Tag: Snowglobe

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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: “See Her Again” by Jeff Hulett & the Hand Me Downs

Memphis’ own Jeff Hulett has been busy.

Snowglobe, the long-running musical collective of which he is a member, just released two new albums, The Climb and The Fall. His solo project, the Hand Me Downs, is prepping for their own record release party at The Green Room this Thursday, April 25.

Playing with Hulett in the Hand Me Downs are Leh Sammons, Ben Church, and Jonathan Schallert, and Jacob Church, who also engineered the new album Little Windows. The video for the first single, “See Her Again” was directed by Nicki Storey. It’s simple and sweet and, like the song, sincere. Take a listen.

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

Snowglobe’s The Fall and The Climb

Snowglobe in 2019 (Photo: stephen Chopek)

When the band Snowglobe was most active in the Memphis scene, back in the aughts, they had a run of albums and live shows that any group would envy, culminating in 2010’s Little More Lived In, their sixth release. After that, it seemed the core players — Nahshon Benford (trumpet, flute), Jeff Hulett (drums), Brad Postlethwaite (vocals, piano, guitar), Tim Regan (vocals, piano, guitar), and Brandon Robertson (bass) — went their separate ways. Yet there was never a definitive breakup, as their sporadic reunion shows through the teens proved. Indeed, though band members moved around and their live performances grew less frequent, they began recording new material soon after Little More Lived In, though those tracks would not emerge until 2016’s Snowglobe was released. By then, the band had grown to include Luke White on guitar and John Whittemore on pedal steel.

Now, with a similarly long gestation period, and extra time thrown in for health issues and a pandemic, their eighth and ninth releases, The Fall (an LP) and The Climb (an EP), will both drop this Friday, courtesy of Regan’s Nine Mile Records, based in Austin, Texas.

And while many bands now assemble whole albums from parts recorded in the members’ home studios, these new tracks were generally created the old-fashioned way, with the band convening in a studio. “This happened over plus or minus five years, maybe?” says Regan. “Like, we’re all always writing stuff, and we’re all buddies. So we would just get a weird text from Brad saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got the studio booked for this time, let’s go do something!’ Then I’d come to town and whoever was around would go in there and start messing on stuff. It was all done in Memphis. I mean, I probably did a handful of overdubs from my house, but most of the stuff was cut in a studio with engineers.”

(above) The Fall and The Climb (below) by Andrew Kosten

Those engineers, Regan is quick to point out, were almost always Toby Vest and Pete Matthews of High/Low Recording, though some recordings were done at American Recording Studio when Vest and Matthews operated in that space, before renovating a dedicated building of their own. As Regan explains, working with professional recordists helps the band focus. “I think one of the benefits of getting in the studio is not coming back to find out that Posty [Postlethwaite] put 68 tracks on something. Which happens a lot. He’ll put everything and the kitchen sink in there. So it helps to be working with Pete and Toby and Kevin [Cubbins], who will tell you, ‘We don’t really need six guitars on this.’”

That said, the new tracks are, like much of Snowglobe’s output, rich with layers of ear candy. Though often grounded by chords on an acoustic guitar or piano, the arrangements fill out from there with all manner of harmonies, synthesizers, or electric guitar riffs and hooks. That’s partly a result of the many cameos by friends of the band, invited into the studio sessions over the years. There are so many appearances like this that Regan and the band lost track of who plays what.

“Talking with the guys, it’s like, ‘Who played on this? I don’t remember.’ That’s kind of how it goes. There are two or three where you can tell it’s Paul Taylor playing drums. I think I’m playing drums on one, and Jeff’s on a lot of stuff. It’s just whoever was there, whatever needed to happen.” Other guest players, according to the press release, include Mark Edgar Stuart, Ken Stringfellow, Jonathan Kirkscey, Krista Wroten, and Jana Misener.

“There’s a song of mine on the EP called ‘Need to Know’ that I actually got Kat Brock from Dixie Dirt to sing because I realized that I’d written and recorded it out of my vocal range. We said, ‘Oh, well, we can either re-record this or get someone who can sing better than me to sing it.’ So I called up Kat for a favor and she knocked it out — it sounds damn cool.”

Yet Regan makes it clear that what sounds the coolest to him is a song that stands as a milestone of sorts in the Snowglobe catalog for guitarist Luke White. As the Memphis Flyer reported in 2019, White had a seizure that year that revealed a cancerous brain tumor. While he’s been on a roller coaster of medical treatments ever since, he’s mostly hopeful about that process. “He’s in pretty decent spirits,” says Regan, adding that “his song ‘Willow Tree’ is so damn beautiful. And it’s also the first one that Luke’s written [with Clay Qualls] for us. Not that he hasn’t been a big part of our recordings before, but with this one, he brought it to the table and said, ‘I’ve got a song.’ We were all like, ‘Let’s do it!’ It’s his first writing credit with Snowglobe.”

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Music Music Blog

Jeff Hulett Touts New Release at Memphis Listening Lab

Few would disagree with the claim that Snowglobe has been one of the most impactful bands of the past 20 years in Memphis. While they may appear in the occasional reunion show, they’re not too active in the city anymore, but one of the band members, Jeff Hulett, has been doggedly pursuing a solo career. This Friday, August 4th, his latest solo effort, The Josh EP (Something Borrowed), goes live on all streaming platforms, and Hulett will celebrate the release at the Memphis Listening Lab.

The sonic palette of the EP echoes Snowglobe’s unique blend of the intimate and the psychedelic, but while there are some grand sonic flourishes here and there, the collection feels rooted in an alt-folk sensibility. Perhaps that derives from the two-man team behind the record.

“The ‘Josh’ in The Josh EP refers to my neighbor and friend Josh Cosby,” Hulett writes in the release notes. “While we’ve collaborated on some songs together, this is a full bore, pedal to the metal, all-in recording with Josh at the helm — mixing, producing, and engineering. I just wrote and performed and let Josh do his thing.”

The instrumentation on the EP’s longest and most ambitious track, “You Can’t Stop It,” gives you some idea of the arrangements at work here. Hulett plays acoustic guitars, vocals, piano, organ, bass, percussion, and harmonica, while Cosby adds vocals, synth, organ, percussion, electric guitar, acoustic, and mellotron, all at the service of unabashedly pop songwriting. If that sounds reminiscent of Snowglobe, the end result is something different altogether, with Hulett’s originals bringing a more disarming vulnerability to the fore.

There’s also a refreshing restraint at work here: The first two tracks clock in at less than two minutes. Yet even these short ventures reveal the craft of a consummate builder of sonic worlds here that should translate well to the state-of-the-art audio system of the Memphis Listening Lab. The event begins at 6 p.m., and Memphis Made Brewing Company will supply the brews. After playing the release in full, Hulett and Cosby will perform a short set of songs live.

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Music Record Reviews

Snowglobe “Does the Distance” with Vinyl Release

Snowglobe's Doing the Distance

The resurgent interest in vinyl is real, and apparently here to stay. Even as streaming services simultaneously make artists’ music more accessible and less lucrative, vinyl releases and re-releases continue to escalate, lending musical works a kind of permanence. “Vinylus longa, vita brevis,” goes the old Latin saying (or does it?), and for those who never stopped loving LPs, there’s no little satisfaction in knowing the medium has staying power.

Furthermore, when albums from the CD-dominated era are re-released as LPs, musical works can take on a new life, reassessed in light of the intervening years. And so it is with Doing the Distance, the 2004 sophomore release by local power pop stalwarts Snowglobe, which is now being released in its first vinyl iteration by Black & Wyatt Records. The album’s title could not be more appropriate, for the one phrase that springs to mind on its re-emergence is “staying power.”

For the many Snowglobe fans around town, this comes as no surprise. It’s been heartening to see their occasional reunions greeted with great enthusiasm, such as their 2017 appearance at one of Robert Wyatt’s beloved Harbert Porch Parties.

Snowglobe play a Harbert Porch Party, ca. 2017 (Illustration by Michael Arthur, courtesy Black & Wyatt Records).

Even at its initial CD-only release, Doing the Distance was much loved by those few who heard it. Chris Herrington gave it a glowing review in the Memphis Flyer:

These 16 tracks — recorded locally, mostly at Memphis Soundworks and Easley-McCain Studios — are more like a 44-minute rock symphony. Each song melds into the next and orchestral touches and instrumental interludes share time with more conventional song structures and locked-in classic-rock guitar solos…Cello and violins and sleighbells, mellotron and musical saw, layered vocals and subliminal drops of musical Americana, squiggly guitars and churning pianos: This is studio rock of truly intense craft that also maintains an air of spontaneity and playfulness. They aren’t late-’60s Beatles or the Band, of course, but Snowglobe honor the comparison. Certainly, no other Memphis band is making music (or ever has made music?) so casually dense.

Snowglobe (Photo courtesy Black & Wyatt Records)

Herrington hit the nail on the head with his classic rock comparisons, for undergirding all the refined aural candy of synthesizers, strings and effects are solid songs that rock righteously. And if the lyrics are a tad oblique, that only lends them enough mystery to have one coming back for more, the better to chew over their layered meanings. All told, the lyrics have a very real resonance with their times, alternately paranoid, despondent, and idealistic, with a finely-tuned philosophical bent that lends them a life beyond any topical concerns of the George W. Bush era.

Scanning the music journalistic universe, one quickly sees that this album has been discovered and re-discovered multiple times over the years, belying levels of appreciation that mere sales figures from its original release can’t capture. Fourteen years ago, gaming and entertainment webzine IGN called it “The best three year old album you’ve never heard.” Writing about this latest reissue, The Vinyl District refers to Snowglobe as “a Memphis indie rock institution.”

Indeed, hearing Doing the Distance on vinyl confirms that sentiment, cementing the band’s underground reputation as pop innovators. And, as if in recognition of that, this re-release will be the first subject of a listening party focused on a single album at the Memphis Listening Lab.

On Saturday, August 7 from 6 to 8 p.m., the entire LP will be presented on the Memphis Listening Lab’s Egglestonworks high-end loudspeakers. There will be a discussion afterwards. Attendees paying admission of $25 per person/$30 per couple will also receive a copy of the album.

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Music Music Features

Lush Music from Two Way Radio, Snowglobe, Smartest Man in the World

A similar motif runs through new (and reissued) releases from Memphis-centric groups Snowglobe, Two Way Radio, and the Smartest Man in the World. As with most local releases, the albums share some players. Two Way Radio’s Succinct Extinction, for example, features Snowglobe’s Brad Postlethwaite playing the singing saw. But the common thread running through these releases is the lush arrangements, the focus on melody.

Each release oozes atmosphere, overflowing with horn or string arrangements and layer upon layer of backing vocals. What’s more, it’s all tastefully done, even when horn lines, guitars, pianos, and dueting vocalists share the spotlight, these songs never cross the line into cacophony. Rather, the smorgasbord of vocal and instrumental textures on display acts as an injection of whimsy at the tail-end of a year often characterised by monotony and dread.

Two Way Radio — Succinct Extinction (Back to the Light Records)

Succinct Extinction, the “long-lost” album by Two Way Radio, at last sees the light of day. “It kind of launched out of us getting chosen to participate in [Craig Brewer’s] $5 Cover project,” J.D. Reager explains on his Back to the Light podcast. As Reager and his guest and TWR bandmate Andrew McColgan remember, Scott Bomar, musical director on the $5 Cover show, approached the band to talk about recording an album at Ardent. The band, of course, jumped at the chance.

The end result was Succinct Extinction, a multi-layered example of confectionary pop perfection. Though Bomar shopped the album around to different labels, no one bit, and it was eventually shelved. “It was definitely disappointing when the plug was pulled,” McColgan says. He and Reager muse that the stall on the album may have led to the band’s breaking up. Now, though, Succinct Extinction has found new life thanks to Reager’s Back to the Light label.

“Dirty Dishes” kicks off the album with an arpeggiated piano melody played over restrained guitars and drums. Soon lyrics about Star Wars toys, taking out the trash, and doing the dishes find the sweet spot where the mundane and magical mingle. Kate Crowder’s voice, interwoven with the all-star cast of other vocalists, is the star of the show. “Can You Boss a Nova Around?” wins the award for cleverest song title, and “I Can Do Better,” “Waking Hours,” and “Succinct Extinction” are all standout tracks.

The Smartest Man in the World — “Adult Theater” (self-released)

“We have these ideas about who we are and what we’re going to be. They’re just ideas, but we believe them and they determine the course of our life,” says Dead Soldier frontman and self-styled Smartest Man in the World Michael Jasud. “We also have ideas about what kind of person we’re supposed to be with, and sometimes they’re quite bad ideas.”

The chorus’ vocal melody references Player’s “Baby Come Back,” even as Jasud’s lyrics make clear how foolish an idea a reunion would be for the song’s erstwhile lovers. Though Jasud’s introspection and self-deprecating sense of humor help the songwriter tease out smart, catchy lyrics, the real MVP is the absolutely on-fire musical arrangement.

The players are Shawn Zorn on drums, Landon Moore on bass, Rick Steff on keys, with Kait Lawson and (Snowglobe collaborator) Luke White on backing vocals. “Victor Sawyer wrote the horn parts, which really highlight his incredible and understated sense of melody, and put them down with Jawaun Crawford on trumpet. And Toby Vest of course, my partner in crime and orchestrator of this whole project,” Jasud says. “All of those guys were really instrumental in this song coming together the way it did.”

Snowglobe — Our Land Brains (Nine Mile Records)

Snowglobe’s debut album, Our Land Brains, was originally released via Bardot Records in 2002. The album received favorable reviews and launched a band that would feature prominently in the Memphis music scene for the next two decades. Now, Nine Mile Records has released a remastered limited-edition double vinyl of Our Land Brains with new artwork by Andrew Kosten.

For Memphians aware of Snowglobe but unsure where to begin, the Nine Mile rerelease makes for an ideal jumping-on point. The album bustles with clean, crisp acoustic guitars, Nahshon Benford’s stellar horn lines, and more than a dozen pitch-perfect pop songs — more or less what a listener should expect from the band.

The album opener, “Waves Rolling,” is a slow, seductive entrée into Snowglobe’s dreamy wonderland. “Adrenaline Mother” weaves luxurious pathways through the listener’s brain; warbling slide guitar and horns create a dreamlike atmosphere. “Stubber” starts slowly and sparsely, but when the drums begin in earnest, the song feels as though it’s tapped into something undeniable. That’s the effect this group always has on me: I find myself nodding along, certain of the implicit truth of the song — even when I didn’t quite catch the words. That’s just the power of Snowglobe, and why the band’s name, with its connotations of magic and illusion, is such a perfect fit.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

William Luke White’s Triumphant Return to Music

Whether you knew it or not, Luke White has probably been a fixture in some of your favorite Memphis bands. He’s played integral roles in Snowglobe, The Pirates, Spiral Stairs (Pavement’s Scott Kannberg), Colour Revolt, James and the Ultrasounds, Clay Otis, Jeffery James and the Haul, The Coach and Four, Sons of Mudboy, Harlan T. Bobo and Rob Junklas, among others.

Now, as William Luke White, he’s making his debut as a band leader and solo artist. But going solo doesn’t have to mean going it alone. He’s assembled a few of the city’s best rock and roll players to create an EP of rare energy and hope.

It’s especially moving for friends and colleagues of Luke, as he has tried to come to grips with some setbacks in physical health. Returning home from a West Coast tour supporting Spiral Stairs’ We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized in June 2019, Luke had a massive seizure in his apartment. He woke up four days later to find out that he had a cancerous brain tumor that needed to be removed. The successful surgery took place August 13th at LeBonheur.

In truth, that final surgery was the culmination a long process of recovery and healing. Over recent months, White has been seen at musical events (before quarantine), or on social media, at times in recording studios. As it turns out, he was putting the finishing touches on material that he had started working on before his seizure.

As he notes in a statement: “I decided to put out these songs I had recorded a while back that were basically finished and started talking to Tim Regan about releasing them on his Nine Mile Records label. I sent him the tunes I had and work got underway. I just want these songs to see the light of day and want to reclaim the date from my accident. Tim Regan and Tommy Kha, photography and artwork, have been with me since my seizure and it has been an amazing collaboration that is exactly what I needed.”

The result is a shot in the arm of these doldrum-plagued times. All notions of ill health or angst are swept away with the opening bass riff of “(Tell Me) Where Ya From From,” full of four-on-the-floor pounding drums, Jim Spake’s skronking baritone sax, and chiming background vocals courtesy Jana Misener and Krista Wroten. Eventually, some Steve Cropper-esque guitar fills show up as well. It’s a grand old time and a brilliant shot across the bow for White’s return.

The first single, “Glory Line,” spotlighted in visual artist Tommy Kha’s music video that was released today, is more contemplative, evoking shades of power pop, Americana, and even a touch of wistful Joni Mitchell, as he sings “I’m flying 20,000 miles an hour and without getting closer/My heart is radiating, I just hope you can feel it.”

William Luke White’s Triumphant Return to Music

Then it’s once more onto the dance floor with the perfect upbeat power pop of “Love In a Cage,” which actually makes such a prospect sound fun. If the Smiths cut an album at Stax, ca. 1986, this might have been the result.

And then White gets contemplative again with “My Worst,” but it’s a driving contemplation and catchy as hell. Throughout, White’s voice is in fine form, by measures both vulnerable and roaring, as needed, and sits perfectly in the shimmering guitar jangle and big beats, as background vocals sing the title words in what could be a Big Star sample.

But it’s not a sample, and all the more glorious for being so alive. As is William Luke White. And for that we are thankful.

William Luke White’s eponymous debut EP is available Friday, October 2, from Nine Mile Records.

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Music Music Blog

Levitt Shell’s Orion Concert Series, Shell Streams

Jesse Davis

Levitt Shell


The forecast this weekend calls for clear skies and moderate temperatures. If this were any other year, thousands of Memphians would probably be daydreaming about nights on the lawn at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park. But COVID-19 means that Levitt Shell executive director Natalie Wilson was forced to make some tough decisions.

“The Levitt Shell is on pause indefinitely,” Wilson says. “We hope to play on the stage again when it’s safe for all, but we’re going to take a proactive approach to opening.”

“We’re an open-air amphitheater. There are many ways to come into the venue, and social distancing at the Shell would be very difficult,” Wilson says. “If we put a fence around the Shell and say, ‘Okay, the first 500 get in and no more,’ well, that’s not meeting our mission of inclusivity, of open space, common ground, the diverse audience that we inspire.”

Wilson knows how important it is to keep the music going, but the health and safety of the community, performers, her staff, and volunteers has to be the first priority. “Right now, we’re focusing on the people first.”

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To combat the quarantine blues, Wilson says, “We created the Orion Virtual Concert Series, which launched in April. We’re launching some of the greatest hits from our past, and we showcase them on Facebook Live.” The Levitt Shell has footage of more than 500 full-length concerts performed in that historic Midtown amphitheater, and they are broadcasting the archival footage Friday nights. The performances will stream at 7:30 p.m. Central, to coincide with the start time for the Shell’s live shows in the past. 

Levitt Shell Executive Director Natalie Wilson

“When we put this out, we were thinking about our local community,” Wilson explains, but she adds, “We’re seeing people from all over the world joining us.” And why not? Already in May, the Orion Virtual Concert Series has shown a 2019 Delhi 2 Dublin concert, and this week’s show will feature genre-spanning pianist Charlie Wood. May’s shows will culminate with a 2016 concert by Memphis indie band Snowglobe on Friday, May 29th. (It was excellent. I was there.)

And as spring rolls into summer, in addition to the Friday-night archival shows, Wilson and her colleagues at the Shell will introduce live-streamed content on Saturdays. “We’re excited that on June 5th we’re going to be launching a second day of programming, which will be full-length live broadcast concerts. We’re calling them Shell Streams.”

“It’s a place that inspires community,” Wilson says of the Levitt Shell, which means her responsibility to the health and welfare of Memphis is doubly important. That’s why Wilson is committed to a data-driven plan to reopen the Shell — once there’s no question that it will be a safe and inviting environment for all music lovers.

Until then, she says, she just hopes that Memphians remember one thing. “We love our community,” Wilson says. “And we will be back.”


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Music Music Features

Jeff Hulett Goes Solo With “Around These Parts”

You might think the song “Neutral Milk Hotel” on Jeff Hulett’s new solo album Around These Parts is about the seminal ’90s indie band, but you would be wrong — or at least half wrong.

“Back in the day, we were all obsessed with Neutral Milk Hotel,” says Hulett. When they were kids, he and his music-obsessed friends searched the internet for any snippets of music from the band, who only recorded two albums. “One of us found the song on Napster, and thought it was by Neutral Milk Hotel, because the title of the song is ‘Neutral Milk Hotel.’ But it’s not. It’s this band called the Gifted Children.”

Despite that bit of pioneering search engine optimization, the Gifted Children never approached the level of popularity of either Neutral Milk Hotel or Snowglobe, the band Hulett founded with his friends. But Hulett never forgot the song, so when he was looking for material for his first solo album, he dusted off the old mp3 and sang the refrain, “Let us sooth your open wound/And dry your crying eyes.”

Hulett will reunite with Snowglobe for the band’s annual holiday show at Railgarten on December 23rd, but before that, he’s got business of his own. He’s always been a team player — with Snowglobe, Jeffrey James and the Haul, Glorie, and, most recently, as the “me” with Leah Keys in the folk duo Me & Leah. But now he’s stepping into the spotlight with Around These Parts.

The nine-song collection showcases Hulett’s songwriting, and he likes to make them succinct, well-crafted, and meaningful. “It’s one of those records that people will like, because it’s a quick get. It’s fun, and it’s over before you know it. I’ve been very pleased with it.”

The road to Around These Parts started while Hulett was playing bass in Glorie, Jason Paxton’s instrumental band, which uses an array of orchestral tools like vibraphone to create lush soundscapes. It was a natural fit for Hulett’s talents.

Hulett convinced Paxton to produce a solo album.”I kinda took over his life,” he says. “He was still figuring out the equipment, so I was a guinea pig … It was a labor of love, really. He’s got a kid, so he’s busy, and I’ve got two kids. But it was this project that just kept going.

“I knew the songs I wanted to be on it. But some of them weren’t done. So it took some time to flesh those out. I wouldn’t say it was a concept album, but I do think there’s a general theme. My youngest child was born at the beginning of this recording process. So it’s about change. I was changing careers throughout, and having children, and people who I know and love were dying, and other children being born … the usual stuff, life and death.”

Paxton and Hulett called on old friends, like Jeffrey James and the Haul rhythm section Dave Schulter and Daniel Farris, and Snowglobe’s brass player Nahshon Benford, as well as new collaborators like violinist Jessie Munson, singer Kate Ryan, and multi-instrumentalist John Schallert.

“It’s about knowing my limitations,” says Hulett. “I can probably do a guitar solo to go on a song, and it’ll be serviceable. But if you can get Luke White to do it, you get Luke White. I’d rather it sound good than be territorial about it.”

The album’s theme of change and the passage of time bubbles to the surface halfway through, when “Tape” emerges from “Shoes All Muddy” with an Abby Road-esque segue, and Hulett sings “I don’t know what’s on this tape.” It’s a discovery, and re-discovery, of the stuff that matters most.

Hulett and his band will celebrate Around These Parts at Memphis Made Brewing on Saturday, December 15th, with a record release party starting at 4 p.m.

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Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1

Music Video Monday is ringing in the new year with Memphis’ best music videos! A big thank you to all the artists who submitted work this year. In case you missed it, get caught up with #20-11 here.

Ready? Here we go:

10. Telisu – “Im A God”
Director Quinten Lamb won the Indie Memphis Hometowner Music Video award with this banger.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (10)

9. Six.oh.xiS – “Hiding Place”
Chillwaver Christopher Osborne’s low-fi synth wash gets visual soma to match.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (9)

8. Mono Neon & A Weirdo From Memphis – “America’s Perverted Gentlemen (Drawls)”
Two of Memphis’ weirdest almost got arrested filming this awesome guerilla video, directed by Unapologetic mastermind IMAKEMADBEATS.

"America's Perverted Gentlemen (Drawls)" – MonoNeon & AWFM (A Weirdo From Memphis) from Dywane MonoNeon Thomas Jr. on Vimeo.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (7)

7. Preauxx – “Terry Freestyle”
Sometimes the simplest setting is the best. 35 Miles lets Preauxx’s charisma do the talking in this stony workout.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (5)

6. Aaron James – “The Wile”
Taking a cue from one of the classics of the form, Aaron James and animator Shakeya Merriweather rotoscoped dancers Rachael Arnwine and Fannie Horton for this multimedia tone poem.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (6)

5 .Crown Vox – “Ruler of the Ball”
Director Mitch Martin pulls out all the stops for Memphis goth pop queen Crown Vox’s epic Guilded Gallows video cycle.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (8)

4. Don Lifted – “Take Control of Me”
Don Lifted’s paean to romantic surrender takes a sinister turn in the hands of director Kevin Brooks. Brooks and Don have had one of the most fruitful collaboration of any Memphis artists in recent memory.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (2)

3. Julien Baker – “Turn Out The Lights”
At the forefront of the flotilla of Memphis women making musical waves in 2017 was Julien Baker. For the title track of her smash album, she got this explosive video from director Sophia Peer.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (4)

2. IMAKEMADBEATS – “Mother Sang To Us”
In 2017, the most interesting music in Memphis was coming from a small studio in Bartlett, where Unapologetic Records founder IMAKEMADBEATS gathered a crew of likeminded weirdos to push the boundaries of hip hop. His Better Left Unsaid album is a kind of multimedia creative manifesto, and this Afro-samurai anime from Sky5 Productions is better than Justice League.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1 (3)

1. Snowglobe – “We Were In Love”
Director Ben Siler worked for a year crafting this semi-autobiographical story of love, loss, and OCD. More than any other MVM video of 2017, it worked to solidify and expand the themes and mood of its song, while packing more plot than many feature films into just three minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, your best Memphis music video of 2017:

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2017: 10-1

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