On the 30th Anniversary of the King’s Passing:

‘We all will be received in Graceland’

For reasons I cannot explain

There’s some part of me wants to see

Graceland

— Paul Simon, “Graceland”

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s one of my earliest (and admittedly oddest) memories, but I can recall exactly what I was doing when I heard Elvis Presley had died.

I was 6 years old, it was the day after my father’s 47th birthday, and we were strolling through the town green in Milford, N.H., Daddy’s hometown, when one passerby said to another, “Hey, Elvis Presley is dead.”

My father probably just shrugged. His musical tastes have always been more big-band jazz than Southern rockabilly or any kind of rock ‘n’ roll — especially the sweaty, bloated Vegas variety.

But I clearly remember that moment and wondering about his daughter, Lisa Marie, whom I must have seen on TV once or twice. She was about my age, and I recall thinking about how sad she must have been that her daddy was gone. I don’t think I gave Elvis or his passing much more thought after that.

Fast-forward a dozen years to a college campus in the suburbs of Chicago, when this Connecticut Yankee met the fellow who would become my “best good friend,” John Michael Pillow of Yazoo City, Miss., son of a cotton farmer, card-carrying Presbyterian, and rabid Elvis fan.

Bubba, as I call him, took great pains to explain, at length and occasionally with scriptural support, the brilliance of Elvis’ music, performance and persona. Eventually I came around, and we’ve shared a love for “The King” for almost 20 years, even sending greeting cards to one another on Jan. 8 (Elvis’ birthday).

So when we rolled into the parking lot across the street from Graceland in Bubba’s dusty pickup one recent steamy afternoon in Memphis, it felt providential (if not preordained) that we had made the pilgrimage — a first for both of us — together.

Apart from having an excuse to spend some time with my best good friend, I had come to Elvis’ home on a mission. I’m in the midst of writing a book described as “a field guide for grace” and thought a visit to a place called Graceland might be good research.

Did you know the only Grammy awards Elvis Presley won were for gospel recordings?

It’s one of the many surprising bits of enlightenment I took away from Graceland, the famously kitschy Memphis home where Elvis died 30 years ago today.

The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll won his first Grammy in 1967 for Best Sacred Performance for the recording of the gospel album “How Great Thou Art.” His second Grammy, for Best Inspirational Performance, came in 1972 for his gospel album “He Touched Me,” and a third in 1974 for a live recording of “How Great Thou Art.”

Offstage, Elvis, who was reared in an Assemblies of God church in Tupelo, Miss., spent hours singing gospel tunes with his entourage as a way to relax and, perhaps, self-soothe.

According to what Lisa Marie Presley says in the audio tour we listened to as we spent several hours touring Graceland, Elvis was a real spiritual seeker, especially later in life. He was always looking for something and read scads of books about religion.

One of the most interesting displays at Graceland is Elvis’ desk — with a built-in radio and TV, it was a state-of-the-art gift from his label, RCA Victor. On it were several spiritually themed books, including a copy of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet and Erich von Daniken’s Gods from Outer Space. I guess he still had not found what he was looking for. Or had he?

“Gladys Presley raised her son to be a churchgoing, Christian young man,” Joe Moscheo, one of Elvis’ gospel backup singers, wrote in a fascinating new book, The Gospel Side of Elvis. “Now, if all you think about is the glitz and showbiz and some of the craziness you’ve read about that came to symbolize Elvis’ public career, this notion may seem farfetched.

“But consider: The record on the turntable in his bedroom, possibly the last music Elvis Presley listened to before his untimely death, was an acetate recording of three of his favorite gospel songs,” Moscheo said. “Elvis never forgot his spiritual heritage. . . . I believe in his heart of hearts, he never turned.”

Many people — many Christians, for that matter — might scoff at the idea that Elvis, with all of his overindulgences, addictions and peccadilloes, also could have been a believer.

Moscheo says one of the most common things people ask him about Elvis is whether The King is with his Father in heaven. Wisely, Moscheo leaves that judgment up to God.

I left Graceland with the bittersweet impression of Elvis as an incredibly gifted, tragically flawed man who lavished love and outrageous gifts on his family and friends, desperately tried to reconcile staggering fame with personal heartache, but in the end felt alone, empty and lost.

Yet the faith that Elvis had as a child promises that it doesn’t matter whether he could pull it all together before he died at 42. Grace fills the gap.

And that just maybe, as one of Elvis’ favorite hymns says, “Something happened, and now I know/He touched me and made me whole.”