Back on March 8th a benefit show was held for the Six Degrees of Memphis SXSW Show in Austin. Performers included Brad Postlethwaite and friends, The Bo-Keys, The Tennessee Boltsmokers and Jump Back Jake.

Check out some photos:

Tennessee Boltsmokers

The Bo-Keys

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Montgomery Gentry & Co in Studio A, January '08.

Monday, March 31, 2008 – With the lead-off single and title track, "Back When I Knew It All" the fastest rising single to date, Montgomery Gentry will release their seventh album on June 10.

Montgomery Gentry cut the project in Memphis. "We were down in Ardent Studio, where a bunch of legendary, mostly rock and roll acts had recorded," said Troy Gentry. "We wanted to do something different. I think it came together well down there, and it shows."

"Yeah, and it just really had that great groove, too," Eddie Montgomery said. "When you go in and you see where Zeppelin recorded there, Bob Dylan and B.B. King. Man, the vibe. I don't know if you believe in ghosts or not, but I felt that the ghosts were in the room when you were singing and playing. So, it was really, really cool."

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Don't miss this month's Ardent Sessions with BTR's Artist of the Week - De Novo Dahl!

Listen Here!

Setlist:
00:49 Dance like David
04:10 Sky is Falling
07:48 Sexy Come Lately
13:39 Shout
17:16 The Funk
21:54 Shake Down
25:25 Wishful Thinking
30:49 Piggy's Misadventure
35:17 Mishka
39:20 End of Time
44:17 Make Some Sense
48:13 Be Your Man

"Memphis’ Ardent Studios is one of the most respected recording facilities in the world. Everyone from Led Zeppelin to ZZ Top, from REM to Cat Power have made music within its hallowed halls. But despite the studio’s credentials, it is Ardent Records, the label, that inspires awe amongst pop aficionados, particularly as the imprint that begat pop cult heroes Big Star.

“Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story” celebrates with a deluxe two CD anthology that ranges from the label’s earliest mid-60s garage studio recordings to the halcyon days of the early 1970s, when a distribution deal with Stax established Ardent as a purveyor of the finest pop-rock. Memphis might have been the city where rock’n’roll was born, yet a significant minority of its youth in the late 60s and early 70s appeared besotted with the sound of British rock, inhabiting a Southern demi-monde where the Yardbirds and Who reigned supreme. The sharply-dressed Brit-pop aesthetic seemed integral to the Ardent modus operandi, adding a certain flash to even its most undemonstrative acts. It was also reflected in founder John Fry’s unerring commitment to technical quality, and the permission to experiment: Ardent was always more Abbey Road than McLemore Avenue."

From Phil Johnson's review in The Independent:

From pouting garage rock to psychedelia so anglophile that the accents recall Teddington more than Tennessee, and on to the pre-punk power pop of Big Star, this 2CD survey of cult Memphis label Ardent is so revelatory it's hard to listen to anything else. The first disc's selection of Sixties singles, including solo work by Big Star's Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, mixes sharp mod R&B with phased guitars, sitars, folk-baroque strings and art-rock lyrics. Disc 2 specialises in pre-punk cock rock and weird acoustic wastedness, with 12 Big Star demos and rarities. Compilation of the year, already.

Read more at the Ace Records Web site, or use the Amazon link below for purchase.

Firmly rooted in his dad's music, guitarist takes every opportunity to stretch out

By Bob Mehr (Contact)
Via The Commercial Appeal

Photo by Don Perry

Steve Selvidge wears a lot of different hats.

Any given week you might catch the acclaimed guitarist plying his trade with roots songstress Amy LaVere or indie-pop band Antenna Shoes, doing session work for Christian rocker Todd Agnew or, as he is this week, playing a solo set of country blues at the Hi-Tone. A longtime local music veteran, notably with Big Ass Truck, Selvidge's myriad musical pursuits mark something of a change.

Steve Selvidge has long been in great demand for session and band work, but this month he's taking time for solo sets of country blues at the Hi-Tone.

Steve Selvidge has long been in great demand for session and band work, but this month he's taking time for solo sets of country blues at the Hi-Tone.

"Years ago, the local scene wasn't as cross-pollinated as it's become," says the 34-year-old Selvidge. "Nowadays, me and everybody else I know plays with a bunch of different bands. And I don't know if it's just out of necessity or just 'cause we like to. But if there's an interesting musical opportunity and I'm available, I don't typically turn it down."

Along with his close friends the Dickinson brothers and Paul Taylor, Selvidge is part of a group of second-generation Memphis musicians who've kept up a family tradition. Selvidge's father, Sid, is a noted folk artist and member of deconstructionist blues outfit Mud Boy and the Neutrons, a group that also features Dickinson patriarch Jim.

The youngest of five kids, Steve Selvidge mixed blues with his breast milk growing up.

Bad Veins have received the first ever Target Music Maker Award...

Check out Bad Veins' Ardent Sessions...

In the picture, L to R: Engineer John Hampton, Mike James, and studio manager Jody Stephens

Mike James, aka Mikey Jukebox, was in the studio this week mixing his new record with engineer John Hampton and assistant Adam Hill. The record is to be titled Hello Dreamer! and Mike anticipates an August release. You can check out more from Mike at www.myspace.com/mikeyjukebox, and look for him on the road this June!