Hamilton, Joe Frank, & Reynolds' Don't Pull Your Love has a lot of what I loved in '70s Elvis. Chris Issak had some young Elvis appeal, but also Orbison, while still being his own guy and writing some simply great stuff! Charlie Rich also comes to mind (as well as Conway).
I really liked the work of Ronnie McDowell in that Elvis bio film. Kurt Russell did a great job as well on the acting.
I was just about to mention Jimmy "Orion" Ellis. As bizarre as the first few years after the passing of Elvis, this was par for the course in Elvisdom as strange as it was. At first, Jimmy "Orion" Ellis was a bit too much for me to like. He did sound a lot like Elvis but unlike Ronnie McDowell, he had that "Orion" mask gimmick of Elvis being reborn. It took quite a few years for me to get over the "Orion" thing and focus on his music. As a singer, I grew to appreciate him but I never was as big a fan like I was with Ronnie McDowell. I guess it was just the stigma of the whole mask era. Musically, he was a pretty great singer and here's one of my favorites. "Lover Please" by Jimmy "Orion" Ellis
R.E.M.'s "Just a Touch" is about the public reaction to Elvis' death; if memory serves, the song took its name from a poster advertising an Elvis impersonator who was performing when the news broke ("Is it the King, or is it just a touch?").
Once I got around the whole "Orion" thing, I warmed to many of the non-Elvis songs by Jimmy Ellis. I've read that Jimmy Ellis was actually a pretty cool guy in person and he was widely liked by those in music business that he worked with for the most part. "Anna Jones" by Jimmy Ellis
Robert Plant and Rockpile-Little Sister Zeppelin-Candy Store Rock Kinks-Rock N Roll Fantasy U2-Elvis Presley and America Danzig's singing style Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper-Elvis Is Everywhere Dire Straits-Calling Elvis
Paul Simon ‘Graceland’ I'm going to Graceland, Graceland Memphis, Tennessee I'm going to Graceland Poor boys and pilgrims with families And we are going to Graceland
"There's Trouble Brewin'" by Jack Scott, 1963. This sounds like the same crack studio band that recorded with Elvis in Nashville during the same era.
Jerry Lee Lewis And Friends – Duets Jerry Lee Lewis And Friends – Duets (1978, Yellow, Vinyl) Most of the tracks (9 of 11) are Jerry Lee Lewis’ Sun recordings from sessions 1960-1962 later overdubbed by Jimmy Ellis’ vocals. Elvis is named checked in the song ‘It Won't Happen With Me’.
Emmylou Harris "Boy from Tupalo" is supposedly about Elvis. "Just ask the boy from Tupelo, he's the king and he oughta know..."
I'm sorry that I've not been more active in this thread. Elvis was the "King of Rock & Roll" but Wanda Jackson was the "Queen of Rockabilly". She toured with Elvis early on and dated him. Elvis influenced and encouraged her rockabilly styling. Just like Elvis, she is well known as a rockabilly, country, and gospel artist.
The atmosphere surrounding Elvis during his lifetime was always a circus once he started his career. When Elvis died, the circus continued on but morphed into some bizarre offerings for the Elvis fan. These posthumous products made the merchandising of Tom Parker look like the apex of good taste in comparison. We have already covered Orion. If that wasn't cheesy enough, apparently Elvis no sooner departed this mortal coil until he went on a publicity blitz with many mediums in the seance circuit. I can recall many tabloids that supposedly contacted Elvis to get a posthumous interview. In several magazines, there were ads for LPs for sale that claimed that Elvis was reaching out to us from beyond the grave. I was interested in these albums at the time. It wasn't that I believed them but I was intrigued the same way one rubbernecks when driving by a car accident scene. My parents weren't about to let me order a seance record but I did find a couple at flea markets a few years later. I wonder just how many of these LPs sold back in the day. Here are a couple of examples that I have. I wouldn't doubt that there were more. Elvis was real busy doing these soon after he passed (not).
In case you were wondering about what an Elvis seance album was like, here's one. Either Elvis was purposely lying to the medium or she didn't do much research into details of Elvis' life. It's widely known and verified by those that knew Elvis that he was a diligent reader. Elvis apparently didn't read much at all according to the medium. Elvis was probably just having some giggles at the expense of the mortals. That's probably what happened.
I always thought that Billy Idol had some Elvis in him, especially his hit song "To Be A lover". If Elvis survived into the 80s this might be what he sounded like
