Graceland Too, including its Elvis-obsessed owner, was a collective and organic piece of Deep South folk art. Paul B. MacLeod was the eccentric dreamer who kept his Elvis attraction open to the public round-the-clock and year-round from 1990 until his sudden death in 2014. The location of these unforgettable curiosities was 200 E. Gholson Avenue in Holly Springs, Miss.
Darrin Devault and Tom Graves have captured a series of images from the infamous roadside attraction in this photography book. Some of the items they photographed were rare (early Sun and RCA vinyl records), some made in China (velvet paintings and assorted bric-a-brac), and some handmade (an over-the-top Jailhouse Rock inspired electric chair).
Paul MacLeod and Graceland Too were one of the great roadside attractions, and for the price of five dollars you were taken into Paul's world, a world dominated by Elvis Presley, Graves said. From a visitor's point of view the arrangement of all the Elvis items may have seemed chaotic. But in Paul's world, in Paul's logic, it made perfect sense. In our book we try to help it make sense to everyone.
Graceland Too is now gone.? It is largely a memory.? The gates have been closed, the windows shuttered, the building likely to be razed to make way for something more profitable but not likely to be anywhere near as interesting.? The contents of Graceland Too were?all sold to a single buyer at an auction where dozens of potential buyers were left in the cold along with their dreams of buying pieces, artifacts?of the unusual attraction.? The book Graceland Too Revisited remains the historical photographic record of a place and time never to be repeated.