ALEX CHILTON: No Chitterlings Today
There’s so much Alex out there, it’s hard to navigate. You can tell I’m a fan of Like Flies on Sherbert, and Omnivore Recordings, a hub of Alex reissues, has a new version that will include yet more additional tracks. Omnivore also boxed up Complete Third, which includes demos and alternate mixes. They put out Big Star’s Live in Memphis, a multicamera concert video of the revived Big Star (of the three formats, the DVD sounds the best). Omnivore also released an expanded version of Sid Selvidge’s The Cold of the Morning—great stuff. Rhino Records released Keep an Eye on the Sky, the 4-CD Big Star retrospective (I won a Grammy Award for the liner notes). For reading, try the biography of Alex, A Man Called Destruction, by Holly George-Warren or Rob Jovanovic’s Big Star; both are well researched and full of facts you’re likely to not otherwise know. The book Big Star: Isolated in the Light is an amazing collection of photographs and anecdotes.
Bruce Eaton’s short book on the making of Radio City—it’s part of the 33 1/3 series—gets a running start from his personal connection to Alex Chilton; his interviews begin with a trust that most questioners never attain. Big Star’s music is widely available again, thanks to Concord Records.
Of Alex’s later recordings, I love his contributions to the Chet Baker tribute, Imagination. Chet’s influence grew during his career, and Alex honors him. (The record was produced by Ron Miller, a one-time Panther Burn.) If I were collecting tracks for a late period compilation, I’d begin with “Don’t Stop” from A Man Called Destruction—one of my favorite of his pop songs; an expanded version of Destruction has been recently released. I also like a lot of Clichés—great intimacy on a series of classics. His version of “Nobody’s Fool” from High Priest is pretty great—Alex interpreting his original producer, Dan Penn. Much of Alex’s later career was devoted to his radio favorites from childhood, and Set—recorded all in one night and using only first takes—is a full-on sampling of what’s on his mind. So is Electricity by Candlelight, an acoustic set captured on a cheap recorder when the power at the gig went out. It’s like he’s entertaining at a bonfire when the second bottle of bourbon is going around.
The Big Star documentary Nothing Can Hurt Me is, all things considered, a fine film. The first hurdle it faced was having no archival footage to work with! But they found the right people to tell the stories, and they give pre- and post-histories of the players to create an engaging and revealing story. I’m excited to see the forthcoming documentary built around Chris Stamey’s performance of Big Star’s 3rd. It’s called Thank You, Friends. My compadre David Leonard is working on an Alex documentary; I’m certainly looking forward to seeing that (www.alexchilton.rocks).
AFTERWORD: Stuck Inside the Memphis Blues Again
My information about the ratio of CEO pay to worker compensation comes from the Economic Policy Institute—nonpartisan, nonprofit, and can be found on Table C at www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-continues-to-rise/. Note that I’ve chosen not to use the most extreme examples (over 600 to 1 in present times—the bastards).
The music lives on. Start with the North Mississippi All Stars and the numerous side projects from Luther and Cody Dickinson. The All Stars’ Prayer for Peace (2017) is a career highlight, even on the heels of another great one, World Boogie Is Coming. Onward and Upward gathers Jim’s family and friends days after his death, a recording raw and ready for heaven. Luther’s side group, the Wandering, gathers Sharde Thomas, Amy LaVere, Shannon McNally, and Valerie June. Their Go On Now, You Can’t Stay Here redefines Mississippi folk music. Cody has branched into films, producing Take Me to the River, which captures the cross-pollinating of Memphis music—by generation, by genre. (Bobby Bland is thrilling with Yo Gotti.) And now he’s making a New Orleans version. His debut solo record, Leeway for the Freeway, calls on brother Luther and friends like John Medeski, Duane Betts, and Robert Randolph to forge new ground, including takes on a couple of his dad’s songs. Each of the ladies in the Wandering has her own stellar records, and Julien Baker’s personal songs and delivery make her another Memphis femme to watch.
The Country Rockers at the Antenna Club, circa 1995. Left to right: Ron Easley, Gaius “Ringo” Farnham, Sam Baird. (Courtesy of Trey Harrison)
A trail of breadcrumbs: Light in the Attic Records features lots of overlooked Memphis artists: Bob Frank, Bobby Whitlock, Lou Bond, Johnnie Frierson, Packy Axton, and Wendy Rene. (Wheedle’s Groove in spirit.) Concord Records, which owns the latter Stax catalog, has reissued the John Gary Williams solo album and unearthed an unreleased one. They’re bringing out new talent too, like Southern Avenue. The Hi Records catalog is widely available through Fat Possum, making your Willie Mitchell explorations easy, and they continue to mine the region, finding the likes of Robert Finley, reissuing the Grifters and the Country Rockers, and getting Don Bryant back into the game with Don’t Give Up on Love, his best recording ever. (Man, you Fat Possum guys need to buy me some Girl Scout cookies.) Syl Johnson, who did some recording for Hi, is the subject of a boxed set and a documentary on Numero Group. Check out the Bo-Keys, a contemporary Memphis soul band that mixes classic players with their protégés (www.thebokeys.com). Lucero has evolved from an earnest roots rock band to become explorers of Memphis possibilities; many albums and styles to choose from. Stax’s David Porter is culturing new talent through his Consortium MMT program and his new Made in Memphis recording studio. Memphis filmmakers have grappled with the Memphis spirit; seek out the work of Craig Brewer, Ira Sachs, Lynne Sachs, Morgan Jon Fox—and check out the Indie Memphis film festival (www.indiememphis.com). Get you some Harlan T. Bobo on Goner Records (also look for Nots and the Limes), some Mark Edgar Stuart on Madjack Records, Duets for Mellotron, and don’t forget Big Ass Truck and Lorette Velvette and the Kropotkins, Motel Mirrors (on Archer Records, where Sid Selvidge later recorded and Lily Afshar now records), Magic Kids, Cory Branan (“Love Song #11” rules), Curlew’s Fabulous Drop, Shelby Bryant and the Clears, Ron Franklin, Keith Sykes, Jay Reatard, Memphis radio at www.wevl.org, LPs at Audiomania, the various Steve Selvidge projects, Jody Stephens’s post–Big Star work with Golden Smog and with Those Pretty Wrongs. Riding the crest is Cities Aviv, and Andria Lisle just turned me on to the Memphis label Unapologetic (www.weareunapologetic.com) and I swear the still, small voice is whispering in my ear. And I realized I forgot the Reigning Sound, which means I forgot lots of others (apologies) so I gotta quit.
INDEX
Note: Here in italics refer to photographs.
Acuff, Roy, here
Aikei Pro’s Records Shop, here
Aldridge, Lesa, here, here, here, here, here
All Day & All Night (film), here
Allen, Steve, here
“All Night Long” (song), here
Altshuler, Robert, here, here
Anderson, Annye, here
Anderson, Paul Thomas, here
Andrews Sisters, here
“Another Place, Another Time” (song), here
Antenna Club, here, here
Anthology (album), here
Apollo Theater, here
Applewhite, Little, here
Ardent Studios, here, here, here
Armstrong, Ralph, here
Arnold, Eddy, here
Arnold, Kokomo, here
Artaud, Antonin, here, here
As Quiet as It’s Kept (Newborn), here, here
Atlantic Records, here, here, here, here
Autry, Gene, here
Avedon, Richard, here
Baker, Chet, here
Baker, Lee, here, here, here, here, here
Bar-Kays, here
Barnes, Djuna, here
Barristers, here
Basie, Count, here, here, here, here
Beale Street Music Festival (1997), here, here, here
Beauregard, Nathan, here
Behind the Magnolia Curtain (album), here
Belafonte, Harry, here
Bell, Chris, here
Berry,
Chuck, here, here, here
Bicycle Music Company, here
Big Brother and the Holding Company, here
Big Dixie Brick Company, here, here
Big Star, here, here, here, here
Big Star 3rd (album), here, here, here, here, here
Biography of a Phantom (McCormick), here, here, here
Birth of the Blues, here
Bitter Lemon, here
“Black Betty” (song), here
Black Flag, here
Blackwood, Dean, here
Bland, Bobby “Blue,” here, here
“Blue Moon of Kentucky” (song), here, here
Blue Note, here
The Blues (TV series), here
Blues Busters, here
“Blues Theme for Left Hand Only” (song), here
Boogie Man, here
Boogie Woogie Flu (blog), here
“The Bourgeois Blues” (song), here, here, here, here
Bowie, David, here
The Box Tops, here, here, here
Bramlett, Delaney, here
“Breathless” (song), here
Brewer, Craig, here
Brown, J. W., here, here
Brown, Kenny, here, here
Brown, Lois, here, here
Brown Skin Models, here
Buck, Curtis. See McGill, Jerry
Buckley, Jeff, here, here
Buckley, Tim, here, here
Buford, L. P., here, here
Bullet, here
Burnside, Cedric, here
Burnside, R. L., here, here, here, here, here, here
Callicott, Joe, here
Camper Van Beethoven, here
Canned Heat, here
Can’t Be Satisfied (Gordon), here
Carnes, Bobby, here
Carr, James
and Quinton Claunch, here
Easley-McCain Recording, here
Goldwax recording sessions of, here
and gospel music, here
LA Weekly feature on, here
and Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall, here
mental illness of, here, here, here
1979 Japanese tour, here
photographs of, here, here
and spirit of Memphis music, here
and “The Dark End of the Street,” here, here, here
Carr, Leroy, here
Carter, Jimmy, here
Carter Family, here
Casey, Jim, here
Cash, Johnny
death of, here
moving from rockabilly to country music, here
as Sun Records artist, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Cassavetes, John, here
Cat Power. See Marshall, Charlyn Marie “Chan”
CBS Records, here, here, here
Center for Southern Folklore, here, here, here
Chandler, Chester “Memphis Gold,” here
Charles, Ray, here
Charlie Feathers (album), here
Chess Records, here
Chew, Chris, here
Chewalla Rib Shack, here
Chilton, Alex
and astrology, here, here
and Jeff Buckley, here
as early punk rocker, here, here, here, here, here
and Easley-McCain Recording, here
and “The Letter,” here, here
and Like Flies on Sherbert, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and Jerry McGill, here
and Dan Penn, here
and the Replacements, here, here
and Unapproachable Panther Burns, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
chitlin circuit, here
Christian, Charlie, here
Chuck Wagon Gang, here
“City of New Orleans” (song), here
Civil Rights Act of 1967, here
Clapton, Eric, here, here, here
Clark, Elliott, here, here, here, here
Clark, Guy, here, here
Clark, Susanna, here
The Clash, here
Claunch, Quinton, here, here, here
Clay, Maude Schuyler, here
Clement, Jack, here
Clements, Paul, here
Clinton, George, here
Cohn, Larry, here, here
Cole, Jerry. See McGill, Jerry
Cole, Nat “King,” here, here
The Color Purple (film), here
Coltrane, John, here
Columbia Records, here, here
Como, Perry, here
Cooder, Ry, here, here
“Cool Water” (song), here
Cosloy, Gerard, here
Cotton, James, here
“Cotton Crop Blues” (song), here
The Covers Record (album), here
Cowboy Junkies, here
The Cramps, here, here, here
Crawford, Hank, here
Cray, Robert, here
“Crazy Arms” (song), here, here
Cream, here
“Crossroads” (song), here
Crosthwait, Jimmy, here, here
Crudup, Big Boy, here
Crumb, R., here
“Cry Like a Baby” (song), here
Cunningham, B. B., here, here, here
Curtis, King, here
“Dahoud” (song), here
Daniels, Chip, here
“The Dark End of the Street” (song), here, here, here
Davis, Miles, here
Davis, Walter, here
The Dead Kennedys, here
“Dead Shrimp Blues” (song), here
DeBerry, Jimmy, here
Denton, Jeremiah, here
“Desperados Waiting for a Train” (song), here
Diamond, Neil, here
Dickinson, Cody, here, here, here
Dickinson, Jim
author’s interview with, here
and Alex Chilton, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and context of Memphis music, here, here
death of, here
and Charlie Feathers, here
on Robert Johnson mythology, here
on Stephen LaVere, here
and Jerry McGill, here, here, here
as Memphis music scene figure, here, here, here, here, here, here
and Mud Boy and the Neutrons, here, here, here, here, here, here
and Phineas Newborn Jr., here, here
as producer of recordings, here, here
on recording, here
and Unapproachable Panther Burns, here, here, here
and Mose Vinson, here
on white youth’s introduction to blues music, here
Dickinson, Luther, here, here, here, here, here
Dickinson, Mary Lindsay, here, here, here
Dixie Flyers, here
Dixie Fried (album), here
Dixieland Folkstyle (album), here
Domino, Fats, here
Dream Carnivals, here
“Dream Lover” (song), here
Driggs, Frank, here
“Drinking Wine Spo-Dee O’Dee” (song), here
Duane, Paul, here
Duke Records, here
Dunbar, Sly, here
Dunst, Kirsten, here
Duran Duran, here
Dusty, Robert. See Johnson, Robert
Dylan, Bob, here, here
Earle, Steve, here
Earnestine & Hazel’s, here
Easley-McCain Recording, here, here, here, here, here
Edwards, Connie, here
Edwards, Will, here
Eggleston, William, here, here, here, here, here, here
Electronic Arts Intermix, here
Elektra/Nonesuch Records, here
Ely, Joe, here
Emmet the Singing Ranger Live in the Woods (album), here
Escott, Colin, here
Estes, Sleepy John, here, here, here
Etheridge, Melissa, here
Evans, David, here, here
“Everybody Here Wants You” (song), here
Exile on Main Street (album), here
Exit/In, here
Fahey, John, here, here
Falco, Tav “Gus”
and Alex Chilton, here, here
and William Eggleston, here
introduction to Memphis, here
and Like Flies on Sherbert, here
and Randall Lyon, here, here
on music as art form, here
and Unapproachable Panther Burns, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
“Farther Up the Road” (song), here, here
Fat Possum Records, here
Feather, Leonard, here
Feathers, Bubba, here
Feathers, Charlie
death of, here
and Tav Falco, here
LA Weekly feature on, here
photographs of, here, here
and Elvis Presley, here, here, here
on rockabilly music, here, here
as Sun Records artist, here, here, here, here, here, here
and Unapproachable Panther Burns, here
Feathers, Ricky, here
Feathers, Rosemary, here
Feel Like Going Home (Guralnick), here
Feudalist Tarts (album), here
Fialkov, Jay, here, here
field hollers, here, here
Fieldstones, here, here
fife and drum music, here, here, here, here, here
Finas Newborn Orchestra, here
The Firm (film), here
Fishel, Jim, here
Flat Duo Jets, here
Flatlanders, here
Floyd, Harmonica Frank, here, here
Foley, Red, here
Ford, Frazey, here
Ford, Fred, here, here
“For the Sake of the Song” (song), here
Franklin, Aretha, here
Franklin, C. L., here
Freeman, Charlie, here
FreeWorld, here
Friedlander, Lee, here
Fry, John, here
Fuller, Buckminster, here
Fulsom, Lowell, here
Galbraith, Barry, here
“The Gambler” (song), here
Garner, Robert “Honeymoon,” here
Gassner, Amy, here
Gehrig, Lou, here
Get With It: Essential Recordings (1954–69) (album), here, here
“Get With It” (song), here