In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

   2 1 9 C h ap t e r 1 8 Good-Time Merry-Go-Round: Life after Elvis Post-Elvis, sessions were booked more steadily than ever, and if Atlantic’s patronage was slightly falling off due to their involvement with Jimmy Johnson’s new studio in the Shoals, there were more than enough outside accounts and old friends coming in to make up for it. Nor had the attitude of the group changed, at least on the surface, even though “they had made a little new history there,” Ima Roberts noted fondly. “We knew [the sessions] were special, but so were many before Elvis,” added Glen Spreen. “We were patting ourselves on the back (in our minds).” Bobby Emmons thought the studio atmosphere had been tense while Elvis was working there, and after the King had left the building, he recalled, “It was like, ‘Let me get out of this tight corset and high heels’. . . a little less pressure, please.” The American group came close to being Elvis ’s backup band onstage, with Chips Moman handling the sound as Felton Jarvis would do later, although Chips dismissed the invitation. “There was some talk about it, but there was just some talk floatin’ around,” he said indifferently . According to Marty Lacker, it was more than that. Elvis was so impressed with Chips and the group that he had been quite serious about hiring them for the Las Vegas comeback shows he was planning. Marty remembered, “Elvis asked Chips about backing him in Vegas as we were standing in the control room. To my surprise, Chips at that moment said yes. However , on second thought later, he changed his mind because Colonel Parker, on purpose, offered low money and Chips and the musicians were not going to give up more money than they could make doing sessions. Parker didn’t want them to back Elvis because he was still pissed that he lost control of Elvis during the American sessions and he didn’t want Chips influencing Elvis any further.” It was one of several fascinating near-misses the group had during the year. Throughout 1969, the studio phones rang almost constantly with people booking sessions. “There was a lot of calls—a lot of ’em,” said Ima Roberts, who handled them. Though a great deal of attention was focused on the studio after the Elvis songs became hits, Ima maintained that those sessions had little real impact—“I don’t know that business increased after Elvis, because we had been busy before.” Glen Spreen saw it somewhat differently. “There’d been hits forever, but when Elvis came it really put us over,” he estimated . Down in Muscle Shoals, Jimmy Johnson was pleased to observe the impact those sessions were having for Chips. “When Elvis came, he got all kinds of respect,” said Jimmy. “We had a ten-month waiting time,” said Chips. Of course, not everyone who called could be accommodated given that schedule , and some people had to be turned away. “I turned down a lotta people I can’t believe I turned down,” Chips reflected, sounding amazed at himself. “I had to turn Dylan down—too busy. He wanted to go into the studio right away. I had a call about the Beatles, but I didn’t have time to wait on them.” Had he accepted those offers, Chips would have been the ultimate producer, the man who would have recorded all the acts in rock’s Holy Trinity . Perhaps in the end, that would have been too much pressure for him; he could no longer have kept life as simple as he preferred, or maintained the illusion, even to himself, that he was just another good old boy picking on the back porch with his buddies. Even when an artist could be slotted in, session starting times were casual, especially when compared to Nashville, where if a session was scheduled at two PM it began at two on the dot. “Some people, [Chips would] tell ’em to come 2 2 0    g o o d - t i m e m e r r y - g o - r o u n d to town and he’d be out at the farm or somewhere and we’d have to just entertain ’em till he came in—it could be five minutes, could be five hours,” said Ima Roberts. When everyone was there, all the jokes and small talk had to be run through before the musicians were...

Share