Elvis was admittedly at least a few years before my time too
Though I appreciate his rock & roll 50's style stuff (afterall, he was the one who brought R&B & blues to mainstream white america), I think his gospel/country renditions really reveal the man speaking from his heart. Elvis was both southern and devotedly religious and his deep faith really comes thru in his moving gospel renditions. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised (if he was living today) that he wouldn't now be a world wide tele-evangalist.
A bit of trivia: During Elvis' career, he received numerous Grammy nominations, but all three statuettes Presley won were in the gospel category. His first Grammy win came in 1967 when his rendition of "How Great Thou Art" won for Best Sacred Performance.
Checkout this website which features some of his gospel tunes:
http://runswiththewind.freeservers.com/web6/elvishomepage.html Eric,
Heard you play quite a mean Santana style guitar on your 9000pro too
Sorry I missed the get together.