“Don’t know if I still qualify as a Memphis guy since I moved to Ripley, Mississippi, but this one was recorded here at Five and Dime and Buntyn Presbyterian,” says Tony Manard. “Overdubs and mixing were done in my little home studio I built in a school bus.”
Yes, Tony, Memphis still claims you! You may have moved the “Cuss Bus” out of the city limits, but can’t get away that easily. Especially when you make a good music video! The gorgeous stop motion production features Andrea Manard’s paintings and collage work.
“I wrote the song with Michael Graber,” says Manard. “Stax legend Willie Hall is on drums. It was released New Years Day. I chose that date because its about setting intentions and growth.”
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Music Video Monday is watching while the world burns.
I suspect we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to art made in pandemic isolation. Tony Manard is one of the legion of Memphis musicians who have turned to recording new music to make sense out of the state of the world. The lyrics of “Watching Birds and Baking Bread” describe familiar activities to many people. “It’s kind of a flipside to the hopeful tune I did with Rice Drewry a few months ago, ‘Together Alone,'” says Maynard. “This one is about creating your bubble and how the world intrudes. It’s also about turning inward, creating and doing things for yourself. By the end of the track there is a racket of voices. The cadence under the end is police pushing protestors down Beale Street. They are striking their body armor with their batons.”
The cinematic video was created by director Vincent Manard. “We mostly shot it at our creative space on Lamar that we share with Nancy Apple and a few others,” says Tony Manard. “We kept it small and safe as we could. Vincent’s girlfriend Asayah is the protagonist. This one was different because the track actually evolved with the video. Usually the track is finished before we start a video. Vincent chose to limit his effects toolbox to what was available to silent film editors.”
Music Video Monday: Tony Manard
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Like most people, Memphis songsmith Tony Manard and his friend Rice Drewry spent the spring in coronavirus lockdown. They co-wrote “Together Alone” about the experience, and recorded it remotely. “The song is about reaching out to your people, even in isolation. This idea is to use your phone for something other than a portable anxiety factory,” says Manard.
Vincent Manard, Tony’s son and keyboard player, directed the music video with graphic help from Asayah Young. The shoot took a single afternoon. “We had to get creative to keep everybody safe,” says Manard.
The song and video invites you to hang out on Manard’s front porch, which becomes a beacon of hope in troubled times.
Music Video Monday: Tony Manard
If you’d like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
“Getting by in Memphis…Getting high in Memphis…Getting fired in Memphis.” So end the first three verses of Tony Manard’s “Fool From Memphis.” On the way, he name checks Wild Bill’s, Joe’s Liquor Store, and Raiford’s, and remembers how “downtown smelled like Wonder Bread.” Then comes the chorus, like the recurring story of a neighborhood drunk: “I saw Jerry Lawler wrestle Junkyard Dog at the intermission of a monster truck show, Mid South Colieseum.”
It’s all narrated in such a casual, offhand way that you really will feel Memphis around you as you listen, and that captures one of the hallmarks of Thanks Y’all!, Manard’s newly self-released album: its fine-grained sense of place. The city is a recurring character through many of the songs here, all written by Manard, and he savors his lyrical images of the city like photos of an old friend. And it’s all set to an Americana-esque blend of folk, bluegrass and country rock with a mildly funky vibe.
The lineup gives one a sense of the overall sound:
Tony Manard – Guitar, Vocals
Cecil Yancy – Guitar, Vocals
Alice Hasen – Fiddle, Vocals
Carlos Gonzalez – Mandolin, Vocals
Brian Mulhearn – Electric Guitar, Vocals
Jimmy Stephens jr, – Bass
Vinnie Manard – Keys
Stephen Chopek – Drums
Evan Farris – Dobro, Lap Steel, Vocals
Tony Manard
The arrangements sound remarkably uncluttered for such a big ol’ band, with some standout solos by Alice Hasen on fiddle and Carlos Gonzalez on mandolin.
It should be noted that Manard’s local cred goes beyond shouting out place names. The ongoing saga summed up by the punchline,”Man, the sun’s goin’ down and I feel pretty good/Made a pontoon boat from a Cadillac hood” is a perfect portrait of the D.I.Y. spirit that’s alive and well in this city. Manard relishes every detail of building the “Party Barge” in a song reminiscent of Johnny Cash’s “One Piece At a Time,” destined to accompany the sound of pneumatic tools in garages for years to come.
Finally, the sense of place is palpable in more ways than one on the album’s closer, “Ain’t No Freedom.” The music video was shot live at Clayborn Temple this February and released on April 8, the anniversary of a 40,000-strong march in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., just days after his assassination. And the tune, a call for a more just society, is entirely appropriate to his legacy. As Manard writes in the press materials:
This is a staple of our live shows, but I had no intention of recording it in the studio. We got the opportunity to record it live, and make a video at historic Clayborn Temple. This was the rally point of the 1968 sanitation worker’s strike and the place the iconic “I am a man” signs were made an distributed. Tony Barnshaw Dickerson, a fantastic writer, singer and choir leader, came to our rehearsal to work with us on the phrasing and added his beautiful voice. We also recruited our friends Annie Freres and Kathleen Quinlen to sing with us. We invited a bunch of our friends to join the chorus and be in the video. Everyone there felt the energy of the location. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Walt Busby handled the live recording. Jared Callan shot and Christian Walker directed.
Check the video out below. Thanks Y’all! is available at local record shops and at Tony Manard shows, which may either be solo or feature the Big Ole Band.
Tony Manard’s Big Ole Band Captures A Big Small Town Called Memphis
Tony Manard appears at the Halloran Centre, Sunday, Sept. 15, at 4:00 pm.
A screen grab from Tony Manard’s video ‘Fool from Memphis.’
Music Video Monday is bringing the hometown love today.
Here at MVM, we celebrate Memphis musicians and filmmakers. But rarely have we seen a more Memphis-y video than Tony Manard’s “Fool From Memphis”.
“I grew up in Memphis,” says the singer/songwriter. “I have lived here all of my life. I had the verses about all the fun I had growing up here and the good times I had with my knucklehead friends. I was preparing for a songwriter night and started thinking about the most Memphis thing that had ever happened to me. I came up with the time I saw a wrestling match at the intermission of a monster truck show. It’s not the Chamber-of-Commerce version of Memphis, but it’s mine.”
Manard calls this song from his new album, Thanks, Y’all, “about the most Memphis thing I have ever made.” Indeed, where else can you hear a song that waxes nostalgic about seeing an axe-handle fight in West Memphis?
Here’s how Manard describes the making of the video:
“My buddy Jeremy Speakes provided the Downtown and Coliseum drone shots. Sean Davis gave me permission to use great stuff from his ‘Slow Memphis’ YouTube channel.
“My buddy Steve Blurton hooked me up with footage from Riverside Speedway. The guys from the Heavy Weight Chumps podcast set me up with access to a wrestling ring in Pontotoc before an ICW bout. The Midnight Rooster Antoine Curtis, Gio Savage, and Nico Dantzler showed me how to take a bump in the ring and helped me fulfill a childhood fantasy of doing some sick moves.
“My son and Big Ole Band keyboard man Vinnie Manard manned the camera while daughter Chessie, and Nancy Apple mercifully distracted from the sight of me in wrestling tights.
“Big thanks to Jerry Fargo for agreeing to be in the video and teaching me the Fargo strut! Josh McLane was the perfect angry chef at the HiTone kitchen.
“We finished it up with a gathering at Central BBQ to watch some of our Big Ole Band brothers play in the Late Greats bluegrass band.”
Music Video Monday: Tony Manard and the Big Ole Band
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Today, Tony Manard brings a whole passel of friends to Music Video Monday. He and his Big Ole Band set up in Clayborn Temple to perform “Ain’t No Freedom” for director Christian Walker. His regular eight-member band was joined by a choir of 19 singers for this live-to-tape recording. “Like most independent artists, ‘I get by with a little help from my friends.’ This took a lot of friends. On top of Big Ole Band regulars, I wanted to enlist a choir of friends to help us get the message out,” says Manard.
“Ain’t No Freedom” is an epic cry for justice in our troubled times, filmed inside one of the spiritual homes of the Civil Rights movement.
Music Video Monday: Tony Manard and the Big Ole Band
If you’d like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
This Saturday, March 5, local musician and singer-songwriter Tony Manard will unveil his latest solo effort, Sedan deVille Season 1, with a release party at the Memphis Made Taproom. Recorded entirely in a broken down 1964 Cadillac Sedan deVille in Manard’s back yard, the album presents a loose narrative inspired by hypothetical tales of hitchhikers, travelers, and the open road.
“I have been fooling around with old cars since I was a kid,” says Manard. “My Dad would buy old cars
that we would part out or fix up. One of the best parts of dragging home an old car is going through the
trunk and the glove box. Old receipts and things left behind give a glimpse into the lives lived in the car. I
started thinking of the Cadillac songs as stories told either by the driver or various passengers. The things
you talk about on long drives, or the conversations you have with yourself on the road. The theme of an
episodic serial started to emerge, every song a story or conversation that I would imagine being told in
the car. I took it a step further by introducing the series as a whole, and each song as an episode. It made
me think about radio plays, and it seemed to fit with the riding around in an old Cadillac theme.”
Here is a clip of Manard performing “Come Up,” a cut from Sedan deVille Season 1, inside the car:
Tony Manard at Memphis Made Taproom
The entire album is available for streaming/purchase here.
This week’s sepia-tinged Music Video Monday harkens back to when the levee broke.
“Sharon” is by Memphis singer/songwriter by Tony Manard. “The song is a story from the Mississippi River Flood of 1927,” he says. “I wrote it after going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole triggered by reading about Jeff Buckley drowning in the Mississippi.”
For the video, which he directed, Manard skillfully edited together footage from the 1927 flood and a silent film from the same era.
Manard will be playing at Otherlands this Saturday, July 18 with Stephen Chopek, Harry Koniditsiotis, and Richard James.
Music Video Monday: Tony Manard
If you would like to see your video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Tony Manard 
