Via Soundonsound.com

Though they never had a chart album or a hit single, and their original line-up played only a handful of gigs, Big Star's influence has been colossal. Their tightly crafted brand of harmony-led power-pop stood in stark contrast to other rock bands of the early '70s, and would later be rediscovered and championed by a whole generation of musicians, most notably REM. Comprising singer/songwriter/guitarists Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, together with bass player Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens, the Memphis-based quartet undoubtedly summoned the spirit of the Beatles on their 1972 debut album, #1 Record.

Despite the album's excellence, however, the public didn't catch on, and marketing, promotion and distribution problems on the part of Stax didn't exactly help sales. Chris Bell, an Anglophile who was greatly influenced by the Fab Four and other bands of the 'British Invasion', was bitterly disappointed by the failure of #1 Record and also hindered by personal problems. Furthermore, whereas Alex Chilton, the former Box Tops vocalist on hits such as 'The Letter' and 'Cry Like A Baby', veered towards live performance, Bell wanted to spend more time in the studio. The result was that Bell parted ways with Big Star at the end of 1972, en route to a stalled solo career and his untimely death in a car crash at the age of just 27.

It was after Big Star had disbanded and reformed as a three-piece outfit that, in 1974, they reached their brief apotheosis with Radio City, an altogether more intense, raw and rough-edged album that contained the group's biggest hit-that-never-was, the much-covered 'September Gurls'. Big Star's subsequent output — a live set and third studio album — never scaled the heights of either #1 Record or Radio City, which featured one last contribution from Chris Bell on the anthemic 'Back Of A Car'.

via The Herald Sun

GUY Sebastian has no problem covering Otis Redding.

The original Australian Idol, Sebastian has recorded a version of Redding's classic hit, (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay.

But, like Redding, Sebastian cannot nail the song's whistle outro.

Podcast: Listen to Nui Te Koha's podcast with Guy Sebastian

"It's super high and I can't reach the note," says Sebastian with a laugh. "Otis couldn't do it either. He found a whistler."

Recording with the famous Stax label house band in Memphis, Sebastian asked for a volunteer.

"Everyone I approached couldn't hit the note either. And none of them could remember who did it for Otis," he says.

Amazingly, the musicians, including guitarist Steve Cropper, recorded the Redding original, too.

"This is the band that played on the original versions of In the Midnight Hour and Knock on Wood," says Sebastian excitedly. "This is where it all started."

Aptly, Sebastian's success on Idol had a soul glow, too. His best moments came from his savvy rhythm and blues picks.

Then, after winning, he fell into formula and followed the Idol rule book diligently.

He has enjoyed three hit albums, but the as-yet-untitled Memphis album is closest to his heart.

It is due for release in November.

"To be honest, it's a stamp," Sebastian says. "I've tried other things in the past. I almost tried to cater to what I thought I should be doing.

"So, this is me saying, 'This is what I do best', not in an arrogant way, but it's what I grew up on. I know I do this well."

The track listing is Stax label heaven. It includes Knock on Wood, Midnight Hour, (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay, Hard to Handle, Under the Boardwalk and I Can't Stand the Rain.

Sebastian dusted off a Sam Cooke rarity, That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On, and wrote a new song in the Stax vein.

He said recording with the Stax house band was a privilege extended to very few.

The musicians have turned down Joss Stone and every soul wannabe who makes a request.

They took Sebastian after seeing footage of his live performances.

Sebastian said they worked quickly and insisted on recording live to analogue tape. They tracked 15 songs in four days.

"It's about getting a vibe," Sebastian says. "A guitar might do something, then you follow it vocally. It's about capturing those spur-of-the-moments."

So how did Sebastian build a rapport with the ultimate soul band?

"Ribs," he says. "Ribs and barbecue sauce is the language of the South.

"All you need is ribs, beef -- a whole lot of meat -- and it breaks down all barriers of culture."

Sebastian reached out, nightly, at a Memphis diner called Texas de Brazil.

"They bring out massive racks of chicken, beef and lamb, cut it and plate it. It was all-you-can-eat," he says with a groan.

Away from the dining table, Sebastian said the Stax band helped lift his game.

"I sang the best I've ever sung in my life," he says. "They just bring it out of you. When you are amongst that calibre, you lift.

"These guys have been in the same room as Otis, Elvis -- the greatest of the greats. They were so encouraging."

Sebastian will preview only a few Memphis cuts at upcoming intimate, acoustic shows.

The set-list will lean heavily on his previous albums.

Sebastian denied reports he considered quitting show business after post-Idol abuse and taunts.

"I'm a solo male pop singer doing love songs," he says. "That's bait for ocker blokes. I cop it from 2 per cent. The other 98 per cent are cool, encouraging and sweet.

"But I'd never pack it in over a bunch of knobs."

Guy Sebastian will perform at Manchester Lane on October 24 and Palms at Crown on October 26 and 27.

From left: Recording Academy President Neil Portnow, Executive Director (Memphis chapter) John Hornyak, and John Fry.

On Friday, September 7th, The Recording Academy held its bi-annual Honors awards in Memphis at the Cannon Convention Center. This year's honorees included Willie Mitchell, Knox Phillips, Irma Thomas, and Booker T and the MGs.

After a brief meet and greet, guests were treated to roof rockin' performances by Angie Stone, Ann Peebles, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Booker T and the MGs.

Read the Memphis Flyer article...

via Clarion Ledger

By Scott Barretta

The instrumental soul supergroup Booker T & the MGs started inauspiciously in 1962 when Stax Records label owner Jim Stewart heard the then-unnamed studio band fooling around between sessions. Stewart turned on the recording machine, resulting in the Memphis group's first hit, Green Onions.

The MGs continued to record their own hits, but spent most of their time in the studio backing Stax artists including Rufus Thomas, the Staple Singers, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor and William Bell. Due to their busy schedule, they rarely played outside of Memphis.

In the spring of 1967, Otis Redding's manager Phil Walden hired the band, together with the Mar-Keys horn section, to support Redding, Arthur Conley and Redding's Stax labelmates Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and Eddie Floyd on a tour of Europe. Once there the MGs were shocked by the adoring reception they received, and one magic night of that tour is captured on a new DVD, Stax/Volt Revue Live In Norway 1967 (Concord Music Group).

Thomas left the tour before the show was filmed, but the remaining cast is in top form, hardly surprising given that the MGs had backed Redding and the other Stax artists in the studio. The MGs open the show with Green Onions and Red Beans and Rice, and once joined by the horns, take on Mar-Keys instrumentals including Last Night.

Arthur Conley delivers a spirited cover of In the Midnight Hour before diving into his signature Sweet Soul Music, while Eddie Floyd's sole representation, Raise Your Hand, leaves you hungry for more.

The electrifying duo of Sam & Dave deliver four of their best-known songs, including Hold On! I'm Coming, and Redding drives the normally staid Scandinavians into a frenzy with a five-song set climaxing in a whisper-to-a-scream version of Try A Little Tenderness.

Scott Barretta is an Oxford-based writer and music critic. He is host of the Highway 61 blues radio show on MPB on Saturday nights.

via Undercover.com.au

by Paul Cashmere

The Staple Singers' 1962 Christmas album is being revived.

The 25th Day of December features 12 songs including "Joy To The World", "Silent Night" and "Go Tell It On A Mountain", as well as an original by Pops Staples "There Was A Star."

The R&B group is best known for the 70s hit "Respect Yourself", but The 25th Day of December dates them back a decade before their major success.\

"The 25th Day of December" was originally released on Riverside Records. The label folded in 1964 after the death of co-founder Orrin Keepnews.

The reissue of the album is through Concord Music, who this year resurrected the classic Stax label.

Staple Singers went on the record for Stax in the 70s.

As a part of the Stax reissues, Concord recently released the compilation album The Very Best of the Staple Singers.

Concord Music is shaking up the music business with creative marketing - and songs recorded half a century ago.

via Money.CNN.com

(Fortune Magazine) -- It should come as no surprise that a company backed by Norman Lear knows how to make creative use of television. Lear, the TV superproducer who created "All in the Family," "One Day at a Time," and other hit shows, is one of the owners of Concord Music Group.

Concord funded a documentary that ran recently on PBS called "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story," about the groundbreaking Memphis label that released albums by Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, and others. What most viewers didn't know was that Concord had recently bought the rights to the Stax recordings. Sales jumped after the documentary aired.

That's only one of the clever ways that the well-funded independent label is shaking up the ailing music business. Lear's longtime business partner, Hal Gaba, realized that there weren't many outlets that effectively sold music to adults, so in 2004 the company struck a deal with Starbucks (Charts, Fortune 500) to jointly release "Genius Loves Company," an album of Ray Charles duets that won eight Grammy awards and sold more than three million copies in the U.S.

Montgomery Gentry & co in Ardent's Studio A in September '07.

Nashville superstars Montgomery Gentry were in Studio A this week working on some material for their new yet-to-be-titled album, due for release some time in 2008. They brought with them some of the finest talent to be found in Nashville: Greg Morrow on drums, Pat Buchanan on electric/slide/acoustic, David Grissom on electric, Chuck Leavell on keys, Mark Hill on bass, and Dan Dugmore on acoustic/steel/slide/dobro/mandolin. Blake Chancey was the producer on the session, Tony Castle engineered, and Ardent's Adam Hill and Jason Poff assisted.

The crew came to Memphis for a change of scenery and to be able to work on the session without the usual distractions of working in their hometown. To read more about the band check out http://montgomerygentry.musiccitynetworks.com/.

BOOKER T. + THE MGS' soul anthem GREEN ONIONS has topped a new Best Rock Instrumentals poll. The Stax standard beat DICk Dale's surf classic Miserlou and Eruption by Van Halen in the Rolling Stone online survey.

The top five is:

1. Green Onions - Booker T. And The MGs
2. Miserlou - DICk Dale
3. Eruption - Van Halen
4. One Of These Days - Pink Floyd
5. The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix.

In the picture, L to R: Assistant Nick Redmond, guitarist Jimmy Paulson, engineer Pete Matthews, guitarist Kevin Day.

The guys from Top Heavy Crush came back to Ardent all the way from Seattle this month. They were here to put the final touches on the mix for their new, yet to be titled record. Read more about the record and their experiences in Memphis at www.topheavycrush.com.

The documentary "Nobody" won Best Documentary and the Kodak Tennessee Filmmakers Awards at the Indie Memphis Film Festival and was an official selection at the prestigious Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. The soundtrack for the film was recorded at Ardent Studios with local musician Ron Franklin who scored the film.

Other local musicians who lent their talent include:

RISING STAR FIFE AND DRUM BAND
Drum corps

JOHN ARGROVES
Medicine drum, anvil, blow torch

DAVE SOLDIER
Fiddle

JONATHAN KIRKSCEY
Cello

ANNA ACOSTA
Violin

JIM SPAKE
Clarinet

BEN LEWIS
Trumpet

ALEX GREENE
Organ

Film Synopsis:

In the winter of 2001, a drifter walked into the Memphis Coast Guard station seeking a boat to take on the Mississippi River. He spoke about a red-haired vixen named Mitzi, a Midwestern steel shop where he worked 90 hours a week, and an epic journey down four rivers from Marion, Indiana to Memphis, Tennessee.

Coast guard Lt. Dale Folsom introduced Jerry to filmmakers Lance Murphey and Alan Spearman. A few months later, a tragic phone call sent Jerry hurtling over the edge – and sent us on a five-year journey that would transform all of our lives. The result is a deeply personal portrait of a man running from his demons while finding grace in unlikely places.

Check out John Beifus' Review

More Info or to Purchase:

http://www.nobodythefilm.com/

http://www.myspace.com/nobodythefilm

GRAMMY OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: FURTHER DOWN

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Committee has placed Arkansas’ rock band Further Down on the Official Ballot for the 2008 Grammy Awards in the following categories:

Category 1 - RECORD OF THE YEAR
Further Down – “Hello”
Ballot Entry # 204

Category 2 - ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Further Down – “7 Years Hard Luck”
Producer, Recording Engineer, Mixer, and Mastering Engineer:
Pete Matthews and Brad Blackwood
Ballot Entry # 176

Category 3 - SONG OF THE YEAR
Further Down – “What You Say”
Ballot Entry # 629

Category 4 - BEST NEW ARTIST
Further Down
Ballot Entry # 110

Category 16 - BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS Further Down – “Hello”
Ballot Entry # 072

Category 16 - BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS Further Down – “One Night Stand Up”
Ballot Entry # 073

Category 20 - BEST ROCK SONG
Further Down – “What You Say”
Ballot Entry # 213

Category 21 - BEST ROCK ALBUM
Further Down – “7 Years Hard Luck”
Ballot Entry # 084

To listen to “What You Say”, “Hello” and “One Night Stand Up” or for more information about Further Down please visit www.sonicbids.com/furtherdown

The Big Star poster on the wall at The Fillmore. The poster was made for their show there on June 5, 1994. The openers were The Shatners (Counting Crows using a pseudonym) and The Gigolo Aunts. The Counting Crows opened just out of Adam Duritz's fondness of Big Star. They had played four sold out shows at The Fillmore earlier that year.

Big Star played a show at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday, October 20th. According to drummer Jody Stephens, "It's my favorite place to play. Bill Graham started producing shows there in 1963. The Grateful Dead, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Janis Joplin all got their start there. Oranger opened and was a pleasure to have on the bill.

"In addition to the usual songs, our set included Hung Up With Summer, February's Quiet, Lady Sweet and Whole New Thing. One of the engaging and suspenseful things for me about our shows is from time to time they go a little out of focus. Then everything comes together and those focused moments have a bit more impact along with a sigh of relief.

Some entertaining faces in the audience...lots of smiles, a person doing interpretive movement while singing along, and a girl whose face was kind of a true reflection of what was going on on stage...her expressions would go from curiosity to wonderment.

This was our third show at The Fillmore. Dates for the others were: June 5, 1994 and March 2, 2002. Time flies, insist on having fun now!"