Advertised as a Hillbilly Hoedown, appearing in addition to Slim Whitman and Billy Walker were 'Sugarfoot' Collins, 'Sonny' Harvelle, Tinker Fry and 'Curly' Harris. The show began at 8:00 on the night of July, 30, 1954, and they started with Elvis, Scotty and Bill performing 'That's Alright Mama'.
Elvis was so nervous he stood up on the balls of his feet and shook his leg in time with the music, a move he sometimes used in the studio. To his shock and horror the young girls in the audience went crazy, yelling and applauding. Scotty said, "We didn't know what was going on when all those people started screaming and hollering."
Next they did 'Blue Moon of Kentucky' and when Elvis got offstage he asked why people were yelling at him. Someone told him it was because he was shaking his leg, which with the baggy pleated pants created a wild gyrating effect in time with the music. Later in the show they returned and did the same two numbers along with 'I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin)', a new song they had been working on. The following year they returned to the Shell for the second and last time for Bob Neal's eighth annual Country Music Jamboree.
Before Elvis Presley, with Sam Phillips, Dixie Locke and his parents, on stage, Charlie Torian Sr. enjoyed backstage being a Memphis Fire Department lieutenant. For one, he could drive his own blazing red car instead of riding on the back of a pumper unit. For another, under the guise of inspecting for safety, Torian could gain access to just about any place in Memphis, including the Overton Park Shell.
Even backstage, Charlie Torian Sr. often brought his son, Charlie Junior, along to these 'inspections' were a concert was involved. On the evening of July 30, 1954, the two Charlies found themselves backstage. Charlie Senior wanted to photograph his son with a country music star.
Slim Whitman would be fine, but in a pinch, any star would do. Backstage area was more or less deserved as they entered. Over in the corner, a young man stood quietly, looking nervous. The Torians approached the young man and this conversation followed: "Are you one of the singers?". "Yes, sir". "What's your name, son". "Elvis". "Elvis what?". "Elvis Presley, sir". "Are you famous, son?". "No, sir, not yet".
Torian asked Elvis if he would pose with four-year-old Charlie Torian Junior. Elvis obliged. Torian Jr. remembered Elvis' coat was frayed, that someone, perhaps Gladys, had done a sort of haphazard job of sewing loose ends of the collar back together - obvious up close, but not noticed from the audience.
When Elvis Presley came out on stage at the Overton Park Shell shortly after eight o'clock on July 30, 1954, he was to create a signal moment in rock and roll history. With Scotty Moore standing to Elvis' right and Bill Black behind him to his left, he burst into "That's All Right". After a few moments of silence, the young girls in the audience began clapping and screaming. As indication of Elvis' indefinable appeal, this wasn't the first time that Elvis' young fans had gone crazy. This time, however, it was on the largest scale he'd experienced. As Elvis Presley recalled, "I came out, and I was doing a fast-type tune, one of my first records, and everybody was hollering and I didn't know what they were hollering at". This comment was typical of Elvis Presley in 1954; he had no idea that his actions were creating a group of young rock and roll enthusiasts. "You'd see this frenzied reaction, particularly from the young girls", Bob Neal recalled. "We hadn't gone out and arranged for anybody to squeal and scream. For Elvis they just did it automatically". Dewey Phillips recalled, "I introduced him and stayed on stage while he sang. He went to "That's All Right" and started to shake and that damned auditorium just blew apart. He was nobody, didn't even have his name on the posters, but the people wouldn't let him leave".
Malcolm Yelvington, another Sun Record artist, commented that the Overton Park Shell show firmly established Elvis' performing skills, Yelvington remembered that Elvis stole the evening from Slim Whitman. When Whitman walked off stage, Yelvington asked him what he thought about Elvis Presley: "Well, if that young man keeps going someday he might make it".
Later the show, Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black returned to the stage and repeated the same first two songs. Marion Keisker remembers that they also did a new song they were working on, "I'll Never Let You Go". "Now I'm a restrained person, in public anyway, and I heard somebody screaming, and I discovered it was me - the staid mother of a young son", say Marion. "I was standing out there screeching like I'd lost me total stupid mind. The rest of the audience reacted the same way".
Scotty Moore recalls, "We were all scared to death. Here we come with two little funky instruments and a whole park full of people, and Elvis, instead of just standing flat-footed and tapping his foot, well, he was kind of joggling. That was just his way of tapping his foot. Plus I think with those old loose britches that we wore - they weren't pegged, they had lots of material and pleated fronts - you shook your leg, and it made it look like all hell was going on under there".
"See, standing up and playing rhythm guitar, he had the tendency to rise up on the balls of his feet... where most people would stand flat-footed and either tap their foot or heel, well he'd kinda come up on the balls of his feet and just kinda'... quiver! And back then remember they had the old big-legged pants, and of course it made it look like he was doin' four times what he really was!".
And there was several little girls started squealin' and carrin' on - we didn't know what in the world was goin' on, and he didn't either. When he came off stage, Bob Neal and Sam said, 'What's wrong with them?'. I mean, that wasn't an acceptable thing, really, at that point in time. And somebody told him that they were screamin' and hollerin' because of his shakin'. He said, 'Hmm, okay!'. And, or course, from there he just gradually built that up".
Felton Jarvis was another important observer at Elvis' Overton Shell show, It was the first time Jarvis had seen Elvis Presley perform, and he was intrigued by Presley's ability to manipulate the audience. The crowd came alive during Elvis' spontaneous performance, one in which a simple nervous knee jerk excited young girls to fever pitch. In later years, Felton Jarvis produced more than hundred of Elvis' records.
Marion Keisker remembered talking with a woman in the audience before Elvis' show. "Who did you come to hear?", the woman asked. "Elvis Presley", Marion answered. "Who?", the woman said. "After this show you won't ask me again", Marion confidently replied.
"I put him on a show with Slim Whitman at the Overton Park Shell", recalled Sam Phillips, "and I was late gettin' out there. He was gonna go on... 'course he preceded Slim and Billy Walker, and I was a little late getting there and there was a crowd of people so I parked my car...''
''I was real busy and Elvis met me and his hands were clammy and he said, 'Mr. Phillips, I've never done this before, I am scared to death!'. Now before that I had taken him out to a little club, it's up here about six or eight blocks, and that was the first experience that the guy ever made".
"Overton Park Shell was the first public appearance and I said, 'Elvis, man, you're gonna be okay'. See, Slim was hot, I mean he had "Indian Love Call" and this guy could sing like a mockingbird. For what he was, Slim Whiteman was a hell of a singer, let's face it. And Slim was big and Elvis was scared to death and he was just afraid that Slim Whiteman and Billy Walker fans just wasn't his and he might get booed off the stage". "I told him not to worry. He went out and was still nervous - Elvis Presley was one of the most nervous people on stage that ever was, until the day he died".
The giant country music extravaganzas at the Overton Shell were greeted with great anticipations in Memphis. "We loved those shows", Kenneth Herman remarked, "because we got to see the new musicians". The concerts also gave the country music moguls a chance to scout new singers. Bob Neal was one of the local promoters involved in the show, and it was he who signed Elvis Presley for a special appearance with headliner Slim Whitman. Before placing Elvis Presley on the Overton Shell show, however, Neal went over to Sun Records and talked with Sam Phillips.
It was clear that Neal's questions were directed toward a possible management contract. He asked Sam Phillips which distributors were selling Elvis' record. Phillips responded that one-stop wholesalers in Dallas and Atlanta had placed orders for 250 records based on the radio play of "That's All Right". Sam Phillips convinced Neal that "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" was making inroads in the country market. In order to test Elvis' popularity further, though, Bob Neal booked him into the Overton Shell. Bob Neal was interested in managing Elvis Presley, but he wanted to make sure that young Elvis Presley was not a passing fad.