"Heartbreak Hotel" Is Elvis's First Number One For RCA And Only The Second Song He Recorded For The Label. Chet Atkins Played Rhythm Guitar. You Can Hear Bill Black's Stand-Up Bass Scotty Moore's Electric Guitar D.J. Fontana's Drums And Floyd Cramer's Piano. Recorded In January 1956 In Nashville It Was Released As A Single In The USA With The B-Side "I Was The One" On January 27 1956. Despite RCA's Early Objections To The Sound Quality One Of The Early Nashville Takes Won Out And "Heartbreak Hotel" Became The Best Selling Singles Of 1956 As Well As The Song With Which Elvis Is Most Identified. An English Teacher From Bardwell Texas Got The Idea For The Song After A Suicide Victim Left A Note Later Published In A Newspaper With The Phrase "I Walk A Lonely Street." Mae Axton Toyed With The Idea Teaming Up With Tom Durden And Going So Far To Get Glenn Reeves To Record A Demo For Elvis To Hear.