Tutt was in his early 30s when he was asked to join Elvis Prersley's TCB Band during a number of events at The International Hotel outside Las Vegas. This was in 1969. Elvis' four weeks long stay marked his triumphant return to the stage after eight years' absence, something that revitalized a career which at this point had been tarnished by uninspiring movie parts and an image loosing relevans facing the counterculture of the 1960s.