Motorsports Park regularly hosts Kart racing, too
April 3, 2013
Andrew Calise Freeman
April 8, 2013
Dec. 4, 1956. It’s a date that lives in rock ‘n’ roll infamy.
The scene is Sun Records, a small recording studio on Union Avenue in Memphis, Tenn. There, owner Sam Phillips – later dubbed the “Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll” – has signed an enviable stable of talent.
On this night, Carl Perkins (of “Blue Suede Shoes” fame) is at the microphone. His brothers Jay and Clayton and drummer W.S. Holland are providing backup. And Phillips’ newest hire – a then unknown Jerry Lee Lewis – sits in on piano.
In the recording booth, chatting with Phillips, is 21-year-old Elvis Presley and his girlfriend, Las Vegas showgirl Marilyn Evans. The couple dropped in for a social visit, and young Presley likes what he hears in Perkins’ playback. He moseys into the studio and, soon, it’s magic time.
When country crooner Johnny Cash pops in, Sun’s quartet is complete. With papa Phillips looking on, engineer “Cowboy” Jack Clement hits the recorder button and, over the next hour, musical history is made. The four crooners join forces on their favorite gospel pieces and their individual hits. Beyond a photo and newspaper account by Memphis Press-Scimitar entertainment editor Bob Johnson, the evening wouldn’t reach American fans until 1990 – long after Englishman Shelby Singleton purchased Sun Records’ catalogue and uncovered the session after combing more than 10,000 hours of tape – when RCA would release “The Complete Million Dollar Session.”
That December ’56 night – relived in Broadway’s “Million Dollar Quartet” – runs April 16-21 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans.
“It’s wonderful to see how much audiences relate to these guys even today,” says Kelly Lamont, who originated the role of Dyanne – the singing twist to showgirl Evans. “Just last night, there were the ladies – two were in their 80s and one was 78 – who ran up to the stage right before the finale and began screaming like they were 15 again,” the actress said by phone during a break from the production’s Memphis appearance Easter week.
“(Memphisians) are very proud we’re here,” Lamont muses. “Everyone has opened their arms to us.”
And while at Tennessee’s musical ground zero, the cast and crew took time out to visit Sun Records and Graceland, Elvis’ longtime home and final burial place.
Born in 1979, Lamont just missed Elvis’ musical ride; he died at Graceland two years earlier. “But my mom was a huge Elvis fan, my sisters loved him, too, and my dad always had oldies radio stations on when he was tooling around in the garage, so I pretty much grew up around this music,” she says.
Now in her second year with the “Million Dollar Quartet” tour, Lamont has literally traveled the globe – the show visited Japan, Canada and is reaching all four corners of the U.S. – a whirlwind ride for the Chicago native who found her theatrical calling at age 3 when she stole the dance show by singing and dancing her way through “The Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini.”
The only female in the cast, Lamont admits her father and brother were a little weary when they first heard about the tour. “It’s been really refreshing, though,” she says of her spot on stage with the seven guys. “Between the seven guys and crew, they have my back. It’s like being onstage with your brothers.”
As Dyanne, Lamont belts out “Fever” and “I Hear You Knockin’,” and, along with Phillips, helps narrate the show. “Phillips breaks through that Fourth Wall and talks directly to the audience,” she says. “No one else – Elvis, Johnny or the others – no one could help drive the narration.”
The 90-minute musical – there is no intermission, but “no one has ever, ever complained about it,” Lamont says with a chuckle – builds to a Broadway-esque climax, complete with gold lame’ jackets and flashing lights as the four troubadours leave Sun for fortune and fame.
“We want everyone to come out and have fun,” Lamont says. “Get up and dance – be as active as you want. This show is a rock concert and a musical; you can let loose, have fun and enjoy. Just remember when you first heard these songs … how great it was to experience this era.”
Sun Records’ artists Carl Perkins (James Barry), Elvis Presley (Cody Slaughter) and Johnny Cash (David Elkins) jam in a scene from “Million Dollar Quartet.”
Kelly Lamont appears at Dyanne, a singing version of Vegas showgirl Marilyn Evans, who accompanied Elvis to the studio that legendary night.
