Jack Earls

Jack Earls' early career is proof that Sam Phillips and Sun Records had a much deeper and wider talent pool than "just" Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash. and Jerry Lee Lewis to draw on. His sides, all but two unreleased, are as good as anything the label ever issued and Jack Earls' later career is proof that there is occasionally justice in the cosmos -- 25 years after Elvis Presley was put in the ground, Earls was playing Las Vegas. One of Sun Records' first wave of rockabilly artists, Earls was there when Elvis Presley was writing the book on how to meld hillbilly music with rock & roll, though his own impact on the music was more subtle. In contrast to Elvis, Earls only lasted at Sun for one single, "Slow Down," though that record did do well. By most accounts, he was also present in the studio the day that Elvis cut "Mystery Train," and ran home to get his copy of the single so that the Hillbilly Cat could learn the words. Earls was born on August 23, 1932, in Woodbury, TN. One of seven children, he spent most of his childhood living on a farm in Manchester. He developed a taste for country music and a desire to make his own music, listening to the two owners of the farm play their instruments and sing. Already encouraged by his mother to sing, at 16 he also took up the guitar and by 17 he was living in Memphis. As early as 1949, he formed his first band, but pursuing music full-time had to wait behind other of life's considerations -- he was married in 1950 and by the mid-'50s already had a growing family to feed. Still, he loved country music and thought he could make a living at it and in 1954, Earls formed a group that included Johnny Black, brother of music legend Bill Black, on guitar. This was a country band that played local bars and roadhouses,...