Reopening of Musician’s Hall of Fame in Nashville – Gene, Bobby, and Reggie are in the photo above.
From the site:
After closing over three years ago to make room for the Music City Center, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum reopens today. In a reception last night, founder and CEO Joe Chambers thanked the many supporters in the room, especially for their assistance in restoring many instruments that were damaged in the 2010 flood.
Enjoyed this rendition of Kris’s great song Sunday Morning Coming Down. Check out Reggie’s great guitar playing on this! Great stuff!
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/aug/09/new-box-set-focuses-on-elvis-presleys-sessions/
From the site:
This week, Sony put out a box set titled Elvis at Stax, a three-CD package documenting Presley’s July and December 1973 sessions at the South Memphis studio. Its release will be celebrated Tuesday with a special ceremony at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, part of the annual Elvis Week festivities…
……
…In addition to a mix of members of Elvis’ touring band (guitarist James Burton, drummer Ronnie Tutt) and a few former American Studios players (guitarist Reggie Young, bassist Tommy Cogbill), several Stax musicians, including MG’s bassist Duck Dunn, drummer Al Jackson Jr. and guitarist Bobby Manuel, were summoned to play with Presley.
From the site:
How did you come to play piano and sing harmonies on Elvis’ legendary 1969 sessions at American Sound Studios in Memphis?
Well, I was living in Atlanta when I had my first mini hit in 1965, a Top 20 R&B ballad written by Ashford & Simpson called “Never Had It So Good.” Incidentally, it was my first record for Scepter Records, and audiences seeing me open for Sam & Dave and James Brown were probably shocked to discover that I was white [laughs].
Two years later Scepter asked me to record my next single at American with producer Chips Moman and the Memphis Boys [Gene Chrisman/drums, Reggie Young/guitar, Tommy Cogbill and Mike Leech/bass, Bobby Emmons/organ, and Bobby Wood/piano]. I thought it was a great idea, and that session helped me get my foot in the door.
I soon got a residency at the prestigious Playboy Club in Atlanta, where I was working an unbelievable six hours a night, six nights a week. Anyway, Chips showed up one night. He was pleased with our previous session and urged me to move to Memphis.
He told me that he would get me session work at American, introduce me to music industry bigwigs, produce my next hit, and land me a job at T.J.’s, a very busy nightclub owned by Jewish businessman Herbie O’Mell. Everything came true except for the hit record. Tommy Cogbill, who I admired very much, also talked to me, and I was finally convinced to make the move in November 1968 with my wife, Joyce.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/oct/19/plantation-inn-where-stars-rose-in-the-west/
From the site:
Across the Mississippi Bridge in West Memphis, in the parking lot of Pancho's Mexican restaurant, is the site where the Plantation Inn Nite Club once stood. While there's no marker, plaque or sign noting that fact, the impact of the club -- the music it hosted and the musicians it fostered -- can still be felt decades after its demise.
Here are three other good links about the Plantation Inn:
http://www.ameriblues.com/2009/11/17/where-the-music-came-from-by-robert-nighthawk-tooms-2/
http://www.westmemphisblues.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87x0lStEW3I
This is great – Dan Penn is featured on this but also Donnie Fritts, David Hood, Larry Jon Wilson, Spooner Oldham and many others!
Reggie is interviewed starting at 7’38” – good stuff!
http://hornpmshow.blogspot.com/2013/07/0708-merrilee-rush-hollywood-show.html
From the site:
Merrilee Rush (born Merrilee Gunst, January 26, 1944, Seattle, Washington) is an American singer, best known for her recording of the song "Angel of the Morning", a Top 10 hit which earned her a Grammy nomination for female vocalist of the year in 1968.
Rush grew up in Seattle's North End, and studied classical piano from a young age. In 1960, she auditioned and became the singer for the Amazing Aztecs, a Seattle-area rock & roll band led by saxophone player Neil Rush, whom she would later marry. The two went on to form Merrilee and Her Men, doing mostly cover versions of pop hits, and then joined rhythm and blues group Tiny Tony and the Statics, whose regional hit "Hey Mrs. Jones", on the Bolo label, featured Rush's keyboard playing and vocals.
In 1965 the pair formed Merrilee Rush and the Turnabouts, who soon became a popular act on the Pacific Northwest's teen dancehall circuit. A member of the group's road crew also worked for Paul Revere and the Raiders, and through this connection, Rush was invited to be the opening act on the Raiders' tour of the southern United States in 1967. While in Memphis, Tennessee, Raiders lead vocalist Mark Lindsay introduced Rush to record producer Chips Moman.
Rush's version of "Angel of the Morning" was recorded at Moman's American Studio in Memphis in early 1968, and was produced by Moman and Tommy Cogbill. Released by Bell Records in late June 1968, the song climbed to #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was a major hit in several other countries as well. The one millionth sale of this record was reported by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) in 1970. Although credited to 'Merrilee Rush and the Turnabouts', both the single and subsequent album (also called Angel Of The Morning) were recorded using the same musicians who played on Elvis Presley's famous Memphis recordings.
"Angel of the Morning" garnered Rush a Grammy Award nomination for best Contemporary Pop Female Vocalist of the year. She was nominated along with Barbra Streisand ("Funny Girl"), Dionne Warwick ("Do You Know the Way to San Jose"), Aretha Franklin ("I Say a Little Prayer"), and Mary Hopkin ("Those Were the Days"). Warwick was the eventual winner
http://larry5154.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/a-nashville-cat/#comment-12922
Watch the clip to hear Larry Butler talk about writing Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song with Chips.
From the site:
He truly was a Nashville Cat. Larry Butler wasn’t a great singer and never had his own hit records but he was a great piano player, songwriter and record producer.
Sad news -- Bobby Blue Bland passed away last Sunday (June 23, 2013). Oxford American magazine recently reprinted a 1999 interview with Dan Penn on Bland’s influence.
http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2013/jun/25/issue-2728-bobby-blands-influential-voice/
From the site:
In his recent autobiography, B. B. King wrote that Bobby "Blue" Bland is his favorite blues singer. King is not alone in his praise. Bland's vocal power combines the glottal intensity of a gospel shouter with the smoothness of a crooner. He brings a vocal range to blues performance that is straight out of Sunday morning worship. His first recordings were for Modern and Chess in the early '50s, but it was with Don Robey's Houston-based Duke label that he established himself as a premier force in rhythm and blues. He scored chart-topping r&b hits with the #5 "Farther Up the Road"—perhaps the definitive Texas shuffle—in 1957 and with the #1 "I Pity the Fool" in 1961; "Turn On Your Love Light" reached #2 in the same year.
Bland was born on January 27, 1930, in Rosemark, Tennessee. As a boy he learned to sing white country blues via Gene Steele's radio show and the Grand Ole Opry. On the street corners of his hometown, he earned nickels and dimes singing hillbilly music. He moved to Memphis with his mother in 1947. It was the wrong time and place for a black country artist to emerge, and the young singer ventured down Beale Street into the world of rhythm and blues. Bland established popularity with black audiences by touring the "chitlin circuit" in the Blues Consolidated Revue with Junior Parker. After moving to Houston and teaming up with arranger and bandleader Joe Scott, he found the ultimate vehicle for his voice. Scott's arrangements combined jazz sophistication with rhythmic horn charts and featured the seminal blues guitarist Wayne Bennett.
About the music that has influenced him, he has said, "I like the soft touch. I don't like the harsh. I listened to a lot of Perry Como, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole for diction, for delivery. And I still know more about hillbilly tunes than I do blues. Hank Snow, Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold—so much feeling, so much sadness." In the mid-'80s he started recording for the Malaco blues label based in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1997 his Sad Street album was nominated for a Grammy in the best contemporary blues category, and his recent album "Live" on Beale Street proves his voice is as robust as ever.
In the early '60s a young blue-eyed soul singer named Dan Penn modeled his sound on Bland's unique voice. Penn went on to become a leading r&b songwriter through the success of such hits as "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" for Aretha Franklin, "Dark End of the Street" for James Carr, "Out of Left Field" for Percy Sledge, and "I'm Your Puppet" for James and Bobby Purify. Before establishing his reputation as a songwriter, Penn fronted bands like the Pallbearers and the Mark V who played frat parties, sock hops, and local dances all over the South, covering the gamut of Bland's repertoire. From his home in Nashville he offered his appreciation of Bobby "Blue" Bland's music.
LES BACK: How would you sum up Bobby Bland as a vocalist?
DAN PENN: Bobby Bland was just the Man. You wanted to be like him, at least I did—just a great, great singer. He had exceptional delivery and understanding. He made you understand what the song means to him. He didn't just shuffle through, you know—it's also blood and guts. The r&b records that I loved are not prominent or in your face. Listen to "Share Your Love with Me," the one with the strings—that's my favorite. That one, and "Two Steps from the Blues" are the two that stick out for me. I have to say that I've never heard records any better than those. No gimmicks, just pure blues pop. Nobody's ever beat 'em.
LB: I guess you could say those records are blues with a heavy gospel influence and feel, too.
DP: Once you've been to the church as a child, there's a streak of something that goes right through you. Put it this way: you've got to go a long way to beat spiritual music. They've got something to talk about, and it's so emotional. I got the r&b and the gospel feel from Ray Charles and Bland; I also got that from Aretha and all the black gospel acts. John Richbourg on WLAC played nothing but black music right here in Nashville. It was all over the South. It was one of the biggest things of the '50s. I mean, if you didn't know where WLAC was on your radio, then you weren't hip. My world was lily-white as far as my church music, but even lily-white people got soul, you know? Once I heard black people on the radio—Ray Charles and Bobby "Blue" Bland—it was all over for me. I said to myself, This is the best stuff around, and I still hold that opinion. I still think that black church music is as good as it's gonna get. I've never heard anything better.
LB: Early in your career, didn't you cover "Turn On Your Love Light"?
DP: Yeah, we did. Every Southern band did that one. He just had that really great voice. Going on down the line there was a lot of great singers, but Bobby Bland just had that growl. It was the creamiest of growls. He had this real Grrraaa thing in his voice, but it was all creamy. Back then it would just totally take you away, even more than James Brown and Ray Charles.
LB: Would you rate him as a better singer than both of them?
DP: In his prime I would put his voice above them, but maybe not his talent. It was the blues, but country was kind of the other side of the coin.
LB: Did you know that Bobby Bland grew up listening to hillbilly music and country blues?
DP: We're beginning to find out that a lot of the black singers, and some of the better ones, had that influence. I don't know what that means, except that maybe he, and a lot of other black singers of that period, had a pretty good insight into white people. They got a chance to check 'em out on Saturday night, and it was interesting, I think, for them to hear that music, it was more interesting to them than it was to me—of course I was cross-listening the other way. A lot of Southern whites, including myself, were listening to the black stuff and were interested in that. [Blacks were] interested in hearing the Grand Ole Opry. Arthur Alexander was that way, and I think so was Percy [Sledge]. I found out that Bland did like country, because in the '70s, when he cut one of my songs, I got to meet him. I got to go down to the studio here in Nashville, where he was cutting a country album.
LB: That must have been the Get On Down with Bobby Bland album.
DP: Yeah. He cut my song "I Hate You." He just cut the fool out of it. He had a really great feel on it. I felt just great that I had a Bobby Bland cut, although it was late in the game, and it was sort of country—it was still Bobby Bland. He didn't really cut it country; he put a swing to it.
LB: You must be proud of that one.
DP: I am, yes, 'cause it's Bobby "Blue" Bland. Some records you can count your money, and some records you can just count your blessings. He was just one of them people that you always admired so much. They used to call me Bobby "Blue" Penn back in the early '60s when I was with the Mark V and the Pallbearers. They did that in the South in a lot of the places because I sang so much like Bland. And like all white guys doin' that, I thought I sounded just like him. And my wife Linda said that I did, and I am sure I didn't [laughing].
LB: He's someone who is mentioned whenever I talk to Southern soul and r&b musicians.
DP: He was a big influence on the white singers, I'll tell you that, and not only me. I think he had as much influence as Ray Charles, but Bobby Bland just took it one step further. Oh man, he just kept going with that growl. He just put that growl on it, and it just floored all of us. I can't say enough good things about Bobby Bland. I guess that's what it comes down to, don't it? It's like, well, who had the best voice?
Bobby Bland did.
http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2013/06/post_44.html
Little bit off topic, but great to see that the 3614 Jackson Highway building will be preserved in this manner.
From the site:
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The Muscle Shoals Music Foundation today acquired the home of the original Muscle Shoals Sound Studios at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, according to board chairman Rodney Hall.
http://johannasvisions.com/today-chips-moman-was-born-76-years-ago-in-1937/
From the site:
Chips Moman, now semi-retired and living in LaGrange, Ga., still writes songs occasionally. “I write ‘em,” he says, “but I just leave ‘em laying there.” (- The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, 2008)
One of the most important characters in the Memphis music scene in the 60′s. Chips Moman helped start Stax Records, then American Sound Studios, which cut 122 chart hits from 1967 to 1972 — an unparalleled achievement.
Neil Diamond has donated royalties from sales of Sweet Caroline to help bombing victims after the recent tragedy in Boston. This story by ABC-TV shows lots of regular people singing the song – can we get some props for the great band who backed Neil on this record?
A story about American from the May 22, 1971 issue of Billboard Magazine. Also, a link to the entire Billboard issue (a special on Memphis music) in case you’d like to browse further:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ajsgarage/2013/04/09/bobby-wood--keyboardist--the-memphis-boys—elvis
From the site:
We are extremely honored to have a musical studio legend joining us this week... Bobby Wood!
There is not enough space here to write everything Bobby has achieved in the music business but here are a few highlights.
As part of "The Memphis Boys" studio group at American Studios in Memphis, Bobby played on over 122 chart hits in a four year span.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/feb/26/southern-soul-songwriter-dan-penn-revisits-past/
From the site:
Back in the mid-1960s, Dan Penn was what you’d call an all-nighter. A workaholic, a musical obsessive, he spent his wee hours at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., doing what he did best: wrestling songs to the ground.
Fueled by copious amounts of coffee, cigarettes and speed, and buoyed by a burning passion for R&B, Penn — usually with his writing partner and pianist Spooner Oldham in tow — would come to shape Southern soul music during those late nights.
“I had a big passion for what I was doing,” says the 71-year-old Penn. “We’d start in the evening, fooling around, looking for an idea or a groove. Then we’d write and cut till 2, 3, 4 in the morning; sometimes we’d stay there till sun came up. We were young and had a lot of energy then but that seems like another lifetime ago.”
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/soul-hero/Content?oid=3356611
From the site:
Memphis Flyer: I don't know how else to ask. How do you write a song as good as "The Dark End of the Street"?
Dan Penn: That's a good question. If you find out, tell me, because I'd like to write another one like it. Chips and me were really close at that time. We knew each other pretty good, and we had a lot of doggone respect for each other. And we'd had a lot of good times together. Also, I think songwriters, Southern songwriters at least, are inspired by Hank Williams. "Your Cheatin' Heart" is about the best slipping-around song there is. Then Jimmy Hughes did "Steal Away."And you were at FAME when Hughes recorded that, right?
I got to watch all that go down. And I learned a lot. I didn't feel like I was stealing from him [on "Dark End of the Street"], but he was definitely an inspiration. So you keep on trying to write this particular kind of cheating song. And in the '60s that seemed to be highly important.Having written hits already, when you finished writing "Dark End," did you know it was going to be your "Your Cheatin' Heart"?
I thought it was good when James Carr sang it. I can't say that I knew it right off because we wrote it in a hotel room in Nashville, and it was a good while before we had the demo down where we could play it back.
http://www.wknofm.org/post/sandy-finds-her-calling
WKNO’s Rob Grayson has a great article about Sandy Posey:
If you called to book a session at American Studios on Thomas back in the mid-1960’s, chances are you would talk to a lady named Sandy Posey. Similarly, if you were a song publisher wanting to interest producer Chips Moman in recording one of your tunes, receptionist Sandy Posey would be the first person you would talk with. Perhaps the conversation would turn to the fact that Sandy herself was a singer. All supposition aside, for one industrious song plugger, that information turned into a opportunity to say, “Sandy, I think I have something that just might be a perfect fit for you.”
Writer Roben Jones shares the story in her book Memphis Boys, The Story of American Studios. Gary Walker, representing Painted Desert Music, came by to pitch some songs for the Gentrys’ second album. And somewhere in his repertoire was a song Martha Sharp wrote titled “Born A Woman.” Walker invited Posey to come to Muscle Shoals and sing the demo version of the song. It didn’t happen overnight, but Chips got around to cutting the master of the song, and Sandy was his pick for the singer.
American Studios was still in the process of converting from monaural to 4-track recording, so the session was held at Royal Studios with Moman at the board. The home studio for Hi Records, Royal had immediate access to multi-track facilities. Scotty Moore played guitar on the session, and in the band were couple of guys who would become regulars at American Studios in the months to come, Tommy Cogbill and Mike Leech.
This is so great – a historical marker was dedicated in front of Willie Mitchells’ Royal Studios (3-1-12). Remarks by Jack Hale, Teenie Hodges, Charles Hodges, Archie Turner, Otis Clay, Howard Grimes, the Rhodes Sisters, and Bobby Blue Bland!
From the site:
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. & "Real Talk With Tha Artivist" presents... "A Great Day In Memphis & One For Papa Willie Mitchell: Royal Studios Historical Marker Dedication" (3-1-2012) Recording Great Music since 1957 Constructed as a theater in 1915 and converted into Royal Studios in 1957, Royal Studios, home of Hi Records and the Hi Rhythm Section, grew from a minor rockabilly studio into one of the most successful producers of soul music worldwide. Willie Mitchell pioneered the Hi Records signature soul sound at Royal Studios, personified by singers O.V. Wright, Ann Peebles, Otis Clay, Syl Johnson and Al Green, whose “Let’s Stay Together” topped Billboard charts in February 1972.
From the YouTube site:
Presented by Zoro, this series of video lessons features some of the grooves that charted the course of history -- starting in the 1940s when shuffles ruled the airwaves, through the dawning of drum-machine inspired hip-hop beats in the late 1970s.
Zoro explains each groove in the series, why the beat made an impact as well as some insights into the feel. In all, Zoro breaks down 23 of the drum grooves that charted R&B/Funk/Hip-Hop history.
Check out the full feature on vicfirth.com:
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/drumset/WeWantTheFunk.php
Here’s a screenshot from Chips’ website that was active in the early 2000s.
Note the quote from Chips in the first paragraph:
“We didn’t ever want to turn anybody away. We never thought that we were making music history. We were just glad to have the work and we thought if we turned anybody away, they would go down the street and find somebody that actually knew what they were doing.”
Of course, we now know that they were making music history and that they actually knew what they were doing! And that’s an understatement!
http://www.wsmv.com/story/20525449/bulgers-beat-soulful-pianist-highlights-biggest-hits
From the site:
Musical success isn't just about the star standing in front of the stage. You can't forget about the side musicians who really help make the songs come to life.
One of those very talented musicians, Bobby Wood, and his piano show up on some of the most popular songs you've been singing over the last 40 years.
Wood's piano chords are probably most familiar on Sweet Caroline, and he's still surprised to hear it belted during sports stadium sing-alongs.
"When it got to the chorus, Sweet Caroline, the whole crowd went, 'Bom-Bom-Bom.' We were all amazed, and our guys are all drawing social security, thinking 'you're not supposed to know that song,'" Wood said.
Chances are there's a lot you didn't think you knew about Wood, including many tunes with Elvis and a whopping 122 hit songs in one four-year-span.
His recipe for music success was always soul.
"I don't care what genre of music you're in, there ought to be some soul in it," Wood said.
That soul originates with a cotton-pickin' kid from rural Mississippi.
"Music was our love, cotton was our trade," he said.
Now, it's all told in his new book Walking Among Giants, where practicing piano at the age of 9 eventually led to the stage.
He's 71 now and modestly credits his success for knowing when not to play on a song.
"Some of these piano players play more in three seconds than I've played all my life," Wood said.
These days, Wood spends his time in his Music Row office with a couple of different keyboards at his fingertips.
Copyright 2013 WSMV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/18/169737358/american-sound-studio-on-world-café
From the site:
"Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley. "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" by Aretha Franklin. "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield. "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. All of these legendary songs were recorded at Memphis' American Sound Studio, the last of the five studios we're featuring in our trip to Memphis as part of the quarterly "Sense of Place" series.
Between 1967 and 1971, the studio produced approximately 120 hit songs. Musician and producer Ben Vaughn is uniquely poised to discuss the rise and fall of American Sound: Besides his love of the music, he worked with the American house band, The Memphis Boys, on Arthur Alexander's 1993 album Lonely Just Like Me. Vaughn goes through some of the most important songs to come out of American and shares his experience working with The Memphis Boys.
http://songsofsamcooke.com/carr/a_man_needs_a_womanLP.htm
Colin Dilnot’s liner notes from the Kent Records 2003 release of James Carr’s A Man Needs a Woman. Nice job describing the session – draws from a variety of sources, including my 2001 interview with Chips.
Is it possible that fate and chance, time and place can all combine to make a piece of music that continues to mesmerise us until today? One such meeting of fate, chance, time and place was the recording of James Carr’s “Dark End Of The Street” on Goldwax in the fall of 1966.
The song was a product of a multi-ethnic mix, which had been sown in the soil of Memphis and washed up on the banks of the Mississippi over several generations. It was the coming together of a disparate group of people – James Carr the son of a preacher, Quinton Claunch a businessman and record producer, Chips Moman a Georgian guitar player and Dan Penn a singer/song-writer from Vernon Alabama and several other players. The song was recorded at a time when Memphis was on the verge of disintegration because of the issues, which ran out of years of a segregated black population. The place of the recording was the only time Goldwax ever recorded there – the Royal Recording Studios, which also came about by chance.
I’ve tried to piece together the events, which produced what most people would agree was the archetypal soul record and demonstrate that sometimes the fates conspire to bring about the best creations.
http://cdh.columbiadailyherald.com/articles/2012/12/17/affiliate/franklinlife/news/05woods.txt
“For about as long as Bobby Wood can remember, he's been a musician.
"I grew up in a gospel family," he said. "We all had to sing, play an instrument or both. From the time I was about five years old, I was playing piano."
That talent served to carve out a successful career, covering a variety of musical genres.”
Read portions of Gillian Garr’s book on Amazon or on Google Books – Chapter 3 details Elvis’s recordings at American in 1969.
Amazon link:
Google Books link:
http://historic-memphis.com/memphis/american-studios/american-studios.html
“American Sound Studio was a recording studio at 827 Thomas Street. Almost no one remembers it as they remember Sun and Stax Records. But more than one hundred hit songs were recorded there between 1967 and 1972 and also listed in Billboard's Top 100. During a one week span, 25% of Billboard's top 100 not only came from this studio, but featured the same house band backing a variety of artists. During its brief lifespan, American produced in excess of 40 gold records. Among the artists who recorded at there were Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Dusty Springfield, B. J. Thomas, Joe Tex, Roy Hamilton, The Box Tops, and Bobby Womack. Perhaps American is not well known because most of the hits produced there were not for the American label, but for major labels who hired the studio for its excellent team of producers, musicians, writers and arrangers. American was different because it excelled in the production of multiple styles of music, including Rock, R&B, Pop, Jazz, and Country.”
Nice posts about American from TheElvisForum.com – lots of good pictures so be sure to scroll through all six pages:
http://www.theelvisforum.com/the-american-sound-studios-t5168.html
Great essay and photos from Anthony Scarlati’s blog:
Sometimes in life you head down the road in a direction that at the time seems right. You have a destination in mind, you have a plan. Well guess what, plans and destinations don’t always work on a roadtrip such as the one that I have found myself on. As I head East in search of Jackson, Tn, I can’t help but feel that I have forgotten something. Something really big and yes I had. In a few days the city of Memphis was going to be filled with Elvis fans from all over the world to pay their respects to the King. It was 35 years ago that Elvis Aaron Presley had passed on and in the wake of his untimely death an almost cult like worshiping has occurred in honor of the man and his music. A worshiping that seems to grow each year in proportions that just don’t seem possible. I am so close to throwing myself head first into this phenomena, with that twinkle in my eye that means only one thing. Hang one this will be fun. So with all that I turn the car around and start to make a few calls. Back to Memphis, and don’t worry Jackson I will be there in just a few days, their is something I just have to do.
I checked my Aretha box set last night - it credits the guitarists on "Think" as Tommy Cogbill and Jimmy Johnson. As Phil says Jimmy is a rhythm guitarist, he's on almost everything Aretha recorded for Atlantic in 67-68 almost always with another guitarist who's presumably the lead. "Think" was recorded April 15th 1968 in a five day run of sessions (4/14 to 4/18). Jimmy Johnson's on almost every track recorded, Tommy's on three or four. So it looks as if it's definitely Tommy. Bobby Womack was not on any of the April sessions, nor was Matt Murphy who as far as I know only played on the film version of "Think". I'd say that pretty much nails it.Jimmy is playing quarter note chords throughout the verses while Tommy is playing the lead. Technically, Tommy's part is an obbligato (defined as a persistent but subordinate motif) being played behind Aretha's magnificent vocal. It's subtle but great stuff!
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/going-uptown/Content?oid=1131893
Nice article from Preston Lauterbach (really good writer) about the history of Thomas Street – I had linked to this on another post quite a while ago but I believe the link is no longer functional:
“New residential developments sparkle on both sides of Danny Thomas Boulevard north of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Optimistic names like Metropolitan Apartments and Uptown Homes seem to promise a brighter future to these once-blighted streets.
Just north of Uptown, past Chelsea Avenue, after Danny Thomas becomes Thomas Street, the strip of black-owned and black-run barbershops, hot-wings stands, juke joints, and nightclubs looks like something out of this city's celebrated past. It's the kind of soulful authenticity that distinguishes Memphis from other places. In fact, some locals describe Thomas as the real Beale Street. “
http://www.elvis.com/news/detail.aspx?id=6617
Elvis Insiders Basic and Plus members can now check out a bonus video of a special performance during Elvis Week 2012 at The Memphis Boys Salute Concert. The video features Andy Childs and Terry Mike Jeffrey along with the legendary American Sound Studio band, The Memphis Boys, performing Elvis' hit song "Suspicious Minds." Insiders also have access to exclusive interviews with Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley, plus video of this year's surprise Elvis Insiders flash mob. Log-in to ElvisInsiders.com and click on the MEDIA section to watch the new videos!
NPR story about Roben Jones’ book and CD Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios:
http://www.wwno.org/post/forgotten-story-memphis-american-studios
Memphis has been a music town since anyone can remember, and it's had places to record that music since there have been records. Some of its studios — Sun, Stax and Hi — are well-known, but American Studios produced its share of hits, and yet it remains obscure. But that's all likely to change with Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios, both a book and a CD out now.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444506004577615490161185870.html
“In the late 1960s, as the landscape of rock and soul shifted underneath him, Elvis Presley's career began to sputter. Then, some headway: A TV special in December 1968 rekindled interest, and the following month Presley headed into the studio to record what would become "From Elvis in Memphis"—a rock-soul album that is still considered one of his finest. "In the Ghetto" from those sessions went to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. And 43 years ago this week, a Memphis recording that didn't make the album was released as a single. "Suspicious Minds" went to No. 1 in November 1969. It led to Presley's "comeback," albeit one that would later play out largely in Las Vegas.”
http://www.musicrow.com/2012/08/snapshots-82212/
“Legendary producer, songwriter, guitarist, and studio owner Chips Moman took part in a special interview recently (8/18) at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Moman, who helped establish Memphis’ Stax Records and later opened the city’s American Sound Studio, played a pivotal role in creating a great number of pop, soul, and country classics. Moman produced Elvis Presley’s 1969 comeback album From Elvis in Memphis as well as sessions for Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, the Highwaymen and others. He also co-wrote “Dark End of the Street,” “Do Right Woman,” “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” and other hit songs.”
One more CMHOF interview – Dan Penn interviewed in October 2010. Really great interview!
http://countrymusichalloffame.org/past-programs/view/1460?month=10&day=16&year=2010
http://officialelvispresley.tumblr.com/post/29481894584/packed-house-for-elvis-week-day-5
The day’s headline attraction came a few hours later as a near-capacity crowd filed into the Main Stage pavilion. The night belonged to the Memphis Boys, the heavyweight house band of American Sound Studio in Memphis. These are the guys who provided the music for more than 100 hit songs from 1967 until the studio closed in ’72. The Memphis Boys were musical chameleons and worked magic for a variety of artists from Neil Diamond and Aretha Franklin to Wilson Pickett and Dusty Springfield. Their highest profile collaboration was, of course, with the King himself. The group recorded a total of 30 tracks with Elvis, some being his more popular cuts.
This is fabulous – the Nashville Cream interviews Chips Moman:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2012/08/17/chips-moman-the-cream-interview
“Recovering from a successful hip-replacement operation, the laconic Moman spoke to the Cream from his West Georgia home turf. But if you want to hear Moman tell Elvis stories, you’ll have to make the trip to the Hall of Fame — whether it was the ghost of Elvis playing a trick on Chips, or just the phone line, the portion of the Cream’s interview that deals with Presley was completely inaudible.”
Via the wall of his Facebook group dedicated to the legendary American Sound Studio in Memphis, Erick Crews recently voiced his hopes to see an online database that would serve to catalogue the impressive series of singles as originally released on the AGP label between 1968 and 1970.
Online discographies exist, as do several videos on YouTube. As such a wealth of material is now available on the internet, I decided to to try and put together a comprehensive record of what is out there. Huge thanks go out to the good folks who have created YouTube videos featuring this material - some of which are linked to this blog - and additional thanks are directed towards Roben Jones and Erick Crews who kindly provided me with several elusive audio files and label scans. Without their invaluable contributions this blog would not exist!
At this moment in time a few pieces of the puzzle still remain to be missing, namely some label scans and track information relating to the (withdrawn?) Dee & Don single. I intend to update this blog and include any missing pieces if and when they present themselves to me. If anyone reading this has the material required to fill the gaps, please contact me via Erick Crews' Facebook group devoted to this revered studio's body of work. In the meantime, enjoy the wonderful music contained within this very special collection of seven inch singles...
Steve Cropper shared the news of Dunn’s passing on his Facebook page: “Today I lost my best friend, the world has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live.” Dunn’s fat P-bass tones and musical stamp are forever linked with some of the greatest popular music ever created, and his bass lines will be played on for generations to come. Duck, we thank you for your generous gift to the world, a world in which you will remain “legendary.” Godspeed, kind soul.http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/Daily/News/Bassist_Donald_Duck_Dunn_1941_2012.aspx
Here is a pretty poor low-res scan (from neg, not print) of that shot. Soon I will be making many original prints directly from the negatives, but all photo stuff has to wait in the queue of "so much to be done as soon as possible." (I just got a huge box of my negatives from the past back in my possession, after 24 years of being "lost".) In this photo Tom is tracking Son Of A Preacher Man. Bobby Emmons can be seen on organ through the CR window.Please go to the site to view the picture since I don't yet have permission from Terry to post it. The post discusses Tommy Cogbill and the recording of Dusty's Son of a Preacher Man. Be sure to read all three pages of comments! Good stuff! Thanks Erick!
