True Love Travels on a Gravel Road

"True Love Travels on a Gravel Road"
Song by Duane Dee
Writer Frazier-Owens
Cover versions
Elvis Presley, Percy Sledge, Nick Lowe, The Highwaymen, Afghan Whigs, Wylie Gustafson

True Love Travels on a Gravel Road is a song written by the Frazier-Owens songwriting team and popularized by Elvis Presley. It was originally recorded by Duane Dee in 1968, and was a very minor hit, reaching #58 on the country charts. Elvis recorded the song on 17 February 1969 at American Sound Studios in Memphis.[1] He also performed the song at the International Hotel in the Las Vegas Valley on January 26, 1970.[2] It appears on From Elvis in Memphis, as well as a number of compilations; The Memphis Record, The Memphis 1969 Anthology: Suspicious Minds, and From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters.

A 1969 recording of the song by Percy Sledge enjoyed success as well. Esquire would later refer to it as "that rarely reprised Percy Sledge beauty "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road" [which] is no small blessing."[3]

In 1995 it was also released as a single by Nick Lowe on the Unichappell Music/Acuff Rose Music (BMI) . Lowe said of the song, "I first heard "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road" on a compilation record that accompanied Peter Guralnick's book Sweet Soul Music. I love the title, I love those sort of gospely words, and it has a lovely tune. Percy Sledge's version is kind of jaunty, where mine is a little more downbeat. .. I love that thing where R & B meets country..."[4]

The Highwaymen recorded the song and the Afghan Whigs recorded a version for their EP Uptown Avondale.

The song is in key of C major with a progression from C to E minor, to F to G to C and is a mixture of country and gospel. Sledge, however, recorded the song on the Atlantic Records label in the key of E major with a funkier, more upbeat version.

References

  1. ↑ Neale, David (15 September 2003). Roots of Elvis. iUniverse. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-595-29505-0. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  2. ↑ Osborne, Jerry (16 August 1999). Elvis - Word for Word: What He Said, Exactly As He Said It. Jerry Osborne Enterprises. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-932117-29-8. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Esquire: the magazine for men. Esquire, Inc. 1995. p. 22. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  4. ↑ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 18 March 1995. p. 42. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 7 September 2011.

External links


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