The first Presley single of 1970 was released on January 29th and features the songs "Kentucky Rain" and "My Little Friend". On February 14th the single entered the "Hot 100", where it had a run of nine weeks and peaked at number 16. Seven days later the record also was listed on the "Easy Listening Chart". Here it also stayed for nine weeks, but became a top 3 hit. Finally, on February 28th, Billboard noted the 45 on their "Hot Country Singles Chart", too. Within its stay of ten weeks it reached number 31. On the domestic market "Kentucky Rain" / "My Little Friend" sold a million copies, abroad RCA Victor was able to retail another 700,000 units. According to the RIAA the total amount translates to 255 million paid streams. In 1992 the US sales were honored with a Gold Award. Of course the single was anything but a flop, but everyone was quick to notice that the sales had almost halfed compared to the previous 45. Nowadays "Kentucky Rain" accumulates 29 million streams on Spotify. The remake, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, clocks in at 4.7 million streams. However, "My Little Friend" wasn't even streamed half a million times.

For the 7th time in a row RCA Victor used a promo photo for "SINGER presents Elvis" on the sleeve. It was the last time they did so, because by now the king looked quite different.

The single is not available on the streaming platforms, but "Kentucky Rain" was added as a bonus track to the digital version of "From Elvis In Memphis" (1969) and "My Little Friend" is featured on the CAMDEN release "Almost In Love" (1970).

The song was written by Eddy Rabbit, who waited until 1977 before he released his own version. Elvis recorded "Kentucky Rain" on February 19, 1969 at the American Sound Studio in Memphis/Tennessee. The 10th take became the groundwork of the master, further enhancements were made on March 18th (strings and horns) and March 25th (harmony vocals). The first of these post-production sessions was held at American, the second one at RCA Studio A in Nashville/Tennessee. Later "Kentucky Rain" was also released on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970) and the album "Pure Gold" (1975). The song is about a man, who tries to find his girlfriend, who left him at night for unknown reasons. Elvis performs it very well.

Here the singer remembers his first love and the changes that this event brought into his life. It was written by Shirl Milete and also recorded by Elvis at American Sound Studio in Memphis/Tennessee. The ryhthm track was taped on January 16, 1969, the king's vocals followed five days later. Further additions were horns (March 18th), strings (March 19th) and harmony vocals (March 25th). CAMDEN released "My Little Friend" on the budget album "Almost In Love" (1970). The song certainly isn't made for the radio, one has to sit down and really listen to it. It took me several years to like it, maybe it has something to do with my own experiences.