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Elvis Presley and Johnny Ace: A Deadly Christmas Story · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. This is the story of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a rock and roll myth, a rock and roll myth
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that is in need of busting. But it's also a
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Christmas story, a story about the King of Cool himself,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Elvis Presley, in an obscure Memphis singer who Elvis himself
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: thought was just about the coolest dude that he'd ever
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: seen on stage. A singer by the name of Johnny Ace,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: a singer who died on Christmas Day in nineteen fifty four,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a singer whose violent death resulted in a cash windfall
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and a killer conspiracy. And a singer who made great music.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Dead for the Holidays MK. Two.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: rights to Mister Sandman by the Cordettes. And why would
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of clock Tower morphine Cheese?
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: song in America? On Christmas Day nineteen fifty four, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that was the day Johnny Ace died, setting into motion
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: or rock and roll, myth that persists to this day.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: On this episode, a special Christmas Story, a cash windfall,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: a killer conspiracy, Elvis Presley and Johnny Ace. I'm Jake Brennan.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And this this Disgraceland.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: It was Christmas Morning at Graceland just before dawn, nineteen
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: seventy six, Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis Presley was sitting alone in
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the jungle room. He could smell the Christmas pine in
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the air. He vibed on the lonesome mood thrown off
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: by the dim lights from the tree. The presents were wrapped,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the shopping was done, the meal was planned, and there
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: was nothing left to worry about. But for Elvis, worrying
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: wasn't the problem. For Elvis. There was the longing of
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the holiday season to contend with. He reclied in his chair,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: looked out the window into the night's fading blackness, and
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: thought about his beloved mother, Gladys, gone now eighteen years.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: He then thought of his twin brother, Jesse, whom he
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: never knew, dead at birth, and as the cold Memphis
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: dawn turned into the cold Memphis morning. The king's memories
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: hollowed out his bulging gut. Elvis's thoughts then turned toward
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a song Pledging My Love. Thinking of the ballad, it
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: soothed Elvis. It was written by another Memphis boy. He,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: like Elvis's mother and brother, had also departed this mortal
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: coil years earlier. His name was Johnny Johnny Yce. Longing
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: and loss are difficult emotions to process, even for kings.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: When Elvis was a kid, there was the pop music
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: tradition of the tragedy song to help teenagers work their
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: way through the pain of unexpected death. Your boyfriend dies
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: in a motorcycle accident, there's a song for that, Leader
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of the Pack by the Shangri Laws. Your boyfriend gets
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: crushed by a tree in a lightning storm, there's a
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: song for that, Jimmy Love by Kathy Carroll. Hell your
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: boyfriend gets attacked by a shark, there's a song for
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: that too. The water was read by Johnny Symbol. All
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: of these songs attempted to do for teenagers what Elvis
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: was trying to do for himself, which was to quell
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: his grief with the thought of Johnny Ace's tune, but
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: it wasn't working. Elvis thought back to and earlier, far
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: less complicated time, to a time before stardom, before this
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: all consuming grief. To Beale Street just down the road
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: apiece in Memphis nineteen fifty one, Riley b. King's electric
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: guitar went dead, and so did the band behind. Riley Bibi,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: as he was calling himself now Bib for blues Boy,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Bib King's band, the beel Streeters, singer Bobby Blue Bland,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: tenor saxophonist Adolph Duncan, and piano player Johnny Ace stood
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: in silence. A woman from the front of the juke
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: joint screamed bloody murder, and just then everyone else on
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the dance floor turned and flooded away from the stage
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: toward the juke's single exit. Young Elvis, just sixteen years old,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: from his vantage point looking in from outside the juke
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: joints window, watched it all in horror. Blood was pouring
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: out of the man's stomach. His arms were stretched ahead
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: of him as he stumbled behind the fleeing crowd, like
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the Walking Dead from one of those features. They showed
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: down at the Bristol on Saturday afternoons, White Zombie, the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Ghost Breakers or I Walked with a Zombie. Elvis was
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: so scared he couldn't move. There on the suddenly vacated
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: dance floor in front of the stage a bloodied knife.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: The man had been stabbed for what. Elvis didn't know.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: The band didn't know either, but they weren't surprised. Random
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: acts of violence in southern duke joints were as common
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: as pigs feet and white lightning. And the Beal Streeters
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: were young, but they were pros, the hottest band in Memphis.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Elvis knew it. That's why I was perched outside the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: window watching. He couldn't get inside to see them, being
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: so young and so white, so he did what he
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: had to. Because bb King could play like nobody's business,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: and Bobby Blue Bland had a special handle on whatever
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: song band leader ate Off Duncan called upon for him
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: to sing. And that piano player, Johnny Ace they called him.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: He didn't look that much older than Elvis, and that
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: gave Elvis hope. Maybe someday it'd be him up there
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: on that juke joint stage. But he'd never be as
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: cool as Johnny. That was impossible. There was something about him.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: He could hear it in the way he played, and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: he could see it in the way he walked, like
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: a Cadillac. The Cadillac walk. Elvis thought, that's how Johnny
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: rolled through like a Cadillac. Didn't matter if it was
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: down Beal Street on a busy afternoon or passed a
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: crime scene in an empty duke joint. Johnny Ace, Elvis thought,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: there was no one, no one cooler than Johnny Ace.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Johnny Ace screamed as he slammed his slub nose twenty
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: two down on the backstage table. It was all adrenaline,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the accompanying laughter quietly while the men in the room
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: laughed nervously and shuffled out. Johnny was drunk and playing
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: with his gun again, a dangerous combo out front of
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the Colosseum. Johnny Otis's band warmed up the crowd for
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Johnny Ace and BB King, But Johnny Ace and BB
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: King weren't performing together tonight. Now the beel Streeters had
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: long since disbanded. Johnny and Bibie were now both stars
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of their own solo man, and Bobby Blue Bland was
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: off on his own as well, and even that funny
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: looking white Boy used to hang around the juke joints
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: back in the day. Elvis he was making a name
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: for himself as of late too, touring out on the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Louisiana Hayride. It was Christmas Day, nineteen fifty four. Then
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the song on the backstage radio cut to commercial shit.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: There he was the kid. Johnny slammed his gun down
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: on the table again and told everyone in the dressing
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: room to shut the fuck up to listen, And so
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: they did. In the dressing room, with the muffled sounds
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of the Johnny Oodis band pulsing through the walls, the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: small radio pumped in a ridiculous sounding jingle, a tune
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: promoting Southern Maid Donuts, and the small crowd around Johnny
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: suppressed their laughter as they leaned in to listen, which
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: only made the tune they were listening to even funnier.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: This is him, that kid, the white Boy, went Elvis
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Presley on the radio. Hit the tagline in the commercial's jingle,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: you can get them piping hot after four pm, you
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: can get them piping hot. Southern Mad Donuts hit the spot,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: you can get them piping hot. When they heard that
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that absurdity, the cheesiness. It sent Johnny and his backstage
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: guest into hysterics. Do you believe this bullshit? Johnny asked
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: to no one, in particular his friend Willie may Thornton.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Big Mama Thornton, to the black record buying public, answered
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I bet he getting paid. Though from Johnny's girlfriend, Olivia
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: chimed in the maybe of Johnny got himself a commercial.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: He could afford a Cadillac like BB King instead of
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: that rickety old station wagon that Johnny drove. Johnny went
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: wild eyed, grabbed his twenty two off the table and
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: started waving it around the dressing room. Olivia told Johnny
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: she didn't mean anything by the comment. She was just playing,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: just playing, just playing. She wanted to play well. Then
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Johnny had a game for her. He slammed the gun
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: down on the table again, and Johnny pulled from his
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: jug of vodka and then said, I got a game
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: we can play. Olivia and Big Mama sat stone silent.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Johnny stared into Big Mama Thornton's eyes, and he then
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: lifted the revolver, popped the chamber, spun it fast, like
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a cowboy in one of those old westerns he loved
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: so much, and then, without breaking eye contact, pressed the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: barrel to his temple and pulled the trigger. Johnny screamed.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: The girl screamed. The girl screamed some more. Johnny screamed
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: turned into a maniacal laugh. He spun the chamber again.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Your turn, he said the Big Mama, and handed her
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: the revolver. No way, Johnny taunted her. Uh huh, there
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: was no way. Big Mama Thornton was playing Russian Roulette,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and now there was Olivia. Her eyes said it all.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Johnny was disappointed. Olivia never could bring it. When it
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: counted the Johnny quickly spun the chamber again, pressed the
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: barrel to the side of his head, and pulled the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: trigger again. Johnny let out of the demon exercising scream
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and slammed the gun down on the table one more time.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Big Mama picked the gun up, popped the chamber, and
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: extracted the bullet. She then snapped the chamber shut and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: slid the gun back across the table to Johnny, who
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: was now laughing uncontrollably. Big Mama and Olivia shook their
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: heads in disbelief. Johnny's laugh tapered off. He pulled again
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: from his jug of vodka and let the tension fall
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: out of the dank dressing room air until there was silence,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: and then who Johnny startled Olivia and Big Mama and
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: he fell out all over again and laughter. He then
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: picked up the gun and both women got up from
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the table, having had it with Johnny's bullshit, but non
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: plus by the empty threat from the empty chamber. As
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: both women began to split, Johnny called out, way, wait, wait, wait, wait,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I'm just playing. Stay stay, It's all good. I won't
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: play no more. Both women stopped, looked down at Johnny, exhaled,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and prepared to sit. Johnny Yce couldn't help himself. He
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: needed one more laugh. Across from Johnny, Big Mama took
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: her seat, and then Olivia sat on Johnny's lap. When
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: she did, Johnny Yace put his gun to his temple
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and pulled the trigger one last time. That's when Big
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Mama Thornton saw Johnny Yace's brains blast through his skull
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and rock at the hairs on his head. Across the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: backstage dressing room with the Houston City Auditorium on Christmas
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Day nineteen fifty four, Big Mamma Thornton sat under the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: intense bright light in the interrogation room, recounting to Houston
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: PD what had happened? Johnny was crazy? He was John
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: played with his gun all the time, he said. Johnny
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: was a drunk all the Johnny should have been making
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: more money than he was, as successful as he was.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Johnny thought he was getting ripped off by his record.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: That's why Johnny drank. No, Johnny didn't kill himself. No,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: she didn't kill john of course she didn't. Why would she?
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Could she have a glass of water? How long was
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: this gonna tat? She's saying, hound Dog? No, she didn't
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: write the song. Yes, a white man, What did that
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: have to do with anything? How many questions did she
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: have to answer? And yes, finally, of course she knew
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: who Don Roby was. Of course, Elvis Presley knew who
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Don Roby was as well. Elvis sat back in his
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: chair in the jungle room and thought about how he
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: had made Don Roby rich, or how he had made
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Don Roby richer than he already was. Don Roby owned
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Peacock Records, the record label that sold Big Mama Thornton's records.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Hound Dog included the nineteen fifty three single was written
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: by Jerry Leeber and Mike Stoleer and recorded and released
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: by Elvis Presley on July thirteenth, nineteen fifty six, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the song went to number one on the R and
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: BA and Country and Western charts, hit number one on
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the Billboard Top one hundred Pop chart, and sold a
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: colossal amount of records. It was a monstrous hit, a
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: culture shifting hit. Hound Dog transcended generations. Elvis appeared on
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: The Steve Allen Show where he sang the Big Mama
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Thornton hit to an actual hound dog. It was a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: performance on a show meant to appeal to kids and
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: their parents, and the song not only transcended generations, it
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: transcended race. It was written by a white songwriting team
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: for a black artist who had a hit with it
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: on the black charts, and then it was covered by
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: a white artist who brought the song to the white mainstream.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Elvis's cover version of hound Dog, it should be noted,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: was derided by its white songwriters as sounding inane and
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: too white compared to the version first song by Big
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Mamma Thornton, for whom they wrote the song, and they
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: weren't wrong, but fuck those songwriters. Fuck Jerry Leeber and
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: fuck Mike Stoller. Elvis thought, the more that record sold
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: seven million, eight million, white sounding or not, no doubt
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: that record started to sound a lot better Lieber and Stoller,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: who were raking in the royalties. Elvis's thoughts returned to
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Johnny Ace. He knew Johnny Ace loved hound Dog because
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: he knew Johnny was a fan and a friend of
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Big Mama Thornton's. It may be part of Elvis thought
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that if he did well with that song, he'd done
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: well in Johnny's eyes, and that perhaps would have made
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Elvis just a little bit cooler with the cool kids
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: down on Beale Street from back in the day. Johnny
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: was dead and gone by the time Elvis recorded the tune,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: but that didn't matter. Elvis could always do with a
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: little more cool. Whatever his motivation, the song worked. It
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: was the exact type of crossover success, a black song
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: climbing high up the white charts that Don Roby meant
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to have for Johnny Ace. Don Roby was a big man,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and when he lumbered down the Houston sidewalk, moved out
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: of his way, Black or white, it didn't matter. Don
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: was part two, part black, and all gangster music was
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: his business. Power was his birthright. Then violence was the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: mechanism by which he controlled his mini empire. This Saturday
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: morning walk was his ritual after a busy night at
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: his club, the Bronze Peacock. The money he made had
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: to be deposited into his account at the local bank,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: and there was no one tough enough for Don Rogy
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to trust with his money. So Don Roby stuffed the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: burlap sack with his cash, flung it over his shoulder,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: loaded his shotgun with two shells, slung that over his
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: other shoulder, and strolled on down to the bank, daring
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: anyone dumb enough to fuck with him. The shotgun, the
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: giant cigar that lived rent free between his lips, the
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: massive diamonds that adorned the rings on his fingers, the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: constant stream of cusses, it was all part of Don
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Roby's way. Don Roby was not a man to be
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: messed with business at the Bronze Peacock. His club was good,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the giant was jumping, Louis Jordan, t bone Walker, gate
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Mouth Brown, Ike Turner. They all packed him in, and
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: most of those artists and more little Richard Wynni Harris,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Big Joe Turner all had Don Roby booking their shows
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: from Houston to Memphis and beyond in dance halls and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: juke joints on what would come to be known as
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the Chitten' circuit. But live music wasn't Roby's only business.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Roby had a record label too, Peacock Records, and Roby
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: relied on scouts and other cities to find talent, which
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: is in part how he found out about Johnny ace
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: way Off in Memphis. Roby knew Johnny was a star
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the moment he heard his first recording, a lazy ballad
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: simply Sung, which went to number one on the R
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and B charts. It was called My Song. Johnny wasn't
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the greatest singer from Roby's or anyone's estimation, but he
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: had that certain extra something that cool, that cadillac walk,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: that thing that takes an ordinary singer and makes him
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: as Johnny was that type of musician, the type that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: could make it on both the black R and B
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: charts and on the white pop charts, and Don Roby
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: was just the guy to make it happen for Johnny.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: But Roby needed more than muscle. He needed a white man,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a white man with white radio connections. He found this
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: man in a bleeding Heart named Dave Mattis. Mattis's business
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: was less of business and more of a public service
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: he offered to the black musicians he loved. Mattis's goal
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: was to help elevate black musicians in the public consciousness
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: through the power of radio promotion, and Mattis was a
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: perfect mark for Don Roby. So Roby struck up a partnership.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: His Peacock Records became Duke Peacock Records in collaboration with
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Dave Mattis, and the partnership paid off, sort of. Johnny
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Ace's next two singles, Crossed My Heart and the Clock,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: were also both hits on the R and B charts.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: The Clock went to number one, where it stayed for
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: a total of five weeks. Johnny Ace was making hits,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: but Johnny Ace wasn't making money. Don Roby was still
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: for Roby, it was not enough. Johnny was charting, but
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: not on the pop charts, so that big payday Roby
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: craved continued to elude him. Plus, the terms of his
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: partnership dictated that he share his profits with his new
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: business partner. Dave Mattis, so Roby figured it was time
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: he paid his partner a visit. Dave Mattis didn't see
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: it coming. He felt it up sure as shit. That
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: was a pistol whipping across his forehead. He went down quickly,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: knocking the carefully ranged papers on his desk under the floor.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Along the way. Don Roby stood above him, foaming at
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the mouth, screaming nonsense about how Maddis wasn't earning his
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: fair share of the take, how the partnership had run
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: its course, how Johnny Aace needed more, how Johnny Aace
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: was a star, how two number ones in the black
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: arm B chart wasn't dittaly squad compared to one hit
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: on the white pop chat. Mattis tried to stand to speak.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Roby kicked him in the ribs, sending him flailing back
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: onto the floor, and Mattis screamed, and Robbie then brought
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: his boot to his partner's head, stopping on him mercilessly.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: When Mattis's screaming ceased, Roby bent over and pulled the
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: record promoter up by his bloody lapels and plopped him
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: into his desk chair. He then put a pen in
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Madis's hand and made him sign a contract ending their partnership.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Were reported ten thousand dollars by him, pennies compared to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the value of Johnny Yace's overall record sales. But Roby
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: didn't care. Don Roby now had what he wanted, the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: sole control of Johnny Yace, and all the matter now
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: was making sure Johnny Yace wound up on the pop charts.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're We're where the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: hound Dog forty five lay flat on Elvis Presley State
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: of the Arts stereo console. Elvis used it to group
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: his pills as he organized them. It was Big Mamma
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Thornton's version of the song, not Elvis's. It was nineteen
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: seventy six. After all, Elvis couldn't listen to his version
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: of the song anymore. His version was basically regarded as
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: a novelty tune these days, and Elvis wasn't interested in
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: novelty tunes. Elvis was interested in breaking through, not for fame.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: He had fame. He wanted critical acclaim. It had been
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: years since the critics wrote anything positive about him. Sure,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: there were the sycophants in the press that would say
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: something positive every time he released anything, but Elvis wanted
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: to win over the real rock critics who had long
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: since abandoned him. First for the Beatles, then for the Stones,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Dylan and Hendricks, and now Bowie and Zeppelin. Elvis was
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: searching for a song to break through. He needed a
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: song that would be a true expression of how he
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: felt at the moment, a song that would express the
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: loneliness and grief that consumed him. At least, that's what
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: he was searching for that Christmas morning, breaking through for fame.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Back when he was coming up, he had many tools
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: at his disposal. First of all, there was his talent.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Then there were his good looks and his willingness to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: go there on stage to do things other white boys
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: wouldn't do. And before all that, there were the pills.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Not these pills, but his mama's pills. He knews a prescription,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: hit up the pharmacy and procure pills for the older
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: musicians doubted Sun's studios, and they had, in turn let Elvis,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: in his pre fame days, hang around while they worked.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Annoying little shit that he was. Then. That was back
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: in the early nineteen fifties years ago, right around the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: time Elvis first heard Big Mama Thornton's version of hound Dog,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: and Big Mamma Thornton was on the come up, just
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: like a record label mate and Elvis's fell o, Memphian
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Johnny Ayce. Back in nineteen fifty three, Don Roby stood
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen of the Bronze Peacock and busied himself
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: by scaling a freshly caught fish. He steadily slid his
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: bowie knife up and down the fish's side, flecking off
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: its skin. The work took concentration, but the singer standing
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: next to Roby was pleading his case. It broke Roby's concentration,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: much to his annoyance, so Roby was forced to put
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: his knife down and direct his focus at the young singer.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: This singer was different, different than Johnny Yace and different
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: than Big Mama Thornton, both of whom were on the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: road together at the moment playing Roby's circuit, each promoting
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: their respective Duke Peacock hits Big Mama's hound Dog, which
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: was beginning to fall from its peak number one arm
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: bea chart position, and Johnny Yace is the Clock, which
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: was a hit on the arm B charts like hound Dog,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: but also like hound Dog hadn't broken through on the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: pop chart, Johnny Ayce's inability to break through in the
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: pop charts was at this appointments Don Roby and Johnny
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Yace wasn't working out as Don Roby had hoped. Nevertheless,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: for some reason for Don Roby, hope was contagious in
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three. This singer here in front of Roby
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: had hope in spades, and why wouldn't he He was
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: getting paid at least a little bit to sing, But
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Roby knew that this singer didn't have the work ethic
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: to make it. The singer explained that sure he wanted
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: to be a star, but he just couldn't go on
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: the road. Next week. He had another job he needed
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: to tend to at the fish fry. The road didn't
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: pay enough, but if Roby would give him a bigger
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: cut of the performance fee, well, then he wouldn't need
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the second job and he'd be free to go out
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: on the road and work. You have to understand what
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Don Roby understood back in the early fifties. Not only
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: were jobs for blacks few and far between, but a
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: job like being a musician a singer a job that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: provided work you loved to do for a black person. Again,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: back in the early fifties, these types of jobs were
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: nearly not existent. To be able to go out onto
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the road and into the recording studio and play music
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: and get paid for it was a dream. Don Roby
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: knew this, and despite being black himself, he exploited this
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: dynamic with the black musicians he employed. He knew they
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: were just happy to be doing what they were doing,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: even if they knew he was ripping them off. Robi
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: nodded along as the singer continued arguing his play, feigning empathy.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: This singer intrigued. The more he spoke, the more worked
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: up he got, the more feminine his voice and affectations became.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: And then the singer brought up Johnny Ace. Johnny was unhappy,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the singer said. Johnny felt his hit song should have
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: been generating more cash. Johnny was tired of rolling around
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: the countryside playing shows for Don Roby with Big Mama
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Thornton in a beat up station wagon. Johnny wanted a Cadillac.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: The singer said he could do better than Johnny. The
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: singer said he could write and record bigger hits, but
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: he needed to be unburdened of his second job. He
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: needed a higher percentage of pay than what Roby was
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: co compensating him with. The anger hit Don Roby with
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: a sustained piercing sound to the side of his head.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: It was almost as if the knife he was holding
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: somehow started stabbing him in his temple by its own volition.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: The room froze just before Don Roby felt himself explode
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: in violence. He clutched the frail singer by the neck
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: and with one arm, Don Roby rocketed him across the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: kitchen's industrial counter into a stack of pots and pants.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: He then grabbed the singer by the hair and tossed
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: him out of the greasy kitchen floor. The singer let
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: out a high pitched scream. He hollered like a woman,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Roby thought, as he pummeled him with his foot, kicking
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: him repeatedly in the gun. Next, he dragged the singer
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: to his feet, clutched him again by the throat, and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: pinned him back first up against the wall. As the
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: story goes, or at least the story that Elvis heard,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Don Roby then grabbed the fish he was scaling and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: used it to knock the hope out of the singer,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: using it as he did his pistol with Dave Mattis,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: repeatedly whipping the singer cross his pretty face. That singer
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Elvis knew was Little Richard, the co composer of the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: song Tuty Fruity, which Elvis recorded and released in nineteen
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: fifty six. I watched race up the pop charts to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: a position Little Richard and Johnny Ace could only have
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: dreamed of. Rock and roll was a strange, strange occupation,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: how Elvis wondered, had it all worked out this way?
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Christmas Day, nineteen fifty four, Houston Coliseum on the bill
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: that night, BB King, the Johnny Otis Band, Big Mama Thornton,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and Johnny Ace. The local kids, mostly black, some white,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: shuffled through the venue's big open door into the lobby,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: where BB King's brand new two tone Cadillac was on
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: display for all to see. BB's fans marveled at the
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: automotive beauty. BB had really done it, made something of
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: himself by doing what he loved. The speakers from the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Cadillac pumped in the local radio station, alternately spinning Christmas
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: songs with hits from the day White Christmas gave way
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to Hank Williams's I'll Never Get out of This World Alive. Somewhere,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Don Roby smiled. Hank Williams was a drunk who didn't
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: know where he was half the time, but he had
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: done one thing right. He died at the best time possible,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and in so doing pushed his latest single to number
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: one on the charts. Once Old Hank died, the public
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: couldn't get enough of the last song he released, I'll
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Never Get out of this World Alive. That song sold
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: and sold and sold and sold. It was not only
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: a number one hit on the country charts, it was
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a hit that wouldn't die. And there's no doubt about it.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Hank's death made Hank's song a smash. Johnny Aace needed
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: a smash his newly released single released that day. In fact,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: on Christmas nineteen fifty four, Pledging My Love, Don Roby
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: was credited as one of the songwriters on that song,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: even though the likelihood that he actually had a hand
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: in writing it was slim, to say the least. It's
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: far more likely that his co writer Ferdinand Washington actually
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: wrote the song, and that Roby muscled his way into
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a credit so that he could capture a greater share
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: of the song's royalties. This was a common practice among
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: dubious businessmen from the early days of rock and roll.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: The real point, however, is that Don Roby knew that
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Pledging My Love had the makings of a hit, but
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a hit on the R and B charts wasn't going
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: to be enough Roby's investment Johnny Aace had proven unable
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to cross over to the white pop chart, so the
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: next best thing would be a hit that wouldn't die.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Another of Roby's artists, Big Mama Thornton, was also in
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: need of a hit, but for her there was no
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: next hound dog the chamber. Big Mama was slipping but
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: without a hit. While she had was a bullet from
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: a twenty two, Don Roby had given it to her.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: His instructions were clear. Put the bullet in the chamber
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of Johnny Ace's twenty two when he wasn't looking. Big
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Mama had no choice as head of her record label,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: as her agent and promoter, Don Roby controlled her, and
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: if Big Mama wanted to continue to have a career
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: in music, she had only one choice. Do what the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: man said back in the dressing room before the show.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: As Johnny Ace let out his demon exercising scream and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: flipped his gun to the table, Big Mamma Thornton picked
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: it up, ostensibly to remove the lone bullet from the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: chamber of the twenty two, But that's not what happened. Instead,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: in the chaos of the moment, Big Mama Thornton added
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: another bullet into the chamber on orders from her boss,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Don Roby, thus increasing the chance that Johnny y Ace would
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: shoot himself in the head while playing this deadly game
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: of chicken with his gun. The murder weapon was set,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the opportunity had arrived, and the motive was clear. When
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: news of Johnny Yce's death on Christmas Day nineteen fifty
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: four spread, this was the story that those who knew
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Don Roby best told themselves in hush tones that Don
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Roby had forced Big Mamma Thornton to help him kill
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Johnny Yace so that Johnny Ace would achieve massive posthumous success,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: just as Hank Williams had when he died a year
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: earlier on New Year's Day. Except this story isn't true.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Big Mamma Thornton did not help her boss Don Roby
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: kill her friend Johnny Yace. This story is a myth. Instead,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: what happened was that another myth took root, and to
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: this day, this myth is believed to be the cause
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: of Johnny Ayce's death. Myth states that Johnny Ace died
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: playing a reckless game of Russian Roulette backstage at the
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Houston Coliseum on Christmas Day in nineteen fifty four. This
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: story isn't true either. You need more than one person
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: to play Russian Roulette, and Big Mama Thornton and Johnny's
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: girlfriend Olivia were not in on the game with the
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: young singer, so that didn't happen either. But that story,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the Russian Roulette story, was an easy explanation. It allowed
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Houston PD to put the case to bed quickly. At
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the local headlines screamed, Bam leader killed playing gun Roulette.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: This version of the story had another benefit as well.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: It was tragic got a friend who dies from playing
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Russian Roulette. There's a song for that, except this one
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: is real. It's called Pledging My Love by Johnny Ace.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: When words spread that Johnny Ace died tragically from playing
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Russian Roulette copies of his latest single, Just like Hank
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Williams's posthumous single, sold and sold, and sold and sold.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: It wasn't exactly what Don Roby wanted. It wasn't a
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: hit on the white pop charts, but it was a
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: hit that wouldn't die. So who was Don Roby to
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: correct the press? Who was Don Roby to set the
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: record buying public straight by telling him how Johnny Ayace
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: really died, drunk and careless, messing around with his twenty
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: two backstage on Christmas Day in nineteen fifty four. Elvis
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: knew all of this. He knew it then when it
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: happened back in fifty four, and he knew it now
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six as he sat alone on Christmas
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: morning pondering his creative future. He also knew that the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: tragedy of Johnny Ace was a gift, just like those
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: tragedy songs from his youth. Johnny's story and Johnny's song
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Pledging My Love inspired the King, So Elvis set out
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: to record Johnny Yace's last single, which he did right
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: there in the jungle room. Elvis Presley's version of Johnny
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Ace's Pledging My Love was released on Elvis's last album,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Moody Blue, in June of nineteen seventy seven, two months
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: before the King himself would die. Neither the song nor
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the album were hits. Consensus from the rock press was
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: that Elvis Pressley's last record was, in a word, uninspired.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: But upon Elvis's death just months after the record was released,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: that album sold and sold and sold and sold. It
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: went gold, and then it went platinum. Elvis's last record
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: was a commercial smash, and the songwriting royalties the windfall
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: of cash generated from Elvis's recording of Johnny Ace's pledging
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: My Love, that money went to Don Roby's estate. And
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: that's of disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in this is Disgraceland.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: All right, Mary Christmas, everybody, Ho Ho ho. I hope
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: you dug this episode. I love the rock and roll
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: miss Frankly. I can't get enough of them.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: So the question of the week, what is your favorite
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: or most interesting rock and roll or music related myth?
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Hit me up, let me know six one seven nine
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: I was six six six three eight, Leave me a voicemail,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: send me a text, let me know. You can also
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: reach me at disgrace lamp pod as well on Instagram,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: x and Facebook. Leave a review for the show on
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Win some free merch Okay, here
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: come some credits.
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com.
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: you for supporting the show.
• 35:50
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• 35:53
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• 35:57
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• 36:01
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• 36:14
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• 36:17
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• 36:22
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• 36:26
  Speaker 1: rock a rollup. He then