Elvis Presley’s Sessions With Nashville Cats Compiled on New ‘From Elvis in Nashville’ Set

In June 1970, Elvis Presley made the trip east from his Graceland home in Memphis to Nashville, where he holed up in RCA Studio B on Music Row for five days of recording. Presley, who was in the midst of his Las Vegas comeback at the International Hotel, was joined by Music City sessions players like Charlie McCoy and Norbert Putnam — the legendary “Nashville Cats.” The result came to be known among fans as the “marathon sessions.”

Now, a new four-disc compilation assembles the masters from those halcyon days and captures Presley at his energetic best. From Elvis in Nashville will be released November 20th via RCA/Legacy Recordings. The announcement arrives with a blistering nearly six-minute jam on Cowboy Joe Babcock’s “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water,” which finds Presley and his band, including James Burton on guitar, in peak form.

What makes the From Elvis in Nashville recordings so special is their purity. Grammy-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang remixed the recordings, stripping them of added orchestration and overdubs. They’re fiery and humanizing, showing Presley’s raw power as a performer.

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The compilation will be available digitally and in a four-CD box set, including two discs of outtakes. A two-LP vinyl release, with select highlights from the box set, is also on tap. From Elvis in Nashville is available for preorder now.

Presley died on August 16th, 1977, at age 42. This year’s celebration of his life at Graceland — Elvis Week — is set for August 8th through 16th. It will also stream online as a virtual event.

Here’s the track list for From Elvis in Nashville, along with original songwriters:

Disc 1

1. Opening Jam (Mystery Train) (Junior Parker/Sam Phillips)
2. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights (Ben Weisman/Clive Westlake)
3. I’ve Lost You (Ken Howard/Alan Blaikley)
4. I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (Adapted by Elvis Presley)
5. The Sound Of Your Cry (Bill Giant/Bernie Baum/Florence Kaye)
6. The Fool (Naomi Ford)
7. A Hundred Years From Now (Lester Flatt/Earl Scruggs)
8. Little Cabin On The Hill (Bill Monroe/Lester Flatt)
9. Cindy, Cindy (Buddy Kaye/Ben Weisman/Dolores Fuller)
10. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Paul Simon)
11. How The Web Was Woven (Clive Westlake/David Most)
12. Got My Mojo Working/ Keep Your Hands Off Of It (Preston Foster)/(Jay McShann/Priscilla Bowman)
13. It’s Your Baby, You Rock It (Shirl Milete/Nora Fowler)
14. Stranger In The Crowd (Winfield Scott)
15. I’ll Never Know (Fred Karger/Sid Wayne/Ben Weisman)
16. Mary In The Morning (Johnny Cymbal/Michael Rashkow)
17. It Ain’t No Big Thing (But It’s Growing) (Neal Merritt/Alice Joy/Shorty Hall)
18. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (Vicki Wickham/Simon Napier-Bell/ Pino Donaggio/Vito Pallavicini)
19. Just Pretend (Doug Flett/Guy Fletcher)
20. This Is Our Dance (Les Reed/Geoff Stephens)
21. Life (Shirl Milete)
22. Heart Of Rome (Geoff Stephens/Alan Blaikley/Ken Howard)

Disc 2

1. When I’m Over You (Shirl Milete)
2. I Really Don’t Want To Know (Howard Barnes/Don Robertson)
3. Faded Love (Bob Wills/John Wills)
4. Tomorrow Never Comes (Ernest Tubb/Johnny Bond)
5. The Next Step Is Love (Paul Evans/Paul Parnes)
6. Make The World Go Away) (Hank Cochran)
7. Funny How Time Slips Away (Willie Nelson)
8. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water (Joe Babcock)
9. Love Letters (Edward Heyman/Victor Young)
10. There Goes My Everything (Dallas Frazier)
11. If I Were You (Gerald Nelson)
12. Only Believe (Paul Rader)
13. Sylvia (Geoff Stephens/Les Reed)
14. Patch It Up (Eddie Rabbitt/Rory Bourke)
15. Snowbird (Gene MacLellan)
16. Where Did They Go, Lord (Dallas Frazier/Arthur L. Owens)
17. Whole Lot-ta Shakin’ Goin’ On (Dave Williams/Sunny David)
18. Rags To Riches (Richard Adler/Jerry Ross)

Disc 3

1. Jam 2 (Tiger Man) (Joe Hill Louis/Sam Burns)
2. I’ve Lost You – take 1 (Ken Howard/Alan Blaikley)
3. The Next Step Is Love – takes 3-6 (Paul Evans/Paul Parnes)
4. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – rehearsal
5. Patch It Up – take 1 (Eddie Rabbitt/Rory Bourke)
6. Twenty Days And Twenty Nights – takes 5,6 & 8 (Ben Weisman/Clive Westlake)
7. How The Web Was Woven – take 1 (Clive Westlake/David Most)
8. Mary In The Morning – takes 3-4 (Johnny Cymbal/Michael Rashkow)
9. Just Pretend – takes 1-2 (Doug Flett/Guy Fletcher)
10. Stranger In The Crowd – takes 1-5 (Winfield Scott)
11. Bridge Over Troubled Water – rehearsal, take 1 (Paul Simon)
12. Patch It Up – take 9 (Eddie Rabbitt/Rory Bourke)
13. The Sound Of Your Cry – take 3 (Bill Giant/Bernie Baum/Florence Kaye)
14. Where Did They Go, Lord – takes 2-3 (Dallas Frazier/Arthur L. Owens)
15. Rags To Riches – take 2 (Richard Adler/Jerry Ross)

Disc 4

1. Jam 3 (I Didn’t Make It On Playing Guitar) (Elvis Presley)
2. Faded Love – rehearsal (country version) (Bob Wills/John Wills)
3. The Fool – take 1 (Naomi Ford)
4. A Hundred Years From Now – take 1 (Lester Flatt/Earl Scruggs)
5. Little Cabin On The Hill – take 1 (Bill Monroe/Lester Flatt)
6. Tomorrow Never Comes – takes 10-11 (Ernest Tubb/Johnny Bond)
7. Snowbird – take 1 (Gene MacLellan)
8. Faded Love – take 3 (Bob Wills/John Wills)
9. It’s Your Baby, You Rock It – take 3 (Shirl Milete/Nora Fowler)
10. There Goes My Everything – take 1 (Dallas Frazier)
11. Love Letters – take 1 (Edward Heyman/Victor Young)
12. If I Were You– take 5 (Gerald Nelson)
13. Heart Of Rome – take 1 (Geoff Stephens/Alan Blaikley/Ken Howard)
14. Cindy, Cindy – take 1 (Buddy Kaye/Ben Weisman/Dolores Fuller)
15. I’ll Never Know – take 3 (Fred Karger/Sid Wayne/Ben Weisman)
16. Sylvia – take 9 (Geoff Stephens/Les Reed)
17. It Ain’t No Big Thing (But It’s Growing) – takes 1-2 (Neal Merritt/Alice Joy/Shorty Hall)
18. Only Believe – take 3 (Paul Rader)
19. Life – take 2 (Shirl Milete)