Author: Alex Greene

Categories
News News Blog

Fiery Suicide Galvanizes Midtown Music Community

CREDIT: Alyssa Moore

Everyone knew something was up with Alyssa Moore last Friday, according to Kim Koehler. Koehler was playing at Murphy’s that night, and as they spoke, Moore, who runs sound at the bar, was constantly interrupted with texts. “I think some of the texts were from him,” said Koehler. “He was letting her know something was going to happen.”  Alyssa Moore

By now, most of us have heard or seen the horrific events that took place at Murphy’s that night. Jared McLemore, local audio engineer and musician, committed suicide by self-immolation, attempting to harm and terrorize others as he did so. His troubled psyche was not a secret to most of the community in recent months.

Moore, his estranged girlfriend, had reported him to the Memphis Police Department multiple times, starting when he first threatened to kill her last September. She had a restraining order placed on him. After that, he was institutionalized for a time, only to gain release and make his way back to Memphis. Only days before, he sent Moore an image of himself with a gun to his head, then broke into her home and threatened her again. He was clearly more disturbed than ever. A concerned roommate called the Memphis Police Department well before the incident at Murphy’s, but to no avail. Moore, who also engineers and manages the rechristened Move the Air Studio next door, was at her usual job at the Murphy’s mixing board that night.

The best account of what happened next comes from the GoFundMe site (www.gofundme.com/alyssa-moores-recovery-fund) where Jessie Anäis Honoré initiated a campaign to raise money in support of her friend:

“[McLemore] walked through the crowded bar, making his presence known to all of the patrons. He crossed the street, and when he saw Alyssa had walked outside, he quickly doused his body with more kerosene and lit himself on fire, streaming on Facebook Live, in full view of onlookers concerned for Alyssa’s safety.

Murphy’s patron Paul Garner tried to stop Jared and ended up hospitalized with second degree burns. Jared ran for Alyssa, in his final attempt to take what he was supposedly denied, by trying to catch her on fire too. Jared underestimated Alyssa though, because she didn’t freeze in fear. She held the door to Murphy’s open for everyone running from him inside to safety. When Jared finally reached the door, Alyssa held it closed trying to lock it to keep him from her and anyone else. He pushed his body against the door and the heat from the flames finally became too much for Alyssa to stand. She made a fast decision and screamed at everyone to ‘RUN!’ and then she ran too.”

To some, this highlights how determined, resourceful, and strong a woman must be in the face of terror, even if she has done everything right. Koehler faced a similar situation in Knoxville over a decade ago, yet could not get the local mental health professionals to respond. It too culminated with her ex trying to burn her alive – she was saved by a thunderstorm – and then killing himself. The memories were overwhelming as Koehler joined other patrons’ efforts to extinguish McLemore.

Like Koehler, Moore had been compassionate in the months leading up to the incident. As her family wrote, “We want to make clear that this happened because of a perfect storm of domestic abuse, the stigma around it, and the visceral reality of mental illness. Alyssa tried to help Jared, and she also had to keep herself safe from him.”

Garner feels the incident could have been avoided if the police had responded more quickly. Some point to the under-staffing of the MPD as the problem. Therapeutic care has also received short shrift since Ronald Reagan slashed federal funding of mental health programs in the 1980s. While progress has been made in recognizing domestic violence and its links to mental health, last weekend’s events underscore how far we have to go.

“Many situations like this just fester in darkness,” says Koehler. “There are still men and women out there who are suffering silently and alone and who have done all the right things, and are still having the person come and mess with them. And now were are left to deal with the effects. But this violent act does not need to define us, or defile us. We are beyond what the perpetrator did. ”

Those needing support for domestic violence issues or mental health assistance can contact the Memphis Family Shelter at 901-278-2728.

Categories
Music Music Blog

The Blues Music Awards: A Funky Family Reunion

William Bell and Bobby Rush

The Blues Foundation’s 38th Annual Blues Music Awards (BMA’s) were held Thursday night at a packed Cook Convention Center, and for those few hours, a kind of blues utopia materialized in downtown Memphis. First and foremost, it was a utopia for blues fans of all stripes, with performances by luminaries old and new keeping everyone moving and “rattling their jewelry” at the gala event. But it was a utopia as well for the performers and others in this niche of the music industry, coming together to renew old friendships, forge new ones, and see the once-humble world of blues entertainment exploding before their eyes. Paradoxically, and perhaps due to the blues’ homespun values, the community has lost none of its personal quality even as the industry of the blues has grown.

“It’s the biggest night in blues. We have two Grammy award winners, Fantastic Negrito and Bobby Rush, and they presented together,” explained Blues Foundation president Barbara Newman, who noted that the personal quality of the gathering remained intact. “It’s all about relationship-building. It’s a big reunion. And everybody’s looking out for everybody else. All the nominees want to win, but they’re really happy for their friends if they don’t.” Having headed the organization for less than two years, she’s made it her goal to reach beyond the established community. “The blues world knew about the Blues Foundation, but people that love the blues, but aren’t necessarily entrenched in the blues, didn’t know us, and we’re working to get them to know who we are. We’re seeing a lot more excitement and energy. Our social media has popped. There’s been huge growth there.”

Highlights of the night included a soulful set by Betty Lavette, who fondly recalled recording one of her hits here in Memphis forty-eight years ago, and a bristling performance by longtime Muddy Waters sidekick John Primer. Primer delivered the most gripping solos of the night, playing bottleneck slide in frenzied, coruscating sheets of sound, invoking the early Chicago scene one minute, quoting the Star Spangled Banner in the next. Pausing between numbers, he noted, “You know, I won one of these trophies last year. But I’ll be so happy when someone else wins. I don’t need five or six trophies. Let these young people win some and keep the blues alive.”

And while many young talents were recognized last night, the royalty of the evening was clearly Bobby Rush, fresh off his recent Grammy win for Best Traditional Blues Album. At the BMA’s, not only did his Porcupine Meat win Album of the Year, his fifty-year career retrospective on Omnivore Recordings, Chicken Heads, won Historical Album of the Year. “It makes me feel old!” quipped Rush. “But it’s a blessing to get old. You put your mark on a wheel and you roll it down a hill, and your mark come back to you.”

Musing on the four disc set, Rush noted, “to have a CD out with this many records, you have to be blessed enough to have that many masters. Because the masters that I have, I own. Not many artists, especially black artists, own their own masters.” Was this due to his business smarts at the time? “Now I think it’s smart. But I was blessed, because I think what happened was, they counted me out, ‘cos I was just a little blues guy, would never amount to anything. ‘Let him have it, he’s not gonna do anything with it.’ And all of a sudden I get 80 years old, and I have a valuable piece of property.” Rush hinted at more retrospectives to come. “That’s not even about half of it. I probably have another 120 songs in the can,” he said before adding, with his eye on the future, “My motto is, ‘I must do all I can while I can.’ The best song never been sung yet.”

For a complete list of winners and other information, go to https://blues.org/blues-music-awards/

Categories
Music Music Blog

Cait Brennan: Transforming Glam

Cait Brennan

When someone has suffered violence simply for being who they are, there’s an urgency to the lyrics “Kinda tried to hide it, but I never denied it.” Cait Brennan sings these words, and everything else on her new album, Third, as if her life depended on it. Not that she can’t reveal a light touch, as when she sings, “he knows too much, I think we’ll have to kill him.” If the latter is built on a bedrock of T. Rex hand claps and chugging electric guitars, mixing the lighthearted with the murderous, that just comes with the territory in Trans Glam Soul. You can hear it for yourself Tuesday night at Bar DKDC.

Forget the “trans” for a minute, though, unless you mean that her music transcends such labels. A heady stew of early 70’s influences, Third avoids sounding retro or dated because Brennan’s musical heroes were known for their inventiveness, and that too is the chief quality of her songs. Yes, there is an element of comfort food to the lush E.L.O.-like harmonies, but mixed with a perfect Marc Bolan-esque guitar, and Brennan’s sharp lyrics, it becomes its own creature entirely. Whatever you call the music, it’s brimming over with soul.

There are overt nods to that genre on the new record as well, especially in “Stack Overflow”, which blends a classic STAX stomp and testifying vocals with edgy synth-noise breakdowns. Due to Brennan’s chance meeting with Jody Stephens last year, the album has a lot of Memphis in it. It was tracked and mixed at Ardent Studios, with much of its vintage equipment coloring the sound, including Chris Bell’s Gibson 330 and the Mellotron heard on classic Big Star tracks. Another number was co-written with local songwriting luminary Van Duren, and New Orleans transplant Robert Maché guests on guitar. And throughout the record, Brennan’s musical partner and co-producer Fernando Perdomo adds his multi-instrumental talents.

After starting to perform decades ago – about the time she came out as transgender – Brennan took an extended hiatus due to the violent ostracism she faced. She emerged onstage again in 2012, and last year’s debut, Debutante, made many best-of lists in the music press. Her powerful voice and well-crafted songs turned heads, and this year’s release will surely cinch her reputation as a creator of timeless records.

Expect cameos from the local talents who contributed to the record at tomorrow’s show, including Van Duren, Vicki Loveland, Adam Hill, Candace Maché, and Jody Stephens. Starts at 9:00 p.m. at Bar DKDC.

Categories
Music Music Features

Solo Survivor

CREDIT: Courtney Chavanell

The singer/songwriter genre is one we think we know well. As a friend quipped recently, “I guess it’s time to go hear a white guy with an acoustic guitar sing about his feelings.” But the genre cliches don’t apply when it comes to veteran songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Gaining notoriety over 40 years ago when he penned “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother” — a sardonic character study, now ranked among the top 100 country songs by Rolling Stone magazine — Hubbard was instantly recognized as a writer of humor and wit, often grouped with the “outlaws” who were redefining country music at the time. But while the humor and wit are still very much with him, Hubbard’s sound has grown in unpredictable ways.

“I started off in folk music,” Hubbard told me. “Then there was that whole outlaw, progressive country sound. Then the movie Urban Cowboy came along and just screwed everything up, and it wasn’t about the music, it was about the scene.”

Nonetheless, Hubbard worked in that vein well into the 1980s, in the hedonistic spirit of an outlaw troubadour. But it all came to a head when Stevie Ray Vaughan convinced him to get sober. With this sea change, he not only took to the craft of songwriting with renewed determination, he rediscovered the blues.

“Before I got clean and sober, I felt very fortunate to have seen Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb over the years. But I never got into playing the guitar like that. So in my 40s, I started to really absorb those things they were doing, that dead-thumb style, that groove thing. First I learned to finger pick, then I learned open tunings, then I got a slide.” Laying dormant for a few years, Hubbard reemerged in the early 1990s, and each successive album incorporated more country blues. By the early 2000s, that sound had become deeply ingrained in his songwriting. “Right now, it’s a real good marriage,” he says, “to have that foundation in folk music, where the lyrics are important, but then to lay that over a dead-thumb, low-down groove. To have a little bit more than just ‘I woke up this morning, the blues squattin’ on my face’ kinda thing.”

Hubbard’s stylistic reboot reflects a debt to the Delta that he is quick to acknowledge. “The whole Mississippi thing, Fred McDowell, R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford, all those cats, just — God, man!” Titles from The Ruffian’s Misfortune, from 2015, pay homage to both “Mr. Musselwhite” and Jessie Mae Hemphill, aka the She-Wolf. “Oh God, Jessie Mae, I just adore her. Hopefully some young person will hear that song and find her and just fall in love, like I did.”

But beyond the growing influence of the blues, in all its permutations, Hubbard’s music can’t be pinned down to a single genre. He may also dip into Appalachian folk or honky tonk, even revving up into full-on rock-and-roll. Two tracks from 2012’s The Grifter’s Hymnal feature piano work from Ian McLagan of Small Faces fame, and, as he says, “When he started playing, I teared up. I actually started crying.”
Hubbard honored another blues-ified Brit on that record, with a cover of Ringo Starr’s “Coochy Coochy.” When Starr heard it, as Hubbard notes, “He said, ‘The drums are good on it! How ’bout if I sing?’ So we sent him the track, and when it came back, I thought, ‘I wonder if he doubled his vocal, like the Beatles?’ — and he did!”

When he started out, Hubbard never could have predicted working with one of the Fab Four. “I was more of a desert-boot-and-corduroy kinda guy, rather than the Beatle boots, at the time.” But such were the rewards of following his own star. He has remained staunchly eclectic, especially since releasing albums on Bordello Records, managed by his wife Judy. “She says, you write about Les Pauls or strippers or snake farms, or whatever you want, and I’ll try to sell the damn thing,” says Hubbard. “I feel very fortunate, you know, that I’m sleeping with the president of my record label.”
Ray Wylie Hubbard plays Lafayette’s Music Room on April 20th.

Categories
Music Music Features

Memphis Magic at SXSW

Rolling into Austin last week for South By Southwest (SXSW) was both exotic and familiar to me. Having first played there in 1990, this year offered more than five times as many bands, with more tech-oriented attendees (due to the growth of the non-musical conference) and a more pronounced Memphis presence than ever.

Right out of the starting gate, Austin saw a full slate of local favorites at The Memphis Picnic. Sponsored by the nonprofit Music Export Memphis, it featured catering by the new Austin branch of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, as well as the new Austin branch of the Amurica photo booth and “a line around the block before we opened,” according to organizer Elizabeth Cawein.

The crowd flooded in to see opener Emi Secrest, a onetime Memphian now living in Los Angeles, who featured much-admired Memphis drummer Stanley Randolph, now playing for Stevie Wonder. One musician waxed enthusiastic about Randoph’s playing with Secrest, noting that their set pulled in the audience and “set a tone of ‘oh shit, this is good!’ for the day.” The show also featured Chris Milam, Marcella and Her Lovers, Dead Soldiers, and a fervent, soulful closing set by Southern Avenue. “It felt like being home,” said Marcella Simien. “Every guest felt that energy, and that’s why people stuck around all day. It was magical.”

Dead Soldiers, who release a new album on March 31st, reprised their set the next afternoon with wild abandon, in songs ranging from anthemic rock to klezmer-like frenzy. Show-closer “Sixteen Tons” culminated in soaring group harmonies and drummer Paul Gilliam leaping over his kit: One could only feel for the band that had to follow them.

Amid all this talent, foremost in my mind was Cory Branan and the Low Standards, for whom (full disclosure) I was playing bass. A North Mississippi/Memphis native who has recently returned to Bluff City life, with a new album coming in April, Branan led me and drummer Shawn Zorn through one full band show per day, along with many solo sets. The highlight of the latter was his appearance at the Moody Theater (home of Austin City Limits) for the Country Music Awards’ Songwriter Series, where his pithy lyrics and fiery picking brought the crowd to a standing ovation.

Scores of Memphians filtered into Austin as the week wore on, from new arrivals China Gate to the pedigreed Tommy Stinson-led Bash & Pop, featuring hometown guitarist extraordinaire Steve Selvidge, wrapping up their West Coast tour at Austin’s Hotel Vegas on Wednesday. The next night was capped off by rock-and-roll lifers Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre. And Saturday featured an unofficial celebration of bands on the Goner label, including Memphis’ own Aquarian Blood.

Bands rushed from one show to another, working themselves and crowds into a sweaty furor. Truckloads of tacos and coffee and alcohol were consumed, hearts and ears and minds caught in the sonic energy. Yet amid the clamor, more delicate moments also thrived. Mystic groove goddess Valerie June, now based in New York, was seemingly the toast of the town, with massive buzz and press coverage celebrating her new release. Coco Hames, newcomer to Memphis via Nashville, spun her classic pop songs with an assist from fellow Memphis transplant Mario Monterosso at the Merge Records Day Party, and again in a midnight show the following night. Meanwhile, Milam enlisted cellist Elen Wroten to add unique textures to his band. Both Hames and Milam have new albums arriving soon, as does Shannon McNally, another local favorite based in Oxford, Mississippi.

For her appearances at SXSW, McNally assembled a dream band featuring Memphian Stephen Chopek and the remarkable Charlie Sexton, best known for his guitar work with Bob Dylan. (Full disclosure #2: I joined them on keyboards at her Auditorium Shores show). Her liveliest show was at Lucy’s Fried Chicken, where her eclectic energy brought cheers from a packed house. “Who else can go from Stevie Wonder to JJ Cale at the drop of a hat?” Sexton asked the crowd, to which McNally replied, “Same station, baby! Same station.”

The most commercially promising acts at SXSW were arguably Memphis’ hip-hop artists. The genre is more fully embraced at SXSW than in the early days, and rappers Blac Youngsta, Javar Rockamore, and Don Trip all represented the Bluff City well. The king had to be Yo Gotti, whose Thursday show had crowds crushing the edge of the stage, as he pounded out his direct-message-themed hit, “Down in the DM,” as well as jams from his recent White Friday (CM9) album.

Finally, what could better evoke Memphis than the unique collaboration known as Big Star Third? Centered on original Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, with indie-rock luminaries such as Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey, Mike Mills, and others trading off vocals and instruments, supplemented with a string ensemble, the group recreates the lush and inventive sounds of the once-obscure band’s Third/Sister Lovers LP, as well as selections from earlier Big Star and Chris Bell records. Their SXSW show, in Austin’s Central Presbyterian Church, was reverent and tragic, occurring as it did on the seventh anniversary of Alex Chilton’s death. There was something magical in hearing Stephens’ powerful drumming echo from the church’s arched chancel. His singing captured the vulnerability of friendships formed in his teens; and Stamey and Mills captured the wry, blunt delivery of the band’s chief composer well. Yet one could almost sense Chilton himself, slouching in the back pew, making wisecracks about the gigantic crucifix hanging over their heads, wishing he could have a smoke.

Categories
Music Music Features

Return of the Champs

Fans of local trio The City Champs rejoiced last week when the group’s guitarist, Memphis native Joe Restivo, announced on social media that the original lineup was rehearsing again. Having gained popularity between 2008 and 2010, the group’s subsequent appearances were limited after drummer George Sluppick left town. With his recent return, the group has been woodshedding, writing new material, and making plans for bigger things.

The City Champs were distinguished by primarily being an instrumental group. This arose naturally from the group members’ passion for organ trios and quartets of the 1950s and 1960s, as featured on classic records by Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, or guitarist Grant Green. Early on, Restivo found kindred souls in brothers Al and Chad Gamble (on organ and drums, respectively), Muscle Shoals-area natives who had relocated to Memphis. “It was a jam situation,” says Restivo. “In the late ’90s, Al was in town as well as his brother. … And we would just get together at Al’s house.”

Soon after, Restivo left Memphis. His return in 2006 also marked the return of Sluppick, another Memphis native, whose life in New Orleans had been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. Al Gamble, Restivo, and Sluppick began playing together, and when not on the road, saxophonist Art Edmaiston would join them. They formed The Grip, mixing 1960s Latin-tinged boogaloo sounds with Memphis roots, as with their cover of the Mar-Keys’ “Grab This Thing.” When Edmaiston hit the road again, The City Champs were born.

The City Champs

The new group focused squarely on the stripped-down, funky organ trio sound. Notes Restivo, “We were all fans of that music before we met each other. And so it was a natural fit.” The new combo soon was honing its sound on the road in 2008, opening for the North Mississippi Allstars.

The Champs’ debut album, The Safecracker, was released on Scott Bomar’s Electraphonic label in 2009 to glowing reviews. It was marked by their eclectic approach to the organ trio sound, with inventive versions of “Ol’ Man River” and Amy Winehouse’s “Love Is a Losing Game.” Their 2010 sophomore release, The Set-Up, further expanded their palette, adding horns, Latin percussion, and a cameo from Motown legend Jack Ashford on percussion.

The combo developed a devoted local following, but Sluppick was lured to Los Angeles by the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. The Champs would continue to play Memphis occasionally when Sluppick was in town, but these appearances were rare. Restivo began working with The Bo-Keys and his own quartet, and Gamble began touring and recording with soul revivalists St. Paul and the Broken Bones. While these affiliations remain, things changed last year when Sluppick settled in his home town once again.

Now the group is once more developing new material, with an even more eclectic bent. Restivo notes the influence of “Willie Mitchell Dance Party records … a little bit of that honky-tonkish Memphis instrumental thing.” He adds that they’re perfecting their own take on the 1971 classic Blackrock “Yeah Yeah” and exploring more psychedelic flavors as well. The Champs are itching to record their third album, planned for later this year.

“Since we started this project, it’s been 10 years,” Restivo says. “We’ve all played in a ton of different groups and played a ton of shows with a lot of different artists. So, there’s a lot there to add. I know I’m a much more seasoned musician than I was when I started this thing. I think we’re just a better band. But at the end of the day, it’s a labor of love. More than any band I’ve ever been in, we have more fun just going over to Al Gamble’s house and just cooking up songs and arrangements. And we try to present that in our shows and our records.”