Elvis Presley was one of the first Rock Hall inductees in 1986. Now it’s finally his rhythm section’s turn.
“I appreciate that they’re doing it,” said drummer DJ Fontana.
He will be inducted in the sidemen category, along with Presley’s bass player, the late Bill Black.
Two members of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band — Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent — will do the honors for Fontana and Black, respectively.
Presley guitarist Scotty Moore was inducted in 2000.
Rounding out this year’s sidemen honorees is Spooner Oldham. The keyboard-playing songwriter had a hand in ’60s hits for Wilson Pickett (“Mustang Sally”) and Percy Sledge (“When a Man Loves a Woman”), among others. “Late Show With David Letterman” maestro Paul Shaffer will enshrine Oldham, who also has backed everyone from Bob Dylan to Drive-By Truckers.
Presley “didn’t mind you playing what you wanted to play,” Fontana said during a phone interview.
“Elvis himself actually was a good rhythm guitar player. He played on a lot of songs with us, too — the whole band. He’d sing and play. And he was good at it.
“He could do anything he decided he wanted to do.”
When they weren’t backing him in the studio, Fontana and Black toured extensively with Presley in the ’50s.
“It’s kind of a blur after this many years,” said Fontana, 78.
“When we worked, we were doing six and seven days a week. We’d be in this town tonight and Chicago the next night. It was 400 and 500 miles overnight. So that’s about all we had time to do — get to where we’re going, sleep a couple hours and go back and work again.
“It’s hard to find three or four guys who work together and everything jells just right. . . . There’d be arguments, of course, but in five minutes, it’s over.
“We had to click in the studio, and we had to get along on the road.”
Black died of a brain tumor in 1965; he was 39.
Fontana was just in Cleveland in January for a Presley tribute at PlayhouseSquare’s State Theatre.
“I do little shows the whole year,” Fontana said.
“I’ve got a bunch lined up already, and I’m hoping to get some more. I just wait for the phone to ring and see if I want to go there.”
