Thomas Russell Durden (December 15, 1919 – October 17, 1999) was an American

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

ist and songwriter, who is most notable for co-writing

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's breakthrough hit, "

Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...

Biography

He was born in

Morgan County, Georgia Morgan County is a county located in the north central Piedmont region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,097. The county seat is Madison. Since the early 21st century, the county has had a housing boom ...

, the son of a sharecropper and the youngest of seven children. The family later moved to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, where he learned

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

and later steel guitar. He performed with the Westernaires as steel guitarist, and in the early 1950s, after moving to Gainesville, joined country band Smilin' Jack Herring and his Swingbillys. The band's other members were Herring, Pee Wee Jenkins, and Bob Chisolm.Smilin' Jack Herring and His Swingbillys
/ref> While playing with the Swingbillys, Durden began writing the lyrics for "Heartbreak Hotel." Durden took the half-written lyrics to his friends and occasional songwriting partners

Mae Boren Axton Mae Boren Axton (September 14, 1914 – April 9, 1997) was known in the music industry as the "Queen Mother of Nashville." She co-wrote the Elvis Presley hit single "Heartbreak Hotel" with Tommy Durden. She worked with Mel Tillis, Reba McEntire, ...

- who worked as a part-time

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

and publicist for

Colonel Tom Parker Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 January 21, 1997),

's client

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...

- and

Glenn Reeves Glenn Reeves (born Floyd Glenn Reeves December 29, 1930 - November 19, 1998) was an American rockabilly singer-songwriter and radio deejay. He released eight single (music), singles in his recording career, but is best-remembered for his demo of ...

. While Reeves thought the idea of the "lonely street" leading to a "heartbreak hotel" was not worthy of a song and turned down the offer of a co-writing credit, Axton composed a tune, and recorded an initial version with Durden. Another account from a radio-station owner has it that Durden had written the song in its entirety months previous and had already been performing it onstage. In any case, the song was recorded as a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

by Reeves who had a better singing voice. Axton had promised to write a song for Elvis Presley and presented Presley with the demo at a 1955

convention in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. Presley liked the song, and he and Parker, his manager, agreed that he should record it so long as he was given a co-writing credit, which Axton and Durden accepted. "Heartbreak Hotel" eventually became Presley's first record on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

and his first number one hit. Biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic.com
/ref>
/ref> Although Durden continued to write songs with Axton and Reeves, including "Honey Bop" which was recorded by

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...

in 1960, none had anything approaching the success of "Heartbreak Hotel". By 1958, he had set up a

song poem Song poems are songs with lyrics by usually non-professional writers that have been set to music by commercial companies for a fee. This practice, which has long been disparaged in the established music industry, was also known as ''song sharking ...

business in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, setting submitted lyrics to music for a fee. He later performed as steel guitarist for

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

and

Johnny Tillotson Johnny Tillotson (born April 20, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored nine top-ten hits on the pop, country, and adult contemporary ''Billboard'' charts, including " Poetry ...

. He moved to live in

Houghton Lake, Michigan Houghton Lake is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Roscommon County in the U.S. state of Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper ...

, and worked as a commercial dishwasher repairman until retiring in the early 1980s. Elaine Woo, Obituary, ''New York Times'', 22 October 1999
/ref> In later years he recorded two albums, ''Moods'', which included a version of "Heartbreak Hotel," and ''I Believe''. He was inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994. He died in Houghton Lake, Michigan in 1999 at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durden, Tommy 1919 births 1999 deaths Steel guitarists Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Morgan County, Georgia People from Roscommon County, Michigan Songwriters from Michigan 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) Guitarists from Michigan