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Tom Paxton Embraces Collaboration

Now 85, Tom Paxton is what you might call an OG folk musician, having made his name as a songwriter in Greenwich Village before Bob Dylan even arrived from Minnesota. And so there’s a certain historical spark in speaking with him about our common love for Woody Guthrie. He surely had that same conversation with countless compatriots at the Gaslight Cafe, back in the day, especially since he’d landed there by way of his native Oklahoma. “I played football against a team from [Guthrie’s hometown of] Okemah, about 26 miles from my hometown,” Paxton remembers today. “But I actually never heard of Woody Guthrie until I went to the University of Oklahoma and started hearing his records, and he quickly became one of my heroes. I think he’s one of my biggest influences.”

Of course, part of Guthrie’s legacy is the tradition of the political or protest song, something that Paxton’s always had at the core of his craft. It’s also at the core of the annual series known as Acoustic Sunday Live, the latest version of which will feature Paxton, Crys Matthews, Susan Werner, The Accidentals, and Terry “Harmonica” Bean on Sunday, December 4th, at the First Congregational Church.

Woody Guthrie’s spirit has been with the concert series from the very beginning, when Bruce and Barbara Newman organized a tribute to Guthrie 28 years ago, featuring Paxton, Richie Havens, Odetta, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Since then, each show has been a fundraiser for a local cause, and in recent years that’s been Protect Our Aquifer.

Paxton, reflecting on the cause of ensuring the purity of the Sparta or Memphis Sand Aquifer, quips, “Talk about a no-brainer! It makes you want to get a bumper sticker: ‘Like Drinking Water? Duh?!’” He’s seen innumerable citizen movements to protect sources of fresh water and feels one of his songs still rings true in that context. “The one I mainly still sing after 50 years is ‘Whose Garden Was This?’” he says. “Everything about ecology is in that song. If you want to enjoy it, you’ve got to preserve it.”

It’s yet another echo of Guthrie’s approach to folk music. “You had no trouble understanding the lyrics when he sang,” Paxton says. “And that’s always been a really important part to me. The way I feel is, I busted my butt writing these lyrics, I want to make sure people understand them.” That’s especially crucial to topical songs, he says. “You know, political and protest songs are as old as America. Now and then you’ll turn up songs that were current before or during our revolution, that were just flat-out protest songs against England and King George. Lots of them! Back during the Vietnam days, we took a lot of heat for writing songs opposing the war, but it’s a very old tradition.”

Old traditions appeal to Paxton, and his appreciation of the late Jean Ritchie spoke to that. “I visited with her in Kentucky two weeks before she passed [in 2015],” he says. “There was a song that was current back in the ’60s called ‘Passing Through’. So I wrote a verse for her: ‘Jean Ritchie of the Cumberlands, her dulcimer in hand/Came singing songs both old and new. … And she sang ’em all while she was passing through.’ She was a good, good person.”

Always generous in his praise of fellow artists, Paxton has leaned into the joys of collaboration of late. “I went for years basically just writing for myself, but the pandemic shut everything down, and if I was going to stay in touch with people, [co-writing on] Zoom was a way to do it. So I really went for it. I’ve been writing with The Accidentals, with Jackson Emmer, with my friend Cathy Fink. And it’s so satisfying that I want to keep doing it. Since the pandemic, so far I’ve co-written over 200 songs.”

He’s looking forward to the songwriters-in-the-round style of Acoustic Sunday Live, he says. “It’s great to be coming back to Memphis, and it stacks up to be a hell of a concert. You’ve got some really good people on there, like Crys Matthews and The Accidentals, and Susan Werner is absolutely dynamite on stage. And I’m bringing a colleague of mine from Colorado to be part of this, named Jackson Emmer. We’ve co-written several songs now. It’s a real kick for me, to hear young people singing a song I’ve helped to write.”

Acoustic Sunday Live, the 4th concert to Protect Our Aquifer, takes place at the First Congregational Church on Sunday, December 4th at 7 p.m. Tax deductible tickets are available at acousticsundaylive.com

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Music Music Features

Big River Block Party

The vision Mark Parsell has planted in Memphis for songwriters is taking bloom. After stepping into leadership roles with Memphis Farmers Market and South Main Trolley Night many years ago, Parsell partnered with Brad Matherne in 2015 to create a new venue and record store on South Main that songwriters could call home.

“That’s what South Main Sounds is,” Parsell explained. “That’s how we really put an imprint on the music scene — giving songwriters a place to present original music in Memphis.”

This weekend’s first annual Big River Block Party is the culmination of Parsell’s long-running determination to make Memphis the primary gateway stop for Americana acts, folk performers, and songwriters on the road to the annual SXSW Festival in Austin. 

Parsell and festival co-founder John Dillard had been talking for a couple of years about starting a songwriter festival of some kind downtown. “When Folk Alliance moved away from Memphis,” Parsell said, “nothing and nobody really came along to replace it.” It is estimated that the absence of the Folk Alliance meeting has cost the city of Memphis $2.5M in annual tourism dollars. 

While Parsell was in talks with radio station 94.1 The Wolf about possibly expanding their one-night songwriter showcase at the Halloran Centre, he had a chance encounter with Friday night festival headliners The Accidentals, an acclaimed indie-Americana act that was named one of Yahoo Music’s 10 Artists to Watch in 2017. Parsell recognized a golden opportunity. The trio adjusted their schedule to make an appearance in Memphis on March 10th, and the festival took root. “Once we had that commitment, we just decided the time was right to take a leap of faith,” he said. 

The Accidentals will perform at the Big River Block Party, March 10th.

Parsell and Dillard then garnered support from a wide base of influencers, including the Downtown Memphis Commission and developer Henry Turley. With their headliner booked and a weekend of activities to round things out, Big River Block Party was born.

While this year’s event won’t actually operate in the traditional sense of a “block party,” it will be a series of mostly ticketed events that will take place inside of various venues, allowing events to operate rain or shine. “Think Trolley Night but on a larger scale,” Parsell said. 

The weekend will kick off at the 5 Spot Friday night with music from The Accidentals, Jake Allen, and Talia Keys from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Afterward, the block party’s activities will shift to the Dirty Crow Inn, where Jennifer Westwood and the Handsome Devils from Detroit will take the stage at 10 p.m.

The next morning, Saturday, March 11th, from 10 a.m. until noon, South Main Sounds will hold an admission-free family variety show hosted by Bill Shipper and featuring music from teen songwriters Bailey Bigger and Merit Koch.

That afternoon, there will be a crawfish boil and beer garden in the courtyard behind 550 South Main, featuring music from South Side Supper Club, Tony Manard, Rice Drewry, and 3 Degrees. Throughout the afternoon, there will be a variety of musicians busking along South Main. At Guidingpoint Financial, directly across from the South Main fire station, Shufflegrit will showcase their ability to translate well-known songs into rockabilly stompers.

The Halloran Centre at the Orpheum will cap off Saturday’s activities at  7 p.m. when the 94.1 The Wolf Songwriter Fest presents live performances from Sarah Buxton, Casey Beathard, and Barry Dean.

Finally, on Sunday, March 12th, the Block Party will co-sponsor “Turn Up for Tilly,” a celebration supporting the charitable efforts of ALIVE Rescue Memphis to help defray the medical costs for Tilly and other rescue dogs. For each $6 donation, guests will be treated to a complimentary Yazoo beer and a raffle entry for special prizes.