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One of the few things I remember about my great aunt is a conversation we had when I was little. She and a sleek mid-century modern radio cabinet that looked something like this:
Modway Scope 71″ Mid-Century Modern Low Profile Entertainment TV Stand, Walnut Gray
We’d listen to Bing Crosby records around the holidays and Rosemary Clooney in the summer. One July afternoon she put on a record by Elvis Presley. It was the first time I heard his music play in her home and a little more rock n roll than was typical from what I could remember.
I asked her about it and she talked all about how she was a fan of Elvis in her younger days. She’d seen him in concert several times, gotten records signed, and even exchanged correspondence with him. I remember her showing me some of those items back in the late 80s. I thought it was cool then and I still think it is cool now.
Elvis played multiple Gibson acoustic and electric guitars throughout his career. The new Gibson Elvis Dove in Ebony is based on a customized 1969 Gibson Dove that was gifted to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll by his father, Vernon Presley, which Elvis played in concert regularly from 1971 through 1975, famously during Elvis’ legendary satellite-televised Aloha From Hawaii concert in 1973. In 1975, while in mid-performance during a concert in Asheville, NC, Elvis gifted the Gibson Dove to an astonished audience member.
Elvis often used Gibson SJ-200 acoustic guitars, aka “The King of Flat Tops.”Gibson has now created Elvis’ favorite SJ-200 in Ebony that is based on a guitar that was given to Elvis as a gift at a recording session at RCA Studio B in Nashville, TN in the mid-1960’s. Elvis often used this Gibson SJ-200 acoustic guitar for numerous high-profile live performances and in 1976, Elvis gave it to his close friend and aide at GracelandMarty Lacker.
“The sound, look, and feel of Gibson instruments have notably played a significant role in American music history and there is no greater example of this truth than seeing and hearing these two legendary Gibson Acoustic Models in the hands of ‘The King of Rock and Roll.’” –Robi Johns, Senior Product Development Manager, Gibson Acoustic
The new Gibson Elvis Dove in Ebony features a solid Sitka spruce top, solid maple back, sides, and a mahogany neck capped with an Indian rosewood fretboard. The new Dove is equipped with a modern LR Baggs VTC electronics with an under-saddle piezo pickup and soundhole-mounted volume and tone controls, making it stage ready, right out of the case. The new Gibson Elvis SJ-200 features a maple back, sides, and neck, as well as a Sitka spruce top. The guitar features all of the attractive SJ-200 touches, including mother-of-pearl graduated crown and parallelogram inlays, an iconic Moustache bridge and an Indian rosewood fingerboard, and comes equipped with an LR Baggs VTC under-saddle pick up. As an extra personalized Elvis touch, both guitars come with a Kenpo Karate decal included in the hardshell case.
Have you ever been to Graceland? I’ve wanted to go ever since I heard those stories from my great aunt, but have not had the chance.