Wyly Bigger’s new album on MadJack was produced by Mark Edgar Stuart and features a full cast of Memphis players, including drummer Danny Banks, guitarists Jad Tariq and Matt Ross Spang, sax legend Jim Spake, and Stuart himself on bass.
“Hello, Is That You?” is the rollicking first single. “This track is actually a cover of an old tune by a group called The Red Tops out of Vicksburg, Mississippi,”says Bigger. “A couple years before she passed, my grandma gave me her collection of 45rpm singles from the ’50s. I was digging through them and saw a label I’d never seen before, so I threw it on the turntable, and really dug the sound. Come to find out, it was the only recording The Red Tops ever did — just that A-side (“Sewanee River Rock”) and B-side (“Hello, Is That You?”). I started playing “Hello” at some of my shows, and when it came time to start picking a cover or two for the album, I pitched that one to Mark, who produced the record, and he was into it! The original is a bit more big-band-ish, so we decided to rock it more and make it fit my sound better.”
The video was conceived, directed, shot, and edited by Landon Moore. It features Bigger rocking and rolling in some familiar Memphis locations. “For the video, we wanted to shoot it in a place that was relevant to my career with people who were important to me. So we went with Earnestine & Hazel’s, one of my favorite spots in town to play with my band, and I invited a bunch of friends and family to be in it.”
Take a look.
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