It took a few weeks, but after a lengthy search, I was able to find one Memphian who’d never heard of Graham Winchester or the many bands in which he plays (Jack Oblivian & the Sheiks, the MD’s, the Turnstyles, and, every once in a while, the Tennessee Screamers, to name but a few). Everyone else knows him as one of the hardest working players on the local scene, an indefatigable presence on social media, and an all around nice guy. Yet, perhaps because he plays in so many noteworthy bands, not as many are familiar with his solo work.
That could change with his most recent releases, especially the single released on Madjack Records this March, “I’ll Be the One” b/w “People.” Unlike the raunch ‘n’ roll purveyed by Jack Oblivian, this solo release is unabashedly happy-go-lucky pop. The A-side, for example, certainly sounds like an A-side, and could make for a potential hit if this was the 60s or the 80s. (Or maybe now, what do I know?)
The tradition of power pop in this city is a rich one, even if it’s sometimes overshadowed by the blues, soul, and rock ‘n’ roll. Winchester’s bouncy take on a declaration of love would fit right in on an album by Good Question, the group started by local pop-meister Van Duren in the early 80s. Giving it that extra 80s shimmer are some tasty synth licks that are nestled in the guitar-driven track.
The flipside mixes a slower bounce with a trace of poignancy, as Winchester croons about humanity in a more wistful manner, like a cross between Herman’s Hermits and the Kinks. The warmer, more traditional sounds of piano and organ dominate this one, in keeping with its earlier touchstones, and in a way it’s more affecting than the A-side. The extra touch of vulnerability draws you in.
Winchester is nothing if not prolific, and there are more recent releases to be heard as well. While the aforementioned tracks are on a physical release, the new tracks on Bandcamp are clearly post-coronavirus, solo excursions on acoustic guitar. Both “Fortune Favors the Bold” and “I’ll Be Sad With You” go a long way in demonstrating Winchester’s eclecticism, exuding a mellow folk melancholy that is especially cathartic in these quarantined days. “Fortune” is especially moving, a portrait of a spurned lover blindsided by rejection and striving to make sense of it all. Musically, it’s more venturesome as well, dipping into some fascinating dissonance in the coda that adds further shadows to the mood.
Winchester has been ahead of the live-streaming curve since shelter-in-place began, and that may be the perfect place to hear these songs in the context of his wide-ranging songwriting chops. As an everyman singer with a restless imagination, there’s no telling where he’s headed next.
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
Once you hear the name Zigadoo Moneyclips, you’ll likely never forget it. Which is helpful, since these Memphians have not been plying the local club circuit much of late. No doubt that’s been partly due to the final sprint to the release of their sophomore album, Imaginary Girl, and maybe because it’s because they’re focused more on thinking big. Their music may be ideal for large outdoor gatherings like their last gig, the Memphis Hotwing Fest in April. As Flyer writer Joe Boone noted after their first album dropped, “Should we go ahead and call this festival music? Is festival a genre? It is now. Zigadoo Moneyclips have a sound that is perfectly matched to a large-scale P.A. outside.”
Their songs are well-primed to be crowd pleasers. Unlike so many scruffy rock bands in the club scene, these pop enthusiasts are not shy about embracing their inner Timberlake. The new record thumps, snaps and pops with the familiar drive of a summer car stereo. Recorded at Super Secret Lab and Ardent Studios, the album features core band members Zak Baker (guitar, keys, and vocals), Leigh McDonald (trumpet and vocals), Jamie Davis (bass), Dan Brown & Khari Wynn (guitar), Michael Shelton (drums) and Josh Aguilar (alto sax and vocals), as well as a supporting cast of Memphis musicians like Tom Link (bari and tenor sax), Sam Shoup (upright bass), Jason Miller (piano), Julia Struthers (vocals), Kyndle McMahan (vocals), Rachel Levine (violin), Carlos Sargent (drums) and Jay Richey (drum programming).
That last credit is appropriate, as their sound has moved in a more electronic direction, adding keys & synthesizers to the mix. And central to this evolution was Ari Morris, who engineered, co-produced and mixed the album. Morris, a seasoned engineer who works heavily in Memphis hip-hop (Young Dolph, 8Ball), gives the band the full polished-bling sound of a radio hit.
The band are clearly embracing this sound with a sense of fun, only slightly tongue in cheek, as they sing lines like “Take a minute to look into the mirror and say, ‘Damn, I’m sexy!'” over a lifted Stooges riff and horn blasts. Other tracks, like the frankly horny “Raza,” are even more radio friendly, offering a call and response like “He’s from the city/She’s from the country” with only a slight wink.
On Saturday, June 9, the group celebrates the album’s release with a part at under-recognized venue the House of Mtenzi Museum. It will be interesting to see how these Top 40 enthusiasts translate the record into a live experience, laden as it is with the chirping samples and skronks that are the sine qua non of contemporary pop. But, given the band’s burgeoning reputation as festival pleasers, something tells me they’ll do just fine.
Zigadoo Moneyclips celebrate the release of Imaginary Girl on June 9, with Crown Vox and Ohn and On at House of Mtenzi, 8:00 pm. $10 cover includes CD/download card.
$5 for unlimited access to local kegs.
