The Sixteen exceptionally dedicated students who comprise this year's Summer Soul Tour Band have landed in Australia and are taking the continent by storm!
This year's SST will take our Academy students throughout Australia for two weeks of performances and cultural experiences.
Our thanks as always to FedEx for their continued support of this exciting program.
The 2008 SNAP! Grand Finale will be held on Saturday, July 12 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Memphis. This year's show, subtitled "EvoSOULution," will chronicle the style and sounds that have shaped the history of soul music, from Soulsville to Motown, from Philadelphia to psychedelia. You won't want to miss it!
Tickets range from $7 - $15 and will go on-sale Saturday, June 28 at the Stax Museum Gift Shop. For more information, please visit StaxMusicAcademy.org.
Four out of every five Stax Music Academy students are counting on your generosity to help fund their tuition and program fees. Please click here to make your gift and help them learn, grow, and find their voice today.
Memphis, TN, July, 2008 -- 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 inspired days of the early 1970s, when a distribution deal with Stax established Ardent as a purveyor of the finest pop-rock.
Ardent Studios is one of the most respected recording facilities in the world. Recording artists ranging from Led Zeppelin to R.E.M., from Cat Power to The Raconteurs 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 created pop cult heroes Big Star.
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 obsessed with the sound of British rock, inhabiting a Southern microcosm where the Yardbirds and Who reigned supreme. The sharply-dressed Brit-pop aesthetic seemed integral to the Ardent formula, 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 dedication to experiment in the spirit of Abbey Road.
The two CDs are neatly divided between the two eras of the studio/label. Disc One (the 1960s, when the studio was based on National Street) features a striking array of rare garage singles and unissued psychedelic sessions, mostly overseen by Memphis maverick Jim Dickinson, as well as the early experiments of Big Star's Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.
Disc Two (the 1970s, when Ardent moved to Madison Avenue) examines the Stax era and beyond, with selections from Ardent acts Cargoe and the Hot Dogs, and 14 rare or unissued Big Star-related cuts, most of which have not been on CD before. These include demos, alternate versions, original mixes and non-LP tracks. Everything is presented from the master tapes and the sound quality, as befits any Ardent recording, is second to none.
Additionally, the lengthy sleeve notes draw upon in-depth interviews with both Fry and Ardent associates Dickinson and Terry Manning, as well as other behind the scenes personages such as Richard Rosebrough, Tom Eubanks and Steve Rhea, all of whom add unique insight to a cornerstone chapter of both Memphis and pop music history.
It was a thrill it to spend so many hours at Ardent Studios during the lengthy assembly of this project, recalls compilation producer Alec Palao. The magic that infuses all the recordings I have included on Thank You Friends is still quite tangible as you pass through its corridors and studio spaces at Madison Avenue. Thus, eternal gratitude to John, Jody, Adam and everyone else at Ardent from this long-time fan.
Read more at the Ace Records Web site, or use the Amazon link below for purchase.
Singer/Songwriter Nick Pagliari Says Please And Thank You On New CD, Due September 16
MEMPHIS, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Nick Pagliari Official Website) - Born and raised in Memphis and now based in Columbia, South Carolina, Nick Pagliari also lived in Nashville for five years honing his songwriting craft, where in 2003 he was voted Best Unsigned Songwriter in the reader's poll sponsored by the Nashville Scene weekly. Later as a member and primary songwriter for the band Fairfax, he landed one of his songs on the This is Americana: Volume One compilation CD that included Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss & Union Station and Lucinda Williams, among others.
During his stay in Nashville, he signed with Highland Music Publishing (SESAC). Pagliari also had one of his songs, 'Safe and Sound,' the title track from his 2007 EP, placed in the major motion picture, P.S. I Love You, which starred Hillary Swank. In addition, 2007 saw the release of Nick's first full-length album, The Sail.
FOX 13 INTERVIEWS THE STUDENTS OF STAX MUSIC ACADEMY!
The 2008 Summer Soul Tour band returned from Australia earlier this month. Click here to see a video that aired last night on Memphis' Fox 13 about this once-in-a-lifetime experience!
After you've watched the video, please consider making a gift to the Stax Music Academy, so that they may provide these kind of life-changing musical experiences to even more Memphis youth in the year ahead. They need your support!
The Stax Music Academy is part of the non-profit Soulsville Foundation. All gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Visit StaxMusicAcademy.org or call 901 946 2535 ext. 334 for more information.
As part of Shangri-La's Memphis Pops music festival, the Memphis Music Foundation is hosting an interview of Terry Manning, a legendary producer who has engineered albums for such artists as Joe Cocker, WattStax, Alex Chilton, James Taylor, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Joe Walsh, Johnny Winter, Lenny Kravitz, Crash Test Dummies, Bryan Adams, and Widespread Panic. Mr. Manning currently lives in the Bahamas and operates the famous Compass Point Studios. The interview is open to the public, and Mr. Manning will be taking questions from the audience. Come for a rare chance to meet an influential member of Memphis music history!
Eddie Montgomery developed keen observational skills at an early age.
“My mom was a drummer, my dad was a guitar player, and the bartenders were my baby-sitters,” he said. “I make a joke about it, but that was the truth. Honky-tonk musicians don’t make a whole lot of money, so mom and dad would just take us with them. Troy (Gentry)’s dad owned the bar, so Troy and me grew up in a bar.”
Montgomery Gentry’s seventh release offers the wit and wisdom the country duo has acquired in those honky-tonks over the years. The presentation is as raucous as ever, and it often gives a tip of the hat to the man upstairs. If the guys are feeling especially spiritual, they might draw inspiration from their recording sessions at Ardent Studios in Memphis.
“Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, B.B. King and the Rev. Al Green recorded there,” Montgomery said. “There was ghosts in there. It would give you chills.”
The cool thing about watching Television on DVD is that you can skip all the annoying parts, especially the recap of the previous episode that is attached to the beginning of each show. The beginning of this article is akin to one of those annoying recaps – tailor-made for those of you just now tuning in. Anyone who is a longtime fan can fast-forward through the first few paragraphs.
What Made Milwaukee Famous was formed in Austin, TX in 2003. Named for the song originally made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis about Schlitz Beer, the original line-up included Michael Kincaid (vocals, guitar), John Farmer (bass), Drew Patrizi (keys and guitar), and Josh Vernier (drummer) who would later be replaced by Jeremy Burch. The foursome spent two years playing locally and experimenting with their sound – a contemporary blend of alt-rock and synth-pop. Their varied style dabbles in radio friendly choruses, but also explored the classic loud-quiet-loud song structures that have earned Kincaid many Jeff Buckley comparisons.
As the story goes, their lucky break came when Josh Rosenfeld of Seattle's Barsuk Records saw them at South by Southwest. This led to a slew of opportunities that led to many more. Their connection with Rosenfeld led to their opening for Arcade Fire during a warn-up show for ACL which led to them being in the right place at the right time when a spot opened up during the Austin City Limits Music Festival. After they signed to a management deal, they became the first band without a record label to play the Austin City Limits television show. Barsuk later signed them and re-released their self-released 2004 album Never Trying to Catch Up in 2006. When the album was released they became the darlings of the blogosphere and played Lollapalooza. It’s a scenario that every band dreams of, but one that rarely actually happens.
The band added guitarist Jason Davis last year as they began working on their follow-up disc, What Doesn’t Kill Us, which was released in March, again on Barsuk. Produced by the band and Sparklehorse guitarist Chris Michaels, the new album delves into a more contemplative and less happy-go-lucky side of the band, which makes sense considering the title. However, WMMF is certainly not afraid to hop, skip and jump across the indie-rock tapestry. The music is still varied in style and tone and Kinciad’s voice feels just as authentic enveloped in sing-along choruses as it does when wrapped in epic, heart-wrenching pain. The music can be earnest and thoughtful, but overall WMMF manages to not fall into the sad sap category of music that label mates Death Cab for Cutie have opted for on their latest endeavor. Instead WMMF have sprinkled the new disc with enough lighthearted fair for the listener to understand that just because you’ve have a bad day, it doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. Let’s not forget the second half of the well-known cliché is the “makes us stronger” part.
WMMF have already been on tour for most of the year, landing not only across the nation in mid-sized indie rock halls, but also at Washington’s Sasquatch and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo. They’ll continue touring through the end of the summer which will include a stop at Lollapalooza and they’ll end their tour with where it all started at Austin City Limits Music Festival. . If there was any band on the scene today that deserves the title “almost famous,” it would be hard to argue that band is not WMMF.
The Smashing Pumpkins were in the studio last week with engineer/producer Bjorn Thorsrud and Ardent's Jason Latshaw, Mike Wilson, and Carter McHann. Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin were here working on a new song, entitled "G.L.O.W.," to be released in early September.
