In “Oh Christine” from the new album A Little More Time With Reigning Sound, Greg Cartwright sings, “Amber strands / on my face / lay in wait for the tears that flow / some for you / and some for me.”
The song, which songwriter Cartwright says is his favorite of the album’s 11 tracks, is about a sailor remembering a love left on the shore. “It was a story that popped into my head about letting go of people when you need to let go, trying to move on and be happy for the other person, and not base your life around whether somebody else loves you or not.”
That’s a far cry from the kind of songs the screamer known as Greg Oblivian spat out in the wild Memphis of the 1990s, but the truth is the Oblivians’ apocalyptic lo-fi sonic blasts were always more sophisticated than they appeared on the surface. Plus, Cartwright has done a lot of growing up. “For the longest time, since I was a teenager, music was the main outlet for me to work out whatever’s going on inside of me,” he says. “If you listen to Oblivian stuff, or even some of the Compulsive Gamblers stuff, there’s a squeal in my voice. When there’s so much emotion trying to get out of you, and it’s so intense, and you’re kind of choking on it because you’re so wound up. That had a place, and I was glad that I found music and was able to use it in that way. But in the long term, I don’t think it’s really healthy to continue to do that when you could explore some other ways to work it out. And maybe in the process, I can be a better, more varied songwriter.”
Cartwright formed Reigning Sound after the Oblivians flamed out in the late ’90s. The original lineup of drummer Greg Roberson, bassist Jeremy Scott (who these days fronts the Toy Trucks), and organist Alex Greene, still has a reputation as one of the hottest bands to come out of Memphis. Their two albums, 2001’s Break Up, Break Down and 2002’s Time Bomb High School, expanded the borders of garage rock to include country, pop, and even rocked-up standards like “Stormy Weather.” Greene — who is now the music editor of the Memphis Flyer — left the band in 2004. Cartwright got back to his punk roots with Too Much Guitar before leaving his native Memphis for Asheville, North Carolina.
Reigning Sound went through personnel changes over the years, but when the pandemic hit last year, Cartwright says an opportunity opened up to get the original lineup back together. A Little More Time was recorded at Electraphonic Recording with Scott Bomar, another veteran of the Memphis punk scene, behind the boards. Recorded analog on Bomar’s vintage equipment, the songs span far beyond the overdriven guitars and punishing drums of the band’s Midtown rock roots. The sounds range from the steel guitar-driven balladeering of “Moving & Shaking” to the ’60s garage rock rave-up “I Don’t Need That Kind of Lovin’,” a longtime live favorite captured in the studio for the first time. “A Little More Time” brings Greene’s organ to the forefront, showing off the harmonic talents of Scott. “They’re a really good band,” says Cartwright. “The one addition we had to make for this record was Graham Winchester on drums. That was just because of an injury that Greg [Roberson] had to his hand many years ago that limits the dynamics of what he can do. They are both are on every song, with one playing drums, and the other guy playing extra percussion.”
What shines through A Little More Time is the depth of the songwriting. Cartwright’s newfound comfort with vulnerability elevates album closer “On and On” into a country-soul symphony of love and loss. Like all Cartwright’s songs, it is deceptively simple on the surface, with a river of emotion underneath. “That’s why a song is a great vehicle,” he says. “You say it with a few words and a lot of melody, then let people chew on it, and they’ll figure it out.”
Reigning Sound plays the River Series at Harbor Town Amphitheater on Saturday, June 5th.
