Roy Orbison mix from the top down rather than from the bottom up, beginning with close-miked backing vocals in the foreground, and ending with the rhythm section soft in the background. This combination became Orbison's trademark sound. "Only the Lonely" shot to number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and hit number one in the UK and Australia. According to Orbison, the subsequent songs he wrote with Melson during this period were constructed with his voice in mind, specifically to showcase its range and power. He told "Rolling Stone" in 1988, "I liked the sound of [my voice]. I liked making it
Roy Orbison at the Rock House songs on "Roy Orbison at the Rock House" were written by Orbison but the songwriting credits were assigned to Sam Phillips, and are in the traditional rockabilly style the Sun label was known for. Notable exceptions are compositions by other Sun artists Harold Jenkins (better known as "Conway Twitty") and Johnny Cash. "Rock House" is credited to Orbison and Twitty. For this release, all tracks except "Devil Doll" have been overdubbed with background vocals and/or additional instruments. This album was only released in US. unknown - guitar, bass, piano, drums; overdubbed guitars, bass, piano, drums, backing vocals Roy Orbison at