Carl Perkins Orby Records Spotlights

Carl Perkins found his way to Sam Phillips and the Sun Studio during the summer of 1954 after Perkins heard Elvis's record of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the radio. "There's a man in Memphis who understands what we're doing. I need to go see him," said Perkins, who had been playing-and writing-rockabilly before Elvis made his first recordings. Carl Perkins recorded 42 songs for Sun Records from 1954 until 1958 when he signed with Columbia. This album is comprised of all but one of those 42 songs.

In 1968, Carl Perkins re-signed with Columbia Records, and immediately released one of the best records of his career, Restless. Already a star of the Johnny Cash Show, Carl Perkins was now back in the charts, and his career was once again on the upturn. The 4 CDs in this box cover all of his recordings from his second tenure with Columbia (1968 to 1972) and all of the Mercury recordings (1973 to 1975).

Other companies have Carl Perkins sets, but no one else has all the Sun recordings (complete - with some previously unissued) as well as his Columbia recordings from 1958-1962, and everything he cut for Decca between 1963 and 1965. We start in 1954 with the early rockabilly sound of 'Honky Tonk Gal', then the early country singles, and then 'Blue Suede Shoes' and those classic Sun rockabilly tracks. We have Your True Love at its original tempo and speeded-up for single release, and we have newly discovered alternate takes.