February 2010

In any discussion of how Elvis supposedly ‘stole’ the blues away from black folks, a reference to Junior Parker’s (bka Herman Parker, Jr.) “Mystery Train” usually pops up.

It’s not debatable that Elvis did cover a wide variety of songs that were recorded by black folks from the south. But what usually gets left out of this entire conversation is the fact that older blues and country songs were pretty frequently covered for inclusion on singer’s singles. The ‘50s was an era that didn’t find too many performers writing, playing and singing their own songs. So while, this little caveat isn’t going to change anyone’s mind, the fact that Junior Parker isn’t as famous as B.B. King is more troublesome than the fact that Elvis recorded one of the harmonica player’s early hits.

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