Tag: John Nemeth

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Blues Music Awards: Kingfish is King

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram performing at the Blues Music Awards on May 9th (Photo: Christopher Caldwell)

Last week’s 45th Blues Music Awards (BMAs) featured many familiar faces in the spotlight, but none so familiar as Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, from just down the road apiece in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

He came away with a win in the “Album of the Year” category for his Live In London record, which was also named the best Contemporary Blues Album. The BMAs also recognized Ingram as this year’s best Instrumentalist – Guitar and the best Contemporary Blues Male Artist.

Ingram, featured prominently in the Memphis Flyer‘s 2022 survey of the regional blues scene, has become somewhat of a ringer at the BMAs, having first won in all four of the above categories in 2020, then garnering awards in every subsequent year since.

His talent and success are partly a testament to the power of educational programs like those he attended at Clarksdale’s Delta Blues Museum as a young man. As he told the Flyer in 2022, “My instructors were actual bluesmen, Bill ‘Howl-n-Mad’ Perry and Richard ‘Daddy Rich’ Crisman. They were my teachers and my mentors of the blues, from the time when I played bass through when I got into guitar. And when they found out I had a little voice, they even pushed me to sing. There were even times when we would do readings. It was a full-on educational class, for sure. And it still goes on today.”

Another local favorite who won big was living legend Bobby Rush, who was not only named the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year but also snagged the best Soul Blues Album award for his All My Love for You. And transplanted Memphian John Németh, fresh off a riveting performance with the Bo-Keys at this year’s RiverBeat Music Festival, also excelled in the soul blues category, winning the Soul Blues Male Artist award.

Other top titles went to Keb’ Mo’ (Acoustic Blues Artist), Danielle Nicole (Contemporary Blues Female Artist), and the Nick Moss Band (Band of the Year). “What Kind Of Fool,” written by Ruthie Foster, Hadden Sayers & Scottie Miller, was named Song of the Year, and The Right Man by D.K. Harrell was named the Best Emerging Artist Album. Like Ingram and Rush, Foster, Mike Zito, and John Primer also garnered multiple awards.

Visit the Blues Foundation‘s dedicated web page for a complete list of this year’s winners.

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Music Music Blog Music Features

Beale Street Music Festival ’22 Recap: Saturday

Stone Temple Pilots singer Jeff Gutt performs at Beale Street Music Festival 2022. (Photo by Chris McCoy).

The second day of the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival began without the logistical headaches of the first day, but under ominous clouds. Nevertheless, for as long as the weather held, the vibes were good, while the music ranged from the passable to the sublime.

This time, it was my personal logistical problems that led me to miss opener Blvck Hippie, one of Memphis’ coolest current rock acts. As Alex Greene reported in his Flyer cover story, this year featured more Memphis artists than ever before. Judging from the reactions our folks have been eliciting from the throngs gathered in the shadow of the Coliseum, increasing the locals’ main stage time is the best decision Memphis in May has made in a long time.

Lil Wyte whooping it with Al Kapone in the shadow of the Liberty Bowl.

The weekend has been a Memphis hip-hop homecoming. Friday night’s Three 6 Mafia set was literally the boom heard round the town. Lil Wyte’s show became a bone-shaking Frayser reunion, with Al Kapone joining the show to whip the crowd into a frenzy with the weekend’s umpteenth “Whoop That Trick.”

Ayron Jones in action on the Bud Light stage.

Across the former fairgrounds, Ayron Jones’s guitar heroics made ’70s-derived hard rock feel fresh. The razor sharp band’s music is made for the wide open spaces of the outdoor music festival. When they closed with a searing cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile,” I was reminded that I heard that song at my very first Beale Street Music Festival, when headliner Stevie Ray Vaughn tore it up three months before his death in 1990.

John Németh guests on harp with Mitch Wood and His Rocket 88s in the Blues Tent.

Here’s a tip from a seasoned BSMF rat: It’s always a good idea to pop into the Blues Tent for a minute to sit down and cool off. That’s how I caught Love Light Orchestra’s John Németh blowing some harp with boogie woogie piano player Mitch Wood and his Rocket 88s.

Project Pat and his posse packing ’em in.

The biggest crowd of the day so far was Project Pat — and I’m talking about the crowd on the stage, too. The Memphis rap idol brought his entire posse onstage with him, including some young dancers from LYE Academy who threatened to steal the show. “Chickenhead” and “Slob on My Knob” had the entire fairgrounds getting buck.

Grouplove’s Christian Zucconi and Hannah Hooper.

The festival circuit, which was bigger than ever before the pandemic, can be quite lucrative for bands who can crack into it. Grouplove, originally from Seattle, is one of the groups who optimized itself for summer fun. Singer Hannah Hooper has mastered the tricky art of communicating with a huge, easily distracted audience, with colorful wardrobe and big personality. Stone Temple Pilots new front man Jeff Gutt was another skilled practitioner of the carefully considered sweeping gesture.

Britt Daniel of Spoon

After impatient chants of “We want to spoon!”, Britt Daniel’s band Spoon took the stage to give the indie rock. “Five minutes ago, we thought we weren’t going to play, because of the storm,” said Daniel. After an ominous sunset, lightning was flashing in the west.

Don Bryant lifting souls in the Blues Tent, backed by Scott Bomar and Archie “Hubie” Taylor of the Bo-Keys.

As rain began to fall in the park, I was treated to the best performance of the weekend. With the Bo-Keys swinging like a barn door behind him, Don Bryant burned down the Blues Tent. The 80-year-old singer delivered deeply impassioned readings of songs from his decades-deep catalog. As squall lines lashed the tent and people danced in the aisles, a tourist turned to me and asked in slack-jawed amazement, “Who is this guy?”

“A genius!” I yelled.

Festival goers seek shelter under the eaves of the Mid-South Coliseum as storms hit the Beale Street Music Festival.

Don was almost done with his set when the announcement came to evacuate the venue. The supercell that we had all been watching on our smartphone radar apps was dumping penny-sized hail perilously close to the park, and the powers that be finally decided to pull the plug. As we scurried for the exits, I heard a passerby say “I guess Megan didn’t want to get electrocuted.”

Figuring the show was over, I called for a ride home. But the storm passed quickly, and two hours later Megan Thee Stallion and Smashing Pumpkins finally did play to the most hardy — and presumably wettest — festivalgoers.

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Music Music Features

The Love Light Orchestra: Leave the Light On

(left to right) Matthew Wilson, Joe Restivo, Marc Franklin, Jason Yasinsky, Gerald Stephens, John Németh, Earl Lowe, Paul McKinney, Art Edmaiston, Kirk Smothers (Photo: Andrew Trent Fleming)

“Come on, moon! Help me find my way …” John Németh is singing, imploring, not quite shouting, on the new album by the Love Light Orchestra. It’s the edge of desperation in his voice, sung over a bare landscape populated with only a walking bass, that grabs your attention. “You know the darkest hour is just before day.” As the horns, piano, and guitar swell, the sound echoes off the walls in an earthy, evocative way. Add a few pops and scratches, and you’d think you had just scored an old ’45 on Duke Records, the 1950s Memphis label, eventually gobbled up by Houston’s Don Robey, that released Bobby “Blue” Bland’s first decade of albums.

Like Bland, Németh’s dynamic range and timbre can go from a silky purr to a growl in a heartbeat. Yet it’s always marked by his own unique personality. And the echoes of classic vinyl sides aren’t just coming from his singing; the nine players backing him up have also zeroed in on a way of playing that, for many, has been lost to time. There’s something undeniably satisfying about musicians who stubbornly hold on to sounds that the music industry has deemed obsolete. In 1964, Nashville producer Owen Bradley compared musical styles to ice cream, where no one insists that, say, chocolate be abandoned. “Today, there are many, many flavors of music. I suppose you call them ‘trends’ but they go down in history and frequently are revived.”

Recently, I spoke with trumpeter and arranger Marc Franklin about how the Love Light Orchestra gets its flavors just right, with an aesthetic that’s more revival than retro.

Memphis Flyer: The orchestra captures the sound of a particular era. Is it a challenge to write in the style of another time?

Marc Franklin: It’s not an issue for any of us. The reason we started the band was because we’re fans of that kind of music, and we didn’t feel like anybody was playing it.

There are lots of Albert King-based and B.B. King-based blues bands, with a ’60s and ’70s sound, but everything from before Stax happened, like the stuff on Duke Records and the blues stuff on Sun Records, which could be kind of jazzy, doesn’t get played much. Like post-swing blues music. And John’s heroes all come from that era and before.

People don’t really think of musicians as being music fans, but John’s got a huge record collection and he’s always listening to good stuff. That shows in the way he sings, his styling.

How was the new album recorded? Was it akin to how records were made in the ’50s?

Yes. We cut it all live at Memphis Magnetic Recording. Everybody was in the same room, no headphones, with John singing in the room with us. The room is so great in there. Adam Hill and Scott McEwen engineered it and did a great job. And Matt Ross-Spang mixed it at Sam Phillips.

That great vintage echo chamber at Sam Phillips kind of put the cherry on top of everything. When Matt pulled up the first song, just getting the levels, it immediately fit the direction we were going. He turned it on and I was like, “Oh my god! That sounds like an old record!” I mean, Phillips was built in 1958 or so. That’s right in the ballpark of where we’re at, stylistically.

It must be bittersweet hearing the album now, after original bass player Tim Goodwin’s death last year.

Yeah. He was really adept at music that’s blues-but-not-just-blues, with a bit of a jazz element to it. He played with Mose Allison a lot, so he was perfect. Now, Matthew Wilson’s replaced Tim, and we have Paul McKinney on trumpet.

Paul and Matthew actually played on the last day of sessions, so they’re on the record, too.

You know, except for John, Tim taught everybody in the band at one point or another [at the University of Memphis]. I mean, imagine: Every total pro musician in Memphis since the early ’80s was mentored by Tim in some way. That’s a huge community of people that were touched by him.

So it is bittersweet. I wish he was around to see it.

The Love Light Orchestra celebrates the release of their new album, Leave the Light On, at the Germantown Performing Arts Center on Friday, February 18th, at 8 p.m. Visit gpacweb.com for details.

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Music Music Features

Bluesman John Németh Moves to Memphis — and Fits Right In

An Idaho transplant has been adding his voice to the Memphis sound of late, and the Boise-born bluesman fits right into the Bluff City. John Németh, with his band the Blue Dreamers (Jon Hay on guitar, Danny Banks on drums, and Matthew Wilson on bass), is cutting a record at Scott Bomar’s Electraphonic Recording and, after wrapping up a 90-city tour, popping up all over town. Németh is playing gigs at B-Side, Railgarten, Huey’s Midtown, and Graceland Soundstage with the Blue Dreamers — and Crosstown Theater with his other band, the Love Light Orchestra.

Lisa Mac

John Németh

Memphis Flyer: So Boise, Idaho, isn’t exactly known has a hotbed of the blues. What drew you to that style?

John Németh: When I was 14 years old, I was trading music with a buddy of mine from high school, and he started listening to some blues. He gave me a mixtape of really some of the greatest stuff of all time. It was an outstanding mixtape, [but] there was one cassette that was just Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues. It just blew my mind. I had this old 1964 Comet, and I was just pumping Hoodoo Man Blues and singing along with it, and the friend who loaned it to me said, ‘Man, you kind of sound like Junior Wells.’ He was learning to play guitar, and he wanted to know if I wanted to sing along. So we got together and we did a bunch of songs off the mixtape and the Hoodoo Man Blues record. I picked up the harmonica shortly after that, so we got a band together with his brother and a friend of mine.

Why did you leave Boise?

My fiancée at the time got an opportunity to go to San Francisco, so I followed her out there. I started working with all these great guitar players out there — this guy Junior Watson from Canned Heat and a cat named Elvin Bishop. I started cutting records with them and doing my own gigs, and that worked out great for me because I thought I was going to starve down there. I didn’t know if I could break into a new scene, but my relationship with my wife, well my fiancée at the time, was so important, I had to move no matter what was going on.

What brought you to Memphis?

I was doing these 10-week tours, and I wasn’t seeing my wife that much. I had a baby girl and wasn’t seeing her. I said I think we’re going to have to move somewhere more central in the country so that the tours don’t have to be so long to be profitable. She asked where I would want to live. I said, “I want to live in Memphis.” So we flew out here and checked it out, and she fell in love. I already loved it. And I wound up cutting a record with Scott Bomar and The Bo-Keys.

Do you have plans to work with Bomar again?

I’m working on a record right now. I just got back from Scott’s studio yesterday. I’m using my touring band, the Blue Dreamers. I’ve got a rhythm section, bass, drums, and guitar. This band has been touring for the last year with me. I’ve never done a record, except for my first one, where I kept it to just a small combo, but the band’s happening and we have killer chemistry. And I am doing another record with a bigger group, the Love Light Orchestra.

Tell me a little about that.

We’re cutting that one over at this new studio called Memphis Magnetic. It’s a perfect setting for the orchestra because it’s a really big room and we’re all cutting live. I get to be in the room and feel the power of the horns, just like a live gig.

Between wrapping up those two records, you’re playing some local shows, including the Elvis’ Christmas Peace Concert this weekend, right?

John Paul Keith got ahold of me to do that. He’s using my rhythm section. I think that’s going to be a spectacular show. It’s going to have a huge choir, a big band with horns and strings.

John Németh performs at Elvis’ Christmas Peace Concert on Saturday, December 14th, at 8 p.m.; and at Huey’s Midtown on Sunday, December 15th, from 4 to 7 p.m; and at Railgarten, Friday, December 20th, at 8 p.m.; The Love Light Orchestra performs at Crosstown Theater on Saturday, December 28th, at 7:30 p.m.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: The Love Light Orchestra

It’s time to swing into your week with a world premiere on Music Video Monday!

The Love Light Orchestra is probably the biggest band we’ve ever featured on Music Video Monday. The band’s ten members, led by vocalist and MVM alum John Nemeth and guitarist Joe Restivo, are dedicated to reviving a sound heard in Memphis during the height of Beale Street’s importance. Sometimes referred to as “jump blues”, this kind of groovy, horn heavy, up tempo dance music was a transitional phase between big band jazz and R&B. If you were walking down Beale Street in the immediate postwar era, this is what you would hear coming out of every watering hole.

The Love Light Orchestra recorded their album for Blue Barrel Records live at Bar DKDC, with Grammy-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang at the controls, and cameras on hand to capture the action. Here is the world premiere of “See Why I Love You” from The Love Light Orchestra, directed by Laura Jean Hocking.

Music Video Monday: The Love Light Orchestra

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: John Nemeth

Music Video Monday double shot got you feelin’ freaky!

John Nemeth has been grinding at the blues for more than 15 years. His last album Memphis Grease won the Best Soul Blues award at the 2015 Blues Music Awards. His follow up Feelin’ Freaky is set for release this Friday, May 19. Nemeth and his band Blue Dreamers—drummer Danny Banks, bassist Matthew Wilson and guitarist Johnny Rhodes—were joined by Charles Hodges on the Hammond B3, Mark Franklin on Trumpet, and Art Edumondson on sax. Producer Luther Dickinson recorded the album at Royal Studios and Zebra Ranch.

Nameth teamed up with Memphis filmmaker Edward Valibus for a series of videos leading up to this week’s album release. The first, filmed at Tad Perison’s famous indoor trailer park, is a performance video for the album’s title track, “Feelin’ Freaky”.

Music Video Monday: John Nemeth

The second is an appropriately moody clip for “Rainy Day”.

Music Video Monday: John Nemeth (2)

Nameth and the guys will celebrate their album release this Friday at Loflin Yard before hitting the road for a long U.S. tour. You can find out more about the record on his website.

If you would like to see your video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com