CMT's Sun Records — Trailer

added: Fri, Jan 6th '17

Next month, CMT will be offering a new cable series that takes viewers back to the early days of rock n' roll.

Check out the trailer for "Sun Records," an eight-episode drama about the life of legendary music producer Sam Phillips (portrayed here by "Gilmore Girls" actor Chad Michael Murray), who in 1952 founded Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Phillips is historically known for giving many rock n' roll legends their first start -- the list included Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, as well as, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins.

The series, based on the Tony Award-winning musical "Million Dollar Quartet," will also delve into the early lives of Cash, Lewis, and Presley (played by Masters of Sex's Kevin Fonteyne, Tale of Tales's Christian Lees, and newcomer Drake Milligan, respectively).

"Sun Records," in which veteran director Roland Joffe (Texas Rising, The Mission, The Killing Fields) is directing the pilot, is set to premiere Thursday, February 23rd on the CMT network.

synopsis:
Set in Memphis during the tumultuous early days of the civil rights movement, Sun Records tells the untold story of nothing less than the birth of rock 'n' roll. Guided by Sam Phillips, young musicians like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis combined the styles of hillbilly country with the 1950s R&B sound created by artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Fats Domino and Ike Turner, and changed the course of music forever. The series chronicles these young artists’ often jarring and sudden meteoric rise to fame in the face of sweeping political change and social unrest.

directed by Roland Joffe (pilot)

starring Chad Michael Murray, Kevin Fonteyne, Christian Lees, Drake Milligan

release date February 23, 2017 (on CMT)