Bass maestro Ray Walker evokes sizzling Nashville nights with Elvis and Jerry Reed

Clad in blue denim and a leather black wristband, a striking 33-year-old Elvis Presley rehearses on his acoustic Gibson J-200 guitar for the iconic “‘68 Comeback Special” on June 27, 1968. Photography by Frank Carroll

The only original Jordanaire still standing, genial bass extraordinaire Ray Walker has experienced an astronomical 60-year career in show business, adding a nuanced low backing vocal to definitive hit singles by Elvis Presley, Rick Nelson — e.g. “Poor Little Fool” and “Travelin’ Man” — and Patsy Cline.

In fact, Walker’s debut recording session with the King of Rock ’n’ Roll in June 1958 yielded a million selling record — “(Now and Then There’s) A Fool Such As I.” By 1969 the renowned country-gospel quartet was singing harmonies on roughly 80 percent of the songs recorded in Nashville, performing on over 30,000 total studio recordings.

Walker regularly appeared on George Klein’s SiriusXM weekly Elvis radio show until precarious health precipitated Klein to step down in January 2018. Affectionately known as G.K., the legendary disc jockey met Elvis in the eighth grade at the rough and tumble Humes High School in Memphis and later served as Klein’s best man.

During an extended February 4, 2011, call-in session to “The GK Show”, Walker talked at length about his 12 years in the recording studio with Elvis, including a rambunctious front row center session at RCA Studio B in Nashville when the “Alabama Wild Man” himself, singer-songwriter-guitarist Jerry Reed…