Tag: Charlie Wood

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Music Music Blog

Levitt Shell’s Orion Concert Series, Shell Streams

Jesse Davis

Levitt Shell


The forecast this weekend calls for clear skies and moderate temperatures. If this were any other year, thousands of Memphians would probably be daydreaming about nights on the lawn at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park. But COVID-19 means that Levitt Shell executive director Natalie Wilson was forced to make some tough decisions.

“The Levitt Shell is on pause indefinitely,” Wilson says. “We hope to play on the stage again when it’s safe for all, but we’re going to take a proactive approach to opening.”

“We’re an open-air amphitheater. There are many ways to come into the venue, and social distancing at the Shell would be very difficult,” Wilson says. “If we put a fence around the Shell and say, ‘Okay, the first 500 get in and no more,’ well, that’s not meeting our mission of inclusivity, of open space, common ground, the diverse audience that we inspire.”

Wilson knows how important it is to keep the music going, but the health and safety of the community, performers, her staff, and volunteers has to be the first priority. “Right now, we’re focusing on the people first.”

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To combat the quarantine blues, Wilson says, “We created the Orion Virtual Concert Series, which launched in April. We’re launching some of the greatest hits from our past, and we showcase them on Facebook Live.” The Levitt Shell has footage of more than 500 full-length concerts performed in that historic Midtown amphitheater, and they are broadcasting the archival footage Friday nights. The performances will stream at 7:30 p.m. Central, to coincide with the start time for the Shell’s live shows in the past. 

Levitt Shell Executive Director Natalie Wilson

“When we put this out, we were thinking about our local community,” Wilson explains, but she adds, “We’re seeing people from all over the world joining us.” And why not? Already in May, the Orion Virtual Concert Series has shown a 2019 Delhi 2 Dublin concert, and this week’s show will feature genre-spanning pianist Charlie Wood. May’s shows will culminate with a 2016 concert by Memphis indie band Snowglobe on Friday, May 29th. (It was excellent. I was there.)

And as spring rolls into summer, in addition to the Friday-night archival shows, Wilson and her colleagues at the Shell will introduce live-streamed content on Saturdays. “We’re excited that on June 5th we’re going to be launching a second day of programming, which will be full-length live broadcast concerts. We’re calling them Shell Streams.”

“It’s a place that inspires community,” Wilson says of the Levitt Shell, which means her responsibility to the health and welfare of Memphis is doubly important. That’s why Wilson is committed to a data-driven plan to reopen the Shell — once there’s no question that it will be a safe and inviting environment for all music lovers.

Until then, she says, she just hopes that Memphians remember one thing. “We love our community,” Wilson says. “And we will be back.”


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Music Record Reviews

Charlie Wood and his not-so-large band.

I’ve written about Memphis musician Charlie Wood many times in many different contexts, but it wasn’t until I typed a song title, “I Just Want You Cause I Want You” (from his latest album), into my notes that I thought of what now seems an obvious comparison: Lyle Lovett.

That song is reminiscent of Lovett, as is Wood generally: He’s a little bit like Lovett behind an organ, Wood’s music is rooted in blues rather than country, and the generosity-to-wit ratio of his songwriting is a little more weighted toward the generosity side of the equation. But, like Lovett, Wood specializes in clever, jazz-tinged songs whose musicality is spread across most of the American roots-music spectrum.

Charlie Wood and the New Memphis Underground is Wood showcasing his new not-so-large band. The frontman writes and sings the songs while manning keyboards, bass, and drums. But he’s joined in this setup by Joe Restivo on guitar, Billy Gibson on harmonica, Kirk Smothers on sax, Marc Franklin on trumpet, and Tamara Jones on backing vocals.

Back when Wood was playing Beale six or seven nights a week, he’d go a few years between albums. Now that he’s scaled back his local live gigs, he’s become downright prolific. I suppose this is bad news for Beale regulars but good news for record fans. But the formation of the New Memphis Underground seems predicated on a return to the stage, since this album could have easily been labeled as a Wood solo record with credited backup in the fine print.

New Memphis Underground opens with five straight originals before Wood & Co. start mixing in covers. “Let It Rip” is a rollicking opener where Wood puts a vocal-jazz spin on rave-up rockabilly while playing the barrelhouse blues. “Brand New Feelin'” is a fine contemporary blues without cliché. And the swinging keyboard-and-sax showoff tune, “Too Much Is Not Enough,” is the album’s strongest groove. I found myself involuntarily typing my notes to the beat.

From there, the album mixes originals and sharp covers. The originals include the club musician’s anthem “Don’t Let the Money Get Funny” and the bitter sociopolitical lament “You Don’t Really Wanna Know.” Among the covers are the Percy Mayfield blues ballad “Please Send Someone To Love,” the Ray Charles slow-burner “Drown in My Own Tears,” and a heated rendition of the Booker T. & the MGs instrumental “Boot-Leg.”

Charlie Wood and the New Memphis Underground isn’t Wood’s best record, but it’s mighty fine. As a calling card for a live-band show, it totally convinces.

— Chris Herrington

Grade: A-

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Music Record Reviews

Inside Sounds colors three shades of blues.

Charlie Wood oozes talent from every pore, and there’s no getting around that. He’s a gifted multi-instrumentalist with a flair for the keys and a smooth-voiced singer given to fits of complex wordplay. When Wood left his regular gig at King’s Palace Café last year, Beale Street lost its brightest light and its most original, consistently thrilling musician. But Lucky, Wood’s latest recording for Memphis’ blues-and-Beatles-obsessed label Inside Sounds, is a beautifully crafted tease that only fully delivers in fits and starts. It’s a concept album that frames the artist’s autobiography with a groove-laden essay on urban blues in its various forms — clever but a little dry.

Wood kicks off Lucky with an upbeat account of a young man’s obsession with live blues, a song filled with soft-focus memories of the six months the artist spent on the road playing keys behind the legendary blues innovator Albert King. Front-loaded with sprawling barrelhouse piano and decorated with faded Polaroid images of local nightlife, “You Can’t Teach That Stuff” celebrates Memphis music and musicians in the same way that Dr. John mythologizes the sights and sounds of New Orleans. It’s a surefire crowd-pleaser full of innocent wonder and cocky “watch me now” swagger.

Lucky finds Wood, who penned all but three of the disc’s 13 tracks, playing the role of one-man-band. He supplies vocals, backing vocals, keys, bass, drums, and guitar. Labelmate Billy Gibson shows up to add harmonica to a cover of W.C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues,” and Kirk Smothers provides some horns, but otherwise it’s all Charlie all the time. He infuses the effective “Never Gonna Stop New Orleans” with plenty of Crescent City strut and pays homage to Booker T.’s gurgling, soulful Hammond B-3 on tracks such as “Ear Candy” and “Sneaky.”

Lucky doesn’t have a hair out of place, but there’s nothing on it that Wood hasn’t done better and less self-consciously on his previous releases, Somethin’ Else and Southbound. The disc’s scholarly perfection doesn’t showcase Wood the journeyman musician so much as Wood the onetime English major compiling a sonic term paper. It plays out like a collection of B-side gems from an A-grade artist. — Chris Davis

Grade: B+