Go Memphis Stories: Memphis music reviews, previews and commentary

Chris Young's 'Star' rising in country

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:05 -0000

After a bumpy start in the business, country singer Chris Young is riding high on the success of his sophomore album, The Man I Want To Be, which was released in September. The native of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was the first contestant from the USA Network's music competition show "Nashville Star" to have a top single. He plays Minglewood Hall on Wednesday.

Listen Up: Shy street singer finds his electrifying voice

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

Michael Moyer didn't do much talking the first seven years of his life. "I never would use my words," said Moyer, 20. "I had to take these classes to learn how to speak. I used to just point at things." But by the time he was 13, things had changed. His sister, Tristan Moyer, who goes by the name Nancy Whiskey in the Vegas-based-band, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, bought Moyer his first guitar and took him to punk rock shows.

Song from the past leads to breakthrough for Alyssa Graham

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:33:00 -0000

Fifty years ago, songwriter Jack Reardon penned a new song, an aching, melancholy lament of obsessive love that Billie Holiday was scheduled to record before the legendary songstress died unexpectedly. In 2008, the song, 'Involved Again", was recorded by Alyssa Graham. It formed the emotional core of her album Echo and represented an artistic breakthrough for the young singer. She performs Friday at Germantown Performing Arts Centre.

Missy Raines' musical flowers break through bluegrass traditions

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:17:00 -0000

Missy Raines is the most decorated bassist in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association. Yet, she caused a stir among bluegrass traditionalist when she started her group The New Hip with the express purpose of exploring new forms of acoustic music by more putting pop, jazz and other genres into the mix. The band, which released a new album this year, performs Saturday at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center.

Go Out! Fun weekday events

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:48:00 -0000

The son of Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Famer and Kennedy Center Honors recipient Paul Simon, Harper Simon, who performs tonight at the Hi-Tone Café, has been a subject in his dad's songs ("St. Judy's Comet," "Graceland") for years. Now the former Menlo Park band member has struck out on his own with the release of his eponymous debut album, featuring a cast of legendary studio sidemen.

Concert Review: Loaded R&B concert with Maze is amazing

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:03:00 -0000

Rhythm-and-blues fans also had plenty to be thankful for Sunday at the Pre-Thanksgiving Music Festival at DeSoto Civic Center, featuring Maze and fellow genre standouts Babyface and Charlie Wilson along with newcomer Arika Kane. More than 7,000 people turned out for the five-hour-plus concert, which, musically, may have been the best pop music experience the Mid-South has experienced all year.

Young R&B singer Arika Kane looking to learn at fest

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:35:00 -0000

Though the youngest -- and only -- female on the bill at Sunday's Pre-Thanksgiving Day Music Festival at DeSoto Civic Center, R&B singer Arika Kane isn't nervous about hitting the stage with veteran soul survivors like Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.

Sheriffs' career flies straight as arrow to EP

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:05:00 -0000

Even in the ephemeral world of rock-and-roll, a year-and-a-half is an uncommonly brief amount of time for a band to go from formation to the release of their first record. But Memphis alternative rockers the Sheriffs of Nottingham have made the turnaround with the release of their debut EP Hard Places. The band will commemorate the release Saturday with a show at the Young Avenue Deli featuring opening band Mojo Possum.

Reigning Sound returns with new album

mehr@commercialappeal.com (Bob Mehr) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

With the release of the Reigning Sound's Too Much Guitar album, Greg Cartwright was poised on the cusp of something big. But the group didn't make another album for five years. Finally, Cartwright and the Reigning Sound -- which now includes keyboardist Dave Amels, bassist David Gay, and drummer Lance Willie -- are back, and touring in support of the group's new album Love and Curses. They will perform at the Hi-Tone Café on Saturday.

Rippingtons: 20-plus years, counting

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0000

In 2006 the Rippingtons, the iconic jazz-fusion quintet founded by guitarist Russ Freeman, marked its 20th anniversary with the band releasing a greatest-hits CD/DVD and launching a world tour that lasted almost two years. "When I started the band I never considered that we would even last two years or three years and every year that we were in existence I thought would be our last," says Freeman, who appears with the band Saturday at the New Daisy Theater in Memphis.

Collaborations help Son Volt leader flex musical muscles

mehr@commercialappeal.com (Bob Mehr) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:12:00 -0000

Over the past few years, Jay Farrar has been busy working on songs with two of America's greatest writers: Jack Kerouac and Woody Guthrie. For Farrar -- the St. Louis singer-songwriter and veteran leader of roots-rock bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt -- it's been a rare break from his own songwriting work. This week Farrar is back to business, as he leads Son Volt into Midtown's Minglewood Hall for a performance on Tuesday.

Hard-rocking country star Jason Aldean plays DeSoto Civic Center

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:10:00 -0000

Jason Aldean returns to the mothership this week. The fast-rising country singer is taking a break from the near non-stop touring he’s been doing since he released his third album, Wide Open, last spring to head back home to Nashville for tonight's CMA Awards. “It’s a circus,” Aldean says of the hoopla that surrounds Music City’s biggest awards show. Aldean heads to Southaven on Saturday for a performance at the DeSoto Civic Center.

The Wailers' Atias takes reggae a step beyond Marley

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:35:00 -0000

The pop music landscape is strewn with replacement singers; vocalists who have had to step into the shoes of better-known predecessors in already established acts. But perhaps none has had as daunting a legacy to live up to as Elan Atias, the American who now fronts The Wailers, the late reggae legend Bob Marley’s old band. “I’m not trying to fill Bob’s shoes. I am my own person, and I am my own artist," says Atias, who performs Friday at Minglewood Hall in Memphis.

Go Out! Weekday events can be fun

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:28:00 -0000

Though they recently marked their 25th year together, the Japanese all-girl pop-punk trio Shonen Knife still retains the doe-eyed sweetness -- part '60s girl group preciousness, part Ramones-style spunk -- of their youth. The Osaka-based threesome, featuring founding member Naoko Yamano and new members Etsuko Nakanishi and Ritsuko Taneda, are bringing their sunny, quirky style stateside for a show Wednesday at the Hi-Tone Café.

Concert Review: Lambert keeps party going in Tunica

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:40:00 -0000

Singer Miranda Lambert has carefully cultivated an image as a hard-partying, straight-talking, buck-shooting, taking-no-guff-from-anyone honky tonk thrush. That empowering point of view is undoubtedly what attracted the large contingent of women -- dressed to the nines, dancing in the aisles, and singing along to every song -- to Lambert's sold-out concert Saturday night at Gold Strike Casino's Millennium Theater.

Back from the 'dead,' Bob Frank and his music career live again

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:57:00 -0000

As the Internet turns 40 this year, one of its lesser — but still profound — successes has been the resuscitation of music artists that were once thought forever banished to the cut-out bin of history. One such musician saved from obscurity is Bob Frank, the Memphis-born singer-songwriter whose respectable music career ended in 1972 shortly after it began. Frank has at last found an audience for his distinct songwriting vision, and he performs Saturday at Otherlands.

Listen Up: M. C. Mack takes aim from 'street side'

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0000

M. C. Mack described his 2003 Macknificent album as more "stylish" and his new album Pure Ana Part 1 as "more on the street side." "I rap kind of fast," he said. That's 'pure ana' — pure animosity. I'm shooting my lyrics like a .38." Mack performs at 11 tonight at The Plush Club at 380 Beale.

Folklorist William Ferris tracks Southern culture, music

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:15:00 -0000

Over a long, distinguished career as a folklorist and scholar, William Ferris has made innumerable contributions to the academic study of the blues and the Southern culture. But in his latest project, a sprawling multimedia effort that includes a new book, CD, DVD and Web site, Ferris reaches beyond the dry, impassioned cataloging of regional history and traditions. He will be in Memphis on Saturday to sign copies of "Give My Poor Heart Ease" at Davis-Kidd Booksellers and the Center for Southern Folklore.

The face of soul: Pictures document rhythm of the blues

mehr@commercialappeal.com (Bob Mehr) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

New York photographer Jacob Blickenstaff had an epiphany of sorts in Memphis in 2006. He'd come to town to attend the Ponderosa Stomp, the New Orleans-based heritage music festival that highlights forgotten and overlooked greats of R&B, soul, country and rock and roll. For Blickenstaff, it was a crucial moment that would shape his work for the next three years. Now, his efforts are being collected in a new photo exhibit at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

Casino Scene: Snoop Dogg's 'Wonderland High' tour comes to Tunica

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:06:00 -0000

In the game more than 15 years now, rapper Snoop Dogg (born Cordazar Calvin Broadus) has long been the most contradictory of hip-hop artists. A former gang member and unapologetic pot smoker, he is, nevertheless, one of mainstream America’s most popular rappers, thanks to his easy wit and laid-back style. Snoop’s “Wonderland High” tour promoting his new album arrives in Tunica Saturday for a show at Harrah’s Tunica Event Center.