The Moment Keith Richards Got To Perform Alongside His Childhood Hero: “Everyone Wanted To Be Elvis—I Wanted To Be Scotty”

Countless musicians in Keith Richards‘ generation first picked up their instruments because of Elvis Presley. It’s hard to watch a musician so beloved by a crowd and not want to earn the same prestige. While Presley certainly had an impact on Richards, he was more enamored by his guitar player, Scotty Moore. Richards not only got to meet Moore before he died, but he also got to hop into the studio with his hero. Learn more about Richards and Moore’s collaboration below.

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The Moment Keith Richards Got To Perform Alongside His Childhood Hero

“Everyone wanted to be Elvis—I wanted to be Scotty,” Richards once said of Moore. Richards’ affinity for Presley’s longtime guitar player makes perfect sense. If you’re a guitarist, there really is no greater feat than playing for The King of Rock n’ Roll. Though Richards didn’t get to perform with Presley himself, he got to experience something even greater in his eyes: performing alongside his hero, Moore.

Richards and Moore’s collaboration took place in July 1996 in Woodstock, New York. Richards, Moore, DJ Fontana (another Presley musician), Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Rick Danko joined forces to celebrate The King with a series of covers. What’s better than celebrating one of your biggest inspirations with your hero by your side?

“Scotty Moore was my hero,” Richards said in the wake of his fellow guitarist’s passing. “There’s a little jazz in his playing, some great country licks, and a grounding in the blues as well. It’s never been duplicated. I can’t copy it.”

“It was a totally different way of delivering a song, a totally different sound,” he added elsewhere. “Stripped down, burnt, no bullsh**, no violins and ladies’ choruses and schmaltz, totally different.”

Given these comments (and the many more compliments Richards has paid Moore), it’s safe to assume this collaboration was a massive highlight of Richards’ career.

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Richards and Elvis

Although Richards hasn’t been shy about saying he was more excited by Moore’s playing than Presley’s performance, he hasn’t discounted The King’s influence on the Rolling Stones’ music. He once credited “Heartbreak Hotel” as the song that instilled in him the dream of a music career.

“That was the stunner,” Richards once said. “I’d never heard it before or anything like it. I’d never heard of Elvis before. It was almost as if I’d been waiting for it to happen. When I woke up the next day I was a different guy.”

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