| "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 his albums From Elvis in Memphis, The Memphis Record, Suspicious Minds [1999], and From Nashville to Memphis-The Essential 60s Masters, as well as a number of compilations.
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 Guralniek'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 also recorded the song.
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.