Softish Throat Drops
Sun Records recording artist and rockabilly legend Rudy Tutti Grayzel was also renowned for being the first opening act for Elvis Presley. “Elvis was eighteen and I was seventeen, I think, and we both recorded for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. I heard this fellow Elvis was looking for an opening act and Sam made the introduction through our managers, which in my case was my cousin. We arranged to meet and perform at a supermarket opening in San Antonio and see how it worked out. I’d heard of Elvis but never seen a picture of him, and I remember asking him on the phone, ‘How will I know you?’ and Elvis said, ‘You’ll know me, Rudy,’ just like that. So I get there, it’s in the afternoon before the show and a hot day, and this vision comes strolling across the parking lot dressed in a pink suit with this perfect brown hair and blue eyes and he looked like he was from another planet. I had never seen anyone so handsome. And he smiled that million dollar smile and said, “Rudy Tutti,” and I gasped, “Elvis?” and he laughed and said, “Yes, sir, I’m Elvis.”” Rudy and Elvis toured together for two years and became lifellong friends. It was Elvis who introduced Rudy to Pine Brothers throat drops, and in 2010 Rudy became the spokesperson for Pine Bros appearing in a series of comic ads for the product. Rudy was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and in August of 2011 performed with other Sun recording stars in a salute to Sun Records and Sam Phillips at Lincoln Center in New York City.