Tag: Marcella Simien

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Music Music Features

A Baker’s Dozen of Delectable Disks

Often a meme will circulate listing the hits of bygone times. A roll call of great releases in, say, 1977 will leave one feeling it was a golden age of recorded music, our contemporary sounds paling in comparison. Looking over this year’s best-of list, however, I’m inclined to think that 2024 will be celebrated in much the same way. And if you should beg to differ, I would only refer you to those wise wake up call offered by GloRilla herself, “Do y’all know what the f*ck goin’ on?? (goin’ on … goin’ on … goin’ on …)” 

Aquarian Blood – Counting Backwards Again (Black & Wyatt)

This caps off a trilogy of sorts, over which the sometime punk screamers dialed it back into the acoustic realm. Meticulously crafted yet loose, these songs are dark, primitive missives haunted by trauma and desire, as if German sonic artists Can reinterpreted the Incredible String Band. 

Cedric Burnside – Hill Country Love (Provogue)

Burnside’s latest album turns the volume up, yes, but not the distortion. Bringing more of a full-band sound, this particular Burnside eschews the hard rock guitar tones that were his grandfather R.L.’s trademark. There are echoes of 2021’s I Be Trying’s quieter soul-imbued originals (“Smile”), but funkier, staccato riffs predominate — at least until he breaks out the acoustic for traditional numbers.

GloRilla – Ehhthang Ehhthang and Glorious (CMG/Interscope)

Rolling Stone ranked October’s Glorious among the year’s best, but we in the city where “everything is everything” tapped into the Ehhthang Ehhthang mixtape way back in April. While the 2024 releases are two peas in a pod, Ehhthang was arguably more significant as Glo’s triumphant debut in the full-length format. And tracks like “No Bih” slay (in Latin, no less) in such a stark, Memphis way: “F*ck it, carpe diem/I make ‘em motivated (okay)/Grammy-nominated (okay), f*ck whoever hatin’.”

IMAKEMADBEATS – WANDS (UNAPOLOGETIC)

While there are mad beats throughout this instrumental journey, there are also orchestral passages both ethereal and bombastic, at times sounding eerily like the ’70s synth-meister Tomita. It’s an interstellar trip in audio form, in which you’re never sure if you’re hearing a sample or an intricate new composition by MAD himself. “I’m Losing My Mind I’m OK” even features lyrics, hauntingly sung by Tiffany Harmon.

Juicy J and Xavier Wulf – Memphis Zoo

While Juicy J co-founded the dark horror-hop of Three 6 Mafia, this collab with fellow Memphian Wulf is, paradoxically, dark, ominous, and … fun. But there’s a gravitas here, too, as on the most popular track, album opener “The Truth,” an exhortation to cut the BS, stop fronting, and face facts. And a deeper truth about our times comes out in personal fave “Alley Oop”: “We’re living in the era of the alley oop,” and it’s not a good thing.

MonoNeon – Quilted Stereo (Court Square)

“I walked in the room and got butterflies.” So MonoNeon described his studio work with Mavis Staples on “Full Circle,” a highlight of Dywane “MonoNeon” Thomas Jr.’s latest work. With its doo-wop-ish vocal bass riff evoking a gospel bounce right out of the last century, it embodies funk and soul’s past, present, and future. Then there’s the sing-along jam with George Clinton, the perfectly Clinton-esque [and downright bluesy] “Quilted!” – an ode to flying your sartorial freak flag high, even if that means walking down the street decked out in bespoke, multicolored quilts. Then there’s the chugging New Wave pop of “Church of Your Heart,” the jungle beat rap of “Segreghetto,” and the sparkling sizzler of the summer, “Jelly Roll,” full of glossy synth warbles and bass stabs, its video overflowing with extras seemingly right out of the Crystal Palace roller-skating scene. MonoNeon’s greatest work yet.

NLE Choppa – SLUT SZN (Warner)

One of four releases by Choppa this year, all carry on his raunchy “Slut Me Out” variations, most audaciously with this album’s shuffling, acoustic guitar-driven “Slut Me Out 2 (Country Me Out),” featuring J.P., who sings, “If I was a cowgirl/I’d wanna ride me too!” Both versions skew gender in new ways for hip-hop, but it’s the stylistic mash up of the galloping, dancehall-flavored “Catalina” with Latin star Yaisel LM that truly takes Memphis hip-hop into global waters, reflecting Choppa’s Jamaican roots.

The Lisa Nobumoto Jazz Masters Orchestra – A Tribute to Jazz Singer Nancy Wilson

Having performed with the great Teddy Edwards for decades, this Memphian knows how to give Wilson’s catalog her own individual stamp. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” becomes a ballad, worlds away from Frankie Valli’s stomper. “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” verges into boogaloo territory, yet with a relaxed delivery. Carl Wolfe’s big, brassy arrangements give the album a rare jazz classicism.

Jerry Phillips – For the Universe (Omnivore)

Though this is Phillips’ debut album, his decades of experience recording with great songwriters like John Prine at the studio his father built lend it the feel of a career-topper from the last century. The wry observations and hard-won wisdom of songs like “Specify” (exhorting his lover to say what she wants) or “She Let Me Slip Right Through Her Fingers” are carried by Phillips’ voice, echoing Charlie Rich or Johnny Rivers, and a band of ace Memphis session players.

Talibah Safiya – Black Magic

As artist-in-residence at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music last year, Safiya tapped into the High Water Recording Company’s back catalog, working with producer/engineer Ari Morris to weave generous helpings of Mississippi blues and soul into her samples. Erstwhile Memphian-turned-international-producer Brandon Deener lends his sonic touch as well, not to mention guitarist MadameFraankie, who brings a simmering soul vibe to underpin Safiya’s powerful-yet-playful voice.

Marcella Simien – To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled

For this most personal of journeys into her family’s past and her own well-being, Simien’s playing nearly all the instruments, crafting a setting in a kind of synthetic world-building, evoking the sweep of generations with the sweep of electronic filters. Rootsier sounds also make an appearance, as the artist conjures a timeless space to commune with her ancestors.

Snowglobe – The Fall

Like much of Snowglobe’s earlier output, this is rich with layers of ear candy. Though grounded by chords on an acoustic guitar or piano, the arrangements fill out with all manner of harmonies, synthesizers, or electric guitar riffs and hooks. Think Badfinger meets “Soul Finger,” with
hints of Harry Nilsson’s darker moods and post-‘90s quirks all their own.

Cyrena Wages – Vanity Project

Produced and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang, this album has some of the rootsy, vintage elements of his previous work with Margo Price, yet with the contemporary pop instincts once championed by one of Wages’ heroes, Amy Winehouse. Most of all, the sounds jump out of the speakers with the grit of a real band, which includes guitarist and songwriting collaborator Joe Restivo.  

All albums self-released except where noted.

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Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Lelia” by Marcella Simien

Last Saturday night, Marcella Simien debuted her new album To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled with a unique show at Off The Wall Arts. Sculptor and Off The Wall proprietor Yvonne Bobo created a cylinder of screens, and Infinity Stairs‘ Graham Burks created immersive video to wrap around the performer. The resulting combination of music and video projection mapping were striking.

Marcella Simien sings at Off The Wall Arts while wrapped in Graham Burks’ video projection. (Photo by Chris McCoy)

Simien’s new album is a departure from her usual “swamp soul” sound, incorporating experimental electronic textures and vintage instruments. The first music video from the album takes a completely different tack. It’s a hybrid music video and documentary short by Memphis filmmakers Joshua Cannon and Brody Kuhar. The team traveled down to Louisiana to introduce us to Marcella’s family, including the song’s namesake, her great-grandmother Lelia Manuel Simien. It’s a beautiful, life-affirming work which will cause you to reflect on your family roots as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday.

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

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Music Music Features

For the Love of Lelia

Marcella Simien (Photo: Jenny Max)

The first words of Marcella Simien’s new album, To Bend to the Will of a Dream That’s Being Fulfilled, are the perfect introduction to the journey that awaits listeners: “May I heal this family bloodline, forwards and backwards through time.” It’s an incantation of sorts, delivered with a devotional energy that sets the tone for what’s to come. Musically, it’s a departure from Simien’s previous recorded work by way of its minimalism, her main accompaniment for this song being a piano, so evocative of New Orleans and Louisiana. That region, of course, is where the Simiens have been for generations, and where any journey into the singer’s family bloodline must take her. 

But while that’s zydeco country (her father Terrance being one of the most celebrated artists of that genre), this is not a zydeco album. Nor is it “swamp soul,” as the rootsy-yet-eclectic sound of Marcella Simien’s band has come to be called. For this most personal of journeys, she’s playing nearly all the instruments, crafting a setting in a kind of synthetic world-building, evoking the sweep of generations with the sweep of electronic filters. 

With the new sound comes a new performance style, as Simien will unveil on Saturday, November 23rd, at Off the Walls Arts. “Yvonne [Bobo] built this structure out of metal,” Simien says, “with a screen on the front, and Graham [Burks] will be projecting visuals on this cylinder. It’s gonna be this really interesting experience for the audience, something new.”

Yet the electronic approach itself is not especially new to Simien. “I don’t even know where to begin with my love for synths, from Kraftwerk to Gary Numan to Gorillaz,” she says. “I always wanted to explore that more. Then we finally invested in a Korg recently.” With the new album, that investment has come to fruition, but in a subtle way. This sculpted audio universe doesn’t wear its synths and drum machines on its sleeve, yet it doesn’t shy away from them, either. 

Other, rootsier sounds do make an appearance. Speaking of a song honoring her late great-grandmother, Simien says, “With the song ‘Lelia’ in particular, which was the guiding light for the whole idea, I intentionally used instruments that Lelia would have heard in her life and in the 1930s, when she was young and building her family.” Lelia is a centerpiece of the album, and the track bearing her name begins with the sounds of crickets in a field at night, then Simien saying, “Recently I’ve been writing with my great-grandmother.” Indeed, listening to the album, it feels as though Lelia is sitting in the room with us, though Simien never met her.  

Nor did her father, Lelia having died when he was an infant. Yet Simien felt a deep bond with her father’s grandmother, and the small town where she helped raise him. “I spent a lot of time in Mallet, Louisiana, a very small community outside of Opelousas,” she says. “And I feel this deep, deep connection to the Simiens. I spent so much of my time around them there, where our family goes as far back as the early 1700s, when they settled on that land.” Simien recalls imagining Lelia when visiting the old family house, where “there was this old photo of her when she was 15, taken on the day she got married. And you can see this beautiful Creole woman with long, dark hair, and these hands of hers reminded me of my hands. I would just stare at that picture, and I think she became a deeper part of me, beyond the DNA.”

Paradoxically, the first word of “Lelia” is “hydrated,” probably not a word used much in Mallet back in the day. Yet that’s also a clue to the power Simien finds in her family past: She came to it through her yogic practice, as a source of strength when she herself was navigating some dark days of her own. It was a time when she struggled with pharmacological dependence. “After a decade of being prescribed Adderall,” she confides, “I decided to get off it. It’s been over three years now, and I don’t miss it at all, but it was scary because I really didn’t trust myself for so much of my 20s, you know?”

Through the struggle, Lelia and others in her family lore were guiding lights. “I started to think about just how challenging her life was,” Simien says. “Giving birth to 15 children, living off the land, making your own stuff, and building a life with next to nothing — I couldn’t comprehend it, but I always thought, ‘If she could handle that, I can handle whatever I’m going through.’ She was tough, and it showed me that there’s so much I can learn from these women. And I want to honor them any way that I can.” 

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Cover Feature News

Bluff City Love

Photo: Justin Fox Burks

The early days of 2023 brought more chilly winds and snowfall to the streets of Memphis. But as our teeth chattered and the thermostats dropped, we searched the city for the couples, the lovers, and the romantics who took a unique approach to their relationships, whether it was a chance encounter at Applebee’s or a simmering seven-year passion. With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, read on for three uplifting tales of love that could melt an icy Poplar and thaw even the most frozen of hearts.

Marcella Simien and Dustin Reynolds (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)

Marcella Simien and Dustin Reynolds

A lot of locals know singer/songwriter Marcella Simien’s story, including her roots in Mallet, Louisiana. “There’s a church and grocery store, and that’s about it,” she told us last year. “That’s where my grandparents’ home is and where my dad grew up. The Simien family’s ancestry goes back hundreds of years there.” But Simien arrived in Memphis to study art and play the music she’s now celebrated for here. And not long after that, her current romance began — sort of.

“I met Dustin way back in 2012, when I was 20 and he was 36 at the time,” she laughs.

“Nope!” interjects Dustin Reynolds, recalling that time and his reluctance to take things further then. After leaving his native Oklahoma City for Austin, he wound up in New Orleans, which in turn led him to tour with Jack Oblivian and Harlan T. Bobo. “After that I was like, ‘That’s it. These are my dudes. I’m just going to be full-time Memphis.’ And everybody here was like, ‘So you’re from New Orleans! You’ve got to meet Marcella!’ I’d heard of Terrance [Simien] in New Orleans, just because he would play Jazz Fest a lot. I knew his name. So I met 20-year-old Marcella, and I thought she was charming and beautiful, but she needed to ripen on the vine. A little too young!”

“And a little too wild!” interjects Marcella. “So we kind of got our ya ya’s out, and then reconnected when we were a little more calm.” The singer has a gift for understatement: Getting their ya ya’s out actually took a full seven years.

“So I moved home to Oklahoma City for a while, got my shit together, saved some money,” Dustin explains. Meanwhile, the connection they’d felt stayed with both of them.

“I had kind of a crush on him when we met in 2012, but we just had a couple conversations and that was about it,” Marcella says of their first encounter. “He was only in Memphis for a short time that year. Then in 2019, I reached out to him. I really wanted to see him. During that seven-year span, he was kind of in the back of my mind. Like he’d pop up in my mind and I’d think about him sometimes and wonder how he was doing and what he was up to. Those thoughts became so strong that the day after New Year’s 2020, I drove up to Oklahoma City to visit him. And stayed for the weekend, and when it was time for me to leave, we didn’t want to be apart, so he drove his car back to Memphis with me! And he said he was just going to stay a few days —”

Dustin lets out a big laugh, then Marcella continues, “And we didn’t want to be apart, so he just stayed!”

Looking back now, they feel they had two things going for them: their shared love of music and the weeks of lockdown due to Covid. The latter turned out to be a plus, romantically speaking. “It was actually kind of the perfect way to dive in,” reflects Marcella. “It’s sink or swim, and you’re either going to go so well together that you can tolerate and handle each other and know when to give each other space, or not. It’s the fast track to developing a relationship, and I think it strengthened our first year together. We wouldn’t be where we are without that constant time.”

They also made plenty of music during that time, including a single they just dropped, a cover of Johnny Thunders’ “I’m a Boy, I’m a Girl.” And making beautiful music together clearly makes their bond ever stronger, as becomes clear when, at the close of our interview, Marcella lets out: “We just got engaged in August!” — Alex Greene

Regis and Ashley Eleby (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)

Regis and Ashley Eleby

Twenty-four years ago, 19-year-old Regis Eleby’s grandma spotted a hiring sign at the Applebee’s on Union while they were out for lunch after church. She urged him to apply, so he did. Soon, he was hired as an expeditor in the kitchen. “And that’s how it happened,” Regis recalls. That’s how he met Ashley.

Prior to meeting Regis, Ashley had been working at the Applebee’s for a year or so as a hostess. “I was quiet,” she says. “I saw him, but I just thought he was the new guy. He was very loud. Seriously. His job was to call the waiters to come get their food when it was ready in the kitchen and literally I could hear him when I was at the front door at the hostess station.”

Yet, as Ashley and Regis say, opposites attract. Plus, it didn’t hurt that Regis found her cute. But their differences, they soon realized, complemented one another. “I think we’ve kind of rubbed off some on each other,” Ashley says.

“I balance her out, with her coming out a little bit more,” Regis says. “And she actually showed me ways and times when I need to pull back just a little bit. … She has taught me just generally in life, there’s a give and take.”

“Once we really got to know each other,” Ashley adds, “it was like we were different, but we were somehow the same. We realized that [we shared] a lot of experiences from growing up. … We both had our grandparents kinda heavily in our life. I lived with my grandparents and my mom, and he stayed with his grandparents, too. And so I think a lot of the traditional things that we saw growing up just kind of attracted us to each other ’cause it was so familiar.

“Like even I tell [Regis] — him and my grandfather share the same birthday — but I think sometimes the longer we had been together, I realized that they were so much alike. So it was kind of familiar in that way. It was just like some things felt too easy to not be real.”

And things have remained easy for the two, even through difficult times. “With us being together forever,” Regis says, “we’ve gone and grown through normal things in life with each other — setbacks and celebrations. We’ve done that with each other over all of this time.

“And, like, when we got married [in 2018], it was not a formal thing, but kind of more like a celebration ’cause everybody was constantly asking us for the longest time, ‘When y’all getting married?’ Imagine hearing that for 20-something-plus years from everybody’s family and everybody you know.”

“We’ve pretty much grown up together,” Ashley adds. “You change as a person, personalities and sometimes expectations change. If you don’t recognize that, that’s where the ripples come from. At times we’ve gone through that and had our ups and downs. And in those times we have realized that maybe this is just us from being together so long, changing and growing, so we gotta switch it up and figure out how to settle things.”

Still, the two have found fun in growing together, raising their dog Ro, traveling, embracing being homebodies, and, after their days at Applebee’s, embarking on different careers: Regis as a lead department manager at Floor & Decor, and Ashley a case manager at Regional One Health Medical Center. Through it all, laughter remains at the core of everything they do, whether that’s speaking in obscure movie quotes or gifting each other with gag gifts.

“I think anybody else would probably get sick of us,” Ashley says. “But at times where things just get rough and you wanna cry, we find something funny out of it, so I think it definitely eases a lot of the conflict. We gotta laugh.”

As the couple reflects on their 24 years together, from rocking baggy jeans to rocking gray hair and back problems, they look forward to the future and growing older together. “We just talk about [the past] and look at what we’ve been through and realize how that is helping us to focus on the future of what’s coming and just to be ready,” Regis says. “Ready to tackle and handle whatever comes.” — Abigail Morici

Alex da Ponte and Karen Mulford (Photo: Justin Fox Burks)

Alex da Ponte and Karen Mulford

Alex da Ponte and Karen Mulford’s meet-cute wasn’t ushered in by a car ride from Chicago to New York or a summer romance set at the beach. Believe it or not, their relationship started with a slap.

Alex — a local musician — and Karen met at Ardent Studios, where a music video was being filmed.

“Karen was the star of it,” Alex explains. “She was having to slap people across the face to the beat of a song.”

Alex explains that as someone was running around Ardent Studios looking for other volunteers to be slapped, she was doing vocals for another project, and eventually became lucky enough to be slapped by Karen.

“Literally the first time I met her, she slapped me across the face,” Alex says.

After a few conversations, Karen says she thought Alex was cute and remembers reaching out to Alex to see if she was playing anywhere.

“I ended up going to one of her shows at the ‘old-old’ Hi Tone,” explains Karen. “That’s kind of how we got to talking and kind of started to get to know each other a little bit better.”

“In true lesbian fashion, we moved in fairly quickly,” says Alex. “I think we knew when we had gotten through the whole summer and we were still wanting to be around each other all the time.”

April will mark 10 years since they’ve been together, and it also marks their seventh wedding anniversary. And a lot has changed since the couple first crossed paths in 2012, including welcoming a child through IVF. While parenting has changed their lives, there has been a defining characteristic of their relationship that they say has stayed true: silliness. Alex explains that it’s something they both share, and something that keeps things fun.

Becoming parents has also provided an opportunity for the two to learn more about each other, and how to balance each other out with their strengths.

“It’s been funny to see both of us coming on this journey from completely different sides of the coin,” Alex says.

Alex grew up as the middle child of five, while Karen grew up as the “baby of the family.”

“I’ve learned a lot about parenthood through her,” Karen says. “The first diaper I’ve ever changed was my son’s diaper, and I was like 35. So seeing how she is with other kids, with our son, she’s just really good at just setting boundaries and sticking to them, and it being consistent.

“We have different strengths in that arena for sure,” she continues. “Swooping in when we see the other one needs to switch out. It’s been a good experience.”

Karen points to tasks outside of parenting, such as housework, that they’re able to level each other out with. Alex also shares that while she has been able to teach Karen about parenting, she’s been able to learn more about authenticity.

“I think she helped me get more comfortable with being sincere and genuine,” says Alex. “I’m much more guarded in general, and I think I was more so, before Karen, very guarded, less open. I feel like I’ve become more open.”

They’ve been able to help strengthen each other in areas that they may lack, but they also emphasize how the little things make a big difference.

“If I get anxiety over calling the doctor, she’ll just do it for me. Always. It’s just something that she takes care of. And vice versa. It’s lots of little things like that where it’s like, ‘I got you,’ or ‘I’m here for you,’” Karen says.

Those little things are actually key in a successful relationship, Karen says.

“You never feel like you’re going to have to face something alone, for one. You’ve always got your teammate, your partner, but also if it’s something that you can’t handle then you know the other one is there,” Alex adds.

“It’s a tag-team effort.”

This is also a result of time, which the couple agrees has made their relationship stronger. Karen says that in the beginning they weren’t used to each other’s quirks and rhythms. But as they continue to get to know each other, it becomes so much easier. — Kailynn Johnson 

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Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Sound” by Marcella Simien

Sometimes, your best bet is to keep it simple. “There were several different music videos made for this song over the past two years,” says Marcella Simien. “To say I overthought this video would be an understatement.”

But all that work pays off today when “Sound” makes its Music Video Monday debut. “It’s just the way it is, being an artist,” says Simien. “You DEEPLY care about what you create, every step of the way. Especially being an independent artist with no big label support, sometimes it can feel like everything is riding on you and every move you make.

“We kept it sweet and simple for this video, and used my handwritten words as a lyric video interspersed with some shots we did in early morning light,” says Simien. “I’m filled with gratitude for all of the people who helped me find my way on this video. Lawrence Matthews was like a guru, who ‘found the space the between the notes,’ so to speak, by helping us remove the imagery that wasn’t serving the work. Jonny Pineda helped us do multiple shoot days, idea days and multiple edits. Eileen Neryssa choreographed an entire dance/movement piece to this song, and that footage will see the light of day soon. Our friend Chris Davenport saved the day this month as we approached the rollout. He helped us finish it off, adding my handwritten lyrics, creating some low-fi animation that we then juxtaposed with the higher-res quality video footage and made a harmonious lil lyric video.” 

The final video is simple, beautiful, and most importantly, it serves the music. “I realized along the way, as I was overthinking this project, that this video about the SONG, not about how many looks I could wear or how many different cool locations I could fit in. I grew up a lot during this process in a lot of ways”

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

Categories
Music Music Features

Marcella Simien’s Got You Found

Marcella Simien (Photo: Kevin C. Evans)

In 2018, we named Got You Found, by Marcella & Her Lovers, as one of the best albums of the year, writing that Marcella Simien’s “singing propels the whole thing through Afro-pop, funk, and soul,” not to mention her Louisiana Creole background. And it is indeed a stylistic grab bag, both sprawling and somehow rooted. As a self-released CD, it was not on many listeners’ radars, but now, thanks to Black & Wyatt Records, the album has found a new life as a vinyl LP. While the singer/songwriter — daughter of zydeco star Terrance Simien — prepares to celebrate the album’s manifestation on wax with a listening party (February 9th at the Memphis Listening Lab) and a release show (February 10th at Bar DKDC), she’s taken a moment to reflect on how it came to be, how much of it still rings true, and how far she’s come since then.

Memphis Flyer: Your album has been around for years now. How strange it must feel to be celebrating its release after all this time.

Marcella Simien: It’s been a long time coming. What was incredible was that it was totally crowd-sourced. We raised $13,000 dollars on an Indiegogo campaign in 2017 and we used every bit of it. I paid the musicians for every day they were in the studio. Toby Vest and Pete Matthews [of High/Low Recording] did such a great job. I brought Toby very rough demos and relied so much on his guidance and that of [bassist] Landon Moore — and all the incredible musicians and vocalists on this project. Pete got some of my best vocal takes outta me! I was a little sponge soaking up everything I could possibly learn about how to properly compose songs. But once it was all said and done, we didn’t have enough to press vinyl. So last spring, Cole Wheeler, who’s working with Black & Wyatt records, reached out and asked if I’d be interested in putting a record out.

Those songs have aged well. Five years down the road, you’re still performing most of that material, aren’t you?

Oh yeah! I really feel like they have aged well, and hearing it on vinyl was so emotional. I was getting to revisit this story and this person that I was five years ago. It’s coming full circle in a beautiful way, and I totally cried like a baby. You know, when you hear it on wax for the first time, it’s like hearing it in the studio again.

You speak of revisiting the album’s story. What is that story?

For a lot of those songs, the writing started in my early twenties, so some discovery and relationship issues were dealt with in a lot of those lyrics. But I didn’t want it to be just about me. I was looking at it as a way to honor my ancestry. So I inscribed on the vinyl that it was dedicated to my paternal grandparents. I used my grandfather’s voice on the end of the song, “Creole Cowboy.” I wanted to touch on my Creole connection and the effect that their lives, their struggles, had on me. They both came from big families, working on a farm, raising cattle, making their own soap, and living off the land. Those stories and the French they would speak in the household, where I spent a lot of time as a kid, made me who I am in so many ways. I wanted to touch on that deep connection I have with Louisiana and my Creole heritage. That’s also expressed in the song “Indian Red,” a cover of a Mardi Gras Indian song.

When you’re 25 years old, you have all these ideas of how to tell this great story. And I did the best I could with what I had. Listening now, it’s almost like getting to have a conversation with that person. There’s so much I wish I could have said to her. I wish she would have had the confidence that I have today. But it’s cool to know that she was still strong enough to make this album happen and to be vulnerable. Because some of the relationship stuff was hard to write about and go through at the time. And I did it anyway! And it felt good.

Hear Simien’s new album at the listening party, February 9th, 6:30 p.m., at the Memphis Listening Lab. The release show is February 10th, 10 p.m., at Bar DKDC.

Categories
Music Music Features

Terrance Simien Brings Zydeco to GPAC with a Special Guest: His Daughter

Terrance Simien (Photo: Courtesy Terrance Simien)

The zydeco tradition is to evolve,” Terrance Simien tells me. It’s a refreshing idea in a genre that’s so identified with roots music that purists of all kinds gravitate toward it, and that unique reading of the tradition will take center stage when Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience appear at the Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) this Saturday.

“You’ve got a lot of people that hear zydeco music from a certain period, and think, ‘Oh, if it doesn’t sound like that, it’s not zydeco.’ But when I listen to zydeco music as a whole, I’ve always heard an expansion. Every zydeco artist has their own interpretation of the music, in their own voice.”

It’s a lesson that Simien learned right out of the gate, when he was still a teenager, unexpectedly catapulted from his hometown of Mallet, Louisiana, into the world of rock royalty. “My career started out like this,” he explains. “I did two 45s that I produced myself, released in 1982 and 1983. I was still a kid. Around that time, Paul Simon was thinking, ‘I’ve got to have a zydeco song on my next record.’ It was before he was even calling it Graceland. So he had Dickie Landry find three bands to do a session with him, and my band was one of them. In the end, he decided that we weren’t gonna make the album, but he wanted to do something special for us. So I recorded this Clifton Chenier song, ‘You Used to Call Me,’ and Paul went back and put these five-part harmonies on it, making it sound like Simon & Garfunkel! To hear Paul take a zydeco song and bring it into that world, I couldn’t sleep for days with all the ideas I got from what he did. That was in 1985, and I’ve been on the road ever since.”

Simien kept evolving, and so did his brand of zydeco. Many of his mentors were not zydeco artists at all. “I was mentored by some of the best. In addition to John Delafose and Clifton Chenier, Dr. John, Art Neville, Allen Toussaint, Dickie Landry, and Taj Mahal all mentored me,” he says. “Every last one of them did their best to help me any way they could. My mission now is to pay it forward and do the same with younger artists. I’m nowhere near the level those guys were and will never be, but I see it as a mission. My wife and I have a nonprofit called Music Matters, and we try to mentor people in the business.”

He also pays special attention to bringing his history and music to much younger folks, and he’ll be hosting a kid-friendly matinee show on Friday, October 21st, at 10 a.m., where children are encouraged to dance and sing along. He’ll also bring a strong family vibe to his Saturday show, where his daughter, local singer/songwriter Marcella Simien, will make a cameo. Seeing her thrive here is one reason Simien is especially fond of Memphis.

“I can’t thank Memphis enough for embracing my daughter like they did,” he says. “Marcella has seen what a roller coaster the music business is, but she’s embraced it. That’s what she wanted to do. She went to the Memphis College of Art, and what an awesome school. That’s where she learned to have confidence in being creative, knowing what it takes, that it’s a process.”

But Marcella won’t be his only guest: Drummer George Receli will also make an appearance. “At 17, George left Hammond, Louisiana, to tour with Edgar and Johnny Winter,” says Simien. “Since then, he’s played with Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, James Brown, Keith Richards, and many others. I’m even going to do a little interview — he has these amazing stories. And we’re going to play together. He played on and produced our last record that won a Grammy, Dockside Sessions.”

Ultimately, reflecting on his daughter’s cameo, Simien is encouraged by zydeco’s continued appeal to young people. “Because the music evolves,” he says, “it connects with the youth of today. We’re not just doing this to keep it alive; we’re doing it because it is alive.”

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Music Music Blog

“La Danse de Mardi Gras”: Marcella Simien at Bar DKDC

Bar DKDC has a long history of fostering the bonds between Memphis and New Orleans. In years past, they’ve hosted the Wild Magnolias, a wall-to-wall tribute to Dr. John (complete with street parade) and more. This Friday, February 25, they’ll carry on that tradition, but with a slightly different twist. Sure, there will be plenty of Second Line fever, courtesy of the Lucky 7 Brass Band, but when Marcella and Her Lovers take center stage, they’ll bring a lesser-known slice of Louisiana: Mardi Gras, country style.

I caught up with Marcella Simien, daughter of the Grammy-winning zydeco master Terrance Simien, to hear about her unique take on that time of year when you just have to “laissez les bons temps rouler.”

Memphis Flyer: I suppose Mardi Gras songs are burned into your brain, having grown up in Louisiana.

Marcella Simien: Yeah. When you grow up immersed in the culture, it becomes a part of your DNA. And it shows up in a little bit of everything I do. Like in the phrasing of things. I’ll notice little things I do that remind me of all the things I grew up hearing. In our household, dad was close with some of the Neville Brothers, so those voices informed so much of how I sing and phrase things. It’s really an honor to perform this music and carry on these great songs that are a deep part of my heritage. Art Neville was like an older brother to my dad. When dad was coming up, Art really was a mentor of his, and even played on dad’s second album. He played keys with him and gave him advice. Dad’s got some great stories about that time, when he was in his early 20s and kind of a country boy, not knowing the ropes of the business. Art really schooled him in a really kind way.

To be growing up in that environment must have been inspiring.

Yeah, it’s wild to think about being close to it like that. Because you don’t realize until you’re a little older and more educated what a profound effect that music — the Meters and the Neville Brothers — had on the world. It’s huge.

Where was the family home as you were growing up?

My dad’s from Mallet, Louisiana, which is a really small community outside of Opelousas. There’s a church and grocery store, and that’s about it. That’s where my grandparents’ home is and where my dad grew up. The Simien family’s ancestry goes back hundreds of years there.

It’s about two hours west of New Orleans, so it wasn’t like we were in New Orleans a lot, but I would spend time there, growing up. We would go several times a year.

For Mardi Gras?

No, not really! We did Mardi Gras in the country. Like the trail ride stuff, which is way different than the city Mardi Gras. And I was a little kid. It was more appropriate or safer for me to go to Mardi Gras parades in Lafayette. New Orleans was a little wilder! We mostly went to New Orleans during the festival season, for Jazz Fest or the French Quarter Fest in June. Like when dad would play, or people would come to town. I knew a lot about New Orleans, but I didn’t live there. But I still kind of came of age going there. I’d sneak away as a teenager. [laughs].

So your dad stayed in the community where he grew up. And Mardi Gras was celebrated a little differently there. What was that like?

Well, they call it a Mardi Gras Run. In the country, they start drinking really early on Mardi Gras day. People would be on horseback. There would be people in pickups with truck beds full of hay, and people with instruments on the truck beds, playing music. And you’d go down these trails out in the country and just party! You’d be outside and it was beautiful. And then there would be a part in the day, after people were pretty inebriated, where they’d chase the chickens — to catch some and wring their necks. And then they’d go cook a gumbo with the chicken at the end of the day. Everyone’s together, it’s a big tradition. That’s how the Prairie Creoles would do it. And it’s fun! It’s rustic! [laughs]. You dress up and make a day of it.

Then there’d be parades in the city too. So in Lafayette, you would have a Mardi Gras break, where you’d get out of school for Lundi Gras, Mardi Gras, and Ash Wednesday. It’s kind of like they’re living on their own time, down there in Louisiana.

Do you associate some different songs with Mardi Gras, that you wouldn’t necessarily hear in New Orleans?

Yeah. With that zydeco accordion, you hear a little bit of it in New Orleans, but that’s not the primary sound. It’s jazz and horns and pianos. But with the Prairie Country Creole kind of stuff, the French speaking Creoles play accordion, and maybe a fiddle and rub board as the main instrumentation. Maybe a full band with guitars and bass and drums. The French Creole stuff is unique to the area that I come from. Definitely different from the New Orleans Mardi Gras experience, although they nod to each other. They honor each other in different ways. It’s all soul music.

What are some zydeco songs that you’ll likely play on Friday?

I’ll do “Jolie Bassette” and “La Danse de Mardi Gras,” and probably a Meters medley to pay tribute to the New Orleans heritage. I’m definitely bringing some Mardi Gras beads to toss during my show.

And the Lucky 7 Brass Band will be playing as well?

Yeah. And it’s been amazing to watch what a following they’ve developed. Victor’s such a great band leader, and I’m so blown away at how tight they are, and so much fun to watch and so high energy. It’s the ultimate way to kick off a party.

Don’t some members of the group join your band sometimes?

Yeah, they’ll sit in with us. If they have their horns with them and they’re in the mood, I want them up there. I love it when they join in. Victor will sit in with us sometimes when we share a bill. He did that last June, when Karen [Carrier] reopened DKDC for the first time since the pandemic started.

Will David Cousar play guitar with your band this weekend?

Dave Cousar will be with us on March 3 and on April 2. But for the Mardi Gras show, we’ll have Steve Selvidge, Landon Moore, and Art Edmaiston. And usually we have Robinson Bridgeforth on drums, but he’s giving a master class at Georgetown — he’s a great drummer — so we’ll have Ryan Peel with us. He’s actually playing with the Lucky 7 as well, so it’ll be a cool merging of the two bands. It’s going to be a family affair!

Bar DKDC, Mardi Gras Party ft. Marcella & Her Lovers + Lucky 7 Brass Band, Friday, February 25, 9 p.m.

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Music Music Features

Marcella Simien: Beyond Swamp Soul

Photo Credit Joseph A. Rosen Gumbo, Grits & Gravy

Marcella Simien has been a fixture of the Memphis scene for over six years now, often with her band, Marcella & Her Lovers, and over that time she’s acquired a reputation as a genre-buster. If her brand of “swamp soul” is inherently multicultural, reflecting both her zydeco-playing father, Terrance Simien, and the rich roux of her native Louisiana’s other musical flavors, she personally has many sonic touchstones beyond those. “I have broad taste in music and always have,” she says. “You can find soulfulness in any genre. That’s what I’m drawn to. From Kraftwerk to Brian Eno to Nina Simone, from sampling to jazz to folk.” 

As her musical endeavors gain steam, that eclecticism is more apparent than ever. And it’s keeping her mighty busy. I spoke with her recently about the welter of projects she’s involved in now.

Memphis Flyer: It doesn’t seem like quarantine slowed you down much over the past year. 

Marcella Simien: It turned out that the time away from the usual schedule was something that I needed. All the time I had alone to write and dig more into what I want, across the board, in life and ceatively, professionally, was really transformative. Things have opened up for me.

I also invested in a couple items that have got me excited about making new sounds: a little sampler and a drum pad thing, the Roland SPD-S. It’ll be interesting to integrate it into the live show. It’s cool to blend analog or acoustic instruments with the high-tech stuff, samplers and all that. I’ve been making demo after demo after demo, sinking my teeth into these different genres. 

Marcella Simien (Photo: Kevin Evans)

You’ve also been playing with different ensembles. Are the Lovers still an ongoing group?

I’m never going to abandon the Lovers band, no matter what. That’s who I am. We still have tour dates, and we’re putting out an album, Marcella & Her Lovers Live at Railgarten, in September. And then I have a new single that’ll come out after that, under the name Marcella Simien. That’s a rebrand that allows me more room to dance between different genres. 

Another group I’m in, ASP, started when Jesse James Davis, Keith Cooper, and Frank McLallen recorded all these songs during quarantine, and then brought them to Dustin [Reynolds] and I about three weeks ago, to recreate the songs live for Goner TV. I’m not the front person, and I really enjoy having the pressure off. And the songs are great and catchy and psychedelic. Some wild shit! So it’s been small gatherings and smaller ensembles. I’m drawn to that right now. And my website [marcellasimien.com] has all the groups that I’m associated with in one place. 

On June 18th, you’ll be heralding the reopening of Bar DKDC. That venue has been important to you, hasn’t it?

Absolutely. It’s my second home. I owe so much of my progress to Karen Carrier. She gave me a stage, ever since I was in college. So on June 18th, we’re going to have a second line and walk from Nelson Avenue to DKDC, with the Lucky 7 Brass Band. Once inside, the Lucky 7 is going to throw down, and the Lovers will go on after them. And we’ll try to keep some of the Lucky 7 up there with me!

Not long after that, yet another group you’re in, Gumbo, Grits & Gravy, will have a DKDC residence.

Thom Wolke manages Guy Davis, who is the son of civil rights activists and actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. Guy’s an incredible guitarist, songwriter, and storyteller. So Thom reached out to me about his idea for this group, gathering Guy with me and Anne Harris, who’s this great fiddle player based in Chicago. She’s just electric. She creates this whole different reality, and you can’t help but just want to be around her. And Guy’s the same way, with his storytelling ability. It’s heavily roots and blues. We’re doing a short 10-day run in July, so they’re coming to Memphis to rehearse, and then we’ll play DKDC on June 23rd and 24th. I’m just honored that they let me be a part of it.  

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: FreeWorld and Friends

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.