Replies

[Steve]

Q : First off, give us a little background about yourself before you got in the army and met Elvis.

A : Well, I was like Elvis in a lot of ways. I wanted to be in a gospel quartet. And I went out to the Stamps School of Music when I graduated school and met a young man out there named Bill Gaither. And we formed a quartet together, sang together about a year before we broke up. And then I worked for another group for a short period of time. And we happened to work with a group called the Foggy River Boys on the ABC network on the Ozark Jubilee. And they needed a lead singer. So, they hired me. And at 20 years old, I went on network television. And that's how I met Elvis. We played Memphis with Red Foley. And he came backstage and met Mr. Foley and then over to meet my quartet. And I didn't see him again until we both were drafted in the military.

Q : Tell us about that meeting in the army.

A : When I met him again, I was at Fort Hood. I never was stationed with Elvis. I was in 15th. Cavalry there. And when I found out where he was, I went over and renewed my acquaintance. But I said, "I'm Charlie Hodge. I was the lead singer with the Foggy River Boys". And he said, "Hey, man, I used to watch you every Saturday night on TV, you know". And I think our friendship was a natural friendship, because when we met there at Fort Hood and got on the ship going to Europe, we knew the same people in the gospel field. We knew the same people in the country field. We knew the same gospel songs. We were singing songs together on the way to Germany.

Q : Tell us about the days of you and Elvis in basic training.

A : Well, at basic training, I didn't see him very much. Like I said, I would see him briefly, say on a Saturday morning, and he would be going back, because he was living off post with his parents. And so, I'd only see him briefly. And George Klein and some of the guys who would come and visit him there. And going up on Fort Hood to New Jersey on the train, I'd go up and sit and talk with Elvis. And that's where our friendship began just talking about people we knew in the field. You know, like Wanda Jackson was on our show. And she was Miss Rockabilly. And Elvis always wanted to date her you know. And so we had a lot to talk about.

[elvislady]

Thanks steve i enjoyed this interview...charlie was only a small guy in height to 5ft 3 here is a pic of him elvis and pat boone!
elvislady (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Attached File(s)

 elvis_charlie_hodge_pat_boone.jpg ( 27.75K ) Number of downloads: 1