Scotty Moore, Elvis’ Guitar Player

A post by Elana Kluner

Scotty Moore, Elvis’ Guitar Player

Scotty Moore was a Tennessee boy who got to live the American dream. He was born on the 27th of December in 1931 and by 1939, his family and friends had taught him how to play the guitar. At the young age of eight, his journey into becoming a lead guitarist revved up and was on it’s way. After spending his young adult years in the Navy, Moore put together a band of his own upon his release. The band was based on jazz and country music. It was mostly influenced by Chet Atkins; a guitarist who Moore was a great fan of. The name of the band was Starlight Wranglers and was proudly led by Scotty Moore himself. They made music for a couple of years until Moore was discovered, which became the gateway to his exciting and successful career in the music industry.

In 1954, Sam Phillips became aware of the sensational talent that Scotty Moore possessed. He immediately signed him to Sun Records and hooked him up with the Legendary Elvis Presley. Along with Bassist Bill Black, Phillips felt that the boys would make a good team. With Elvis’s vocals and Black’s and Moore’s instrumentals, Sun Records was positive that this triplet would become a hit.  After recording “That’s Alright Mama”, which was later recorded in Rock and Roll history, Phillips knew he struck gold. Soon after, Elvis, Moore and Black were joined by a drummer by the name of D.J. Fontana and together they called themselves the Blue Moon Boys. These four men gained so much popularity that they were sent to perform on a tour through the United States. Moore appeared on television shows and motion pictures with Elvis and continued to record numerous number one records as his lead guitarist.

Scotty Moore released his own solo album in 1960 called The Guitar That Changed The World. This was a perfect title because he truly lived the American Dream through his talents and passion, which inspired hundreds of other musicians to go for the same thing. He performed some of his songs at NBC’s ’68 Come Back Special which is ironic and incredible because he was only 37 years old and had already accomplished enough to be considered as a ‘coming back’ artist. This lead Moore to be recognized in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and in 2000, he became part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although some may say that Elvis Presley deserves the credit for Moore’s fame, many successful musicians such as Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who once said, “everyone else wanted to be Elvis; I wanted to be Scotty”, would disagree. From the age of eight, Scotty Moore was given a gift and through his ability to express it to the world, he became the guitarist that changed the scene and will forever be an inspiration for all that follow in his path.

As usual we’ve included some links to music by Scotty Moore, including some rockabilly guitar licks he has put out.