Although no relation to the "King of Rock & Roll," mandolinist and bandleader Millard Presley was also part of Tennessee's rich musical history. The fact that his activities took place on the eastern rather than western side of the state -- the Appalachians, and not Memphis -- might be reason enough for his slant toward old-time music and gospel rather than rock or rockabilly. Still, he came along in the same era of experimenting regional labels as many of the early rockabilly cats, so sometimes shows up on these types of compilations as well. Historically, the real interest in this particular Presley was not the fairly standard rural gospel tracks he cut on his own, but his place as a sideman hovering around the fringes of bluegrass music as it first developed. He played in the band of the fine banjoist Shannon Grayson, which also included excellent rhythm guitarist Dewey Price. The Golden Valley Boys was Grayson's combo, and cut eight quite well-promoted and distributed sides for RCA, as well as several more for King; the latter label a source of intense interest for the early country and rockabilly scholars. Presley's abilities both instrumentally and vocally were put to the test in the Golden Valley Boys, as the leader had devised the combo to be an innovative, relatively big-budget combination of two different types of groups that already were quite in demand: the harmony vocal quartet, and the old-time string band. Because Presley played the relatively high-end mandolin, but sang one of the lower voices, the baritone, his performances represent sophisticated orchestration themselves. As a leader of Millard Presley the Presleys, he cut some gospel sides for the Blue Hen label in 1957; socially, the material somehow got downgraded for inclusion in revved-up, decadent rockabilly compilations. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi