In An Alternate Universe, Elvis Presley Could’ve Been Considered The “King Of Country Music”

So you’re telling me that the “King of Rock and Roll” might have actually been the “King of Country” at first?

What do you think of when you hear the name Elvis Presley? Maybe you think of the countless hits that the artist brought to the world, or his signature below-the-belt dance moves that had parents all across the country clutching their pearls. You might even think of him as one of the more significant cultural figures of the 20th century.

Regardless of what comes to mind first, I can almost guarantee you that you don’t think of Elvis Presley as a country music artist.

Sure enough, when Elvis started breaking onto the scene in the early 1950s, his music was classified as country. He first got started in Memphis, Tennessee with Sun Records, bringing to the table a fusion of country and R&B. His style and instantly recognizable voice quickly caught the attention of RCA Victor label, and one of his first major public on-stage appearances took place at none other than the Grand Ole Opry.

In 1954, when the Opry was still at the Ryman Auditorium, Elvis got up in front of the country music loving crowd and sang “Blue Moon of Kentucky” – considered to be a country classic, and now stands as one of Elvis’ most famous songs (even though it was written by bluegrass legend Bill Monroe).

However, his performance surprisingly didn’t connect with the country music audience at the “Mother Church.” Even in the early stages of his career, when he was labeled as country, he was a little too “rock and roll.” That being said, rock and roll wasn’t a commonly used term at the time… and there’s an argument to be made that Elvis helped usher it in.

But before he became labeled as the “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley released a song called “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” in 1955. It was Elvis’ first No. 1 hit… as it topped the country music charts. A year later, Elvis would release “Heartbreak Hotel,” which would propel him to his meteoric rise as a pop and rock n’ roll artist.

Though it’s important to note that his first ever hit was a country song.

And Elvis always appreciated the country music genre. Though much of his catalogue is blues, gospel and rock, the artist had plenty of country song included in his discography as well. Years later in 1970, Presley and his producer went into the studio and ended up coming out with a full-fledged country music album.

Instead of shying away from the country genre, Elvis decided to embrace it, and released Elvis Country in 1971. The project was full of country tunes like “I Really Don’t Want to Know” and “There Goes My Everything,” and even included a cover of Willie Nelson’s all-time classic “Funny How Time Slips Away.”

Guess you could call that album a tip of the cap to Elvis’ early days in the music industry, where he very well could have become the “King of Country” instead of the “King of Rock and Roll.”

Though he isn’t immediately thought of as a country music artist when you look back at music history, Elvis Presley evidently did enough to immortalize himself as a cornerstone of country. He was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998 – just over 20 years after his tragic death.The post In An Alternate Universe, Elvis Presley Could’ve Been Considered The “King Of Country Music” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.