midst of acting in his first motion picture , actually the first acting he had ever done in his life ( he had not been in so much as a high school play ), throwing himself into both experiences without holdback or hesitation . He previewed the new song he had just recorded , which would give the movie its name , Love Me Tender , for Photoplay correspondent Army Archerd , with music director Ken Darby at the piano . As Archerd described it , “ He stood erect , as if he were in a choir . The expressions on his face were kind and lacked any of the familiar exaggeration of his mouth , eyes , or shaking of his head . He sang each word with the meaning [ that was ] writen into it ...” “ I used to sing nothing but ballads before I went professional . I love ballads ,” he announced to Archerd and the world , with no thought whatsoever of putting either one of them on .
THE RECORDINGS THE FIRST RCA SESSION , Nashville , January 10-11 , 1956
No one knew quite what to expect . Producer and Artists & Repertoire director Steve Sholes had little confidence in his new acquisition ( who seemed to have been deliberately ignoring him ever since he had been signed by the company a month-andone-half earlier ), or , increasingly , in his own judgment . He had no sense of how the session was going to go , or even ( and this is an a & r man ’ s worst nightmare ) what they were going to record . He had always been well-liked in both Nashville and New York for his easy-going affability and charm , but he didn ’ t feel like that was getting him anywhere . Elvis ’ bass player Bill Black was chewing gum and cracking jokes , while guitarist Scotty Moore couldn ’ t hide his unease . “ It was a drastic change for us ,” said
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