TCBCast 156: Walk A Lonely Street, Pt 2 feat. Tony Plews

Justin continues the discussion with Tony Plews, author of "Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music and the True Story of Heartbreak Hotel," digging deep not only into the foundations of "Heartbreak Hotel" as written by Mae Boren Axton & Tommy Durden, but the genesis of the song itself: the tragic life, and end, of criminal Alvin Krolik. Amazing connections and tales uncovered by Tony are discussed, including why "Heartbreak Hotel"'s original published sheet music sounds so different from Elvis' recording, how Colonel Parker got one over on music publishers Julian & Jean Aberbach when it came to Elvis' first national hit, coincidences abound in the west Texas town of El Paso, and a heartbreaking epilogue that leads both Justin and Tony to get choked up. All this and so much more, and that's before Gurdip re-joins Justin as they both tackle "Heartbreak Hotel" as one of the biggest "Song of the Week" segments they've tackled. They highlight key performances of the song from throughout Elvis' career, then 10 of the most notable or interesting cover versions they could find. We hope you have enjoyed this two-part discussion! If you are interested in picking up "Walk A Lonely Street," please visit Tony's website georgesmithpublications.com for details and links. If you enjoy TCBCast and would like to support us while receiving early access to episodes, bonus content like film commentaries and Justin's Blue Suede Reviews video essay series, you can support us on Patreon.com/TCBCast. In February, we produced over 17 hours of new early access or exclusive content for patrons on top of a high-quality archive of previous TCBCast episodes. This episode featured 4 minutes of additional bonus content on our Patreon!