It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving. All the leftovers have been eaten, and all the naps have been taken. It’s time to go back to work. If you’re anything like Music Video Monday, you’re not dealing with it very well.
Jacob Church is here to deliver a wake-up call. The Memphis rocker is channeling Cheap Trick to get you up and running. “Sunshine” is a thick slab of feel-good pop. In the video, directed by bassist-turned-auteur Landon Moore, Jacob picks up the band and drags their asses to rehearsal, where they quickly get their mojo back. We’re doing the same for you.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Playing with Hulett in the Hand Me Downs are Leh Sammons, Ben Church, and Jonathan Schallert, and Jacob Church, who also engineered the new album Little Windows. The video for the first single, “See Her Again” was directed by Nicki Storey. It’s simple and sweet and, like the song, sincere. Take a listen.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
I didn't sing, but I enjoyed hearing Amy LaVere and Will Sexton at a Music Export Memphis house concert (Credit: Jonathan Finder)
I think one of the best ways to hear music is to sit in somebody’s living room and be entertained by performers. It seems like that’s almost a thing of the past for many people.
I always liked scenes in old movies, where wealthy people had recitals in their homes. I’m thinking of the funniest movie I’ve ever seen: The Awful Truth. One of the many great scenes in this 1937 movie is when Cary Grant accidentally enters a room where a recital featuring his wife, Irene Dunn, is singing to a group of women.
That’s all I’m going to say about that. I won’t be a spoiler. You’ve got to see this film if you never have.
But all of this is leading up to a great event I attended recently. Dr. Jonathan and Jana Finder (pronounced “Fender,” like the guitar), held a Music Export Memphis house concert in their living room on June 25th. Amy LaVere and Will Sexton and Church Brothers — Jacob and Ben Church — performed individual sets.
Ben and Jacob Church of Church Brothers perform at the home of Dr. Jonathan and Jana Finder (Credit: Michael Donahue)Jana and Dr. Jonathan Finder at a Music Export Memphis house concert in their living room (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Jana made the food. Tons of food, including the best strawberry cake I’ve ever eaten. And it wasn’t even iced.
Jonathan, a pediatric pulmonologist at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, learned about Music Export Memphis through his neighbor, Cameron Mann, a member the Music Export Memphis board as well as a veteran musician and a former owner of Young Avenue Sound.
“He’s a great guy,” Jonathan says. “And he actually was the person who said, ‘Hey, you guys like giving house concerts and you’re big supporters of Memphis music. You’d be a natural to house a concert for Music Export Memphis.’
“And he was right. We are big supporters of Memphis music, especially the local Midtown music scene. And the majority of our friends are musicians who feel as passionate about music as we do.”
Jonathan chose the musicians he wanted to perform at their house concert. “Amy and Will have a great sound and a cool vibe about their music. And, also, people love them and know about them and I thought they would be a draw. I thought they’d be a great headline act because they’re well known. They travel around the world. And they’re well-respected musicians.”
He also wanted Church Brothers. “I think they’re incredible. I think they don’t get enough recognition and I think they deserve more and I wanted to feature them. Because I think they should be on everybody’s radar.”
Trying to get in the act again. Me with Ben and Jacob Church of Church Brothers at a Music Export Memphis house concert at the home of Jana and Dr. Jonathan Finder (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Jonathan wasn’t kidding about him and Jana being big supporters of Memphis music. It seems like they’re always at a concert or entertaining musicians at their home or at a restaurant. I’m not kidding. Not to mention the big weekend swimming parties, which feature a who’s who of Memphis Midtown performers singing poolside or swimming.
Music Export Memphis is “a non-profit export office for Memphis music,” says board chair Baylee Less, who attended the Finder concert. “Basically, the idea is we create opportunities for our local musicians to showcase outside of the city and help them grow in their careers.”
That includes providing money for them to showcase at events, including Americana Fest, Folk Alliance, and Toronto’s NXNE (North by Northeast).
And, Less adds, “We’ll just provide them with direct tour support. If a musician is going on tour for five or more dates, they’re eligible for grant funding to help them fund their tour.”
Touring, she says, is “one of the best ways for them to grow their careers.”
As for the house concerts, Less says, “It’s one of the ways we raise funds for the organization. We try to do one or two a month. If you’re interested in supporting them and excited about the work, you can have live musicians in your living room. Invite your friends over and have some musicians perform at your house.”
The house concerts are free, but the host sets a fundraising goal as to how much money they plan to raise in donations at the event. “Almost all the hosts hit the goal.”
Music Export Memphis representatives “give an overview of the organization in the middle of the event and ask for donations for the work. And we sell t-shirts and stuff like that.”
Like the Finders, hosts can feature musicians they already know or Music Export Memphis can help select the performers. They also set up all the audio equipment as well as an event page and help manage the RSVP list “to make it really easy to invite people.”
“So, really, the hosts are opening their home and having a few snacks and drinks for people and setting their fundraising goals and saying they support Music Export Memphis. We, really, handle everything else.”
They’ve assisted with everything from “a pool party with 75 people” to an “indoor Midtown living room” party with 10 people invited, Less says. “It’s how many people can fit in the space.”
If you’re interested in hosting a Music Export Memphis house party, contact the organization’s executive director Elizabeth Cawein at elizabeth@musicexportmemphis.org.
Cameron Mann, Baylee Less, and Morgan Massey of Music Export Memphis at a house concert at the home of Jana and Dr. Jonathan Finder (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Jacob Church’s new song “Lines” is a beautiful, jangle-pop influenced indie rock meditation. The video takes the lyric literally by going completely abstract. Church takes his camera close in to objects and signs to revel in the details. He reduces letters and numbers to their constituent lines, and reveals little bits of beauty hiding in everyday life, before exploding into the big picture with some drone footage by Stacy Pennington. I’m usually a big advocate for putting the artist in the music video, but when that rule is broken this artistically, I’ll make an exception.
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Just about everyone is working from home these days — even musicians. Today marks the release of Safe @ Home, an album made by two musicians sheltering in place in separate locations. Multi-instrumentalists Jeff Hulett and Jacob Church recorded the songs — in pieces — from their respective Midtown homes, and all proceeds from the sale of the album will benefit Music Export Memphis (MEM) and their COVID-19 Fund for musicians.
Jacob Edwards
“We made this album all in quarantine over the past six weeks,” Hulett says. He used GarageBand and his smartphone to record acoustic guitar, vocals, drums, and keyboard sounds. Hulett then sent his tracks to Church, who used Pro Tools to record electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion, vocals, and more. Church mixed and mastered the album — with the exception of “N. Belvedere,” which was recorded and mixed by Andrew McCalla.
“This was a great opportunity to get to know Jacob Church more and try something completely different,” Hulett says. “His musicianship is top notch. I’m more of a rough-around-the-edges-type musician, so that pairing worked quite nicely. I’ve known Jacob for several years peripherally as he’s mixed and mastered some solo stuff and Me & Leah stuff. Then in February we did an in the round at DKDC with Graham Winchester. Little did we know then we’d be releasing an album together on May 1st. Strange how things come together sometimes, I guess.”
Samilia Colar
Safe @ Home is suffused with a longing that speaks to the loneliness of life under lockdown. It’s a loneliness cut with sweetness, though — these are songs about friendship and love. Their sweetness and the wonderfully lo-fi pop production call to mind youthful friendships and long summer days when hours stretched, thick as honeysuckle-scented August air. In some ways the album feels like being grounded on a summer day in middle school — it’s the frustration of FOMO mingled with the satisfying certainty that, when this is over, the reunions will be twice as sweet. “Watch Out,” the album closer, is a stand-out track on an album that, except for the immediacy of the emotional content of the songs, does not feel as though it were only six weeks in the making.
Amanda McKnight
Andrew Costen
Further underlining the themes of collaboration and togetherness in spite of separation, each track on the seven-song album has a corresponding piece of art by a Memphis-based or formerly Memphis-based visual artist. “I’m an extrovert by nature so I’m always eager to collaborate and be in community with people,” Hulett says. “The biggest honor for me on this album was bringing as many people together as possible. From artists, to musicians to graphic designers to videographers this thing — all done in isolation — has brought so many people together.”
Between them, Church and Hulett have played with a multitude of noteworthy Memphis bands (think Snowglobe, The Ammunition, Me & Leah, and more), and the Memphis connections show. There are shades of Snowglobe, Chris Bell, and, at least to this listener’s ears, Shannon McNally’s pitch-perfect cover of Jim Dickinson’s “The Outlaw” from The Wandering. In all, Safe @ Home is an album that embraces both the bittersweet sadness of separation and the comfort of connection.
Jeff Hulett and Jacob Church’sSafe @ Homeis available via Bandcamp. All proceeds benefit Music Export Memphis.
Jacob Edwards 
Samilia Colar 
Amanda McKnight 
Andrew Costen