Charlie Feathers and Elvis Presley

Over the course of several decades, Charlie Feathers never recorded a song that was anything less than amazing. You can't say that about a lot of artists. He was a rockabilly original who had no use for the superficial sideburned trappings that eventually doomed the genre to cartoon hipsterdom. Stubbornly eccentric by nature and talented beyond normal comprehension, he could have hiccuped the entire Memphis phone book had he chosen to.

The poor guy spent his last few years in a terrible sickness, yet he never strayed too far from a guitar and a microphone. This is a 45 I picked up down at Shangri-La Records in Memphis a few years ago. Story goes, in 1977 a disoriented Elvis Presley rang up Feathers one night and asked for a song. Charlie wasn't ready with the demo in time and it took fifteen years for him to finish it and another six to personally sing it to Elvis up in Heaven. Charlie's talent was an immensely rockin' thing--something that only soars past these parts once in a millennium. Charlie Feathers broke the mold, tossed it in the mud and then crushed it to a fine dust.

Look Up 1992 (mp3)

Look Up 1977 (mp3)

Here's Rex's Charlie Feathers Birthday Show (streaming audio)

Bonus Elvis pic after the jump!

Comments

[Jukeboxmafia]

Wow, great post. Thanks for the Shangri-la link!
p.s. where can I get a jacket like that??

[Will]

Thank you! These tracks just punched me. I'll listen to the (hopefully annual) b-day show immediately.

[Jimmy Nations]

I made a trip down to Memphis in 1997 and stopped by Charlie Feathers house, where i was greeted warmly, but with some confusion on how i heard of him and it took some convincing that there are big Charlie Feathers fans out there, believe it or not.

We sat on his front porch, spittin' tobacco, while he talked about Junior Kimbrough (R.I.P.) the Chulahoma, MS Bluesman. The two of them were completely unique musicians - he was very excited that I had heard of Kimbrough (I had plans to go to his juke joint that evening). He asked me to sit in his car and listen to a cassette of them playing music together - priceless! i have a photo of this moment on my website (www.jimmynations.com). I will treasure that memory.

regards, Jimmy