Tag: Jody Stephens

Categories
Music Music Blog

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.

Categories
Music Music Blog

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.”

Categories
Music Music Blog

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.

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

Categories
Music Music Features

No Waiting: The World Rediscovers Van Duren

“At last, all of a sudden, we stumbled into this thing. So it’s going to be interesting, to see how people react to that.”

Van Duren is reflecting on the corner his life and performing career have turned since he received a call a couple of years ago from Australia. It was from Wade Jackson, a musician based down under who had only recently discovered Duren’s debut album, Are You Serious?, long since out of print.

In 1977, when the record came out, its combination of Beatle-esque songwriting and hard-hitting hooks and harmonies stoked hopes for career-making acclaim. The interest expressed by Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones’ original manager, didn’t hurt either. But by then, disco had already nudged Duren’s type of music out of the limelight. While he’s made a decent career in music, it’s been more low-profile than he once hoped.

Van Duren

Cut to the current era, when Jackson’s discovery of the album led him to recruit Greg Carey as the co-director of a documentary about Duren. Their final product, titled Waiting: The Van Duren Story, had its world premiere at last year’s Indie Memphis Film Festival, where it won the Hometowner Feature award. Mixing contemporary footage of the filmmakers’ quest to find Duren with archival images that chronicle the making of the album, the film goes a long way in recreating the ’70s milieu of Memphis power pop.

“Jody Stephens and I were friends since 1970, before Big Star,” Duren recalls. “John Hampton and I went to high school together. I graduated with his older brother Randy, and the three of us had a band together for years, Malarky. Maybe the best band I’ve ever been in. Those two brothers, man — extremely talented and smart.” Malarky occupied Duren while Big Star’s fortunes rose and fell, after which he played for a time with Stephens and Big Star founder Chris Bell.

“Chris was no angel, but I enjoyed the short period of time I got to work with him. It was me and Jody and Chris and Randy Hampton. We called it the Baker Street Regulars. That lasted about 6 months.”

Van Duren in the 1970s

Duren continued to play around Memphis with others, culminating in his move to the New York/Connecticut area to record his debut and tour professionally in the Northeast. But with the musical tides shifting, his record failed to gain traction — a tale, with some twists and turns, detailed in the film. The music has lived on in increasingly rare reissues, and now, thanks to the new documentary, on this year’s Omnivore soundtrack compilation of the same name, which has several of the debut album’s tracks. Like Big Star, the Hot Dogs, and other Memphis bands defying all Southern rock expectations of the time, the songs are pure rock and pop magic.

“When Emitt Rhodes’ records came out, the thing about him playing all the instruments, including all the drums, fascinated me. And Todd Rundgren. Huge influence from the first Runt album. This is when I started really trying to figure out how to play piano. As a result, when we get to ’77 and cut the first album, about half the songs are piano-generated songs. So that was my path.”

Ultimately, Duren returned to Memphis and has been a fixture in the region for years, beginning with his band Good Question. “That band went for 17 years,” he recalls. “We did really well in the ’80s for a few years. And we played all the time. That was my re-connection to Memphis.”

Now, he and his longtime musical partner, singer Vicki Loveland, are set to explore wider horizons, as the film begins screening more widely. This Wednesday, it will be shown at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, and at London’s Soundscreen Festival on Friday. Soon after, a series of screenings in Australia will fuel some live shows there. “There’s quite a buzz in Australia. Several people have asked me, ‘Are you worried about playing these songs from 40 years ago?’, and I say, ‘Well, the truth is, I’ve been playing these songs all this time, but nobody’s been listening.’ That’s the only difference!”

Categories
Music Music Blog

Keith Sykes Leads Ardent Into a New Era

CREDIT: Alex Greene

Alex Greene

Keith Sykes in Ardent’s Studio B

The legendary Ardent Studios was dealt a major blow over three years ago, when John Hampton, one of Ardent’s chief producers, and John Fry, the studio’s founder and owner, passed away within five days of each other. Nancy Apple, Ardent’s night/weekend manager and director of social media, puts it this way: “Everybody was stunned. It wasn’t just John Fry who we lost, it was John Hampton too. Those are the two key figures of Ardent, with the exception of Jody [Stephens]. I think Ardent really needed that team feeling.” Then, mulling over the past few weeks, she adds, “And we finally have that feeling again. It feels like the old days. Even though we all miss Mr. Fry, it’s feeling like Ardent again.”

John Fry and John Hampton.

One reason may be the recent hiring of a longtime Ardent-associated artist, Keith Sykes, as the new chief manager. As a songwriter’s songwriter who’s had his work covered by the likes of John Prine, Jimmy Buffet, and Rosanne Cash, Sykes has traveled the world with his music, but has kept his home base in the Memphis area nearly all his life. His closeness to the Ardent “family” over the past four decades makes his new official post a very good fit indeed. I sat down with Sykes to hear how things are going today at the fabled studio.

Memphis Flyer: It must be a big change for you to move into a desk job like this.

Keith Sykes: You know, it’s like in 1986 I when quit playing. I was building up my publishing company, and I did that for fifteen years, from 1986-2001. But then, I went out and did a tour with Todd Snider, just opening his shows. We were just having fun, basically. But I got to thinking, “This is fun, the publishing companies are up to where they’re doing their own thing. It’s pretty level.” So I thought, “I’m gonna go back to playing and just end out my days doing that.” And I did and I had a great time. I’ve been doing it 16, 17 years now.

So, my wife is [studio owner] Betty Fry’s personal assistant, and Betty’s been asking me to do this job since last summer. But I just said, “I’m happy, I’m good.” Well, after listening to my wife and Betty talk, and just getting a feel for things, I realized I could help out here and still do my gigs that I wanna do. The nicer ones of the bunch. I think I can manage the studio about as well as anybody. And we’ve got great recording engineers and great staff.

It seems like the place is really bustling with activity. New chairs, new ceiling tiles…

We’re doing everything we can to get the place pretty again. The atrium is pretty again, the fountain started working again on Monday. The new roof, that’s the first thing Betty did when she took control. We’ve got Nancy down to doing the things that she does best. But we all three, Jody and Nancy and I, trade off answering the phone. We’ll do whatever it takes, clean up the place, whatever. We just want it to be a great place to record.

You go way back with Memphis and Ardent, don’t you?

I lived here in Memphis from 1957 to 1966, when I was just a little kid. I moved away for eight years, but then I passed back through; I was going to California, but I saw Jerene Rowe, who’s been my wife since then, and that was that. We’ve been together ever since. In 2001 we moved to Fayette County.

So I moved back to Memphis in 1974 and did the first record after that at Shoe Productions. And that did pretty good. I cut the first record that I ever cut at Ardent back in 1979. I’d done demos over here several times before, and it never really gelled until July of ’79. I cut I’m Not Strange, I’m Just Like You here and everything seemed to work with that. Everybody in my band had quit ‘cos I was on tour with Jimmy Buffet that year. So they took the core of the band and named it Uncle Tom’s Jam Band. It did good back then. But it left me with zero band to come over here and record with. And I was talking to John Fry and he said, “Well, you know Joe [Harding] plays bass, and the night guy plays drums.” And the night guy was John Hampton! So I ended up with two great musicians. I didn’t mean to, it just worked out that way. And they were both fabulous engineers and Grammy winners and all that stuff. Courtesy Jerene and Keith Sykes

Jerene Sykes, Keith Sykes, Joe Hardy at Ardent in the 1970s.

So you had a very personal experience of Ardent in its heyday. Has that informed your move to manager?

One thing that everybody told me when John died was, “What we’re gonna do is exactly what we’ve been doing.” I’m convinced that if we concentrate on it, and everybody uses their best intuitions and connections, we can make our mark again.

We’re getting the place together physically, going through the gear, making sure everything’s top notch, going over every microphone, every console switch. Everything. And hopefully we’ll get the kind of clientele that appreciates all that. ‘Cos one thing we can do that you can’t do in your bedroom is get a good band in a great room and get creative. That’s the magic in a bottle. You can get some great stuff in your computer, but we can still do that thing, where people get together and you just play it live.

There’s nothing like the air of a great room.

I consider us a Golden Era studio. Everybody’s got computers. Well, we’re in a lucky position where we’ve got this great old gear too. And it’s maintained really well. So many people are into the analog sound now. We’ve got three beautiful 24 track Studer [tape decks], ready to go.

What about other aspects of Ardent, like the label?

I’m not concentrating on the label, for the next few months at least, until we can really have our routine down. Right now, we’re promoting the studio. Now, John Fry really did great with the Christian music. They were selling millions of records. I’m not in that. I’m not opposed to it, it’s just not what I do. What I wanna do is get some great singer/songwriters in here and work around those people.

So I’m trying to use my connections. And you know, Jody’s a gold mine. He knows everybody in the business. I sit here with him at least thirty minutes to an hour every day, trading Rolodexes. Just call the people you haven’t talked to in a long time and say hello. One thing will lead to another after a while. And you may only get three or four big ‘uns, and have to throw some back, but that’s the way it goes, if we can get to fishing again, you know?

Categories
Music Music Features

The Sound and the Furry at Indie Memphis

Indie Memphis’ ties to this city, and all the musical history that comes with it, give music a place of honor in what is ostensibly a festival of film. Many documentaries on local music have premiered here, from Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me to Antenna, which memorialized the local club that hosted so much post-punk rock-and-roll. This year is no different, with perhaps more musically oriented content being offered than ever before.

Speaking of Big Star, Thank You, Friends: Big Star’s Third Live … and More (already released on DVD) documents a unique assemblage of A-list musicians who come together periodically to celebrate the band’s music, especially its enigmatic and haunting third album, first released in 1978. Those who frequent the concert series at the Levitt Shell will recall the 2014 performance of Big Star’s Third, complete with members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, where the band’s drummer Jody Stephens was joined by Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey, Ken Stringfellow, and others in a re-creation of Big Star’s sound.

The ever-shifting group reached its apotheosis last year at the Alex Theatre in Los Angeles, where the ensemble was filled out by Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone of Wilco and Robyn Hitchcock, to name a few. It’s breathtaking to see and hear the songs gain new life in a live setting, yet some of the material leaves one longing for a bit more of the anarchy that always lurked behind even their most polished recordings. The music does take flight in a more chaotic way as the band leans into the latter day material. One only wishes the guitars were louder.

Meanwhile, another kind of Memphis beat is honored in Mr. Handy’s Blues, a new documentary about W.C. Handy by hometowner and longtime television producer/director Joanne Fish. Ten years in the making, it explores the intriguing combination of insider/outsider status Handy embodied, being well-versed in orchestral music even as he turned a sympathetic ear to that then-obscure folk form known as the blues. Woven into his roller coaster of a life story are testimonials from musical heavyweights on Handy’s impact on American music. Especially compelling is the footage of current-day big bands playing his arrangements, captured with the clarity of high fidelity techniques.

Another hometown documentary overlaps with Handy’s influence. Furry Lewis & The Bottleneck Guitar Story is a musicological appreciation that dips briefly into Lewis’ life story. This is a labor of love by local director David Brian Guinle, as he guides us through the crucial historical details suggesting that Lewis was the first to record and popularize the sound of bottleneck guitar.

Starting with the parallel influences of U.S. soldiers bringing slide guitar techniques to the mainland from Hawaii, and W.C. Handy’s embrace of the blues, the film picks up Lewis’ story when he finds his first broken guitar. “It was time for him to be set in his place,” says Guinle. “Not just put a note on the street. Because he played a more important part in our music.”

Guinle’s story ultimately settles into the director’s 1977 footage of jazz saxophonist Fred Ford interviewing Lewis and setting up several performances by the guitarist in his last years. It is here, and in footage of Lewis and young Lee Baker playing together, where the film really shines. Lewis plays his unique electric Martin GT-70 with aplomb and Ford chimes in with brief, learned observations. Unlike so many music documentaries which offer mere samples of live performances, this one lets Lewis’ playing go on for the bulk of the film, and it’s a treasure.

Beyond these histories of local visionaries and their performances, there’s a lot more music to be found. The documentary Sidemen focuses on the players behind the distinctive ensemble sounds of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Another, A Life in Waves, tells the story of synthesizer pioneer Suzanne Ciani. Beyond documentaries, the narrative features Barracuda, Flock of Four, and The Golden Age all spin dramatic tales around musical performers and their circles. And there will be special screenings dedicated only to music videos, including outdoor screenings at the Indie Memphis block party. Dozens of local bands will be featured.


But it will be the ultimate local band — Booker T. and the MG’s — that will shine out above the others, in a screening not even listed under the festival’s music-related fare. Up Tight! was an obscure offering in the early days of what some call “blaxploitation” film. A dramatic political allegory in its own right, it is especially notable for the soundtrack, composed by Booker T. Jones and performed by the MG’s. Unlike classic MG’s fare, it goes beyond funky instrumentals for more introspective and moody gospel flavors, including “Johnny, I Love You,” sung by Jones himself. And of course, the centerpiece is an extended version of their masterpiece, “Time Is Tight.”

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis Announces Opening Night Film, Special MLK50 Programming For 2017 Festival

The Indie Memphis Film Festival will take place November 1-6, 2017. This will be the twentieth year the festival has brought films produced independently of the Hollywood studio system to the Mid-South, and organizers say they intend to pull out all the stops.

The opening night film will be Thom Pain, the film adaptation of a 2004, one-man play called Thom Paine (based on nothing) by English playwright Will Eno that won the first ever Fringe Award at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival. The star of—and presumably only actor in—the film, Rainn Wilson, will be on hand for the gala screening, which will be the film’s world premiere. Wilson made his film debut in 1999’s Galaxy Quest, appeared for five seasons on HBO’s Six Feet Under, and achieved international notoriety with his portrayal of Dwight on the American version of The Office.

The festival is partnering with the National Civil Rights Museum for a series of films to commemorate April’s 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. These will include Up Tight, a rarely seen, 1968 independent film by Jules Dassin starring Ruby Dee that includes footage taken at King’s funeral, and the 1970 documentary King: A Filmed Legacy From Montgomery To Memphis by Sidney Lumet.

The work of American indie auteur Abel Ferrera will be celebrated with two screenings: Bad Lieutenant, a 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel as a corrupt cop who cracks up while investigating the rape and murder of a nun, and The Blackout, a 1997 comedy starring Dennis Hopper and Matthew Modine as a director and movie star who get themselves into trouble while drinking in Miami Beach. Ferrera will appear at both screenings, along with his cinematographer Ken Kelsch and editor Anthony Redman.

For its twentieth anniversary, the festival will have a three day block party in Overton Square that will block off Cooper between Union and Monroe. The party will feature the Memphis premiere of Thank You Friends: Big Star Live…and More, a concert film of Big Star’s Third album performed live by an all star band that includes members of R.E.M. and Wilco, and Robyn Hitchcock, among others, with the sole surviving original Big Star member Jody Stephens on drums. “The Indie Memphis team went all out this year to celebrate our 20th anniversary,” says Indie Memphis Executive Director Ryan Watt. “The addition of the block party and more venues will make this our largest and most eclectic festival to date. I’m most excited to see our audience and filmmakers, local and traveling, come together as a community to discuss what they’ve seen after each credits roll.”

The festival’s competition lineup will be revealed at a party at the Rec Room on September 26. Organizers have had a record number of entries this year and expect to screen at least 200 documentary, narrative, experimental, and animated features and shorts during the festival’s weeklong run. Festival passes are on sale now at the Indie Memphis website.

Categories
Music Music Features

Memphis Magic at SXSW

Rolling into Austin last week for South By Southwest (SXSW) was both exotic and familiar to me. Having first played there in 1990, this year offered more than five times as many bands, with more tech-oriented attendees (due to the growth of the non-musical conference) and a more pronounced Memphis presence than ever.

Right out of the starting gate, Austin saw a full slate of local favorites at The Memphis Picnic. Sponsored by the nonprofit Music Export Memphis, it featured catering by the new Austin branch of Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, as well as the new Austin branch of the Amurica photo booth and “a line around the block before we opened,” according to organizer Elizabeth Cawein.

The crowd flooded in to see opener Emi Secrest, a onetime Memphian now living in Los Angeles, who featured much-admired Memphis drummer Stanley Randolph, now playing for Stevie Wonder. One musician waxed enthusiastic about Randoph’s playing with Secrest, noting that their set pulled in the audience and “set a tone of ‘oh shit, this is good!’ for the day.” The show also featured Chris Milam, Marcella and Her Lovers, Dead Soldiers, and a fervent, soulful closing set by Southern Avenue. “It felt like being home,” said Marcella Simien. “Every guest felt that energy, and that’s why people stuck around all day. It was magical.”

Dead Soldiers, who release a new album on March 31st, reprised their set the next afternoon with wild abandon, in songs ranging from anthemic rock to klezmer-like frenzy. Show-closer “Sixteen Tons” culminated in soaring group harmonies and drummer Paul Gilliam leaping over his kit: One could only feel for the band that had to follow them.

Amid all this talent, foremost in my mind was Cory Branan and the Low Standards, for whom (full disclosure) I was playing bass. A North Mississippi/Memphis native who has recently returned to Bluff City life, with a new album coming in April, Branan led me and drummer Shawn Zorn through one full band show per day, along with many solo sets. The highlight of the latter was his appearance at the Moody Theater (home of Austin City Limits) for the Country Music Awards’ Songwriter Series, where his pithy lyrics and fiery picking brought the crowd to a standing ovation.

Scores of Memphians filtered into Austin as the week wore on, from new arrivals China Gate to the pedigreed Tommy Stinson-led Bash & Pop, featuring hometown guitarist extraordinaire Steve Selvidge, wrapping up their West Coast tour at Austin’s Hotel Vegas on Wednesday. The next night was capped off by rock-and-roll lifers Joecephus and the George Jonestown Massacre. And Saturday featured an unofficial celebration of bands on the Goner label, including Memphis’ own Aquarian Blood.

Bands rushed from one show to another, working themselves and crowds into a sweaty furor. Truckloads of tacos and coffee and alcohol were consumed, hearts and ears and minds caught in the sonic energy. Yet amid the clamor, more delicate moments also thrived. Mystic groove goddess Valerie June, now based in New York, was seemingly the toast of the town, with massive buzz and press coverage celebrating her new release. Coco Hames, newcomer to Memphis via Nashville, spun her classic pop songs with an assist from fellow Memphis transplant Mario Monterosso at the Merge Records Day Party, and again in a midnight show the following night. Meanwhile, Milam enlisted cellist Elen Wroten to add unique textures to his band. Both Hames and Milam have new albums arriving soon, as does Shannon McNally, another local favorite based in Oxford, Mississippi.

For her appearances at SXSW, McNally assembled a dream band featuring Memphian Stephen Chopek and the remarkable Charlie Sexton, best known for his guitar work with Bob Dylan. (Full disclosure #2: I joined them on keyboards at her Auditorium Shores show). Her liveliest show was at Lucy’s Fried Chicken, where her eclectic energy brought cheers from a packed house. “Who else can go from Stevie Wonder to JJ Cale at the drop of a hat?” Sexton asked the crowd, to which McNally replied, “Same station, baby! Same station.”

The most commercially promising acts at SXSW were arguably Memphis’ hip-hop artists. The genre is more fully embraced at SXSW than in the early days, and rappers Blac Youngsta, Javar Rockamore, and Don Trip all represented the Bluff City well. The king had to be Yo Gotti, whose Thursday show had crowds crushing the edge of the stage, as he pounded out his direct-message-themed hit, “Down in the DM,” as well as jams from his recent White Friday (CM9) album.

Finally, what could better evoke Memphis than the unique collaboration known as Big Star Third? Centered on original Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, with indie-rock luminaries such as Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey, Mike Mills, and others trading off vocals and instruments, supplemented with a string ensemble, the group recreates the lush and inventive sounds of the once-obscure band’s Third/Sister Lovers LP, as well as selections from earlier Big Star and Chris Bell records. Their SXSW show, in Austin’s Central Presbyterian Church, was reverent and tragic, occurring as it did on the seventh anniversary of Alex Chilton’s death. There was something magical in hearing Stephens’ powerful drumming echo from the church’s arched chancel. His singing captured the vulnerability of friendships formed in his teens; and Stamey and Mills captured the wry, blunt delivery of the band’s chief composer well. Yet one could almost sense Chilton himself, slouching in the back pew, making wisecracks about the gigantic crucifix hanging over their heads, wishing he could have a smoke.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Big Star Book Launch at the Brooks

Tomorrow night (Thursday, October 20th), Big Star drummer Jody Stephens will be at the Brooks Museum to celebrate the launch of the Big Star’s new book Isolated in the Light. Also on hand will be photographers Michael O’Brien, Maude Schuyler Clay and David Bell. 

The limited edition photography book features over 200 photographs that track the career of Big Star, and includes photographs from William Eggleston, Michael O’Brien, Maude Schuyler Clay, Carole Manning, David Bell, Stephanie Chernikowski, David Godlis, in addition to historic images from the vaults of Ardent Records.

Big Star Book Launch at the Brooks

The event begins at 5:30 p.m, at the Brooks Museum, and a book signing will take place.  If you can’t make the launch party but are interested in the book, grab a copy here.