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eMusic is incredibly proud to welcome Sun Records, the legendary Memphis record label that brought the world Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and many other greats of early rock & roll, blues and country. These artists form a veritable Mount Rushmore of American popular music; their impact on modern culture is profound and immeasurable.
The Sun Records catalogue includes more than 1500 tracks recorded between 1950 and 1966 that will arrive on eMusic over the coming months. These recordings include not just the singles familiar to all, like ‘Great Balls of Fire,’ ‘I Walk the Line’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ but also many album tracks and alternate takes previously available only on giant, expensive box-set collections, and even a few only ever released on vinyl.
eMusic blues columnist John Morthland — a former Rolling Stone associate editor and an expert on the music of the Mississippi River — served as curator of this enormous project, compiling, sorting and sequencing the Sun Records catalogue. From those 1500 songs, Mr. Morthland selected 400 amazing tracks to create our initial launch of 18 albums, which include the works of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Howlin' Wolf and a stellar supporting cast of other Sun artists who recorded some quintessential music. We are incredibly grateful for Mr. Morthland's excellent work. Thanks also to Jason Berenstein, who expertly remastered every track.
The landmark deal with Sun Entertainment — which makes eMusic the first download service to offer Sun Records in digital form — also includes 5,000 tracks from Sun-associated labels such as Red Bird Records (the Dixie Cups), Plantation Records (Jeannie C. Riley, Patti Page, Webb Pierce, David Allan Coe), SSS International (the Vogues, Johnny Adams), Jessup Records (Ralph Stanley), Compleat (Bachman-Turner Overdrive), Silver Fox (George Perkins and the Silver Stars) and Amazon (the Rugbys).
These important recordings will be made available in the months to come as well, along with music from the likes of Floyd Cramer, the Flatlanders (their fabled debut album), northern soul mainstay Bettye Lavette, Sleepy John Estes, Narvel Felts, Johnny Horton (rare early sides), Sleepy LaBeef (rare sides), Little Milton, the Oak Ridge Boys, Johnny Paycheck, Floyd Tillman, Ike Turner (incendiary Kings of Rhythms sides from the early '50s), Conway Twitty (as Harold Jenkins) and Texas blues guitar godfather T-Bone Walker. And let's not forget releases by Broadway legend Carol Channing, mentalist the Amazing Kreskin, arranger Nelson Riddle and even an outfit called the Golden Toadstools.
Sun's late founder Sam Phillips once said of music, "It's the universal language, just a man beating on the side of a wooden box. There's nothing like it, no painting, no sermon like it. There's no book you can pick up, no matter how fascinating, fiction or biographies. Music is its own master." And we are both pleased and honored to present Mr. Phillips' music to you.
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