Video: 'That's All Right (Remastered)'

(Monday, July 5, 1954, 7:00 p.m. CDT) — Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place tonight at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, as the 19-year-old trucker driver tracked “That’s All Right.”

Presley’s first two visits to Sun Studio had been in the summer of 1953 and in January 1954, followed by two more visits in the summer of 1954. This recording session was Presley’s fifth visit.

Tonight during The Blue Moon Boys’ recording session at Sun Studio, Presley was on acoustic rhythm guitar, Scotty Moore was on electric lead guitar, and Bill Black was on string bass.

During a break between recordings, Presley began improvising an up-tempo version of Arthur Crudup’s song “That’s All Right, Mama.”

Black, on bass, joined, and the pair was soon joined by Moore’s guitar.

Producer Sam Phillips, at the suddenly upbeat atmosphere, asked the three to start again so he could record it.

Produced in the style of a “live” performance—all parts performed at once and recorded onto one track—the recording contains no drums or additional instruments.

The next evening, the trio would record, in a similar style, “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” which became the “That’s All Right” single’s B side, for release on July 19, 1954.

Rolling Stone magazine would argue in a 2004 article that Presley’s recording of “That’s All Right” was the first rock-and-roll record.