It’s July fifth, and on this day in 1954… Elvis Presley, along with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, walked into Sun Studio after a long day at work. During a break in their otherwise uneventful rehearsal, Elvis spontaneously launched into a blues tune—Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s “That’s All Right.” Sam Phillips, listening from the control room, immediately recognized something special. He had them run it again, this time recording it. That spontaneous moment marked the birth of Elvis’s first rock and roll record and lit the fuse on a career that would change music history forever.
