The great Hope Clayburn just had a hell of a September. She played Cooper-Young Fest and Mempho Fest — and she became a champion of Memphis Wrestling. In her music video for “Nobody,” that is.
Ladies and gentlemen and nonbinary humans, prepare to step into the squared circle! Hope’s leading her crackerjack band of Memphis muthas against wrestlers Nyxx “The Goddess of the Night,” Ray Ray, Mr. Chris, and Mackenzie Morgan. Director Yubu Kazungu filmed the video in the Memphis Wrestling studio. Look for Lucky 7 Brass Band maestro Victor Sawyer and Dustin Starr announcing this belt match for the ages.
Look for Hope’s new album Y’all So Loud coming soon, and buy the single for your playlist.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
“I do like a certain looseness of things in music, that feeling that things could fall apart,” says David Collins, guitarist and chief instigator of Frog Squad. “And that’s something I see in Memphis music a lot. It makes it feel more genuine.”
Frog Squad’s new album Special Noise features a murderer’s row of Memphis jazz talent, including bassist Khari Wynn, drummer John Harrison, percussionist Hector Diaz, sax mistress Hope Clayburn, tenor sax Franko Coleman, woodwind swinger Chad Fowler, baritone sax Aaron Phillips, and keyboardist Cedric Taylor.
In contrast with Frog Squad’s last outing, which meticulously adapted pieces by French Impressionist composer Eric Satie, Special Noise travels toward the ’70s fusion experiments of Herbie Hancock and Sun Ra. “Everything’s better when you have multiple people putting their input on it,” says Collins. “I can just bring in a rough sketch, and people play stuff over it I would never think of. It sounds cool that way and it brings things out of me that I wouldn’t play otherwise.”
The video for “The Inescapable Truth of the Void/Water Snakes” features majorly glitched out images of the band performing. Take a few minutes to bliss out with the Squad.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
It’s Tuesday, but that doesn’t stop Music Video Monday from celebrating Independence Day in uniquely Memphis style. Bluff City bluesman Bobby Rush has been partnering with the Curb Institute at Rhodes College since he was the music and culture program’s first visiting scholar in 2014. Rush has continued to mentor and teach ever since, even after surviving COVID-19 last year. At the liberal arts school’s 2021 commencement ceremonies, the Beale Street legend was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree.
Rush teamed up with some of his mentees at Royal Studios to record a bluesy arrangement of “America The Beautiful” for the 4th. Joining them were Eddie Cotton on organ, Fuzzie Jeffries on guitar, and a horn line featuring Hope Clayburn, Jim Spake, and Victor Sawyer. Capturing the action on camera was Ethan Van Drimmelen and Jackson Hendrix. “Oh beautiful for spacious skies!”
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Music Video Monday is bringing you all the colors of the rainbow.
Memphis jam band monarchs FreeWorld have been around long enough to know nearly everyone in the Bluff City music scene. The Beale Street stalwarts have spent their pandemic-enforced time off the stage in the studio, says bassist Richard Cushing. “We’ve been in Cotton Row Studio for the past several months working on this amazing project, and we’re all extremely proud of the way it turned out! The end result of all our dedicated work is a city-wide, multi-genre, multi-racial, multi-cultural music video meant to celebrate and exemplify Memphis’ (and the whole world’s, for that matter) diversity, and was created purely as a way to showcase the concept, the lyrics, the voices, the faces, and the overarching idea of diversity as an essential quality of life!”
When I say FreeWorld knows everyone, I mean it. “D-UP (Here’s to Diversity)” boasts a whopping 23 vocalists and 15-member band, including Al Kapone, Hope Clayburn, Marcella Simien, Luther Dickinson, and Blind Mississippi Morris.
Cushing says “D-UP” was originally a FreeWorld tune that the band decided to rework to reflect the lyric’s ideals and celebrate the struggling Memphis music scene. “The song, with lyrics written by David Skypeck and accompanying video produced by Justin Jaggers, came bursting forth with new life through the amazing production talents of Niko Lyras, along with the instrumental and vocal contributions of over three dozen established entertainers, talented newcomers, and legacy artists (see below), who all came together and donated their time and talents to create a work of art that celebrates and exemplifies the musical, cultural, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual unity and diversity inherent in our city and the world beyond.”
Music Video Monday: FreeWorld and Friends
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Frog Squad is a Memphis collective dedicated to the kind of electronically infused space jazz pioneered by Sun Ra and His Arkestra.
“Solar System in Peabody” is a musical tribute to sculptor Yvonne Bobo’s Around We Go and Without Boundaries, both located in Peabody Park on Cooper. It was written by Khari Wynn and David Collins, and features saxophonist/flutist Hope Clayburn, keybaordist Dave Hash, drummer John Harrison, and saxophonists Michael Shults and Aaron Phillips.
This performance of the epic suite was filmed live in Peabody Park by Brett Hanover for the Urban Arts Commission. Frog Squad’s new album will be released on Halloween, and they will be at B Side for a record release party on Friday, November 1st. Get spaced!
Music Video Monday: Frog Squad
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Mary Owen’s plays Otherlands on Saturday, July 25th
Welcome to the 26th edition of my Weekend Roundup! Beat the heat with one (or all) of these great local shows this weekend. From hardcore punk to folk rock, there’s something for everyone on this list, including a massive benefit show at the Buccaneer on Saturday night.
Friday, July 24th.
Jason Lee McKinney Band, 7:30 p.m. at the Levitt Shell, free.
Weekend Roundup 26: Mary Owens, The Sheiks, Hope Clayburn (3)
Chaos Order, Concrete, Lowered AD, 8 p.m. at the Hi-Tone, $5.
Weekend Roundup 26: Mary Owens, The Sheiks, Hope Clayburn (4)
Ben Callicott, Jack Moran, Will Tucker, 8:30 p.m. at Otherlands , $8.
Zigadoo Moneyclips, The Band of Ooo, Other Stories, The Aquaducks, 9 p.m. at Found Studio, $5.
Maitre D’s, 10 p.m. at Bar DKDC, $5.
American Fiction, 10 p.m. at Lafayette’s Music Room.
Saturday, July 25th.
Light up the Night, 6 p.m. at the Hi-Tone, $5.
Brad Boswell Benefit featuring Dave Cousar, Deering and Down, Detective Bureau, Marcella & Her Lovers, Devil Train, the Sheiks, Jack Oblivian, Richard James, and Midnight Fistfight, 6 p.m. at The Buccaneer, $10.
Weekend Roundup 26: Mary Owens, The Sheiks, Hope Clayburn (2)
Samantha Martin and Delta Sugar, 7:30 p.m. at the Levitt Shell, free.
Air Supply, 8 p.m. at the Horseshoe Casino, prices vary.
Mary Owens, Lauren Moscato, Jeffrey Jordan, Kris Acklen, 8:30 p.m. at Otherlands, $8.
Weekend Roundup 26: Mary Owens, The Sheiks, Hope Clayburn
Magnolia Sons, 10 p.m. at Lafayette’s Music Room.
Hope Clayburn and the Soul Scrimmage, 10 p.m. at The Cove.
Weekend Roundup 26: Mary Owens, The Sheiks, Hope Clayburn (5)
Sunday, July 26th. Charlie and the Foxtrots, 4 p.m. at Lafayette’s Music Room.
Toad The Wet Sprocket, 7 p.m. at Minglewood Hall, prices vary.
Mark Edgar Stuart, 7:30 p.m. at the Levitt Shell, free.
Weekend Roundup 26: Mary Owens, The Sheiks, Hope Clayburn (6)
Dead Soldiers will be playing new material this Sunday at Bar DKDC.
There are a TON of bands playing around town this weekend, so here are ten shows you definitely do not want to miss. The tournament might be on TV, but take some time away from the tube and support local music!
FRIDAY, MARCH 27TH.
Hope Clayburn, Zigadoo Moneyclips, 9:00 p.m. at the Hi-Tone, $7.00.
Weekend Roundup Part 11
J. Roddy Walston and the Business, The Weeks, Sleepwalkers, 8:00 p.m. at Minglewood Hall, $15.00-$17.00.
Weekend Roundup Part 11 (2)
Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, The Blackfoot Gypsies, 8:00 p.m at the 1884 Lounge, $15.00-$17.00.
Weekend Roundup Part 11 (3)
Losers Way Home, Jeff Maxwell, Drew and Ellen Story, 8:00 p.m. at Otherlands, $7.00.
SATURDAY, MARCH 28TH.
Amy LaVere, Will Sexton and Alicja Pop, 6:00 p.m. at the Harbor Town Amphitheater, $5.00.
Weekend Roundup Part 11 (4)
WormReich, Epoch of Unlight, Sivad, Process of Suffocation, Entrenched Defilement, 8:00 p.m. at The Buccaneer Lounge, $7.00.
Bored Lord, SpookyLi, The Deathless, The Pop Ritual, Pillow Talk, Buttmaster, 8:00 p.m. at Carcosa, $5.00.
Weekend Roundup Part 11 (5)
Devil Train, 8:00 p.m. at the Young Avenue Deli, $5.00.
SUNDAY, MARCH 29TH.
YOB, Witch Mountain, Powers That Be, 9:00 p.m. at the Hi-Tone, $12.00-$15.00.
