3 Chapter 2 Memphis

Chapter 2 Memphis Now that Elvis had a guitar, he wanted to play it. Gladys asked a local pastor named Frank Smith to help teach her son the guitar. Elvis was his own teacher, too. By reading a book, he figured out where to put his fingers. Elvis began hanging out at WELO, the local radio station. There, he heard older and better guitar players. He listened carefully to how they played. And every Saturday night, Elvis, Gladys, and Vernon would gather around their radio. They listened to the songs of country music stars from the Grand Ole Opry.

"I took the guitar and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit," Elvis said later. "But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it, you know." In seventh grade, Elvis started to bring his guitar to school every day — except when it was raining. Some kids made fun of him. They called his songs "hillbilly music." "Hillbilly" was a nasty name for someone who lived in the backwoods. Some kids were even meaner. One cut the strings off Elvis's guitar when he wasn't looking.

In November of 1948, when Elvis was in the middle of eighth grade, Vernon and Gladys decided to move again. But this time, they weren't heading to another shack in Tupelo. No, the Presleys were headed to the big city: Memphis, Tennessee. It was a little more than one hundred miles away. They

packed the family car, a 1939 Plymouth, and left. They were looking for a fresh start. And they got it. Before long, Vernon had a job loading and unloading heavy cases of paint. Gladys worked in a factory that made curtains. Elvis needed a new guitar teacher. He found one in Jesse Lee, the eighteen-year-old son of the local preacher. Every Saturday and Sunday, Jesse Lee came over to the Presley home. He and Elvis practiced downstairs in the laundry room. In Memphis, Elvis began to grow up. The shy kid made friends: Buzzy, Farley, and Paul. The four boys rode bikes together, went to the movies, and played football. They made money mowing lawns. By his junior year in high school, Elvis looked different. He grew sideburns, which made him

look older. He also started meeting girls. They liked the fact that he was still a little shy. Elvis took a girl named Regis to the school prom. Then there was music. Memphis was so much bigger than Tupelo. Elvis went to Charlie's, a store where kids were allowed to hang out and listen to records. In those days there were no iPods or CDs. Elvis and his buddies put on 78s, records made of thick shellac. Only one song fit on each side. Elvis visited the local radio station, WMPS, which

would host concerts. He also went to Ellis Auditorium. Once a month, people gathered there to sing gospel songs, the music Elvis knew from church. Sometimes, they sang all through the night.