After setting the stage by understanding producer Felton Jarvis's career leading up to his early collaborations with Elvis, we continue to investigate and interrogate the fan belief that he was singularly to blame for the "syrupy" overdubs that diminished the "pure" unfinished tracks.

Helped along by a 1980 interview done between Felton and Jerry Flowers of RCA in which the producer talks about his career retrospectively, Justin and Bec trace Felton's journey as Elvis hires and hand-picks him to be his exclusive producer, taking Felton away from RCA and other artists so that Elvis can, as a largely autonomous artist whose only studio commitments during this decade are to send periodic deliverables to RCA, work at his own pace and create the kind of recordings that he truly wants.

But was Felton truly to blame for the overindulgent strings and horns that were added to Elvis's music, or is there someone else that we've collectively overlooked? And has the narrative been all wrong and the way we even talk about "overdubs" been clouded by a widespread "rockist" misunderstanding of both Elvis and Felton, their respective jobs and tastes, and misunderstood expectations of the kind of music both fans & critics thought Elvis "should" be making?

The duo examine Elvis's live performances in relation to his studio work, touch on a few more non-Elvis records produced by Felton, and even revisit the 1981 "Guitar Man" project Felton spearheaded before his early death to see if it provides clearer insight into the producer's preferences and tastes.

For Song of the Week, Bec makes a promise that "It Won't Be Long," covering the recording cut from "Double Trouble," while Justin goes prospecting because he's pretty sure "There's Gold in the Mountains" still to be dug up from "Kissin' Cousins."

Some of the resources consulted for this and the last episode included, even if not quoted or mentioned in the final episode:

Felton Jarvis's 1980 Interview with Jerry Flowers of RCA
William Bozeman: "Felton Jarvis: The Man Behind the Music" from Elvis Express Magazine
Peter Guralnick: Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley
Roben Jones: Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios
Rick Hall: The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame
Norbert Putnam: Musical Memories, Volume 1
Ernst Jorgensen: Elvis Presley - A Life in Music
Ernst Jorgensen & Peter Guralnick: "Elvis Day By Day" and "The Complete Masters"
Ernst Jorgensen, Johnny Mikkelsen & Erik Rasmussen: Reconsider Baby: The Definitive Elvis Sessionography
Elvis Music FAQ by Mike Eder
Alanna Nash: "Revelations from the Memphis Mafia" & "The Colonel"
Luther Moore: "Felton Jarvis Re-Appraised" from Elvis: The Man & His Music magazine
Brian F. White's Interview with Norbert Putnam: https://www.brianfwright.com/interviews/norbert-putnam
Michael Nesmith: Infinite Tuesday - An Autobiographical Riff
TapeOP's Interview with Chip Young: https://tapeop.com/interviews/124/chip-young
Various reviews, articles, editorials, and interviews compiled from across Elvis Australia, Elvis Information Network, Elvis-History-Blog, Elvis Monthly, Strictly Elvis, Arjan Deelan as well as Discogs, KeithFlynn.uk, Elvisconcerts.com and other resources online.

Intrigued by the premise presented by the recent Sony box sets like "Sunset Boulevard" describing Elvis's undubbed recordings as "pure," Justin decided to investigate the story behind the man who has borne most of the heavy criticism aimed at the production on Elvis's music, Felton Jarvis, who was Elvis's main producer from 1966-1977.

While we've previously touched on Felton's work as a producer in our "Elvis and His Producers/Elvis as a Producer" episode, realizing we may not have given him a fair shake, on this episode Justin and Bec investigate Felton's early work at National Recording Corporation (NRC) in Atlanta, Georgia, his time at ABC-Paramount working with Tommy Roe, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and.... "Vince Everett"? They trace Felton's move to RCA Victor producing many successful acts and hit records in the field of country music in the mid-1960s and, naturally, his first sessions with Elvis across 1966-1968, chief among which was the How Great Thou Art project, which won Elvis his first-ever Grammy Award.

Laced throughout are stories of a warm-hearted, good-natured Georgia boy - who loved Elvis Presley and dreamed so hard to one day produce his hero's music that he manifested it - from collaborators, friends and historians who have tried to relay some of Felton's story, as well as audio from Felton himself in conversation with RCA's Jerry Flowers in 1980, discussing his career in hindsight.

Part 2 will even more directly interrogate the idea that Felton was, as so frequently repeated by Elvis fans over nearly 4 decades, singularly to blame for the "syrupy" overdubs that were a hallmark of Elvis's 1970s output, as Justin builds a case to convince Bec that she and everyone else - including sometimes even Justin himself - has been wrong all these years!

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.

Olivia Murphy-Rogers joins Justin for an extra-special episode of TCBCast as they trace the real history behind the song "Frankie and Johnny," the title track of Elvis's 1966 film. They learn who Frankie Baker was, the man who "done her wrong," the song she couldn't escape, and the identity of the most likely songwriting candidate to have penned the original folk lyrics - on the very day of the true murder.

The duo also react to the news about Sony's upcoming "Sunset Boulevard" box set recently announced that will encompass studio recordings from 1972, 1975 and rehearsals from 1970 and 1974, all done at RCA Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Justin has first impressions of the "Harum Scarum Sessions" FTD set, and then the two take a little time discussing Riley Keough and Gina Gammell's "In Process" short films for Tribeca; not just the one everyone else saw, "Chapter 1: Writing" which was filmed at Graceland and stars Riley herself narrating a short essay about her writing process for both film generally and more specifically about "From Here to the Great Unknown," but also the other two less-appreciated Chapters, "A Self Tape" and "Shooting A Scene," all of which were also co-directed by Riley.

Justin's Song of the Week is a breezy listen to "The Meanest Girl in Town" from Girl Happy - and Olivia's Song of the Week IS our main topic! FYI - this episode does intentionally end without a proper "sign-off."

If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. Your support allows us to continue to provide thoughtful, provocative, challenging and well-researched perspectives on Elvis's career, his peers and influences, and his cultural impact and legacy.