In the winter of 2019, Kerry and Mike Semrad, a husband-and-wife duo from Lincoln, Nebraska, made their way down to Memphis, Tennessee at the invitation of legendary honky-tonker, Dale Watson, to attend the Ameripolitan Award show at the Guest House at Graceland.
They knew a stop at Sun Studios was mandatory. They pulled up around mid-afternoon, only to be met by the legendary Prince of Country Music, Marty Stuart, who happened to be standing outside purchasing artwork. As if it were a family reunion, the Bottle Tops were waved over for conversation.
After a surprise, 30-minute, in-depth conversation with Marty, they made their way into the studio.
They were in awe of the now-museum of Rock N Roll history. Their tour was the last of the day, and a couple staff members stuck around to talk to Kerry and Mike. They were interested the history of the Semrad family as it pertained to Sun Studio: Mike’s father, Mike Sr., had recorded with Sam Phillips, as well as Sam’s two children Jerry and Knox Phillips, with his Buddha Records group ‘The Smoke Ring’ in 1968, followed by an appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
The Bottle Tops were invited to record in the same very room in which this rock history took place. These tracks are what occurred around 10:30 that evening.