Month: May 2004

The powers-that-be in the local music industry should’ve been in New Orleans last week, when Memphis notables Sonny Burgess, Matt Lucas, D.J. Fontana, and The Hi Rhythm Section (who backed Percy Wiggins for an amazing soul set, then brought out harmonica master Willie Cobbs for some gutbucket blues) played the third annual Ponderosa Stomp, this year’s real celebration of the 50th anniversary of rock-and-roll.

Billed as “two nights of rockabilly, blues, soul, swamp blues, swamp pop and New Orleans R&B by the true, unsung heroes of rock-and-roll,” the Ponderosa Stomp, held at the Rock and Bowl Mid City Lanes, started at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 27th and paused some 10 hours later. Then partygoers had approximately 14 hours off before the celebration continued on Wednesday.

Jessie Mae Hemphill

Politically incorrect pimps-cum-entertainers Rudy Ray Moore and Fillmore Slim regaled the audience between seminal performances from bluesman Homesick James (accompanied by Memphian Scott Bomar on bass), R&B pianist Dennis Binder (backed by Bomar and drummer Paul Buchignani), Northwest garage rockers The Wailers, and New Orleans heroes Oliver “Carnival Time” Morgan, Willie Tee, and Eddie Bo. But that was just the beginning. More than 40 legendary acts, including she-wolfs Barbara Lynn and Lady Bo, played during the event.

For a tiny, word-of-mouth show, the Ponderosa Stomp was a great success. It drew nearly 1,000 music fans each night, including industry stalwarts such as Norton Records‘ Billy Miller and Miriam Linna and Terry Stewart of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; bona-fide celebrities such as Harry Shearer and Ray Davies; dozens of journalists and die-hard musicians/music fans such as Steve Miller, Ben Vaughn, and Joss Stone.

Pretty incredible, especially when you realize that the Stomp is the brainchild of one Dr. Ike and his nonprofit Mystic Knights of the Mau-Mau, who cobble together their own cash, funding from Miller Beer and American Spirit cigarettes, and a few dozen volunteers to put together a party that puts big-budget events (including most, if not all, Memphis ones) to shame. If you didn’t make it down to New Orleans, you can find out more about what you missed at PonderosaStomp.com.

And here’s an ultimatum to every blues fan in the city: Drop that Stevie Ray Vaughan bootleg, quit watching those Blues Brothers reruns, and put down your Gibson guitar, because the real deal — as in hill-country blueswoman Jessie Mae Hemphill — is making a rare appearance at The Bon-Ton CafÇ this Friday, May 7th. She’ll be celebrating the release of Get Right Blues, a set of mid-1980s recordings recently pressed by local label Inside Sounds.

“There aren’t that many women playing guitar and singing country blues,” explains musicologist and University of Memphis professor David Evans, who recorded Get Right Blues. “[Hemphill] plays in a real hard Mississippi percussive style that’s typically associated with a male-dominated scene. She doesn’t try to be one of the guys, however. She sings with a soft voice and holds her own very well. She presents a female aspect to what’s otherwise a totally male scene.”

Back in the ’80s, Hemphill was a regular fixture on Beale Street and at the picnic grounds of her native Como, Mississippi. She toured Europe with a ragtag group of Memphians, including Tav Falco and The Hellcats, and appeared regularly at the Center for Southern Folklore’s Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. She played guitar and drums in the ’93 documentary Deep Blues; then, later that year, she suffered a stroke. Since then, Hemphill sightings have been few and far between, although she did appear on Richard Johnston‘s Foot Hill Stomp album in 2002.

“We hope to have a couple of short sets by her on Friday night,” Evans says. He plans to handle guitar duties while Hemphill sings and plays tambourine, but, he cautions, “one never knows what to expect with Jessie Mae.” Inside Sounds head Eddie Dattel agrees. “I haven’t worked with Jessie Mae directly, so I wasn’t sure what her feelings were about performing. Apparently, she’s all geared up to do it.”

From her trailer in Como, the headstrong Hemphill proclaims, “I feel strong. I’ll do a little something.” Then she pauses for a moment. “My doctor told me not to get tired and wore out,” she continues. “I don’t need to strain, but if I feel good enough, I’ll do it.”

That’s reason enough to make it to the Bon-Ton CafÇ. The show starts at 7 p.m.; $5 will get you in the door.

E-mail: localbeat@memphisflyer.com

In the decade-and-a-half since I discovered the landmark 1986 compilation The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, the pop music of South Africa — this year’s Memphis in May honored country — has become my favorite musical culture outside of my own. So if Memphis in May is going to give me the opportunity to rave about a bunch of ecstatically great records that most readers have probably never heard of, much less actually heard, you’d better believe I’m gonna take advantage.

The South African genre “mbaqanga” was introduced to the U.S. mainstream in 1986 with Paul Simon’s Graceland, which appropriated the sound and many of the key musicians from the scene. This was followed by The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, which led to a flood of South African releases in the United States.

The mbaqanga that Indestructible captured has a lot of sonic connections to American R&B and rock, but it is also distinctly African. A hectic melding of rural and urban styles and attitudes (think Memphis soul or Chicago blues or Kingston roots-reggae –except brighter, faster, wilder), the genre played essentially the same role in the apartheid struggle that American soul and early rock-and-roll played in the civil rights movement — not as overt social commentary but as a soundtrack to daily life under oppression and as a document of the irrepressible spirit and resilience that eventually won out. In other words, not “We Shall Overcome” but “Respect.”

At the center of the genre was a core group of musicians: the Mahotella Queens, a rotating cast of female harmony singers; the “goat-voiced” groaner Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde; and the genius session group the Makgona Tsohle Band (led by sax player/producer West Nkosi and featuring stunning guitarist Marks Mankwane), the greatest of all mbaqanga bands and the ones credited with defining the style. (In American terms, think Booker T. & the MGs or Motown’s Soul Brothers, except –blasphemous! –even better.) But the sound stretched back decades earlier, to small-band jazz (“marabi”) and vocal harmonies (“mbube”) and pennywhistle music (“kwela”). It’s a rich tradition and if you want to investigate it, here are 10 places to start:

The Indestructible Beat of Soweto — Various Artists (Shanachie, 1986): The album that opened the floodgates for South African pop in the U.S. and quite possibly the finest one-disc music-scene overview ever compiled: majestic, unstoppable, perfect. A snapshot of mbaqanga from 1981 to 1984, the record is heavy on the sources of the “indestructible beat” –Mahlathini, the Mahotella Queens, and the Makgona Tsohle Band. On the opening track, Udokotela Shange Namajaha’s “Awungilobolele,” a clashing string intro materializes into a circular trance, greeted by groaning male lead vocals, then female backup (moaning “OHH! OHH!” repeatedly). As the groove winds tighter and tighter, the sounds of roosters and chickens issue a wake-up call. From that point on, the avalanche of nimble, pastoral guitar figures, sixth-sense call-and-response vocals, soaring, obsessive fiddles, (seemingly) spontaneous vocal interjections, and body-rattling rhythms coheres into a sound as joyous and intense as anything you’ll ever hear.

The History of Township Music — Various Artists (Wrasse, 2001): After you’ve become enthralled by mbaqanga, this 28-track scholarly overview is the perfect lesson in how the genre developed. Tracing the history of South African music from its recorded origins (with the lovely 1939 ragtime piano approximation “Zulu Piano Medley No. 1 Part 1” by Thomas Mabiletsa) to the exact moment when Indestructible picks up the groove, The History of Township Music earns its title but is much more fun than the lesson-plan concept suggests.

From the jazz-oriented marabi of the lead track to the genre-creating “Mbube” (source of the melody for “Wimoweh” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”), Zulu string bands (with names like the Jazz Dazzlers and the Elite Swingsters!), pennywhistle jive (the Solven Whistlers’ infectious “Something New in Africa”), and the proto-mbaqanga of early Mahotella Queens, you can hear an entire rhythm nation dance and sing its way through unspeakable struggles with a brightness and resolve that defies comprehension.

Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive — Various Artists (Music Club, 1997): Subtitled “18 South African Urban Swing Classics from the Jivin’ ’50s,” this buoyant comp does for the urbane small-band marabi (think jump blues and Dixieland and swing) and pennywhistle jive of the ’50s what Indestructible does for the more rockin’ mbaqanga that followed. Though it repeats a few tracks from The History of Township Music, Township Jazz ‘N’ Jive gives a fuller portrait of the scene: an elegant fusion of indigenous rhythms and melodies with the influences of American artists such as Count Basie and the Mills Brothers.

The Kings and Queens of Township Jive: Modern Roots of the Indestructible Beat of Soweto –Various Artists (Earthworks, 1990): After the success of The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, a series of sequels (all worth searching out) were released. But perhaps better is this collection that looks back at the first generation of ’60s and ’70s mbaqanga that preceded the music on Indestructible. Kings and Queens of Township Jive doesn’t move with the singular force of Indestructible, but it may well equal it as a party record, especially on giddy “sax jive” cuts such as Lulu Masilela’s “Six Mabone,” Thomas Phale’s “Platform 14,” and West Nkosi’s house- (or shanty-)rocking “Marabi Bell 800.”

The Heartbeat of Soweto — Various Artists (Shanachie, 1988): As ’80s mbaqanga comps go, this is a folkier, more wide-ranging alternative to Indestructible, duplicating only Amiswazi Emvelo on the artist list. It’s more rural-sounding, with almost country-blues equivalents such as Mlokothwa’s “Thathezakho” and Armando Bila Chijumane’s “Kamakhalawana.” The result is a record with a more relaxed pace and possibly a calmer spirit –less of a joyous rush but perhaps just as rewarding.

Soweto Never Sleeps: Classic Female Zulu Jive –Various Artists (Shanachie, 1988): A definitive snapshot of mbaqanga’s female harmony style, with seven of 12 tracks from the masters of the form, the Mahotella Queens. Most date from the mid-’70s, and the best cuts are as breathtaking as anything the culture has produced. This means: the opening “Umculo Kawupheli” by the Mahotella Queens, its title translating as “No End To Music” (amen!); the Mgababa Queens’ “Sidl’imali Zethu,” radiant guitar pop so hypnotic and utterly undeniable it might be the “Mmm Bop” of Afropop; and the Mgababa Queens’ “Akulaiwa Esoweto” (aka “Soweto Never Sleeps”), swooningly sweet girl-group harmonies over a warm, insistent organ riff.

Dark City Sisters and Flying Jazz Queens — Dark City Sisters/Flying Jazz Queens (Earthworks, 1993): The Dark City Sisters were a female harmony group that ruled the South African scene from the mid-’50s to the mid-’60s before the Mahotella Queens took their crown. As this lovely collection attests, they had a more straightforward girl-group style (sweet marabi to the Mahotella Queens’ forceful mbaqanga). The record also presents an early glimpse of Mahlathini, who groaned on a few Dark City Sisters songs before joining the Mahotella Queens.

Paris-Soweto — Mahlathini & Mahotella Queens (Celluloid, 1988): Captured in a Paris studio during a European tour after the success of Graceland spurred a reunion, this is the classic mbaqanga sound (West Nkosi producing, the Makgona Tsohle Band playing) updated for state-of-the-art recording. The gritty quality of the earlier recordings is missing, but the beauty is all there: the shimmering, swirling guitars, the open-hearted vocals, the impossible brightness. (In fact, I often think that the second track, “Awuthule Kancane,” may be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.) There’s even a healthy dose of English lyrics, and, sung in these voices, they don’t embarrass.

Classic Tracks — Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Shanachie, 1990): Made stars in the U.S. after given a showcase on Graceland‘s “Homeless,” this great mbube group reminds American listeners of early gospel, but the vocal ticks and tricks here are all their own. I prefer other styles because I crave the music of South Africa as much as the vocals, but if you want to hear those spine-tingling voices unadorned, this is where you need to start.

Kwaito: South African Hip Hop — Various Artists (Earthworks, 2000): The modern sound of South Africa. Not really “hip-hop” in the American sense, but a blend of hip-hop, house, R&B, and dancehall with indigenous sounds. On “Make ‘Em Bounce,” Jimmy B hooks a beat up to Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens’ “Kazet” and converts it into Kwaito form the same way Dr. Dre or Kanye West might pay respect to ’70s soul.

E-mail: herrington@memphisflyer.com

Standing alongside Pavement, Guided By Voices, Superchunk, and Memphis’ own Grifters among the top tier of indie-rock bands during the genre’s early/mid-’90s heyday, Sebadoh may have been the scene’s most direct major players. In another time or another place, frontman Lou Barlow might have been his generation’s James Taylor, the sensitive singer-songwriter who makes the college girls swoon. Sebadoh got its start as a low-fi, home-recording outfit in the late ’80s but hit its stride in the mid-’90s, first with the relationship-spanning conceptual song cycle Bubble & Scrape (told backward, like an indie-rock Irreversible) and then with the crystalline Bakesale, which jettisoned indulgent noise entirely for a near-classic batch of tightly wound relationship songs. Barlow has since hit it bigger with his other band, the Folk Implosion, but is back on the road with longtime Sebadoh collaborator Jason Loewenstein for a reunion tour of sorts. They’ll be at the Hi-Tone Café Sunday, May 9th, with ace local indie inheritors The Coach and Four.

I’ll swear on a stack of 45s that “All the Kids Are Right,” by Illinois hard-rock duo Local H, is one of the greatest anthems in rock-and-roll history — sardonic, poignant, hilarious, and driven heavenward by the crunchiest power riffs since Kurt Cobain blasted off this mortal coil. On that alt-rock equivalent to “The Dream Is Over,” singer-songwriter/guitarist Scott Lucas gazes out at the increasingly bored, ever-shrinking group of kids in the audience at the crappy club he’s playing (apparently, they found out that girls show their tits at Limp Bizkit shows and headed for the door) and sings a hymn to the end of an era: “You heard that we were great/But now you think we’re lame/Since you saw the show last night/Thought that we would rock/Knock it up a notch/Rockin’ was nowhere in sight/And it’s never good when it goes bad.” Elsewhere on the same record, 1998’s Pack Up the Cats, Lucas acknowledges another hard truth: “I’m in love with rock-and-roll/But that’ll change eventually.” Or maybe not. The band is still on the road, still playing presumably before sparse audiences, and will be at the Hi-Tone Café Wednesday, May 12th, with Detachment Kit.

—Chris Herrington

I’ve always been leery of any band a club promotes with the line “featuring former members of [insert 1980s college-radio band here].” I was especially skeptical when I saw that The Low Budgets, “featuring members of the Dead Milkmen,” were coming to Murphy’s. If there were ever a band that got more credit than it deserved, it’s the Dead Milkmen. Oh sure, the first time I heard the line “It’s a boring day/I’ve got nothing to do except/Get a load of retards and drive ’em to the zoo,” I laughed until milk came out of my nose, but I was maybe 16 and susceptible to mistaking gross pre-Farrelly Brothers humor for pure genius. Musically speaking, the Milkmen were pretty inept, and once you stripped away the comedy (as the Dead Milkmen did on later releases), it became pretty obvious. The Low Budgets (who have dubbed themselves “value rockers”) only boast one of the original Milkmen, Joe Jack Talcum (also of Joe Butterfly). He’s the talented one. Better still, their songs owe less to the Dead Milkmen than to bands such as Pavement and the Ramones. Giddy indie-rock hooks adorn basic three-chord punk songs with lyrics that are silly without being sophomoric. Considering you can’t drive a block without hearing some hip-hop tune about how good it is to be rolling in money, there’s something really swell about blasting a song that repeats the line “Your card has been declined.” Talk about keeping it real. The Low Budgets hit town on Monday, May 10th. —Chris Davis