The Story of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" made famous by Elvis Presley, inspired by Johnny Cash

The Story of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" made famous by Elvis Presley, inspired by Johnny Cash

Elvis Presley has a few songs that could be considered his signature song, one of them is “Blue Suede Shoes”.

Released in 1956 it sold half a million copies in the USA alone and is the opening track to Elvis Presley’s debut album but it was actually written and released 8 months earlier by Carl Perkins, and produced by Sam Phillips for Sun records who had released Presley’s first records.

Carl Perkins' version wasn’t obscure either, at the time it was the first record by a country artist to reach number 3 on the R&B charts and at one point was shipping around 20,000 copies a day, within 4 months of its release it had sold 1 million copies.

So how did "Blue Suede Shoes" become a signature song of Elvis Presley on his way to becoming the "King of Rock n Roll" while the writer slipped into near obscurity, known only to Rockabilly enthusiasts, and a certain fab 4?

From Memphis Tennessee to Amory Mississippi and onto London and the world...this is the story of "Blue Suede Shoes" a rock n roll classic, and its writer, rockabilly legend Carl Perkins.