Greg Cartwright formed three modern-classic Memphis bands before
relocating to Asheville, North Carolina, six years ago: the Compulsive
Gamblers, the Oblivians, and the Reigning Sound.
Lately, he’s spent more time in his hometown playing with the
technically defunct Gamblers and Oblivians than with his current band,
which has been on a quasi-hiatus in the years between 2004’s Too
Much Guitar and the band’s new Love and Curses.
The Oblivians reunited earlier this year for a European tour,
playing a sold-out warm-up show at the Hi-Tone before setting off,
while the Compulsive Gamblers reformed for the recent Antenna club
reunion show and then for Gonerfest.
“It could always happen again,” Cartwright says of the reunions,
particularly the Oblivians, whose cult following has grown in the
decade since the band called it quits.
“I don’t think it will ever be a regular thing. And I doubt we’ll
ever make another record. But I enjoy the dynamic of the three of us
[Cartwright, Jack Yarber, and Eric Friedl] playing together. And it’s
still fun. That’s what you learn when you get back together and do some
shows. I’m not opposed to doing it again if the situation is
right.”
The Reigning Sound remains Cartwright’s primary outlet, though the
band has been absent from record store racks and Memphis clubs for a
while.
“Too Much Guitar came out after I’d already moved,”
Cartwright says. “It was all in the can before I left. Once I moved and
it came out, I was busy trying to get settled [in Asheville] for a
couple of years, and then once I got settled, a lot of work picked up
with other bands — trying to help people produce their records or
playing on people’s records or writing material on people’s records.
That kind of took front and center for a couple of years. Trying to get
a new Reigning Sound in place took a bit of time too.”
When Cartwright relocated to Asheville, the only Memphis-based
bandmate who remained in the band was bassist Jeremy Scott, but soon
even Scott didn’t fit as a long-distance bandmate, necessitating
Cartwright to put together an entirely new band.
In the meantime and on one track, Cartwright took on other projects,
producing records with George Soule, the Ettes, and a high-profile
collaboration with former Shangri-Las singer Mary Weiss, and joining up
with garage-rockers the Detroit Cobras as a playing/writing/producing
auxiliary member.
On another track, Cartwright began assembling a new Reigning Sound,
first adding drummer Lance Wille, then bassist Dave Wayne Gay (of the
Kentucky alt-country act Freakwater), and finally keyboard player Dave
Amels, whom Cartwright met while working on the Mary Weiss record.
“Things were in flux for a while and I didn’t want to go into the
studio with a band that wasn’t going to be the band that toured behind
the material,” Cartwright says about the five-year gap between Reigning
Sound records.
Partly recorded in Memphis (at Ardent) and in Asheville, Love and
Curses is a somewhat softer-edged record than Too Much
Guitar, which was recorded primarily as a trio. The addition of
Amels has brought the band closer to what it sounded like on Break
Up, Break Down and Time Bomb High School, when Memphis
keyboardist Alex Greene was in the band.
“It felt more complete once I had Dave [Amels],” Cartwright says of
the current lineup. “I was kind of missing having keyboards and being
able to use organ and piano. It really helps to fill things out
underneath. I’m not a real busy guitar player. I have to focus most of
my energy on the vocal, so it’s helpful to have someone who can play
melody lines beneath me.”
Love and Curses is comfort food for Reigning Sound fans, but
it does take a couple of detours. “Stick Up For Me,” the record’s only
cover, is an obscure ’60s protest anthem from Detroit band the Glass
Sun. It’s a departure for the album musically and the band lyrically.
And the closing “Banker and a Liar” is a Dylanesque lyric with a
gypsy-music feel, sounding perhaps more like a Compulsive Gamblers song
than anything previously heard on a Reigning Sound album.
“The good thing about the Reigning Sound is I think all of the fans
realize at this point that I’m not going to keep making the same record
over and over again,” Cartwright says. “It’s always going to sound like
me, but they don’t expect each record to sound exactly like the last
one or even for the production quality to sound the same. Things
change. The only constant is me. If you like what I do, you’ll probably
like the next record as well.”
