Jack White Graceland Auction: Buys Elvis First Recording for $300,000 to Sell on Third Man Records

How much would you pay to buy an original recording of one of your favorite artists? When Jack White walked into an auction at the legendary Graceland he paid more than $300,000 to get his hands on the first-ever Elvis Presley recording. The recordings of "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartache Begin" date back to July 18, 1953 and were produced at the home of Sam Phillips' legendary Sun Records. Those two tracks will now be surfacing once more all due to the hefty wallet of White and now that they're digitally reissued, he'll be selling them through his Third Man Records label.

When White originally bought the music he was an "undisclosed buyer." It wasn't until later that White revealed himself. Upon buying the legendary tracks White hand delivered the record to Alan Stoker of Curator of Recorded Sound Collections located in the Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Stoker has restored thousands of songs but this one still holds significance to him. Stoker told Rolling Stone it was one of his more prominent restorations.

"It's kind of like the big bang of rock & roll," he told RS. "Not this disc necessarily, but that performance because that's where they first heard him. It's a document of that performance. The guy is handing me a disc he paid $300,000 for, so that makes you kind of hold your breath a little. Once he handed it to me, it was pretty much routine. The disc was in pretty good shape; I don't think it had been played that much."

Jack White Has Elvis Presley's First Recordings Digitally Transferred - https://t.co/HC4d8e8sVA https://t.co/2P10tx6llB

— Elvis Presley News (@Elvis_News) April 15, 2015

White will release the two tracks with the same typewritten label that was handed to Elvis the day it was recorded. On Record Store Day, this Saturday, April 18, Third Man Records in Nashville will have the original Elvis recording on display.

 The BACK side of the #Elvis #RSD15 10-inch labels, because when we say 'facsimile...' we mean it. #ElvisHasEnteredTheBuilding #thirdmanrecords @unitedrecordpressing @countrymusichof

A photo posted by Third Man Records (@thirdmanrecordsofficial) on Apr 10, 2015 at 2:48pm PDT