The Paul Berner Band‘s masterpiece Road To Memphis is the Soundtrack to the movie that still has to be made. A movie about Elvis Presley, focusing on the saga of a country boy becoming a king, a movie that find Elvis standing on the same cross road where blues singer Robert Johnson had been standing some 30 years before.

The band features Paul Berner on Bass, Michael Moore on Sax & Clarinet, Ed Verhoeff on Guitar (Left Channel) and Peter Tiehuis on Guitar (Right Channel).

And there, on that crossroad, ‘en route to Memphis, the devil in the form of Colonel Tom Parker appears and buys Elvis’ soul in exchange for fame and wealth. But on the other hand when one listens to track 6 – The Colonel – another more complex picture of Tom Parker emerges, that of a man in pain and remorse. Was he the Devil? Just before the melody enters you hear small squeaks from dried monkey hands and a voodoo priest blowing smoke, trying in vain to undo the whole deal.

Then Parker, Michael Moore‘s Clarinet, ”sings his song”. A song about the illegal immigrant Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, changing his identity and becoming Tom Parker, going from the old world to the new, from rags to riches, from laborer to kingmaker. Maybe Parker too had been standing on that crossroad. Maybe Parker by bringing Elvis to fame, was trying for a new deal with the Devil… Elvis in exchange for his own soul.

Paul Berner Band
Paul Berner – Bass
Michael Moore – Sax & Clarinet
Ed Verhoeff – Guitar (Left Channel)
Peter Tiehuis – Guitar (Right Channel)