TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Gurdip and Justin put their heads together for an interesting and provocative thought experiment: what Elvis songs would they pick if they had to remove 5 songs from each decade of his career? Would they just pick our least favorites - or consider the historical, social and cultural ramifications of each decision? Plus, are some periods of Elvis' career easier to prune than others?  And then in th...

Gurdip returns this week for a lively discussion about the soundtrack to Elvis' 1968 film "Speedway," which co-starred Nancy Sinatra, who features on two tracks, making her one of the few artists to ever appear on an album with Elvis during his lifetime. The guys dig a bit into the recording sessions (which, minus Sinatra's contributions, were primarily done at MGM's soundstage instead of at RCA S...

Justin is joined on this episode by longtime guest and inquisitive mind Olivia Murphy-Rogers, who Gurdip, Ryan, Bec & Justin are pleased to announce is joining the TCBCast crew!! Justin and Olivia explore the concept of the "fool" in Elvis' music - song titles, lyrics, and at critical moments in his life from his childhood in Tupelo to his final television special. Justin continues the theme with...

Justin and Bec pull out all the stops for a thorough exploration of the remaining Nashville studio sessions from 1970: June 6, 7 & 8 as well as the brief September 22, 1970, session where Elvis laid down four more tracks to polish off "Elvis Country" and prepare a single. As they begin to sense the material's strength (and Elvis' interest) waning, they ponder whether the "marathon" approach may ha...

Gurdip's on vacation and between day jobs and personal emergencies, timing isn't lining up just yet Part 2 of the Nashville sessions, so Bec and Justin got together for a quick spur of the moment episode and managed to rope in John Michael Heath of EAP Society for a loose Elvis discussion among the three. The team discusses John & his father's Elvis artifacts in their collection, favorite Elvis mo...

Justin and Bec explore Elvis' "marathon" sessions from June 1970, starting with laying the groundwork for the return to Nashville's RCA Studio B, pondering why Elvis may not have chosen to return to Chips Moman's American Sound in Memphis. Instead Elvis is joined this time by a new band led by his live guitarist James Burton but otherwise comprised largely of country-soul players who had worked al...

You're about to be taken on a journey...  Justin is joined by Rabia of Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast to tackle Australia's near-exclusive 1983 compilation "Elvis Blue" (also released in Japan & South Africa) which compiles all 19 songs Elvis released during his lifetime with the word "blue" in the title.  This strange collection of songs that, when initially described, sounds like a novelty ca...

Ryan returns this week to look back on his time and findings exploring the world of Elvis bootlegs, from soundboards and audience recordings to studio material and fan-made spliced takes. Justin takes the opportunity to loosely discuss some of the history of Elvis bootlegs and try to contextualize where Elvis bootlegs have fit within the larger rock bootleg scene, and the guys ponder whether there...

Oh yeah, we went there. Gurdip & Justin sit down with the 1978 compilation album, intended for children but so often cited by Elvis fans who were around at the time as one of the worst and most misguided projects Colonel Tom Parker ever spearheaded... but is it, really?! Closer examination may be necessary! (Note: the guys ponder why the presence of an elephant in the artwork; Bec reached out afte...

One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready... For our main topic this week, Justin's extensive Song of the Week takes priority, as the guys dig into the history of "Blue Suede Shoes," originally written and recorded by Carl Perkins and famously associated with Elvis throughout his career and beyond. What was Carl tapping into when he wrote it in 1955, why did it have such appeal, and...

Valentine's Day's coming up soon, so Justin and Bec decided to round up their favorite Elvis songs about love and relationships, and Bec even wrangled Gurdip and Ryan's lists from them as well. It's a total gush-fest over some of the most expressive and memorable romantic recordings Elvis ever made. For Song of the Week, Bec stays on theme, picking the more downbeat "Something Blue" from the album...

The TCBCast gang is off for one week, but we've got something special from the archives: one of our earliest previously Patreon-exclusive unofficial commentaries, for the 1992 heavily-Elvis-inspired rom-com "Honeymoon in Vegas" starring Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan, written & directed by Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, The Freshman) with a soundtrack jam-packed with covers of...

Justin and Bec take a closer listen to Elvis' sessions from March 1972 at RCA Studio C in Hollywood, which gave us iconic hits like "Burning Love," "Always on My Mind" and "Separate Ways" along with several cuts relegated to B-sides and later LPs. They also ponder what might have been, looking at the cancelled 1972 album "Standing Room Only," that would have been largely comprised of this studio m...

Gurdip & Justin ring in 2024 by looking at one of the earliest posthumous albums from 1978, "A Canadian Tribute," created to celebrate Elvis' 1957 tour of Canada and the songs Elvis recorded that have Canadian connections. Gurdip, as our resident Canadian, had this one in his youth so the guys decided to see if it holds up as well as it did back in the day.  The guys also discuss the announcement...

Marking Elvis Presley's 89th birthday (and 6 years and 300 episodes of TCBCast), Justin, Gurdip, Ryan and Bec gather to give their thoughts on writer-director Sofia Coppola's adaptation of Priscilla Presley's autobiography. The gang dig in and ponder whether it's any better or offers anything more than the other previous depictions of the Elvis & Priscilla story: e.g. the 1988 TV adaptation, the 2...

Happy New Year!! Justin is out sick so episode 300 is delayed! So what is this? Well if you add up all the various bonus episodes along the way we've well blown past 300 long ago anyway so the number's arbitrary, so give us this weird one! Gurdip is joined by John Michael Heath from EAP Society to briefly discuss news and the recent "Elvis: Now In Person 1972" FTD 4-CD set and book by David Englis...

Like socks. underwear and an ugly sweater from a relative you never see, you didn't ask for it but you're getting it anyway.  The biggest gathering of guests on a single episode of TCBCast ever convene for the strangest of holiday events: Clambake. We know exactly what you're thinking, but it turns out there's SO MUCH MORE we didn't talk about last year, there's less overlap than you might expect...

Gurdip & Justin react to recent Elvis news, including Elvis' current charting holiday hits, the release of streaming data for "Agent Elvis" on Netflix for the first half of 2023, and Baz Luhrmann's statements that he intends to eventually, "one day" create an episodic version of his "Elvis" film. They guys also reflect on both the year 2023 for TCBCast, and the last six years of the show.  For Son...

This week, Gurdip and Justin finally do an episode they've been threatening to do for some time now, exploring the work of Italian DJ Agostino Carollo, aka "Spankox," who in the late 00s began remixing Elvis songs that had fallen into the European public domain and ended up getting the endorsement of EPE/Graceland for his first two albums, making them technically official releases... an endorsemen...

Ryan and Bec take the reins this week for a fun-filled episode as both dig into their favorite Elvis performances that were professionally filmed, from TV appearances, network specials & documentary films. Ryan also gives his thoughts on the Christmas at Graceland NBC special, and both react to news from Baz Luhrmann about his future Elvis-related projects. For Song of the Week, Bec explores the h...

Gurdip & Justin discuss their thoughts on the NBC special "Christmas at Graceland," which aired Wednesday, November 29, 2023, hosted by Riley Keough and featuring musical acts including Lainey Wilson, Lana Del Rey, Kane Brown, Alanis Morrisette, Post Malone, The War and Treaty, John Legend and Kacey Musgraves as well as a handful of surprise cameos. 

Gurdip is out unexpectedly so special guest Darin Evans joins Justin once again, this time for a loose, lighthearted (and unexpectedly beefy) ranking of all of the Elvis movie title songs, from Love Me Tender to Change of Habit; weighing the songs themselves, how they're used in their respective movies, and how well they represent the films they're from.  The team also react to listener feedback r...

On this episode, Justin is once again joined by Chris Jones, co-host of the Hall of Songs podcast ( HallofSongs.com ), for a discussion on Elvis' various Grammy awards nominations and wins as well as how he fared in other music industry award ceremonies and briefly touching on which major genre Halls of Fame Elvis has been inducted into. With Chris' experience on their show having to nominate the...

Gurdip and Justin dig into the September 1967 and January 1968 sessions that brought country singer-songwriter Jerry Reed into Elvis' circle for a brief moment, until business interests got in the way. Through spread out across various singles, soundtracks as bonus tracks, and budget compilations, these sessions collectively show Elvis already embracing material that returns him to his blues and c...

Gurdip & Justin react to the virtual holiday duets with Pentatonix and Kane Brown released within the last week or so, briefly discuss the leaks of emails sent from Lisa Marie to Sofia Coppola, and dig into Songs of the Week. Gurdip selects the bubbly "It's A Wonderful World" from 1964's "Roustabout" while Justin goes deep on the obscure 1960 Elvis home recording "When the Swallows Come Back to Ca...