Editing Roy Orbison (section)

====Early singles====
[[File:Roy Orbison - Cash Box 1960.png|160px|thumb|Orbison on the cover of ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'', September 3, 1960]]

In his first session for Monument in Nashville, Orbison recorded a song that RCA Victor had refused, "Paper Boy". It was accompanied by the B-side sing "With the Bug", but neither song charted.<ref name="Zak, p. 33.">Zak, p. 33.</ref>

Orbison's own style, the sound created at [[RCA Studio B|RCA Victor Studio B]] in Nashville with pioneer engineer [[Bill Porter (sound engineer)|Bill Porter]], the production by Foster, and the accompanying musicians gave Orbison's music a "polished, professional sound... finally allowing Orbison's stylistic inclinations free rein".<ref name="Zak, p. 32."/> Orbison requested to use [[string instrument|string instruments]] instead of [[fiddle|fiddles]], which was unusual for the time.<ref name="offbio" /><ref name="Amburn"/>{{refpage|p87}} He recorded three new songs, the most notable of which was "Uptown", written with Joe Melson and released in late 1959.<ref name="offbio" /><ref name="Lehman, p. 48.">Lehman, p. 48.</ref> Impressed with the results, Melson later recalled, "We stood in the studio, listening to the playbacks, and thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world."<ref name="escott"/><ref>Clayson, Alan, pp. 70–71.</ref> ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll'' states that the music Orbison made in Nashville "brought a new splendour to rock", and compared the melodramatic effects of the orchestral accompaniment to the musical productions of [[Phil Spector]].<ref name=decurtis155>DeCurtis and Henke, p. 155.</ref>

"Uptown" was a modest hit and the first song by Orbison and Melson to reach the ''Billboard'' Top 100.<ref name="Amburn"/>{{refpage|p89}} His initial success came just as the 1950s rock-and-roll era was winding down. Starting in 1960, the charts in the United States came to be dominated by teen idols, novelty acts, and Motown girl groups.<ref>Lehman, p. 19.</ref>