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Liner Note Author: Dave Penny. Arranger: Jim Scott . In 2005, the British Rev-Ola label released The Roots of Elvis, a fascinating compilation which brought together 28 classic recordings that were later covered by Elvis Presley, and two years later the label has attempted to offer another glimpse into the range of Elvis' influences with Roots and Rumours: The Roots of Elvis, Vol. 2. For this disc, producer Dave Penny has turned to the pages of the book Elvis: A Musical Inventory, which attempts to catalog every song Elvis ever recorded or performed in public, and while Penny acknowledges that a certain amount of this book is simply guesswork (at least as far as lost recordings and early live shows are concerned), if the 28 songs gathered here never made it into Presley's active repertoire, it's not hard to imagine most of them catching his attention when they enjoyed their brief season of radio exposure. Elvis' well-documented love of the blues is represented by classic sides from Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Ivory Joe Hunter, Rufus Thomas, and Wynonie Harris, but Roots and Rumours devotes more of its playing time to the country music that was also a key part of his musical diet, and one consistent theme is that Elvis was hardly the first country boy to cut the blues, even if he did present the formula in a whole new way. The Delmore Brothers' versions of "Blues Stay Away from Me" and "Midnight Special" show how country-blues made their way into bluegrass, Sheb Wooley's "Blue Guitar" carries of trace of Presley's smooth R&B crooning, the version of "Milk Cow Blues" from Bob Wills suggests an alternate route from Kokomo Arnold's original to Elvis' sessions for Sun, and the boozing and fighting of "Tennessee Saturday Night" by Red Foley would do Ike Turner proud. Roots and Rumours is considerably more suspect as history than Rev-Ola's earlier compilation, simply because many of these numbers have rarely been associated with Elvis in the past, but as an examination of the crossroads between country and blues before Presley made this meeting point fashionable, it's fine musical archeology. It's also thoroughly enjoyable listening as well, with more than two-dozen classic tunes that don't need the approval of the Hillbilly Cat to find a place in your personal hit parade. ~ Mark Deming
