Jared “Jay B.” Boyd tells me in Part 2 of his We Saw You interview that he wanted to rap and skateboard when he was growing up in Memphis. He has done both, while also becoming the program manager of WYXR, a DJ, a co-host of radio’s Beale Street Caravan, and a board member of BRIDGES. He was previously a reporter for The Daily Memphian.
You can catch up with the first part of our interview here.
You’ve probably seen — or heard — Jared “Jay B” Boyd somewhere. He’s the program manager for WYXR radio, but he’s also a DJ, co-host of radio’s Beale Street Caravan, and a board member of BRIDGES.
Sitting down with Boyd for the latest We Saw You interview, I asked if there was more than one Jared Boyd because “Jared Boyd” seems to be everywhere.
He responds: “I’m the only one I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”
In part one of the four-part series, Boyd talks about his childhood growing up in Parkway Village, going to Richland Elementary School, and White Station High School. His parents, he says, “allowed me to explore my interests.”
I also learned the late Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns was his cousin — and I learned Boyd can play the viola!
See the rest of the Boyd interviews in Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Stay tuned for more installments of We Saw You with Jared Boyd.
Beale Street Caravan has become a formidable exporter: It’s the most widely distributed blues radio program in the world, attracting more than 2.4 million listeners each week. Produced here in Memphis, it regularly broadcasts, via nearly five hundred radio stations around the world, the live performances of artists from Memphis and the Mid-South, or inspired by the region. That’s quite an ascension for a show begun in 1997 with producer/executive director Sid Selvidge working under the auspices of the Blues Foundation.
In 2001, the program broke off to become an independent nonprofit. Having a talent as formidable as Selvidge as its first executive director set the bar high for Beale Street Caravan, but for the past two decades musician/producer Kevin Cubbins has excelled at the role, blending the professionalism of a studio engineer with the eclectic taste of an artist. Now he’s moving on and Thomas Crivens is stepping into the executive director role after four years of producing shows for the program.
“After almost 20 years, I think I’d been there plenty long enough,” says Cubbins. “I did feel like the end of the pandemic brought this moment where if we were ever going to have a leadership transition, now’s the time. I am excited for Thomas, and I support the board 100 percent as he steps into that role.”
Indeed, the transition takes place with Beale Street Caravan set to return to the airwaves this fall with its first new episodes since the pandemic. After the onset of Covid, the program remained on-air by broadcasting recordings from its extensive archives. Now, with pandemic restrictions lifting, show organizers are excited to get back on the road again.
“With live music shows coming back into our lives, it’s good to know that Beale Street Caravan will be under the steady hand and institutional knowledge of Thomas,” says the nonprofit’s outgoing board chair, Cynthia Ham. “We will once again be recording, preserving, broadcasting, and sharing worldwide the sounds of Memphis and the Delta region.”
In addition to being a show producer, Crivens, like Cubbins, is a guitarist of some note. He’s also a booking agent for local and national recording artists, and the first African American to lead the globally syndicated music program.
“Being a product of Memphis and its vibrant music scene, I’m excited at the chance to lead this showcase of the city’s musical talent and influence to the world,” says Crivens. “Through the continued promotion and celebration of Memphis music, Beale Street Caravan will continue to nurture pride in our city, while simultaneously increasing Memphis’ global visibility and recognition as a hub for music creation and performance.”
A native Memphian, Crivens is a graduate of White Station High School and Morehouse College in Atlanta, and holds an MBA from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis. He’s also served in executive positions at Memphis City Schools and Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation.
Today’s Music Video Monday’s got soul to spare.
Last year, Marcella Simien got a temporary new addition to her band, Spooner Oldham He’s a keyboardist, songwriter, and producer who has worked with Chips Moman at American Studios in Memphis and FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The studio produced hits like The Boxtops’ “Cry Like A Baby” and Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally.”
Oldham joined the Lovers at the Midtown-famous P&H Cafe to shoot a live video for Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis series. The song they performed was “I’d Rather Go Blind”, a song Rock-and-Roll-Hall-Of-Fame-inductee Oldham first recorded with Etta James. Prepare to get smoky with this video, directed by Christian Walker and produced by Waheed Al Qawasmi.
Music Video Monday: Marcella & Her Lovers with Spooner Oldham
If you’d like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Memphis music was vibrant as ever in 2018. Every week, the Memphis Flyer brings you the latest and best video collaborations between Bluff City filmmakers and musicians in our Music Video Monday series. To assemble this list, I rewatched all 34 videos that qualified for 2018’s best video and scored them according to song, concept, cinematography, direction and acting, and editing. Then I untangled as many ties as I could and made some arbitrary decisions. Everyone who made the list is #1 in my book!
10. Louise Page “Blue Romance”
Flowers cover everything in this drag-tastic pop gem, directed by Sam Leathers.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (13)
9. Harlan T. Bobo “Nadine” / Fuck “Facehole”
Our first tie of the list comes early. First is Harlan T. Bobo’s sizzling, intense “Nadine” clip, directed by James Sposto.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (11)
I used science to determine that Fuck’s Memphis Flyer name drop is equal to “Nadine”.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (12)
8. Aaron James “Kauri Woods”
The smokey climax of this video by Graham Uhelski is one of the more visually stunning things you’ll see this year.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (10)
7. Daz Rinko “New Whip, Who Dis?”
Whaddup to rapper Daz Rinko who dropped three videos on MVM this year. This was the best one, thanks to an absolute banger of a track.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (9)
6. (tie) McKenna Bray “The Way I Loved You” / Lisa Mac “Change Your Mind”
I couldn’t make up my mind between this balletic video from co-directors Kim Lloyd and Susan Marshall…
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (7)
…and this dark, twisted soundstage fantasy from director Morgan Jon Fox.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (8)
5. Brennan Villines “Better Than We’ve Ever Been”
Andrew Trent Fleming got a great performance out of Brennan Villines in this bloody excellent clip.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (6)
4. (tie) Nick Black “One Night Love” / Summer Avenue “Cut It Close”
Nick Black is many things, but as this video by Gabriel DeCarlo proves, a hooper ain’t one of ’em.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (4)
The kids in Summer Avenue enlisted Laura Jean Hocking for their debut video.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (5)
3. Cedric Burnside “Wash My Hands”
Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis series produced a whole flood of great music videos from director Christian Walker and producer Waheed Al Qawasmi. I could have filled out the top ten with these videos alone, but consider this smoking clip of Cedric Burnside laying down the law representative of them all.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (3)
2. Don Lifted “Poplar Pike”
I could have filled out the top five with work from Memphis video auteur Don Lifted, aka Lawrence Matthews, who put three videos on MVM this year. To give everybody else a chance, I picked the transcendent clip for “Poplar Pike” created by Mattews, Kevin Brooks, and Nubia Yasin.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018
1. Lucero “Long Way Back Home”
Sorry, everybody, but you already knew who was going to be number one this year. It’s this mini-movie created by director Jeff Nichols, brother of Lucero frontman Ben Nichols. Starring genuine movie star (and guy who has played Elvis) Michael Shannon, “Long Way Back Home” is the best Memphis music video of 2018 by a country mile.
Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (2)
Thanks to everyone who submitted videos to Music Video Monday in 2018. If you’d like to see your music video appear on Music Video Monday in 2019, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Music Video Monday is burning down the house!
When Brennan Whalen and Josh McLean’s band punk duo Heels were tapped to appear in Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis video series, director Christian Walker knew where to shoot them.
The Buccaneer was the Midtown music scene’s watering hole and home base before ownership troubles and a fire spelled the end of an era. Walker wanted to throw one more show at The Bucc before it’s torn down, and the new owners agreed.
Watch Heels perform their stomper “Off With Their Heads” on the front porch of the burned out bar, the last of thousands of shows that happened their over the decades. Give ’em a good sendoff, boys!
Music Video Monday: Heels
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Music Video Monday is getting lit for the 4th!
This week is Independence Day, which will see Americans all over this great nation lighting the fuse on recreational explosives. What does this have to do with Hippy SOUL? Memphis rappers Idi Aah Que and Teco got lit for Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis video series, and now they’re about to blow up.*
All the videos in the series are directed by Christian Walker and produced by Waheed AlQawasmi. The music is performed and recorded live, in this case in the Hi Tone in Midtown Memphis. You can find “My Dojo” on Hippy SOUL’s album Worthy Negro.
Music Video Monday: Hippy SOUL
*It’s a lyrical stretch, I know. Cut me some slack. It’s Monday. If you think your music video would play well on Music Video Monday without bad puns**, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
** Bad puns will be made regardless.
It’s a dreamy Music Video Monday!
Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis series rolls on with the first-ever video from Memphis supergroup Motel Mirrors. John Paul Keith and Amy LaVere first teamed up in 2013 to create a perfect stew of elegant songwriting, countryfied harmonies, and twangy picking. For their long gestating second album, they were joined by LaVere’s husband Will Sexton on guitar and Shawn Zorn on drums. This version of “I Wouldn’t Dream Of It” was recorded live at the Galloway House, the former church in Cooper-Young where Johnny Cash played his very first show. The video series was directed by Christian Walker and produced by Waheed AlQawasmi. Take a look and listen!
Music Video Monday: Motel Mirrors
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Kevin Cubbins, executive director of Beale Street Caravan, says it was time for the long-running radio show to change directions.
“About three years ago, we redefined our mission. We turned everything on its ear. We were NPR’s blues radio program. I felt we would be better served, and be better aligned with our funder’s mission, if we focused more on the city of Memphis.
Cubbins says the thinking was that the change would “keep our messaging simpler and more effective and allow us to expand the genres we aired. Instead of just blues, that meant soul, gospel, hip-hop, and rock-and-roll. A lot of people thought we were nuts to do that, but in a 12-month span we went from 230 stations in the U.S. to 404. I think the message is so much cleaner and easier to get into. ‘I Listen to Memphis’ is just another step. The mission of Beale Street Caravan is sharing the music and culture of Memphis with the world.”
The response has been overwhelming. “People absolutely love the music from this town,” Cubbins says. “Sometimes I wish all the local artists could see all the feedback and responses that we get, so it would change our opinions of ourselves. What we have here is so vibrant, so authentic, and so original. There’s just nothing like it anywhere else in the world.”
NPR’s audience has grown significantly in recent years, as the organization has embraced the digital world by adding video components to its programming. Cubbins says “I Listen to Memphis” is Beale Street Caravan’s entry into new media. The web series films Memphis music artists playing live in front of their hometown crowds.
Christian Walker, who plays with Memphis punk legends Pezz, was tapped to direct. In a gruelingly short schedule, Walker and his crew filmed 10 acts in 10 Mid-South music venues. “Some places have historical significance, some places only have significance to Memphians,” says Cubbins. “Our international audience is going to hear about Wild Bill’s for the first time.”
Midtown punks HEELS played in front of what’s left of the Buccaneer, the underground music club that burned last year. Motel Mirrors filmed at the Galloway House on Cooper, where Johnny Cash played his first gig. “That sanctuary sounds incredible,” Walker says. “That could be Memphis’ Ryman.” Rev. John Wilkins recorded the classic “May the Circle Be Unbroken” with his daughters in his Como, Mississippi, church. “His dad was making blues records here in the 1930s,” Walker says.
Marcella Simien’s performance was captured at the P&H Cafe. “We called Spooner Oldham from Fame Studios in Florence. He played on so much amazing stuff, and wrote or co-wrote so much of it. So we did two videos for her: ‘I’m Your Puppet’, which he wrote, and ‘I’d Rather Go Blind.’ Marcella does that song anyway, and Spooner played on the original Etta James version. I think if we do this again, we want to do a lot of more of those mash-ups.”
Cubbins says adding video to the Beale Street Caravan formula was a steep learning curve for the combined crews. “I met some of the smartest people I have ever met in my life. I didn’t know the depths of talent we have in the Memphis film scene.”
“I Listen to Memphis” premieres this week, with Cedric Burnside playing in Royal Studios. The 10 videos will be released weekly throughout the summer. Cubbins says he hopes the series not only reaches music fans around the world, but also helps Memphis discover its own rich music scene. “Get off your couch and go see a band,” he says. “If you don’t do that, you’re missing out on the coolest part of our culture. It’s like living in Florida, and never going to the beach.”
It’s Monday, so it’s time for new beginnings.
Today on Music Video Monday, we bring you the first of a new series of performance videos from Beale Street Caravan. In the coming weeks, the popular radio show dedicated to Bluff City music will be releasing ten videos of Memphis musicians playing live in some of our city’s most interesting and historic music venues. You can read more about the project, including an interview with director Christian Walker, in this coming week’s Memphis Flyer music section. To kick it off, here’s Cedric Burnside’s smoking rendition of “Wash My Hands”, recorded in historic Royal Studios. Look for the cameo by Memphis super producer Boo Mitchell.
Music Video Monday: Cedric Burnside
If you’d like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com