Listen to the Dawn of Rock ā€™nā€™ Roll, Captured at Sun Studio


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Two years after the studio opened, Phillips launched his own label, Sun Records, out of the same building. Though Sun would come to be best known for distributing rock and rockabilly singles, its first release was this casually cool jazz number by the 16-year-old alto saxophone player Johnny London.

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An 18-year-old Elvis Presley first showed up at Sun Studio on July 18, 1953, to record two demos; legend has it that he wanted to give his mother a record of him singing as a birthday present. Phillips soon realized Presleyā€™s potential, and brought him in for subsequent sessions. This sultry and soulful rendition of Arthur Crudupā€™s 1946 blues ditty ā€œThatā€™s All Right, Mamaā€ was Presleyā€™s debut single ā€” and an instant sensation.

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In 1954, inspired by Presleyā€™s success, an appliance salesman and aspiring musician named Johnny Cash auditioned for Phillips at Sun Studio. The following year, Sun Records released Cashā€™s debut single, ā€œCry Cry Cry,ā€ which became a minor hit. In 1956, though, he had a bona fide smash with this tune, his first No. 1 on the country charts. Perhaps youā€™ve heard it before?

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In late 1955, Presley departed Sun for a more lucrative contract with RCA Victor ā€” which meant that Phillipsā€™s label could really use a hit. Luckily, the first Sun single to sell a million copies was released in January 1956: Carl Perkinsā€™s suave, self-penned rockabilly classic ā€œBlue Suede Shoes.ā€ Presleyā€™s own version would become an even bigger and more indelible hit, but in deference to his former label and his friend Perkins, he delayed its release until that August so it would not compete with Perkinsā€™s version on the charts.

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After signing with the label in late 1956, Jerry Lee Lewis quickly became both a prolific session pianist at the studio ā€” he played on Perkinsā€™s hit ā€œMatchbox,ā€ among many other singles ā€” and a fledgling Sun solo artist. His breakout hit was this fiery 1957 rockabilly number, a rework of a song first recorded two years prior by Big Maybelle. Another unforgettable Sun single by Lewis, ā€œGreat Balls of Fire,ā€ was released later in 1957.

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Roy Orbison is yet another musical icon who made some of his earliest recordings at Sun, even if his career didnā€™t quite take off until he signed to Monument Records in 1959. Recorded with his backing band the Teen Kings in 1956, the light, jumpy ā€œOoby Doobyā€ finds a young Orbison emulating Presley, a few years before perfecting his signature style of brooding, dreamy balladeering.



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