Roger Marshutz in 1956 in Tupelo. Mississippi artist Bill Beckwith was commissioned to sculpt the statue and is known for his artistry on statues of Mississippi's well-known native sons including William Faulkner and B.B. King. The statue is placed so the famous photograph can be re-created by fans today.
Tupelo Hardware
In 1946, Elvis' mother, Gladys brought him here to buy a bicycle. Once they arrived, a 22-caliber rifle caught Elvis' eye, and he asked his mother to buy it instead. She wasn't happy about purchasing a gun so they compromised on a guitar. Forest L. Bobo, a long time employee of Tupelo Hardware, sold the guitar to the young Elvis for $7.90. Erected 2003 by the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Lee County Courthouse
In 1946, Tupelo radio station WELO broadcast weekly music jamborees from the Courthouse. Mississippi Slim, who had his own show on WELO, arranged for Elvis to perform at the jamboree. Elvis’ dream was to become as famous as Mississippi Slim and to have his own radio show some day. Erected 2003 by Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Lyric Theatre
Elvis enjoyed going to the movies, especially "westerns," at the Lyric Theatre. Friends recall how Elvis would climb over the divider in the balcony to sit among his African-American friends. The sweetest of the legends associated with this theatre and Elvis is the rumor that he stole his first kiss in the balcony.
Mayhorn Grocery
In 1947, Elvis lived at the North end of Green Street, not far from here. Mayhorn Grocery previously occupied this space, and Elvis would walk to the store and sit on the porch listening to the blues. It was also here that he heard the sounds of black gospel music sung in the church across the street. Erected 2003 by the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau.
