The album was recorded at Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee in July 1973 and at Presley's home in Palm Springs, California in September 1973. Two songs from these sessions would be retained for release on the Good Times album the following spring. The initial vocal tracks were recorded in July 1973. "Raised on Rock" backed by "For Ol' Times Sake" was the only single released from the album, reaching No. 41 on the Billboard chart and No. 42 on the Country chart in September 1973.[3]
The album was one of the few that failed to chart in the United Kingdom, but the single "Raised on Rock / For Ol' Times Sake" did enter the British charts. Some of the songs are well-known covers like "Are You Sincere" which had been around for many years, but some new songs like the lead-off single were written for Presley, or written by writers he had previously recorded, such as Mark James. The title single, "Raised on Rock" has been noted by historians such as Roy Carr and Mick Farren in Elvis: The Illustrated Record as odd lyrically, as Presley sings in first person about being a child and discovering rock and roll through records such as "Johnny B. Goode" when Presley was a contemporary of the artists he cites.
In 1979, a stripped-down version of "Are You Sincere" was included on the album Our Memories of Elvis and released as a single, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard Country chart.[4]
In 2007 Raised on Rock was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special 2-disc edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes.[5]
