Tag: Big Star

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Big Star Rides Again

Jody Stephens sings from the heart, stepping out front during Tuesday's concert. (Photo: Alex Greene)

When Jody Stephens and Chris Stamey put together a new version of Big Star two years ago, the quintet was a new group. And yet the band, which also includes Pat Sansone (Wilco), Jon Auer (Posies), and Mike Mills (R.E.M.), was hardly a bunch of rookies. Indeed, they all were unapologetic fans of that ’70s band that never quite made it, even as it lived on in their hearts and creative minds. And so, when they played WYXR’s Raised By Sound Festival in 2022, it was a revelation and a delight, but no great surprise that they pulled off the tribute to the band’s debut album, #1 Record, with aplomb.

And yet, being a “new” band, they had some rough patches at the time. Mills, battling a cold, was just shy of bringing his A game. The group as a whole still had to work out some details, as evidenced by their grinding to a halt during the bridge of “O My Soul,” only to begin the song again with brilliant results.

Now, two years later, it’s the 50th anniversary of Big Star’s second album, Radio City, and the same quintet is back in the saddle this fall for a series of 10 select dates in the U.S. and Europe. The kickoff show for the tour was at Crosstown Theater this Tuesday, and in the two years since this more stripped-down group formed (compared to the more sprawling bands assembled for the Big Star’s Third concerts a decade ago), they have become even more of a living, breathing unit. While the 2022 show was excellent, Tuesday’s show was jaw-dropping.

It isn’t that the group has grown more precise; rather, they’ve now internalized the material to such a degree that they can loosen up with it. And that is entirely appropriate, given the nature of the album they’re saluting in this round of shows. When it was recorded, Radio City marked the reconfiguration of the band as a trio led by Alex Chilton. Chris Bell, who founded the group, had left in frustration to pursue a solo career. And the album, while intricately crafted and performed, thus reflected Chilton’s greater embrace of the raucous, the chaotic, and the wild. It was nothing like the shambolic masterpieces he would later create as a solo artist, but a bit unhinged nonetheless, and therein lies its charm.

There were still plenty of echoes of Bell’s sensibility in Tuesday’s concert. Indeed, the group kicked off the show with “Feel” and several other chestnuts from #1 Record, the album’s cover projected behind them. A few songs in, the background changed to Radio City, and Stamey quipped, “Something is trying to tell us to move on to the next album.”

And move they did, as they brought some of Big Star’s rowdiest material to life. “That’s just fun to play!” quipped Sansone after they’d ripped through “O My Soul,” this time with no confusion, full steam ahead. After an especially stomping version of “She’s a Mover,” where Stamey seemed to capture a bit of Chilton’s old cutting delivery as he sang, “She name was Marcia, Marcia the name, she look like a dove, now,” the singer exclaimed to the audience, “Can it get any better than that?”

Stamey lit up even more before they launched into “When My Baby’s Beside Me.” As he explained, “This was the first Big Star song I ever heard, and I had to pull my car to the side of the road to hear it. In the Winston-Salem area back then, we thought these songs were hits! They were playing on local radio!” Indeed, each player’s inner fan boy seemed to emerge before our eyes as they conjured up the sounds that had first captivated them as teens.

Pat Sansone, Jon Auer, Mike Mills, Jody Stephens, and Chris Stamey as the Big Star Quintet (Photo: Alex Greene)

The players’ enthusiasm for the material was contagious. And yet it wasn’t all raucous abandon. Several quieter numbers stole the show, including “Way Out West,” “India Song,” and “Thirteen,” where Stephens stepped out from behind the drums to sing. And, from the tender to the tumultuous, the voices of all five players created vocal harmonies of a richness and beauty rarely heard these days.

Not to be outdone, Sansone shone in a solo rendition of “I’m in Love with a Girl” that was so heartfelt, you might have thought he wrote it himself. Auer, too, sang with moving, vulnerable soul on the quiet sections of “Daisy Glaze.” Never did the lyrics “nullify my life” seem so desolate.

Mills, for his part, also shone, especially on a crisp, propulsive “September Gurls.” Before singing it, he thanked Jody for letting him take on the vocal duties, promising him that “the check is in the mail.”

Mills also sang as the band closed their encore with what Mills said was “a rare moment of earnestness from Alex,” the lovingly ambivalent “Thank You Friends.” The group, who made many comments about their admiration for each other, and the joy of working together, may have been singing it to the audience who shared their love for the city’s best loved “unsuccessful” group — or they may have been singing it to one another, now a tight-knit ensemble of El Goodos hell-bent on keeping their favorite music alive.

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Matthew Sweet Tops Saturday’s PowerPop Bill

Matthew Sweet (Photo: Henry Diltz)

Matthew Sweet is the perfect choice to headline the Memphis PowerPop Festival, happening at the Overton Park Shell at 5 p.m. this Saturday, August 31st. Being younger than the likes of the Who, the Raspberries, or Big Star, he’s nevertheless an actively performing link to the originators of the genre — first as a fan. The direct result of the first wave of “power pop” filtering down to younger denizens of the 1970s via radio and funky little record shops, he can well remember the thrill of discovering key LPs back when power pop gems were rare.

Sweet, of course, came to define power pop for a whole new generation after his third album, Girlfriend, blew up in 1991, not coincidentally featuring band members — Richard Lloyd, Robert Quine — who’d appeared on the very records he bought in high school. From the ’90s on, he’s been a reliably rocking and intriguing artist, and continues to mine the power pop vein today, with one album dropping during Covid and another on the way. A common thread through all of his music, as a both fan and an artist, is his love of melody, often paired with rock’s grit. And that, in a nutshell is what power pop is. Naturally, the topic of melody was where my recent conversation with him soon headed.

Memphis Flyer: As it turns out, you and I were growing up in eastern Nebraska at the same time [much discussion of this ensues]. I imagine you were a frequent patron of Dirt Cheap Records in Lincoln?

Matthew Sweet: Most of the records that found their way to me were from my older brother, or from someone recommending them to me at Dirt Cheap. People at Dirt Cheap knew all about everything. So you’d get to know a guy at a record store and he sort of knew what you liked. I remember going in Dirt Cheap one day and seeing one of the 45s that ended up on Singles Going Steady, by the Buzzcocks. That record was one that I really loved, because they were really melodic, but also very new wave.

I think of it as a British Invasion, that kind of new wave, punk, and everything, and it’s interesting, because my concern at the time was, How can I be like an American person, from a new generation or whatever, and do that kind of thing? And that’s why it was so, so critical for me to find [records by] the dBs or Big Star, because they became my American role models. Like on #1 Record, the voices were so pristine and beautiful sounding. The guitars were so incredible. It was everything I loved really melodic stuff that really hit me emotionally. Melody was always really important to me. It’s kind of what I heard first, even before lyrics. Even when the lyrics were important, it was the melodies that I really felt like I had, you know, inside me or something.

There was a lot of surprise in discovering the music then. And now I realize what a special time it was. I love the internet, and I love being able to find out instantly about anything I’m interested in, but back then, records were very special, at least to me and people I knew at the time. A record was this thing that was really personal.

It seems like those melodic records also led you to the South, in a way. The dB’s and Mitch Easter coming out of the North Carolina scene, and Big Star being from Memphis. Were you already into those bands when you moved to Athens, Georgia?

I had all these records in high school. I got into the dBs, and they were the gateway for me to find Big Star. As far as I was concerned, Alex Chilton was, you know, John Lennon, or something. He reminded me so much of Lennon, and does now even, because what I admired about John Lennon was the breadth of emotional things in his songs. He could write very beautiful, tender music that showed he really had a heart, and he could do more edgy stuff that was sort of sassy. And that was also such an Alex thing. From the soft and beautiful to the crazy and weird and electric. And I just loved those records as I was preparing to leave Nebraska, when I got out of high school. I guess that  would have been May of ’83. I just told my parents, like, ‘I have to go to college in Athens, Georgia.’

The scene there was still really kind of going, and there was just kind of a magic. Growing up in Nebraska was so different from that Southern Gothic kind of feeling [in Athens]. It was a place that had a much longer history than we had in Lincoln or Omaha, you know. So it really felt kind of heavy and mysterious and kind of magical to me, as an 18 or 19 year old. Yeah, it was amazing.

And now you’re calling me from Athens, where you really got your career going when R.E.M. and that scene was taking off, and where your current full band tour is taking you now, just before playing Memphis. And you’re living in Nebraska again. A lot of full-circle moments are happening these days! How does it feel to hear the new release, WXRT Live in Grant Park, Chicago, IL, July 4, 1993, documenting a live show you and your band played at the height of the Altered Beast era?

It feels so long ago, I wanted it to be called Matthew Sweet, Live in Chicago, 1893. I thought it was funny, but no one would implement it. But that was a really memorable show. The Jayhawks were there, and I love Gary [Louris]. And Chicago was always a great place for me, so I had a lot of support there, not just fans, but from radio. It was one of the places where everything sort of went right, you know? So it’s always been a little bit of a second home area around Chicago. I wasn’t, you know, living in Nebraska at the time, but it still felt closer to home. You know, it was just sort of cool, the big Midwestern city. But maybe the real reason I loved that show was that the next morning, there was a newspaper headline in Chicago that read: The Pope, the Bulls, and Matthew Sweet. My mother came from a giant Catholic family, and she was pretty religious and so, you know, there could be nothing more thrilling for her than me being mentioned in the same breath as the Pope.

And here you are, 1993 is in the far distant past, and you’re still touring with a full band.

And playing this power pop fest! I’ve never heard of such a thing, except maybe in Spain, right? Power pop is a thing there, and we toured there a lot, and did really well. But to think we are in America, at a power pop festival! I heard it may get moved out of the bandshell to an indoor venue, due to weather, but we really want to play the Shell. It’s one of the last bandshells, I think. There’s only a couple left. And, I mean, you know, we’ve all seen those photos of Elvis standing in the middle of that stage…

The Memphis PowerPop Festival, part of the Orion Free Concert Series, takes place at the Overton Park Shell this Saturday, August 31st at 5 p.m., and features Matthew Sweet with openers Abe Partridge and The Sonny Wilsons. An after-party featuring Your Academy, 40 Watt Moon, and Lately David starts at 9 p.m. at B-Side.

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Those Pretty Wrongs: Songs of Innocence and Experience

Those Pretty Wrongs (Credit: Brent Rademaker)

Since Alex Chilton’s death in 2010, one revelation of the continuing Big Star revivals has been the enduring charm and power of Jody Stephens’ voice. As the only continuous member besides Chilton since the group’s founding, Stephens primarily distinguished himself as the powerful drummer behind their sound, yet also contributed the occasional vocal to their original three albums. His singing then always conveyed a tone of youthful naivete perfectly suited to Big Star’s original aesthetic, as defined by founder Chris Bell.

That aesthetic was acknowledged grudgingly by Chilton at times, as he described the Big Star fans as “nice little guys who are usually in college, and they’re kind of lonely and misunderstood, learning to play guitar.” It was a wistful, yearning sound that Chilton himself conveyed beautifully when he wanted to. But so did Stephens.

Now that he alone is left to carry the torch, Stephens has taken a crack version of Big Star on the road, sharing vocal duties with Chris Stamey, Jon Auer, Pat Sansone, and Mike Mills, with Stephens leaning into the songs that most convey that wistful feeling, as in recent celebrations of the group’s debut album (chronicled by The Memphis Flyer here). But over the past decade, he’s had another, less celebrated platform for the disarming innocence of his voice: Those Pretty Wrongs.

This Friday, April 5th, they’ll take the stage at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts, offering Memphians a rare chance to hear how much the group’s sound has evolved since they started.

Ostensibly a duet featuring Stephens and multi instrumentalist Luther Russell, their sound has grown more ambitious over the decade since they formed, until, by the time of last year’s Holiday Camp album, they had taken on the power of a full-fledged power pop group through the magic of overdubs. With Stephens’ vocals front and center, rich harmonies, acoustic strums, and electric guitar riffs flow over the listener like some of the most delicate Big Star tunes, yet with a personality all their own. While all of the duo’s songs are grounded by Stephens’ reliable beat, they’ve also become showcases for Russell’s imaginative guitar work and other instrumental flourishes.

Those elements have always been present, but have ramped up on all fronts as time has passed. “We have more experience with each other,” says Stephens. “It’s evolved into, I think, richer embellishments with the production and songs, and maybe lyrically too. There’s a certain ease that we have now when we get in to record, and more focus. We don’t have to spend much time on trying to figure out where to go. Things just came together naturally for this record.”

Holiday Camp is also notable for the contributions of other players who’ve long been in the Big Star orbit. “On the new album,” says Stephens, “Pat Sansone plays Moog and Mellotron on ‘Always the Rainbow’ and he plays Mellotron on ‘Scream.’ And then Chris Stamey did a string arrangement with flute and clarinet on ‘Brother, My Brother.'”

Stephens and Russell typically tour as only a duo, even mounting a minimalist tour of the the U.K. last year using only train travel, but this week’s show will show off their sonic evolution like no other. “We’ll actually have a string section at the Green Room,” says Stephens. “One of the nice things about Crosstown Arts is that at each one of our shows — and this is our third, I believe — they’ve provided a string quartet. So we’ll have Rebeca Rathlef and Michael Brennan on violin, Katie Brown on viola, and Jonathan Kirkscey on cello. It’s a special show because it’s the only time we ever get to have strings, and there will even be a flutist for this performance.”

There will also be a chance to hear the stripped-down version of Those Pretty Wrongs this week. “We’re also gonna play on Jim Spake’s show on WYXR [Cabbages & Kings, Thursday, April 4th, 2-4 p.m.],” Stephens says. “I’m excited about that.”

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Jon Auer Hits His Stride

Jon Auer (Credit: Erica Burgess)

“Memphis is like a second musical home to me now,” muses Jon Auer, best known as a veteran of the Big Star revival(s) and, once upon a time, the Posies. He’s been in town since last Saturday, when he performed with the Sonny Wilsons in their jangling, harmony-laden opening set for the Baseball Project at Overton Park Shell. Today he begins his Sweet Southern Sojourn tour through Nashville, Knoxville, and Asheville, then back to B-Side Memphis on Sunday, September 10th (click here for tickets). And with the Bluff City serving as his base, he’s been staying busy.

“I’ve worked with Memphis artists a lot,” he explains. “Obviously there’s the Big Star connection, so I’ve played here a lot. Part of that’s also due to wanting to only play with people you like. Like, Jody Stephens is a longtime friend of mine. It’s hard not to love Jody Stephens. I’m really fortunate to have had all this time with him in things related to Big Star. Now I’ve been coming to the Crosstown Concourse a lot, and I just made this record with the Sonny Wilsons at Ardent and High/Low Recording. So I’m starting to feel like there’s actually a little community here related to me that makes it feel very homey now. It’s not like I’m just going someplace to do some work. I love the vibe of Memphis. And technically, I mean, I’m in the Memphis Music Hall of Fame! I don’t know how that happened. It kind of makes me laugh, but I’ll take it.”

Indeed, Auer proved his mastery of the original Big Star’s oeuvre only last December, when he, Jody Stephens, Chris Stamey, Pat Sansone, and Mike Mills celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Memphis band’s debut. But while Auer made several songwriting contributions to the latter-day Big Star’s In Space album, that project is forever bound to be focused on the past. These days he’s more future-oriented, getting back to writing and performing as a solo artist.

“It’s kind of emotional to be back out touring because it was taken away for a variety of reasons,” he reflects. “The pandemic really did a number on everyone, myself included.” His first touring after those days of lockdown only came late last year, “playing the recent Big Star 50th Anniversary celebrations in Memphis, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. And I did my first post-pandemic solo show in Richmond, Virginia, around those days. So this Southern tour is actually me kind of getting back to it.”

He says to expect a bit of music from the great bands he’s been associated with, perhaps including Posies hits like “Coming Right Along” or “Going, Going, Gone,” mixed into a healthy selection of solo material exemplified by his 2006 masterpiece, Songs from the Year of Our Demise. That album, critically acclaimed 17 years ago, hits even harder in the current dark era with songs like “Six Feet Under” or “The Year of Our Demise.”

While that album does rock out dynamically, it also has a vulnerable edge not unlike Elliot Smith’s most homespun work. “That was the first proper, full-length original thing that I did. It was 15 songs and I played everything on it, with the exception of a few drum tracks and a few other instruments. It sold a few thousand copies, got great reviews, and I toured the world: Australia, Japan, the States, and all of Europe. And that was where I discovered the solo part of me, as far as really going out and actually doing a show, getting something together, and really being able to communicate with people.”

He seems eager to do just that at Sunday’s B-Side show. Auer says he’s here for the music and ready to play. “I don’t even have a website. I’m one of those guys. No one would accuse me of over-promoting myself, though I’m better at it these days. I just want to work on music that I enjoy. Certainly it’s nice to get paid, but ultimately this Memphis show isn’t about the money. And I think B-Side is going to be the perfect place for this. I’m just looking forward to having it be a good time with a lot of friends who are coming.”

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Chris Stamey Covers Alex Chilton’s “She Might Look My Way”

Chris Stamey (Credit: Daniel Coston)

Fans of Big Star and the band’s two chief songwriters, Chris Bell and Alex Chilton, are no strangers to Chris Stamey. Of course, as a solo artist, co-founder of the dB’s, member of the Golden Palominos, and producer of artists ranging from Alejandro Escovedo to Le Tigre, Stamey’s career has gone far beyond Memphis. But his involvement with those two key Memphians predated those subsequent accomplishments. After the North Carolina native graduated from New York University in the mid-’70s, he became immersed in the New York scene. By 1977, he’d founded Car Records, which released Chris Bell’s “I Am the Cosmos” single a year later.

This was also a time when Chilton was testing the waters in New York, and he was a fixture at Stamey’s apartment in 1977. Both frequented CBGB’s and took in the wildly innovative music percolating there. Ultimately, Chilton would produce a single by Stamey, “The Summer Sun” b/w “Where the Fun Is,” for Ork Records. And, when Chilton began playing gigs in the city as Alex Chilton and the Cossacks, Stamey played bass.

By then, Chilton had already recorded “She Might Look My Way,” written with Tommy Hoehn, but when there was an opportunity to submit demos to Elektra Records, he and Stamey included a new recording of the song in the batch (using Patti Smith’s drummer at the time, Jay Dee Daugherty, according to Holly George-Warren’s Chilton bio, A Man Called Destruction). Those demos still have not seen the light of day.

Fast forward to nearly a half-century later, and Stamey’s still tight with Big Star, having become the de facto musical director of the Big Star’s Third tribute concerts since they began after Chilton’s death in 2010. Memphis heard the latest core quintet of that project last December at Crosstown Theater, with Stamey’s singing in the group coming the closest to the subtly sardonic delivery of Chilton on the original recordings, even while avoiding any mimicry. When it comes to the delicate balance of personalities that made Big Star tick, Stamey gets it.

It’s quite in keeping with history, then, that Stamey should revisit “She Might Look My Way” now, still remembered fondly by Stamey from his late ’70s time with Chilton. This time around, it features two world-class fellow producers: Mitch Easter (Let’s Active front man and R.E.M. producer) on drums and Terry Manning (Ardent Studios’ producer/engineer/guitarist who worked with the Staples Singers, Led Zeppelin, and ZZ Top) on bass, guitar embellishments, Mellotron flutes, and harmonies.

The audio track and video go hand in hand with Stamey’s newest album, The Great Escape, the first release in decades on his seminal indie label Car Records.

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Big Star Wows Crosstown Theater Audience

Big Star tribute featuring Andrew VanWyngarden on vocals (Photo: Alex Greene).

There was an unmistakable feeling of history being made at the Crosstown Theater on Saturday night, as the ultimate Big Star tribute band, featuring original drummer Jody Stephens, took to the stage and delivered a stunning set of power pop classics.

The quintet featured Stephens and latter-day Big Star alum Jon Auer, who performed extensively with Ken Stringfellow and Alex Chilton from 1993 until Chilton’s untimely death in 2010. Filling out the lineup were Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense), Chris Stamey (the dB’s), and Mike Mills (R.E.M.). All players brought impressive vocal chops and multi-instrumental abilities to bear on recreating the band’s classic tracks from the 1970s, especially its debut, #1 Record. The show, presented by Mempho for community radio station WYXR’s Raised by Sound Fest, celebrated the 50th anniversary of that album, originally released in June of 1972.

As such, it marked an apotheosis of sorts for the band, which suffered from poor distribution in its heyday. While critics raved about their recorded output, the group never became the phenomenon that their debut’s title seemed to presage. Yet that was forgotten as the band played to a sold-out house last week, with the original arrangements lovingly recreated by the current quintet.

Auer’s Gibson SG launched the proceedings with the opening crunch of “Feel,” and with that, they were off. Sansone and Stamey often wielded Fender guitars, though both could frequently be seen manning the keyboards on stage right, which included a digital Mellotron. Mills, for his part, played bass on most of the tunes, though he relinquished that duty when he sang lead vocal, or, on “In the Street,” played cowbell.

Holding it all down was Stephens’ powerful drumming, true to his original parts nearly roll for roll, and bursting with the energy of a much younger man. Stephens has also come into his own as a singer, as made clear when he sang “Thirteen,” often associated with Chilton’s original vocal, with great delicacy.

Guest vocalists made brief appearances, with MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden taking the stratospheric lead on “Give Me Another Chance,” and Greg Cartwright of the Oblivians, Reigning Sound, and other bands, delivering “Try Again.”

After playing #1 Record in full, the group took a short break and returned with other songs from the band’s catalog, including Radio City standouts like “September Gurls,” “Back of a Car,” “You Get What You Deserve,” and “O My Soul.” After launching into the latter, the players seemed stymied in the middle of the song, and ground to a halt. With Auer quipping that they were playing “the single version,” Sansone struck up the band once again and they carried off the tune with aplomb.

Several Chris Bell songs were also featured, much to the crowd’s delight, including “You and Your Sister,” “There was a Light,” and “I Am the Cosmos.” Tracks from Third/Sister Lovers were also featured, including “Jesus Christ,” “Thank You Friends,” and an impassioned vocal on “Nighttime” by Stamey. Stephens and Auer also sang a song they co-wrote for the latter-day band’s In Space album, “February’s Quiet.” Generally, the band hit their marks expertly throughout the show: the guitars rocked or lilted, as needed, the vocal harmonies soared, and the grooves grooved.

The crowd was loath to let the band leave, standing for multiple encores. While many Memphis albums from 1972 are surely deserving of such an anniversary show, the fact that this one took place stands as a testament to the band’s panache and power, half a century later.

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Big Star Brings it All Back Home for WYXR

Big Star, ca. 2022 (Credit: DeWitt Burton)

One striking thing about WYXR, a relative newcomer to the Memphis community radio game, is the synergy it’s been able to develop with its partners: The Daily Memphian, the University of Memphis, and Crosstown Concourse. Their ties to the latter really pay off when it comes to public happenings, and this coming weekend epitomizes that. The inaugural Raised By Sound Music Festival, presented by MEMPHO, will make use of nearly all the spaces available at the Concourse.

It begins Saturday with an afternoon of free music, in both the central atrium and Crosstown Brewing Company. Listeners can check out a remarkably eclectic lineup that reflects the station’s commitment to diversity. The atrium will feature Mak Ro (1:30), Whelk Stall (2:20), and Erin Rae (6:30), while Crosstown Brewing will host Lemon’s (3:10), Doll McCoy (4:00), Idi X Teco (4:50), and Nots (5:40).

But the highlight is undoubtedly an example of WYXR not only reaching across genres, but deep into history as well: a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Big Star’s #1 Record in Crosstown Theater, with an all-star version of the band led by founding member Jody Stephens. Beyond that, there’s still more happening in The Green Room, where MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Bodywerk will DJ an after-party.

Big Star’s appearance will be a crowning moment in the band’s history, which began in 1971 with the high hopes, ambitions, and talents of founders Chris Bell, Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel, and Jody Stephens, but didn’t include large audiences or record sales — at the time. Now, of course, the band’s onetime cult status is recognized as the inspiration for many bands that came after, including R.E.M. and the Replacements.

The ultimate sign of their renaissance, long after Bell’s tragic death in 1978, was the version of the band led by Chilton that began playing in 1993, featuring Stephens and erstwhile Posies Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. Since Chilton’s death in 2010 (followed that same year by Hummel’s passing), lone survivor Stephens has curated a series of tribute shows, typically honoring Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers album, but including other songs from the band’s catalog, built around a large, rotating cast of talents that often included orchestral players.

This time around, the revival of Big Star will bring it back to it’s founding principle: a tight, sparse rock band with an ear for dynamic arrangements, riffs, and vocal harmonies. Pared down to a quintet featuring Stephens, Auer, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Pat Sansone of Wilco, and Chris Stamey of the dB’s, this iteration of Big Star will likely rock harder than any version of the group since Chilton’s death.

To get a sense of how this quintet is approaching #1 Record‘s 50th Anniversary show, I reached Jody Stephens in Athens, Georgia, where he was waiting to play later that night. The group is taking the anniversary show on the road, but for Stephens, playing Memphis is ground zero.

Memphis Flyer: You’re playing Athens tonight. Big Star really had an impact down there, very early on.

Jody Stephens: Yeah, Mike Mills and Peter Buck were the first two musicians that had some popularity to start talking about Big Star. And then of course there were the Replacements and several others. But what initiated that was, first of all, John Fry was the genius behind engineering and mixing the Big Star records. So they sounded amazing. But John King made sure they got into the hands of all the rock writers. And he was really effective at that. And because he was able to do that at the rock writers convention, people who were into music, especially pop rock or alternative music, at least knew who Big Star was. The whole reason we can play these dates, celebrating #1 Record‘s 50th Anniversary is that we had a lot of things going for us in the early ’70s. Now, the music’s had an impact on us all. And then there are the communities that gather for these shows. And the various lineups we’ve had. This one in particular: Mike Mills, Pat Sansone, Chris Stamey, Jon Auer, and myself — being able to get out and play these shows means a lot to us.

I remember the sense of discovery I felt when a friend first played me #1 Record, back in our twenties. It felt like you were going into a parallel universe with a whole other body of radio hits. Every song was just a gem, so finely crafted, it sounded like the LP was meant to be a hit.

Thanks! That’s a good way to put it. A parallel universe!

I guess it was a hit, just in very slow motion.

Yeah. I’m glad we did that record early on in my life, or I wouldn’t be around to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Or at least be capable of playing. You know, I just turned 70, and I don’t give up playing because I’d give up this community of people.

It must feel great to be doing these songs live. I suppose it’s the first time some of them will be performed live?

We’re doing “Life is White” now, and that was never performed live by Big Star. The Lemon Twigs joined us when we played the Wild Honey Foundation concert in Los Angeles, and they’re joining us again in Jersey City. And that’s kind of what prompted our doing “Life is White,” but we’ll be doing it in Memphis now, just as a five piece. Also “There was a Light,” and things like “Try Again.”

You’ve done several as part of the Big Star’s Third concerts, correct? But not all of #1 Record.

Yeah, there are a bunch of new ones. All of these people treat these songs with great care and great feel. Chris Stamey has been brilliant in picking people that come with the right spirit and feel for this music.

This current quintet looks like the best ensemble you’ve had yet.

What we’re doing with a five piece rock band is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. And it just happens to make it all more feasible. It’s hard to take ten people on the road, with string sections and brass sections, and even break even. But that’s the other cool thing: everybody comes to this with a heart to do it. Just to do it. So it’s cool. I’m excited about playing Memphis with this line up.

I suppose it’s freeing to be a more stripped-down rock band again, just as it all started. There’s nothing like a small rock band to rock a little harder.

It’s true — you can’t hide! There aren’t 18-20 people onstage, so what you do becomes a lot more pronounced and featured.

I imagine that it will be pretty emotional, bringing these songs to life in Memphis.

Yeah, it is. There are some wonderful people in Memphis, and we’ve had a lot of support over the years. We were lucky. Sometimes it’s hard for local bands to get support, locally. But we’ve always had a lot of support in Memphis, and the audience for Big Star has certainly grown over the years. It feels good. Memphis is home, and it’s really nice to be embraced by your home.

As a performer, with so much of the past wrapped up in these songs, is the memory of band mates and friends who have passed away a distraction?

It is from time to time. It’s a nice one. I know on “The India Song,” sometimes I get a little emotional, to the point of having to look away for a second. Because Andy was … I’d known Andy since the seventh grade, and I just had this kinship with Andy all those years. I was closer to Andy than Chris and Alex. I always admired him. So singing “The India Song” and certainly “Way Out West,” that Andy wrote too, yeah, it can get emotional.

I believe you sang “Way Out West” on the record. Did Andy sing “The India Song”?

Yeah, Andy sang it with Alex. There are two voices on “The India Song,” and it could be that Andy’s is the primary voice. And you know what, we might even have the multitrack of that. I know Chris [Bell] erased the multitracks for most of #1 Record. But I think “The India Song” may have escaped. But that’s another story! [laughs]. It got to the point where, on one of our tape boxes someone wrote something like, “Ten songs conveniently grouped for bulk erasure.” That was probably John Fry, or maybe Andy.

Like a little dig at Chris?

Yeah.

I suppose this quintet is playing the whole album, and then some.

We are. Things from Radio City, a couple from Third, and some of Chris’ songs. “I Got Kinda Lost,” “There Was a Light,” “Fight at the Table,” I think. Jon Auer will sing “I Am the Cosmos.” Chris did some great rock and roll songs. “Fight at the Table,” with Jim Dickinson on piano on that recording, is just raucous. Especially if you focus on Jim’s piano playing. He tore it up.

Big Star had some real rockers, right out of the gate. It was cool to see that the title for this tour is Don’t Lie to Me. It wasn’t one of the bigger hits. You’re highlighting a real rocker.

It’s kind of an action phrase, really. Chris Stamey asked me, “What do you want to call this tour?” And I thought about it and said “Don’t Lie to Me.” Because it’s a declarative statement. There’s no deep, profound message to it, it’s just declarative.

In a sense, “Don’t Lie to Me” really captures the sort of fearless vulnerability and radical honesty of the original Big Star aesthetic.

It’s true. It definitely does. That was the thing. Alex and Chris and Andy were all writing from that perspective. In an honest way, they were pouring out their feelings. It’s a reflection of where they were in their lives. And that’s pretty key to connecting with people.

I’m really looking forward to the harmony singing with this quintet. Everyone in the group has great vocal chops.

Well, we’ll have a couple of dates under our belt by Saturday, as a five piece. And you know the cool thing about starting in Athens is, we’re rehearsing at the R.E.M. building in downtown Athens. You walk in the space and… it was like the incubator for all those R.E.M. records. All the time and thought and creative moments that must have taken place in that space… it’s pretty inspirational. It’s a lot like going into Ardent and practicing and recording.

While rehearsing, have you had any drop-ins? Like Peter Buck jamming?

Peter lives in Portland, as far as I know. So not Peter, but Bill Barry will be coming around today. I’d love for him to sit in on drums. I know he’s gonna sit in on cowbell for “In the Street.”

That’s the ultimate ‘more cowbell’ song.

Yes. It is.

Working with WYXR was what caused this show to happen. What does WYXR mean to you?

WYXR and Robby, Kate, and Jared have been so supportive and accommodating over Big Star shows, and Those Pretty Wrongs, my duo with Luther Russell. That continued hometown support really initiated this tour. Without that Memphis show being the anchor, I don’t know that these other shows would’ve happened. So I’m very grateful for that.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Minor Memphis Miracles

Of all the subgenres of rock-and-roll, “songs about playing music” is in my top three. I love the demystification of it all, the lyrics about jet lag and long bus rides and hoping to scrape a few dollars together. And maybe, when it comes down to it, I just love self-referential art.

When Big Star’s Alex Chilton sings, “I can’t get a license/To drive in my car/But I won’t really need it/If I’m a big star,” on “O My Soul,” casually dropping the band’s name into the lyrics, what can I say? I eat that up.

So, against my natural inclinations, I’ve done my best not to talk too much about the inner workings of the Flyer in these weekly columns. Partly to preserve an aura of mystery, which, I hope, our readers will find alluring. Partly because I’ve realized that the minutiae of what I think is interesting might not always make for the most entertaining or enlightening column. (And no, I don’t want to talk about my all-Batman column from a few weeks back. If you didn’t like it, I’m forced to believe that, ideologically speaking, you fall on the side of anarchy, violence, and mayhem — one of the Joker’s cronies for sure.)

When the news is big enough, though, it warrants spilling a little ink. And speaking of big, if you’re reading this issue of the Memphis Flyer in print, you might have noticed we’ve gone back to our previous larger tabloid size.

It took a lot to get here. Some of our readers might not remember that in the dismal days of 2020 we actually, briefly, went to a biweekly printing schedule. Not only that, but due to our longtime printer in Jackson, Tennessee, shutting down in early 2021, we’ve switched printers twice since the beginning of the pandemic, moves that then necessitated the change in layout size.

So, while our stalwart staff adapted to all the other changes the last two years have brought, they were also forced to adapt to different word counts and deadlines and image restrictions. The folks in our art department weren’t only shifting to work with far fewer opportunities for photos from the field, they had to redo (and redo again) our paper’s templates. Of course, each major change kickstarts a cascade of smaller ones, and that’s before we even begin to consider the rising costs of paper and freight, the dozens of other behind-the-scenes adjustments that would bore all but the most avid aficionados of alt-weekly newspaper production.

My point, though, is not only that it’s been an interesting two or three years. Everyone, the world over, has had to make changes, to adjust their expectations and long-held habits. No, my hope is to lay the groundwork for a well-earned celebration of where we are right now, at this precise moment, as you scan these words on your phone or laptop screen or hold the paper in your hands. I’m proud of and thankful for such a hardworking, creative, and unflappable team — the reporters, writers, editors, copy editors, designers, sales staff, and others who make this paper possible.

Thanks are also due to the businesses who choose to advertise with the Flyer, who recognize the worth of the investment and who keep this paper free and the website without a paywall. I offer my most sincere and heartfelt appreciation of you all, and I hope that our readers will patronize these local businesses (I know I do).

It’s fitting, too, that this return to our pre-pandemic paper size falls on the week of our much-beloved and highly anticipated annual “Music Issue,” absent for two years, in which we celebrate the triumphant return of another Memphis institution, Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Festival. And that this year’s BSMF boasts the most Memphis bands on the bill in the past 20 years? Well, if that’s not a reason to celebrate, I really don’t know what is.

So let this be a reminder that none of the things we love in Memphis should be taken for granted. I know without asking them that the bands playing Music Fest this weekend worked and dreamed and defied the odds to be on those stages. They kept a candle burning, so to speak, through the long night of uncertainty, when no one could predict when we might come together for something as magical and, at one time anyway, commonplace as a concert. And I, for one, am thankful that they did.

When you think about it, it all seems like nothing short of a minor Memphis miracle. Doesn’t it?

Categories
Music Record Reviews

Your Academy Schools You in Memphis Power Pop with New Album

For a certain age group in this region, the two album titles from blind to blue (Craven Hill, 1999) and Another Vivid Scene (Craven Hill, 2002) are sure to conjure up memories. Those were the two albums by the Memphis band crash into june, and for a time it seemed they’d make many more, but it was not to be.

Yet the words “another vivid scene” find their way into a release that just dropped in the past week, Your Academy. That’s also the band name of the latest project by crash into june’s founding member and bassist, Johnny Norris. He recruited guitarist Chris Gafford and drummer Dan Shumake, both of whom appeared on from blind to blue. Since leaving crash into june, Gafford and Shumake had lately been seen in Stephen Burns’ most recent reincarnation of The Scruffs.

As that pedigree alone might suggest, this is unabashed power pop, full of huge guitar riffs, chiming chords, layered background vocals, and soaring leads. But it’s not quite the jump-cut rush of The Scruffs, opting instead for the broader, open sounds of Big Star or the Raspberries.

Such territory demands a great vocalist, of course. Enter Memphis native Brandon McGovern, whose band, Madison Treehouse, often played with crash into june in the ’90s. He also had a solo record, 2002’s Pala-Dora, from that era. Later he backed the renowned power popper Dwight Twilley on guitar. McGovern went on to release three other LPs: Bowling Alleys, BBQ Joints & Billiard Halls, Pet Food, and Signal Heights.

Finally, running with their Big Star-centricity, the group also recruited Adam Hill, who has not only produced many national and local bands, but assisted Ardent Studios founder, the late John Fry, with locating, transferring and mixing long-lost Big Star and Chris Bell tracks for inclusion on box sets released in the early 2000s. He does double duty here, playing lead guitar in and engineering the recording.

And the polish of this record bears the mark of one who worked with John Fry. Between the rich, jangly-but-chunky recording, the tight, rocking band, and the natural bent of the songwriting, this is a great addendum to the annals of Memphis Power Pop.
Larry Hsia/Sierra Hotel Images

Your Academy

Because of the depth of the talent they’re drawing on, a listener can forgive the overt wearing of the power pop emblems on their sleeve. One song, “Heaven Knows,” has the line, “Nobody can dance to the tortured voice of Christopher Branford Bell,” then goes on to a chorus of “You drink red wine and sipping yellow pills/You’re guided by voices and you’re built to spill.”

Happily, these similes can be enjoyed at face value, embedded in the song’s mood, rising above in-jokes. But clearly these are proud power pop nerds who revel in the sounds that came before them. Another song, “Better Alone Together,” a song about the tumultuous relationship between Alex Chilton and Lesa Aldridge during the recording of Big Star’s Third, inspired by Aldridge’s quote about their relationship in Rich Tupica’s There Was a Light: The Cosmic History of Chris Bell and the Rise of Big Star: “We did better alone together.” All backstories aside, the number also happens to be one of the album’s catchiest, propelling itself along in a manner befitting #1 Record more than Third.

The quieter “Sunrise” may be the greatest track here, evoking the folksier side of Big Star, even as it develops Your Academy’s own unique sound. That’s a sound very rooted in the early- to mid-’70s, but ultimately the group forges its own identity, a kind of band out of time, purveying the Platonic ideal of power pop.

There are other Memphis influences, naturally. “Talent Party” features bass by John Lightman (Big Star) and keys from Rick Steff (Lucero), and is an homage to Memphis garage bands of the 1960s, inspired by Ron Hall’s book, Playing for a Piece of the Door: A History of Garage & Frat Bands in Memphis, 1960-1975. Other songs touch on Elvis and the Bluff City’s sense of its own importance, or lack thereof.

That last sentiment is ironic, even as Your Academy pulls together some of the city’s most astute masters of power pop to revel in that style’s sense of celebration and, yes, fun. It’s great to hear that these sounds aren’t being forgotten, but live on in new and inventive ways no one could have predicted. 

Categories
Music Music Blog

With Those Pretty Wrongs, Jody Stephens Does Everything Pretty Right

Those Pretty Wrongs

One of Jody Stephens’ most treasured possessions is a guitar once owned by Chris Bell, dating back to their years playing alongside Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel in Big Star. If you find yourself at Ardent Studios, the unassuming acoustic is easy to spot: it’s the only guitar repaired with electrical tape.

Chris Bell’s acoustic guitar

As Stephens explains, “Andy and Chris had a fight while we were practicing at Alex’s house, and Chris picked up Andy’s Thunderbird bass and broke it into three pieces. So Andy stalked Chris. When Chris parked his car in a friend’s driveway, Andy went up, opened the case and poked holes in it. So Andy wound up with the guitar, and then gave it to me. It’s on the song ‘Thirteen,’ and it’s an awesome sounding guitar. We used it with Those Pretty Wrongs in the studio. Back in the 70s, my brother covered the holes with electrical tape. Now I won’t take it off.”

It’s entirely appropriate that the guitar’s rich sound lives on in the new record by Those Pretty Wrongs, the folk/pop/rock duo comprised of Stephens and Luther Russell, onetime member of the Freewheelers and a solo artist in his own right. While the band’s latest, Zed for Zulu (Burger Records), is its own beast, the echoes of Big Star’s quieter moments are undeniable. Foregrounding acoustic guitar textures with the crisply recorded approach that has become a hallmark of Ardent Studios, Stephen’s vocals, surrounded by Russell’s lush background harmonies, carry that unmistakable blend of innocence and bookish enunciaciation that has marked his singing ever since the Big Star days.

With the new album released, the duo is now launching a series of tours, beginning with last week’s appearance at Americanafest, and headed soon to England and Scotland. Before they leave, they’ll have a special show with guest performers at the Green Room at Crosstown Arts on Saturday, September 21st. I spoke with Stephens recently about this, the duo’s second album, and the ways it echoes his past work at Ardent.

Memphis Flyer: Was your appearance at AmericanaFest the debut of material from the new record?

Jody Stephens: We actually debuted the new album live in Los Angeles for a autism benefit, for the Wild Honey Foundation. It was a smaller backyard thing for a great cause.

Do you guys assemble a band for your tours?

No, that’s unaffordable. We’re just a duo. Our load in is an acoustic 12 string guitar. Luther is an amazing guitar player. An acoustic 12 string and Luther is all it takes. He’s really good, and fun and playful. The record was, to an extent, recorded as a duo on stage. Even if I played drums on a song, I wouldn’t try to play like I was in a band, but just play to support the song.

When you do play them, you have a signature power to your drumming.

Thanks. I try to play in a real definite way. Sometimes kinda loose, but if I make a mistake, it’s gonna be with such authority that nobody’s gonna notice. And we’re lucky to have Mike Wilson as our engineer, and all the great gear we have here at Ardent. Great mics, and the studio rooms sound incredible. And then Luther and Jason Hiller mixed this stuff. And I think they did a brilliant job of it. Listening to those mixes, there’s a brightness to them. I’m excited about the new record.

I’m assuming that the arrangements came together when Luther did overdubs in LA. Is that how it evolved?

Pretty much, except for when we used Chris Bell’s 335. On ‘You and Me.’ That was here at Ardent: Chris’ guitar run through a Hi Watt amp that belonged to Big Star. It was either Andy’s or Alex’s. And there are some organ parts that he did here. Most of the arrangements are his, but I would say things like, ‘Do you have a synthesizer for “Hurricane of Love?”‘ He said ‘No, but I could use the bass pedals on an organ.’ Then I came up with using clarinet and brought Jim Spake in. And what he did was so far beyond what I’d hoped for. Just so incredible. You can picture a butterfly tossed around by the wind. But all those guitar lines ad solos, the guitar tones, most of the arrangements, are all by Luther.

I’m primarily the lyricist and write a lot of melody lines, though Luther does contribute some pretty brilliant lines as well. Like on ‘Hurricane of Love,’ Luther came up with those chords and that was so haunting. He’s great at cool changes.

I was imagining you strumming Chris Bell’s acoustic guitar.

Luther is strumming it! It’s on pretty much everything except maybe ‘Time To Fly.’

Chris Stamey, who worked with Alex Chilton, and has participated in the Big Star Third concerts, arranged the strings on the first track. That’s a beautiful touch, with echoes of ‘For You’ from Sister Lovers.

Chris offered to do strings for us and we selected that song. It was so easy, ‘cos I knew he would put a lot of heart and care into it. And we both love those string arrangements. And he sent the arrangements to Jonathan Kirkscey, so we’ll have a string quartet at the Green Room this Saturday. And we’ll do ‘For You’ and ‘Blue Moon’ as well. Jonathan’s going to write string arrangements for songs that don’t have them already, possibly adding strings to more songs with drums. I’m thrilled about that. And Jenny Davis is a pretty remarkable flautist, and she’s gonna join us on ‘A Day at the Park.’

Just for the record, it is you singing lead on all the tracks?

It is, ‘cos I wouldn’t have anything else to do. Luther sings all the harmonies. Luther’s got his solo career. It started out with Luther saying, ‘Why don’t we get together and do some writing, and you could do a solo record.’ And the more we got into it, the more I realized how far from being a solo record it was. It’s such a collaborative effort.

Has your sound changed much since the debut?

They’re pretty sympathetic records. With this second one, we have a bit more of a sense of who we are and what we wanna do. Though that is pretty much defined by our musical influences. I think Luther’s talented enough to do anything, and adapt. But I’m not that clever, so whatever I do is what it is.

Luther and I are certainly like-minded in that we both like melodies. He would send me a message saying, This is what I did today, and it would be like a Christmas present, because I couldn’t imagine anything better, ‘cos he’s just that creative with sounds. On ‘The Carousel,’ that guitar break is like, Wow! The sound is kind of biting and digs in a little bit, without being rock.

I believe we are building an audience, and the more we play live the more we’ll be able to do that. At the end of the day, that’s what we’re in it for, the connection to people. Other than that, you’re just sitting around in your living room. 

With Those Pretty Wrongs, Jody Stephens Does Everything Pretty Right