Tag: Loveland Duren

Memphis Music: 10 from ’21

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date December 22, 2021

Here’s a roundup of your faithful Flyer music editor’s favorite Memphis music from the year that felt far too much like the year before.

Julien Baker

Little Oblivions (Matador)

Opening with the crass tones of a broken organ, this is an enervating shot across the bow from an artist typically associated with delicate guitar lines. Here, the production has widened. The constant is the hushed-to-frantic intimacy of her voice, and, as the album develops, she sings from darker, grittier depths than she’s ever plumbed before, propelled by a full-on rock band.

Cedric Burnside

I Be Trying (Single Lock)

With a new dryness and sparseness, Burnside has crafted a unique approach to the blues that sidesteps preconceived riffs or licks; even those you’ve heard take on a new urgency and gravitas. Made with only guitar, drums, the occasional light touch of a second guitar (including Luther Dickinson), or cello, it’s the hushed vocals that cut to one’s soul.

The City Champs

Luna ’68 (Big Legal Mess)

In which the instrumental boogaloo trio evokes the space-bedazzled sounds of yesteryear. In this group’s hands, even cymbal rolls and an organ can sound futuristic. Sitting comfortably in this minimalist mix is a new sound for the Champs: a synthesizer. Superbly composed like their earlier works, the grooves are peppered with stinging guitar and growling organ.

IMAKEMADBEATS

MAD Songs, Vol. 1 (Unapologetic)

The founder of Unapologetic gets personal: The beats are atmospheric, the chords are a little odd, the lyrics, whether MAD’s or his guests’, skew to the philosophical. MAD’s trademark slippery bass and beats in space underpin stellar guest artists, from deft raps by PreauXX, R.U.D.Y., Austyn Michael, and others, to silky melodies from Cameron Bethany and U’niQ.

John Paul Keith

The Rhythm of the City (Wild Honey)

“There’s little Easter eggs all over the record,” says Keith, meaning the hints of Memphis music history that litter the tracks. With Box Tops-like jet, stray Stax licks, electric sitar, or two saxes cut live, the sound of a live-tracked band really pays off with Keith’s one-take guitar playing, some of the finest of his career.

Elizabeth King

Living in the Last Days (Bible & Tire Recording Co.)

King’s voice is as indomitable as a mountain, as many have known for decades. Bible & Tire released King’s tracks from the ’70s in 2019, but label owner Bruce Watson wanted to capture her voice now. The band, relative youngsters compared to King, evokes classic gospel, and it gives her work a unique stamp in a genre now deeply shaped by jazz fusion and funk.

Don Lifted

325i (Fat Possum)

Don Lifted’s music has always been rooted in hip hop’s rhythmic rhyming, while including elements of shoegaze rock and even smooth R&B. His third album ramps up the artist’s sonic craftsmanship, with lyrics mixing the dread of quarantine with the determination to unpack one’s self. This solidifies the artist’s reputation as a performer with staying power, with a surer sense of sonic hooks than ever.

Loveland Duren

Any Such Thing (Edgewood Recordings)

The duo’s third album is the Platonic ideal of pop. Exquisite arrangements for the material include strings, French horn, flute, and a perfectly Memphian horn section. And while there are some flourishes of classic rock guitar on the stompers, the album as a whole is a keyboard-lover’s dream. But the heart of this album is the songwriting, with lyrics and melodies you can chew on for years.

MonoNeon

Supermane (self-released)

Known as a bass virtuoso, this album presents the songwriter’s most focused material ever. The result is his idiosyncratic, yet more disciplined, take on the classic early George Clinton sound. Still, he makes it his own with the strongest singing of his career. “Supermane,” the song, also features the sax playing of Kirk Whalum. Its classic gospel feel is made more universal by MonoNeon’s pop instincts.

Young Dolph

Paper Route Illuminati (Paper Route Empire)

The artist/label svengali’s horrific murder last month robbed us of future creations, but his swan song captures his spirit. “My office is a traphouse in South Memphis” tells you where his heart lived, as he and featured artists (including Gucci Mane) drop witty boasts of money and women. When he spits, “Have you ever seen a dead body?” a chill comes over the album, but when he raps, “I go so hard, make ’em hate me, my whole life a movie — HD,” it’s pure truth.

Tags Cedric Burnside, Don Lifted, Elizabeth King, IMAKEMADBEATS, John Paul Keith, Julien Baker, Loveland Duren, MonoNeon, The City Champs, Young Dolph

Music Music Features

The Pop Classicism of Loveland Duren’s Any Such Thing

Post author By Alex Greene
Post date September 15, 2021

Defining pop music is a treacherous task. Today, it suggests over-produced, sample-crammed dance tracks written by committees, but long ago, a Platonic ideal of pop came to be that had nothing to do with popularity per se. Rather, it’s built on the succinct blend of lyrics, melody, and rock rhythm that was pioneered in the ’60s but was never constrained by that era, evolving according to the inventiveness of each artist.

Call it “classic pop,” and Memphis has been graced with one of its finest practitioners for decades: Van Duren. The melodic and harmonic inventiveness of this restless singer-songwriter has never been easy to define. Some call his early work “power pop,” but even that limits the breadth of his imagination, which by the turn of the century had already brought a dozen albums of intriguing work, either under his own name or as the band Good Question. And when he began collaborating with fellow singer-songwriter Vicki Loveland nearly 10 years ago, things only got better, her soulful, strong voice blending seamlessly with his.

Now, with the October 1st release of the duo’s third album, Any Such Thing (Edgewood Recordings), both artists may have reached their pop apotheosis. “I honestly think that we’ve far surpassed anything we’ve done before,” says Duren. “It’s 10 songs and they’re all really strong. They’re all different, but there’s a thread that runs through them. They go to places we haven’t really gone before. Let’s face it, we’re not household names, so there are no expectations. That’s actually a plus.”

The duo must have known they had taken their craft to new levels when they booked time at some of Memphis’ finest studios, starting at Ardent in 2019 and ending up at Royal the next year. “I’ve been in Royal before, but never worked there,” he says. “And it just brought back the late ’70s to me, that old-school vibe.”

Those environs may have also inspired the exquisite arrangements for the material. A short list of the instrumentation includes strings, French horn, flute, and the perfectly Memphian horn section of Art Edmaiston, Marc Franklin, and Kirk Smothers. And while there are some flourishes of classic rock guitar on the stompers, the album as a whole is a keyboard-lover’s dream, with Duren playing some tasty Wurlitzer, longtime friend Liam Grundy of London on grand piano, and none other than the Rev. Charles Hodges on Hammond organ.

As Duren explains, the piano was more integral to his composition process than it had been for ages. Touring Australia in 2019, “we went back to those songs from 40 years ago, and that forced me to go back and readdress playing keyboards again, which I hadn’t done since before Vicki and I started working together seven or eight years ago. At that time, I didn’t want our songs sounding like the things I’d done before, so I started playing guitar only for a while.”

Loveland, for her part, brings her uniquely powerful voice to the proceedings. With a mother who was a big-band singer, it’s no wonder that her singing career began when she was 14. Her youthful experience singing four-part harmonies with her mom and older siblings clearly shows here, in the vocal blends she creates with Duren. And yet she really shines as a feisty, soulful lead vocalist.

That matches her penchant for writing lyrics with some teeth in them, echoing Duren’s own talents. “You tell me you love me / I think maybe you don’t / ’Cause you talk to me like I’m a second-class citizen / ’Cept when there’s somethin’ you want,” she sings. Later, she confesses, “I still love you / From a safe distance.” As with Duren’s best songs, she’ll unflinchingly dive into the complexities. The maturity of this duo pays off in the depth of their work and in arrangements that make the songs bloom with unexpected delights.

The Loveland Duren band will play a record release show at The Grove at GPAC, Thursday, October 7th, 5:30-8:30 p.m., $5.

Tags Loveland Duren, The Grove at GPAC, Van Duren, Vicki Loveland

Music Music Features

Turn Up the Volume

Post author By J.D. Reager
Post date September 14, 2017

CREDIT: Troy Glasgow

A little over two years ago, local publicist and longtime Memphis music fan Elizabeth Cawein had a big idea. Inspired by recent trips to major music industry events such as Austin’s South By Southwest and Nashville’s Americanafest, where she saw little representation of or from Memphis, Cawein decided to take on the mantle herself.

“My vision was to build a system that benefits musicians and also drives results for the business and tourism communities,” says Cawein. “I’m passionate about this city and our musicians. I’m passionate about telling their story. I felt strongly that we were missing an opportunity to both perpetuate and reinvigorate the Memphis brand as a music city.”

To get the ball rolling, Cawein pitched the idea that would become Music Export Memphis to Phil Trenary and Amy Daniels at the Greater Memphis Chamber, who quickly got on board with the project. With their support, she was able to target a presence at the 2016 Americanafest as her inaugural event. Dubbed the Memphis Picnic, the showcase was an overwhelming success.

“We got some phenomenal earned media at Americanafest last year,” says Cawein. “Our artists were covered in No Depression, Paste, American Songwriter, and more.”

From there, Music Export Memphis more or less took off like a rocket ship. Cawein has since staged another Memphis Picnic at South By Southwest, created a songwriters exchange program with the city of Liverpool (U.K.) called “Memphis to the Mersey,” and attracted a worldwide music conference, the Music Cities Convention, to Memphis. The conference, which focuses on the role of music in civic life, will take place at the Halloran Centre October 25th-27th.

This weekend Cawein will be out on the road again promoting Memphis music — back at Americanafest, where the journey began. The second annual Memphis Picnic at Americanafest, which takes place on Saturday, September 16th at the Filming Station in Nashville, should be nothing short of an extravaganza celebration of all things Bluff City.

In addition to a stacked lineup of local performers, including Crockett Hall, Juju Bushman, Loveland Duren, Grace Askew, and the Rusty Pieces, the event will also feature edibles from the Rendevous, Corky’s, and MemPops, libations from High Cotton Brewing Company and Old Dominick Distillery, a Grizzlies photo booth, a program of Memphis-made music videos curated by IndieMemphis, and a pop-up vinyl-only record shop run by Shangri-La Records.

“I swear, I’ve never done an event that was as seamless and killer as our Americanafest event last year,” says Cawein. “I just kept waiting for something to go wrong! But we have almost doubled the number of partners represented at this event, which I’m excited about. With these events, I always want to showcase as much Memphis stuff as I possibly can — the lineup of music is the main course, and the food, drinks, and extras from Memphis are the side items.”

Beyond Americanafest, Cawein already has a few next steps in mind. Her new big idea is an ambassador’s program of sorts, which would see Music Export Memphis providing tangible tour support (i.e., money) to local artists to help get them out on the road and spread the gospel of Memphis and Memphis music.

“The reality is, they already are [ambassadors],” she says. “I want to give them a little bit of training on the talking points of why Memphis is a great place to visit and live, send them out with promotional merchandise, and cut them a check to support their tour.”

“I think my point here is that, for the most part, my ideas do not require a ton of overhead, a ton of administration. They utilize existing structures and organizations — for example, bringing in our partner the New Memphis Institute to help us with some training for the touring artists on you-should-live-in-Memphis facts — and finding ways to maximize things that are already happening, such as artists touring outside the city.”

Cawein has also recently put a board of directors for Music Export Memphis in place, so that her vision isn’t the only one guiding the organization moving forward.

“I’m excited to get out of the curation business,” she says. “I’ll always enjoy having input on that, but I think deferring to the board — a group of people who really bring varied experiences in Memphis music and varied connections to different scenes — will make this work better, more effectively, and will make Music Export Memphis better able to tell the entire Memphis music story. This was never about me picking artists for a showcase or an opportunity; I just want to facilitate the opportunity. So I’m excited to see what we can do together in 2018.”