The final Nashville recording sessions of Elvis Presley make up a new box set slated for release this November. Elvis: Back in Nashville collects 82 original recordings made by Presley during a May-June 1971 visit to Music City and strips them of all overdubs. “I’m Leavin’,” the first song to be released from the collection, is out now.
Elvis: Back in Nashville is the follow-up to last year’s box set From Elvis in Nashville, which chronicled his night-to-morning sessions at RCA Studio A in 1970. Unlike those sessions, the 1971 recordings made heavy use of backup singers — Elvis: Back in Nashville includes many of those performances.
Due November 12th, the box will be released as a four-CD collection, digitally, and as a two-LP vinyl set. Elvis: Back in Nashville was overseen by mixing engineer Matt Ross-Spang, who will join host Tom Brown in a special conversation about the album during Elvis Week 2021, streaming on Facebook.
“We’re not trying to change history,” Ross-Spang told Rolling Stone last year about re-mixing Presley’s recordings for From Elvis in Nashville. “But it’s amazing, with the abilities we have, to go back and showcase how invested Elvis was in the music and in the songs.”
According to a release, disc one of Elvis: Back in Nashville includes Presley’s versions of songs by Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson. Disc two includes gospel and holiday recordings. Disc three features performances of “Johnny B. Goode,” the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna,” and other country-pop and rock & roll songs. And disc four is a collection of outtakes from the religious and Christmas sessions. Monday, August 16th, marks the 44th anniversary of Presley’s death in 1977.
From Rolling Stone US
