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The "Saxy" Boots Randolph

Boots at Centennial Park, Nashville, 1964.
Boots at Centennial Park, Nashville, 1964.

By Jacque Day

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-841395.mp3

Western Kentucky – Eighty-two years ago this week, Boots Randolph, called by some the original Rock and Roll saxophonist, was born in Paducah, Kentucky. Through his six-decade career, artists from Elvis Presley to REO Speedwagon sought Boots out for his singing tenor sax sound. Jacque Day takes a look at his role in creating the "Nashville Sound" and his relationship with the King of Rock and Roll.

Featuring interviews with Tim Smith, Nashville bassist/producer and Boots Randolph band member, and Susan Doll, Ph.D., author of several books about Elvis Presley including the new Elvis for Dummies.

Acknowledgments
- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" from the album of the same name, performed by Brenda Lee.
- "Yakety Sax" (Boots Randolph and James Q. "Spider" Rich) from the album Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax!
- "Reconsider Baby" (Lowell Fulson) from Elvis Presley's 1961 Pearl Harbor benefit performance.

Special thanks to Chuck Surack of Sweetwater Records.