TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

Justin is joined this week by musician Matthew Zeiss, professionally known as ZEISS, who is also the director of the forthcoming documentary "Moody Blue: Between the Lines," which was announced with a trailer during Elvis Week 2026 and is set to premiere in August 2027. Featuring new interviews with Glen Hardin, Jerry Scheff, Estelle Brown, Larry Strickland, Brent Maher, Layng Martine Jr, Letitia...

Following immediately on the heels of our discussion on Elvis and "Coat of Many Colors," John Michael Heath relates the story behind Kris Kristofferson writing his religious-themed 1973 #1 hit  "Why Me Lord." Then, to help us understand Elvis' cover better, explores the relationship between two of Elvis' favorite gospel groups, The Statesmen Quartet and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet, and in parti...

In this special two-part episode of TCBCast featuring John Heath, Justin and John reflect on the life and music of Dolly Parton, yet their main focus is on the discrepancies between the legendary story of Elvis seeking to record "I Will Always Love You"... and history.  Source interviews, articles and books, as well as verifiable facts about how Colonel Parker's music publishing involvement was ha...

Gurdip and Bec open the episode reflecting on the passing of actress and singer Shelley Fabares, who starred in three films with Elvis - Girl Happy, Spinout and Clambake - and sadly passed away on August 22, 2026. They also take time to remember beloved country singer-songwriter-actress Dolly Parton, who also passed away on August 25.  For the main topic, they're looking back on the final official...

On this episode, Bec has been hard at work compiling information, sources and versions of songs in order to tell the history behind one of her all-time favorite Elvis songs: "What Now My Love." Originally written by French musician Gilbert Bécaud and lyricist Pierre Delanoë, "Et Maintenant" became beloved around the world both in its original language, and with its localized English lyrics by Carl...

Justin and Olivia are joined for our special Elvis Week episode by John Humphrey, drummer for alt-rock/post-grunge/metal band Seether ("Broken," "Remedy," "Fine Again," and more) as well as The Nixons (most famous for their 1996 hit "Sister"), who turns out to be a massive, nearly life-long Elvis fan with just as much enthusiasm and appreciation for digging deep on Elvis' music to match any TCBCas...

Gurdip joins Justin this week for a more unusually meta conversion, pondering how their Elvis fandom has waxed and waned over the years, how doing TCBCast has sustained and grown their interest in Elvis' life and career, how the internet has changed the way fans interact with each other, challenges that can make fandoms (of all types, of any interest) frustrating, and how to get back into the groo...

TCBCast's resident doo-wop king, Gurdip Ladhar, has been lured from hiding with the promise of getting to discuss Elvis' finest doo-wop-inspired records, as Gurdip, Bec and Justin discuss their top 5 each and ponder whether or not Elvis' cross-genre habits can be neatly put inside the boundaries of what was less of a genre and more a retrospective label applied to describe common fads in songwriti...

Olivia, Ryan, Bec & Justin continue their exploration of 1968's "Live A Little, Love A Little" discussing the final act or so of the film, including the musical sequences "A Little Less Conversation" and "Almost in Love," as well as digging more into the major differences between the novel it as based on, "Kiss My Firm But Pliant Lips." Where in the film we see Elvis' juggling two jobs as photogra...

As selected by TCBCast's patrons as the next movie starring Elvis to review, the gang is gathered to talk about what is, coincidentally, Olivia's favorite Elvis movie: "Live A Little, Love A Little." While Justin and Gurdip had previously done an episode all the way back in 2018 about the film, this time around we've got Ryan, Bec, Olivia and Justin all on board to talk about re-experiencing the f...

Justin is joined for this episode by Ryan Droste, who, hearing the call of duty as TCBCast's American-history-teacher-in-chief, swung by to discuss Elvis' Independence Day concerts; briefly the 1955 and 1956 performances early in his career, but primarily the July 4, 1976, show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, celebrating America's 200th anniversary. Fifty years later, on America's semi-quincentennial, the guy...

Inspired by a listener email, Justin and John Heath (of EAP Society and Atomic Wax) got into a vigorous debate over whether Elvis's musical output in the years following his return from the US Army were creatively stagnant, or a different sort of ambition, with Elvis intentionally exploring new sounds and styles, finally trying to marry the country, blues and rock and roll he had already mastered...

Bec & Justin continue their exploration through Elvis' creative journey during his military service. The piano-driven tracks on Elvis' 1958-59 home recordings from Germany notably feature much heavier distortion due to the tape recorder likely having been set either on or directly next to the piano, which Elvis plays heavy-handedly, but they remaing intriguing listens.  While Elvis backs off from...

Across this episode and the next, Justin and Bec are taking an extensive look at Elvis' home recordings made during his time in the US Army while serving in Germany. Though none of them surfaced until after his death, as we learned from "The Colonel & The King" last year, Elvis was explicitly encouraged by his manager to record material at home in secret. Excerpts from the tapes have appeared on s...

This week, we're heading down to New Orleans circa 1958 to revisit the soundtrack and recording sessions for the iconic musical drama "King Creole." The Dixieland aesthetic gave Elvis an opportunity experiment, melding his now-signature rock and roll style with a small jazz ensemble, creating a soundtrack LP that had a distinct sound all its own. Although few outtakes remain, the songwriter demos...

Gurdip & Justin decided for this week's episode to select 10 songs apiece that Elvis was the first artist to record and release commercially and discuss why they're our favorites and what about them showcases Elvis' capabilities as an interpreter and recording artist.  Naturally, Gurdip's list skews heavily toward the 1950s and early 1960s with a mix of hits like "Jailhouse Rock" and "I Got Stung"...

This week, Justin and Bec put on their dancing shoes and boogie back to the week of June 5, 1976 (just a hair under 50 years ago) to see what was happening in the world of American music and where Elvis' latest single "Hurt/For the Heart" ranked on the pop, easy listening and rock charts, before delving into what surrounded "Hurt" as it reached its highest peak at #6 on the Country chart - and RCA...

Gurdip joins Justin to catch up on the latest Elvis news, read some listener feedback and hold a debate: if the guys were forced to select between only Elvis' Golden Records Volume 1 or Volume 3 on vinyl to give to a new fan, which would they recommend? Each makes a case for one of them. Volume 1, released in 1958, of course features many of Elvis' most iconic hits from 1956-1957 including signatu...

Justin is joined in this episode by Helene de Roux, writer and director of "Welcoming Grace," a new short film made to promote ZEISS's Aatma camera lenses, but featuring a narrative built around two Elvis fans meeting for the first time in real life and forming a bond despite many differences and minor obstacles. Helene is a fellow listener and patron of TCBCast, you'll have heard her words before...

Olivia joins Justin this week for a Song of the Week special as they deep-dive the stories behind two of their favorite Elvis songs. Olivia's up first, examining Elvis' exellent 1970 cover of Anne Murray's classic country hit "Snowbird" and the tragic story of its songwriter, Gene MacLellan.  Then, Justin saddles up and goes tilting at windmills in an attempt to explore the fascinating history beh...

Bec and John pitched Justin on the idea of assigning them ANY album from across Elvis's entire discography, from any time or country, and the two of them would have to try to make the case that their pick is better than the other's, even if it may challenge them to do so. So Bec was assigned the #1 2016 UK album "The Wonder of You with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra," the sequel release to "If I...

There's an old saying that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade - Bec, Ryan and Olivia challenge themselves to make the most out of the weakest films in Elvis' cinematic canon, spotlighting their favorite and most redeeming musical performances from their least favorite Elvis movies. For Song of the Week, Olivia deep-dives the fascinating history of what, for Elvis, was a throwaway goof durin...

Bec is joined this week by John Michael Heath to rank their all-time favorite co-stars from across Elvis's Hollywood career. From Debra Paget to Mary Tyler Moore, which ladies made the cut? You'll just have to give it a listen and find out... For Song of the Week, Bec spotlights the playful "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" from 1965's "Girl Happy." Then John reflects on the somber brilliance of El...

Gurdip, Justin, Bec, Ryan and Olivia reflect on 400 episodes of TCBCast, discussing our favorite music, movie, Elvis influence episodes, songs of the week and even our favorite Gurdip moments.  We also pay homage to a dearly missed friend.  Oh, and Justin made a couple new Elvis discoveries that we bring up right at the end that we guarantee you've never heard before. Thank you to all of our fello...

Olivia joins Justin this week for a meaty follow-up to our EPiC review. Not only does she chime in with her thoughts and observations from her viewing experience, the duo also read and react to all of YOUR many wonderful emails, comments and submitted audio reviews of the film from TCBCast's Patreon supporters.  Then, Song of the Week IS BACK, BABY!! Olivia, taking cues from EPiC, is feeling the "...