Terry Manning's 1968 Photo of American Studio

The great producer Terry Manning took this photo of American in 1968. He has given me permission to post it here -- thanks much Terry! I am hoping Terry will share his remembrances about his days recording in Memphis in the 60s and 70s. Here's his discography -- wow!

The studio in those days was 'incognito' (by design) -- note that there is no signage as there is in later photos of American.

Photograph ©2012 by Terry Manning. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Great Stan Kesler Interview

Interview with Stan Kesler conducted by Rob Bowman and Ross Johnson -- great read:

http://blog.georgiarhythm.com/stanKeslerInterviewPart2.pdf

Official opening of Pegasus Parkway

Chips at the dedication of Chips Moman Highway in LaGrange, GA:

http://lagrange.wtvm.com/photo-gallery/news/49239-official-opening-pegasus-parkway?page=0

TROUP COUNTY, GA - Troup County officially opened the South Loop (Pegasus Parkway, aka "The Chips Moman Highway") with a huge ceremony.

There was music written and played by Chips Moman himself and speakers who saw the project all the way through. The Chamber of Commerce was also on hand to cut the ribbon.

Pegasus Parkway, which now connects Whitesville Road to West Point and Roanoke Roads, is now officially open for your afternoon/morning commute. This section of the loop serves an alternative route to the Western portion of LaGrange.

On the north side of LaGrange, work is still underway to finish up the North Loop. This will connect Mooty Bridge Road to Whitesville Road. Using the North Loop, motorists will be able to travel from Mooty Bridge, Waugh, Young’s Mill, Hammett and Davis roads to Whitesville Road.

Sheriff Donny Turner encourages motorists to use caution while all motorists familiarize themselves with the new roadways. Leave in plenty of time to arrive at your destination, without the need for excessive speeding. Observe the speed limit signs, traffic signals and all other safety devices as you travel to and from home, work and Christmas Partiesl… And, as always – Buckle Up!

Satellite Makes Tracks For McLemore

Check out WKNO radio's excellent series on The Memphis Sound hosted by Rob Grayson. Chips figures prominently in the history of Memphis music and he is featured in several of these episodes:

http://www.wknofm.org/people/rob-grayson

Built in the 30‘s, The Capitol Theater on McLemore brings back fond memories to South Memphians of Saturdays spent watching double features, a serial, and three cartoons, plus a Coke and candy bar, all for a quarter. By 1960, those days were gone, and the building was up for rent. Chips Moman found it, and all parties decided it fit the bill. With 25-foot high ceilings and a sloped floor, the room retained a live concert-hall feeling which would give the label’s recordings an identifiable sound all their own. The team pitched in on renovations, building the control room on the stage, adding acoustic baffles, and converting the candy counter into a record store.

Happy 75th Birthday Reggie!

Nashville session guitarist Bill Hullett posts about Reggie's 75th birthday party yesterday:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/303410-reggie-youngs-75th-birthday-bash.html

Hi Guys..

My wife Debbie, my oldest son Clay, and his wife Beth and I had the most amazing time last night getting to help celebrate Reggies 75th birthday. Reggies wife Jenny Lynn pulled off a complete surprise party!!!

It was the most amazing assemblage of real music people all in one place that I've ever seen!!! I know that I'll forget a lot of names but here's a list of some that comes to mind

Originally from Memphis...

Chips Moman....Historic mega record producer
Bobby Wood.....A team Historic session player piano
Bobby Emmons..A team Historic session player B-3
Robby Turner...A team session player pedal steel
Gary Talley.....Original guitarist for the Boxtops!!
Gene Chrisman..A Team Historic session player Drums

Originally from Muscle Shoals

The Decoys...The house band for the event...They rocked!!!!!Featuring
Kelvin Holly ...Bad Boy session G&L Tele player!
David Hood....A team Historic session ace bass guitar

Spooner Oldham Historic A team keyboard session ace and songwriter
Jimmy Johnson... A team Historic session player & engineer
Claton Ivey A team Historic keyboard session player
Will McFarlane...A team session guitarist


The Nashville cats

Ray Edenton...Historic A team session guitarist
Jimmy Capps...Historic A team session guitarist/ Opry member
John Willis...A team session guitarist
Chris Leuzinger ...A team session guitarist
Fred Foster...Absolute Historic Nashville record mogel
Jim Horn... Historic session ace...Sax/Flute


And Well Respected artists:
Leroy Parnell...slide guitar legend
Felix Cavaliere...The Rascals! need I say more!!
Jessi Coulter!!!!!
Lane Brodi
The Crickets ...Buddy Hollys band....How cool is that!!

The Best Part Of All....Watching & hearing Reggie play for a bit...And this was a 100% Tele zone all night long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No other electric guitars were present!!!!!

Teenie Hodges Interview

George Klein's interview with the great Teenie Hodges -- co-writer of Take Me To The River (I love that song and Willie Mitchell and the band's arrangement) and many others! He briefly mentions Reggie, Tommy, and the Memphis Boys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEoEqww7MK4

Dobie Gray RIP

Sorry to hear of the passing of the great singer Dobie Gray. He will be missed. RIP Dobie and thank you for all the great music you gave us!

I noticed that Dobie willed his property and future earnings to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. As most readers here know, St Jude's is just a few short blocks from the 827 Thomas Street studio location.

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/07/pop_singer_dobie_gray_dead_in_nashville_at_age_69/

Here's a link to Drift Away with Reggie's timeless guitar solo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr_eVcCAUXo

Reggie and Jenny Young at the Normandy River Cafe

FAME musicians to honor Aretha Franklin

The 16th annual American Music Masters Lady Soul: The Life and Music of Aretha Franklin, features several days of events, culminating with the Saturday concert. Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The band includes Hood on bass, Oldham on keys, drummer Milton Sledge, Nashville session guitarist Chris Leuzinger and American Studios Rhythm Section member Bobby Wood on keys.

http://www.timesdaily.com/stories/FAME-musicians-to-honor-Aretha-Franklin,183999

Vote for Chips -- Songwriter's Hall of Fame 2012 Nominee

Chips is a 2012 nominee for induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame -- here's a blurb from the site:

Songwriter/producer Chips Moman was a guitarist for Johnny Burnette and Gene Vincent before producing records in Memphis for the likes of Carla Thomas, and later, Elvis Presley and The Box Tops. As a songwriter, his compositions include such much-covered classics as Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” and James Carr’s “The Dark End Of The Street.” After moving to Nashville he earned a Grammy for the B.J. Thomas hit “Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” and also penned country hits like Waylon Jennings’ “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love).”

Key songs in the Moman catalog include “Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” “At The Dark End Of The Street,” “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” “Lukenbach, Texas” and “Wurlitzer Prize.”

http://www.songhall.org/vote/entry/1263

Refreshing Beverage -- Reggie's Solo on 'Hooked on a Feeling'

What a name for a site! Refreshing Beverage!

http://refreshingbeverage.com/?p=485

This post is about Reggie's solo on Hooked on a Feeling:

"Young provides the melodic intro for the song over a chromatically descending chord pattern, a figure he no doubt came up with on the spot. He fills here and there through a pair of verse-bridge-chorus progressions, whence, aided by swelling strings and a ringing ride symbol, he takes flight with a 5-bar solo that’s utterly perfect and concise and bluesy, but totally of-the-tune. You can’t help feeling a little cheated as he arpeggiates the F chord that leads back into the bridge…but hold on…before you know it, the chorus comes and goes and – he basically does it all over again! (The outro solo actually extends a couple of extra bars before the fade…bonus!)

The dude knew he had a good thing, a solo so nice he played it twice. It provides exactly you want from a solo in a pop song – it takes you to another place, providing respite from the form, and it gives a lift to the tune, however brief, before the verse-bridge-chorus resumes (in this case just the latter two), sounding fresh again from their momentary absence. It provides both tension – in being a break away from the rest of the song – and release, by virtue of Young’s note choices; here, it makes a good song great. I didn’t understand the mechanics of it at 10, of course. I just thought it sounded really, really good. Looking back 40 years later, it turns out – I was right."

Bobby Wood: A Word for New Songwriters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPenWf0tTe4

"Legendary songwriter, musician and artist Bobby Wood recounts meeting Elvis for the first time, writing for Garth Brooks and gives advice to songwriters entering the music industry. Wood is performing at the "Wake Up Nashville" event September 29th at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum to support Narcolepsy."

American Studio Mixing Console

Earlier this year, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame ceased operations at its Macon, GA, location. Most of the contents went to the University of Georgia in Athens. This photo shows Chips hauling the American Studio mixing console back home.

From the article:

"Moman said he hadn’t laid eyes on the board since it landed in the at the hall 15 years ago. He said he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it besides take it home. “If this old board could talk, I’d have somethin’,” he said."

http://www.macon.com/2011/06/23/1606574/georgia-music-hall-of-fame-signs.html

Bass Guitar Transcriptions

Lots of people come to this blog seeking bass transcriptions -- and for good reason! Two sought out examples are Mike Leech's part on Bobby Womack's "Woman's Gotta Have It" and Tommy Cogbill on Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man." Tommy's bass part was fully transcribed in the March 2006 issue of Bass Player Magazine, but I can't find it anywhere online. I can't find any transcription of Mike's part on Woman's Gotta Have It. Someday I will transcribe these two bass parts and post them on this site!

I found this interesting on-line course from Berklee School of Music -- lesson 10 reviews "Son of A Preacher Man." Looks like an excellent course -- too bad it's not free!

Symphonic Elvis on YouTube

Mike, Reggie and Bobby Wood appear in this video about the Symphonic Elvis CD. Mike and Reggie at about 3 minute mark and Bobby briefly at 6:50 or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtssgDoBo1g&feature=related

MusicMemphis -- History of Memphis Music Blog

Check out this blog on the history of Memphis Music -- very nice:

http://musicmemphis.wordpress.com/

He'll Take You There

Not directly related to American, but Sherman Willmott has done (and is doing) great things for Memphis music! His book Kreature Comforts looks like a great read. This article appeared in the August 2011 issue of Memphis Magazine:

http://www.memphismagazine.com/Memphis-Magazine/August-2011/Hell-Take-You-There/

Charles Heinz Recalls Memphis / Satellite Music with Chips Moman

http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/b-side-players/Content?oid=1135862

""I went to White Station and was singing with a group there that included Jim Dickinson on piano. I was introduced to the people at Stax, Satellite at that time, and they wanted me to record. In about '59, Jim Stewart was looking for artists. Chips Moman and I wrote 'Destiny.' It was on the charts here in Memphis for about 10 weeks."

Charles Heinz Photo:

Stan Kesler Wikipedia Page (translated from German)

Link to Google translation of Stan Kesler Wikipedia page:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Kesler&ei=PMleTsDcGpC5tgf8ksylCw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDoQ7gEwAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522827%2BThomas%2BStreet%2522%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3D1%26biw%3D1064%26bih%3D812%26tbs%3Dqdr:d%26prmd%3Divns

Bill Hullett: Music City Session Man

Bill Hullett has some nice things to say about Reggie:

"A few years later in the early seventies, before moving to town, I became a big Reggie Young fan. I would buy any record regardless of who the artists were, as long as Reggie played guitar on it. When I finally moved to town and got to know him as a friend it was the absolute best! My hero became my friend."

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Mar/Bill_Hullett_Music_City_Session_Man.aspx

Dan and Bobby E. at U. of Alabama

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110828/NEWS/110829854/1005?p=all&tc=pgall

Another good interview with Dan! See link above and excerpt from story below:

The most famous songwriter you've never heard of grew up in tiny Vernon, modern population just more than 2,000, seat of Lamar County. Despite the unlikelihood of small-town Alabama as a springboard to fame, Dan Penn wrote a hit record while still a junior in high school, when Conway Twitty recorded “Is a Bluebird Blue?,” a phrase Penn lifted from the big man on campus.

Facts
DAN PENN WITH BOBBY EMMONS

-What: Singer-songwriters of classic R&B, soul, country and pop hits in concert
-When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
-Where: Morgan Auditorium, University of Alabama campus
-Cost: $15
-More: 205-348-3844. www.theatre.ua.edu. www.danpenn.com. www.bobbyemmons.com.

Musical Profile of Chips Moman -- Vermont Public Radio -- 8/20/11

http://vpr.net/episode/51838/

Soul music's Do Right Man | StarTribune.com

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/127471723.html?page=all&prepage=2&c=y#continue

Dan Penn and Bobby Emmons recently appeared at the Dakota Jazz club in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here's a good interview with Dan from the Star Tribune:

Songwriter Dan Penn, an Alabama farm boy who became one of the most prolific talents in R&B, pays a rare visit Sunday.

Even if you don't recognize Dan Penn's name, chances are you're familiar with his work.

As a songwriter, Penn helped create dozens of indelible classics that define the golden age of Southern soul, including Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man," the Box Tops' "Cry Like a Baby," James Carr's "Dark End of the Street," James and Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet" and Janis Joplin's "A Woman Left Lonely."

He was equally prolific as a producer, perhaps peaking with a cultural touchstone: "The Letter," by the Alex Chilton-led Box Tops. Even a brief list of Penn's other associates reads like a who's who of '60s R&B: Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Arthur Alexander, Solomon Burke. Another is Bobby Emmons, an ace writer himself ("Luckenbach, Texas") and member of the famed Memphis Boys, who played with everyone from Elvis and Joe Tex to Dusty Springfield.

Emmons will be there on keyboards Sunday when Penn stops by the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis for a rare appearance that should include a slew of his classics as well as the fascinating tales that go with them.

"We play every once in a while, but not so much," said Penn, who turns 70 this fall, in his slow, quiet, Alabama drawl. He was speaking by phone from his Nashville home, complete with a studio he still uses for artists who seek him out. Memphis guitar great Steve Cropper just finished an album there, and Penn himself is completing the third in what he calls his Demo Series, following up 2008's "Junkyard Junky."

He primarily considers himself a songwriter, but is also a talented guitarist and expressive, soulful singer. The demos he recorded to pitch his classic songs are rumored to be amazing. Penn downplays those and often soft-pedals his many accomplishments. He's generally considered to have had a profound influence on Chilton, for example, but he insists that's not true.

"I didn't tell Alex how to sing," he said, although he admits that when "The Letter" came out, "Some of my friends back home, they thought it was me singin'. I did not influence him in any way except I would pitch him songs that I wrote."

Penn takes responsibility for one key change when they were cutting the record: "I told him to sing 'air-O-plane' instead of 'airplane.' It just rolled better."

The school of radio

So how did a white kid growing up in rural Alabama in the 1950s become an icon of Southern soul?

"I was a farm boy," he said, "but at night I'd listen to R&B. I listened to my little green radio. I had my own little room. After everybody'd go to sleep, I'd listen to WLAC in Nashville. That was my education."

And what an education it was. Ray Charles, Bobby Blue Bland, Jimmy Reed, Little Milton and James Brown crackled over the airwaves, seeped into teenaged Dan Pennington's brain, and he was hooked. As for country, "It wasn't on my radar at that point." Still, a couple of country stalwarts had a role in getting Penn started.

"Daddy had a one-mule farm," he said, near Vernon, some 60 miles southwest of Muscle Shoals, close to the state line. When his father took the truck into town, young Penn would be left to plow the fields. While he plodded behind the mule, Penn would sing songs like Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," and when he'd forget the words he'd make up his own.

His first hit song was recorded by Conway Twitty. Penn said he got the idea from an escapade with his friends. They persuaded some older kids to take them along to the bars in Mississippi. One of the older crowd answered every question with "Is a bluebird blue?" Penn, despite being a little queasy from his first beer, figured, "Maybe there's a song there."

At the urging of bandmate Billy Sherrill, he took "Is a Bluebird Blue" up to Muscle Shoals, and it made its way to Twitty, who climbed the charts with it in 1960.

Penn was 16.

Magic time

That began a long relationship with Rick Hall's Fame studio in Muscle Shoals and later Chips Moman's American Studios in Memphis as an in-house writer and producer. The hits came fast and furious, and so did artists from all over, hoping a little of the magic would rub off on them. There seemed to be an exhilarating sense that anything could happen.

When Atlantic Records honcho Jerry Wexler took Aretha's backup group, the Sweet Inspirations, to American for their own session with New York producer Tom Dowd, Penn said he stopped in and discovered "it wasn't happening." So he and frequent collaborator Spooner Oldham slipped into another room, wrote "Sweet Inspiration," then cut it with the group while Dowd and his crew took a lunch break. When they returned, Penn announced, "We got your hit."

"You know, back in the day I was a lot more aggressive," he deadpanned. "Hungry was the word."

These days Penn favors bib overalls and tinkering with old cars. He's dismissive of the current crop of neo-soul artists for essentially covering the same ground he did 40 years ago.

"I'm not interested," he said, allowing that he mainly listens to Southern gospel now.

And he keeps cranking out a steady stream of new songs. "As long as I'm writing," he said, "I'm OK."

Soul music's Do Right Man | StarTribune.com

The Daily Home - Backup singer reminisces about Elvis

Nice story about session vocalist Mary Holladay Pederson -- from the Talladega Daily Home. Here's the article:

CROPWELL — Mary Holladay Pederson grew up in Pell City and is now a resident of Cropwell, but she has made some fantastic memories in between.

Pederson sang backup for many of the biggest musical acts of the ‘60s and ‘70s, including Sonny and Cher, Ray Charles, Ben E. King, Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter, Ronnie Milsap and Neil Diamond, but none were bigger than Elvis Presley.

Pederson has always enjoyed singing. She began while in seventh-grade in an all-girls quartet and continued throughout high school. She sang for many local functions in Pell City, including store openings and school events. Once after appearing on the Country Boy Eddie Show, Holladay was asked by a nearby radio station to come over and sing for them, too.

After graduation from high school, Pederson went to Auburn University where she began singing with a friend, Susan Coleman Pilkington. She and Pilkington met Jeanie Green, and the three would later become backup singers for Elvis. Green liked their sound and in 1967 invited them to come to Muscle Shoals to begin recording music.

Pederson and Pilkington drove to Muscle Shoals from Auburn many Sunday mornings. They worked at the studio through the night and had to drive back by 7 a.m. on Monday for class. Pederson said they didn’t know it at the time, but they “were being trained to be session singers.”

They soon joined the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and were paid on the union scale, which was $22.50 per song or hour.

After graduating from Auburn, Pederson moved to Tennessee to work at the American Sound Studio in Memphis. Her sister Ginger, also an aspiring singer, moved in with Pederson and began attending Memphis State University. The sisters began singing backup for musical acts such as Ronnie Milsap and Billy Swan.

The sisters’ big break came when Chip Moman, owner of the American Sound Studio, struck a deal with Felton Jarvis, Elvis’ producer. They agreed on a deal that would have Elvis record at the Memphis studio. Moman liked the Holladays’ work, so they were brought in to sing backup for the Memphis sessions.

Pederson and her sister joined Jeanie Green and Donna Thatcher to become the singers that would back up Elvis on hits such as “In the Ghetto,” “Suspicious Minds,” “Rubber Neckin’,” “Cold Kentucky Rain,” and others. During those sessions, the girls recorded nine songs with Elvis. Pederson was paid $240.35 for her work.

Pederson talks about the first time she met Elvis. She said she was in the studio recording when the lights went out. When the lights were turned off, it meant recording had stopped, so she quit singing and wondered what was going on.

“In walks a huge mob of guys,” Pederson said. “Then Elvis walked through the middle of them. Elvis walked straight over to us and shook our hands.”

As Elvis approached her, Pederson said she began to think of what she was going to say to him.

“What do you say to someone like that?” she asked. “I didn’t want to sound stupid. All I could think to say was, ‘Hello, how are you?’”

Pederson said during later sessions Elvis would sit and talk with them. Many times he would talk to them about karate, saying he learned the techniques to protect himself.

“He was really, really nice to us,” Pederson said. “We were glad to get to work with him because he’d pull up a chair and chat with us like anyone would. After doing about four sessions with him, you kind of felt like he was a friend.”

Pederson said Elvis was sometimes nervous about performing on stage.

“He sometimes heard someone was going to try to get him; hence the big entourage,” she said.

Pederson and her sister did several more sessions with Elvis in Memphis. She said he only recorded at night, and the recording sessions lasted from 8 p.m. until daylight. These sessions usually lasted for about a week at a time.

On the fourth or fifth day of one of the sessions, Elvis came to talk to the girls like he often would. He was wearing an old poncho. Backup singer Jeanie Green approached him and said, “I sure do like that poncho.” Elvis stood up, took off the poncho and gave it to Green. Pederson said she and the other girls were really jealous because “we didn’t think of it first.”

Pederson married her husband, Steve, on July 25, 1970. He was a pilot in the Air Force and was sent to F4 training. The couple moved to Germany for a brief time, and she missed out on three years of recording with Elvis. However, she did sing backup for Ray Stevens at the inauguration of President Richard Nixon in 1973.

Pederson and her sister were asked to do a show with Elvis in Atlantic City in 1974, but Pederson declined because she was three months pregnant. “What a thing to do!” she said.

Pederson crossed paths with Elvis again in 1975 in the Memphis recording studio.

“He looked puffy and fat. He looked unhappy and he wasn’t friendly,” she said.

She knew something was wrong, but didn’t know what it was that had changed Elvis so dramatically.

In 1977, Pederson’s husband was sent to Pilot Safety School in California. She went to Nashville while her husband was away, and she was right back in the studio. She was in the studio recording tracks on Aug. 16, 1977, when the lights went out. She quit singing, and the engineer came over the speaker and said, “We just heard Elvis died.”

Everyone in the studio was shocked. They couldn’t believe it. They all thought he was too young to die.

Moments later the phone rang at the studio. The voice on the other end told them, “Yeah, it’s on the news. Elvis is dead.”

“I felt so sorry,” Pederson said. “You don’t want to see a singer like that decline like he did. We felt helpless.”

Pederson still embraces her time with Elvis.

“The older I get, the more I see it as a great privilege,” she said.

Pederson will be a featured guest on the “Elvis Cruise” Jan. 12-16, 2012. She and her sister have also been invited by former Elvis pianist Bobby Woods to join him on an upcoming European tour where she anticipates playing in 10 countries in two-and-a-half weeks.

While Pederson and her sister had some successful recording sessions before Elvis, Pederson said it didn’t seem like they were to the point in their career where they should have been asked to work with Elvis.

“But Elvis liked us,” she said.

Contact Kenny Farmer at kfarmer@dailyhome.com.

http://www.dailyhome.com/view/full_story/15103680/article-Backup-singer-reminisces-about-Elvis?instance=home_lead_story

Couple of links about the Thomas & Chelsea neighborhood -- then and now

I thought this was interesting -- here's a link about a historical church (located roughly half a block from the 827 studio) that dates back to the Civil War -- the photographer took several other pictures along 7th Avenue where the church is located:

http://itchyshutterfinger.com/7th-chelsea/

Here's a link showing before and after pics of the 827 studio -- the beauty shop didn't appear to last too long -- I took a pic of the location in 2007 and the building was a closed-down child care center. And my recent picture last month indicates that the building is once again deserted (rumored to become a Family Dollar Store):

http://www.onthisveryspot.com/find/spot.php?spot_web_name=American_Sound_Studios

Spooner Oldham Profile

Very nice profile of Spooner -- it's on You Tube in 5 parts....check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxhqUTjj2Y

827 Thomas Street -- July 29, 2011

Here are current photos of 827 Thomas Street (actually this building is 831 Thomas!) -- taken on July 29, 2011:

Memphis Boys at Franklin Theatre

Hope you didn't miss the Memphis Boys concert at the Franklin Theatre last Friday (6/25). A great show -- and a great venue! Here are photos from the Franklin Theatre's Facebook page (taken by Anthony Scarlati):

http://www.facebook.com/franklintheatre#!/media/set/?set=a.2131808730752.122315.1112023150

I particularly enjoyed Scat Springs' vocals on all the great R&B classics that the Memphis Boys recorded.

Pictures from the rehearsal at Green's Grocery the day before the concert:

http://www.littlewaltertubeamps.com/page9.html

Memphis Boys 2005 Interview

An interview with the Memphis Boys -- conducted in Denmark during the Memphis Boys' 2005 visit. Maybe a few mistakes in the transcription but a very nice job:

http://gracelandranders.dk/default.asp?page_id=104

Tommy Cogbill Bass Transcriptions

French bassist Pierre Verger has a site of transcriptions from his favorite musicians -- Tommy C. being one of them. Here's the link -- I actually link to the Google Cached version of the page because my browser blocked a popup page. Just click on the link at the top of the cached version to go to the original page.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oOtPvKrbI-0J:freebasspart.pv24.pagesperso-orange.fr/Bass_Players.htm+http://freebasspart.pv24.pagesperso-orange.fr/Bass_Players.htm&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

Tommy Cogbill's Lasting Legacy

In-the-know bass players still discuss Tommy Cogbill's majestic bass lines -- here's a thread from the TalkBass web site ("Tell Me Your Favorite Tommy Cogbill Bass Line"):

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f28/tell-me-your-favorite-tommy-cogbill-bass-line-629166/

Resolution Commemorating Messick High School

Reggie Young -- and Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn -- graduated from Messick High School. Here's a Tennessee House Joint Resolution commemorating Messick:

http://www.tn.gov/sos/acts/107/resolutions/hjr0373.pdf

The Gibson Interview: Guitar Legend Steve Cropper

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/steve-cropper-0527-2011/

Steve has a new solo album coming out -- most of it recorded at Dan Penn's studio in Nashville. Here's a quote from the interview:

Where does your sensibility for writing great guitar riffs come from?

Some of it is from listing to guys like Lowman, but part of it is also experimenting. When I’d get together with somebody like [Memphis songwriter/producer] Chips Moman in the old days, I’d ask for his advice. I didn’t have much experience working with producers and engineers, and I asked Chips what they’d be expecting from me. He said, “Crop, just go in and do what you do and if they don’t like it they’ll let you know.” My idea was to just play the rhythm until I felt a little opening in there, and I’d stick a lick in or a fill. The producers just loved that, so it evolved from there.

It’s easy to lay a track and play a rhythm, and then have somebody go sing or lay a solo over it, because the rhythm is nailed down.

Memphis Boys at Franklin Theatre -- June 25, 2011

http://prod1.agileticketing.net/WebSales/pages/TicketSearchCriteria.aspx?ada=true&evtinfo=35553~cfe40b7d-1c56-4c4b-b937-600bdd7c5904&

NAMM Interview with Gene Chrisman -- Great Stuff!

http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/gene-chrisman

Reggie with the Blind Boys of Alabama -- May 4, 2011 -- Nashville, TN

Nice Article on Tommy Cogbill

Via Google Books, here's an excerpt from Ed Friedland's book "R&B Bass Masters."

http://books.google.com/books?id=eKCGMCOlisgC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=tommy+cogbill+bass&source=bl&ots=OvgsEYtkS5&sig=WGUcWfl-pByByBP4C5aFR9Uhtb0&hl=en&ei=3i3FTcL1Loy_gQf4o4TLBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=tommy%20cogbill%20bass&f=false

Jerry Wexler on Dusty in Memphis

We know many of these details about Dusty's recording technique, but it's interesting to read Jerry's first person account of the Dusty in Memphis sessions.

http://www.cpinternet.com/~mbayly/atkh5.htm

Rareelvispresley.com

Click on the fourth link from the bottom for American-related content. A nice collection featuring snippets of articles about American (most have appeared elsewhere).

http://www.rareelvispresley.com/

Video from the Elvis Museum era at American presumably posted by the website owners here (this video posted elsewhere also):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7_PLFEnu9s

Rare Outtakes from American Sound Studios1969 - ElvisCommunity Video - Elvis Family, Friends and Fans Worldwide

Rare Outtakes from American Sound Studios1969 - ElvisCommunity Video - Elvis Family, Friends and Fans Worldwide

Dang Me!

I love this song recorded at American in the sixties. It's from Masqueraders' lead singer Sam Hutchins -- what a great groove!



Interview with the Masqueraders:

http://www.soulexpress.net/masqueraders_story.htm

The original from the great Roger Miller!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3-EwMJDQek

Billboard Magazine Archives

I have enjoyed using Google Books to search old copies of Billboard magazine, copies of which have been archived going back to the 1940s. Additionally, Billboard magazine has the same search capability on their site (in cooperation with Google). I tried both and it seems to work more seamlessly on Google Books. I ran a search on "Tommy Cogbill" and got loads of hits from the late sixties and early seventies. You really get a sense of being there!

The most efficient way is to go to the link below (Advanced Google Book Search) and limit the search to magazines:

http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

Or, as noted above, the same search capability is available from Billboard's site:

http://www.billboard.com/archive

Here's an example of a search for articles mentioning Tommy Cogbill:

http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=tommy+cogbill&tbs=,bkt:m&num=10

Check This Out

Check this out from the new web site -- Qwiki. It's an automated voice and the content can be found elsewhere (this is from Wikipedia I think), but it's still pretty cool.

http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/American_Sound_Studio

If you click at the bottom of the page on the 'Press' link, you can read about how this content is generated.

The Blind Boys of Alabama

http://www.rosebudus.com/blindboys/TakeTheHighRoad.html

Read about this soon-to-be-released album from the Blind Boys of Alabama. Reggie played guitar on the sessions. Looks like a great album! Promotional video here:

http://youtu.be/KEFRtSqg49s

Bobby Wood Turns 70 Today

Happy Birthday Bobby Wood -- from the 'Back in Memphis' Blog:

http://backinmemphis.blogspot.com/2011/01/bobby-wood-turns-70-today.html

From the site (some of the material below from Pamela Decker's article found here):

Happy Birthday Bobby Wood! We appreciate all your contributions to American music! May all your birthday wishes come true!

Bobby Wood is a session musician and songwriter most famous for his work as the Memphis Boys keyboardist. Born in a community just south of New Albany, Mississippi, Wood was one of six children in a musical family that delighted crowds as the Wood Family Gospel Group. After studying classical music through mail-order lessons, Bobby decided that genre wasn’t for him. He then mastered and went on to train others in the American folk music tradition of shape notes.

For Bobby, the organ was his forte. From years of singing with his family, he developed amazing vocal abilities. Already an accomplished musician by his late teens, he set forth on Bankhead Highway to Memphis where he became Sun Studio producer Stan Kesler’s protege.

In 1964, Bobby released a song on Joy Records “If I’m a Fool (For Loving You)” and shortly after Wood joined Reggie Young, Bobby Emmons, Tommy Cogbill, Mike Leech and Gene Chrisman to create a famous group of studio musicians who later became known as the Memphis Boys. Over the years, the Memphis Boys backed numerous artists such as Dusty Springfield, Neil Diamond, Wilson Pickett, The Box Tops, B.J. Thomas, the Sweet Inspirations, Dionne Warwick, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Merrilee Rush, Sandy Posey, Billy Swan, Joe Tex, Herbie Mann, James and Bobby Purify and many others. Of all the hit records that the Memphis Boys recorded, they will always be best known as the musicians that brought Elvis back to prominence in 1969 backing Elvis on records such as “Kentucky Rain” and “In the Ghetto” and Elvis’s biggest record of all time “Suspicious Minds”.

Bobby was inducted into The Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007 as a member of The Memphis Boys.

1999 Interview with Dan Penn -- Good Stuff!

From New Zealand journalist / producer Chris Bourke -- nice job Chris!

http://chrisbourke.blogspot.com/2011/01/sumpin-real-funky.html

Chips at Dothan Civic Center -- September 2010

Go here and search for Dothan Civic Center to see some great videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJay55#g/search

Here's one of Chips and Bobby Emmons talking about Lukenbach, Texas:

Chips Moman Bio on You Tube

You Tube Video of American Sound Studio

Dan Penn and Bobby Emmons Live at the Bluebird Cafe

Listen here:

http://wpln.org/?p=23124

Gene Chrisman « Musicians Hall Of Fame

Brief video salute to Gene from the Nashville Musician's Hall of Fame. Wish it had been longer!

http://musicianshalloffame.com/blog/?page_id=1010

And here's a salute to Reggie --

http://musicianshalloffame.com/blog/?page_id=1014

Bobby Wood also!

http://musicianshalloffame.com/blog/?page_id=998

Story of the origin of these videos is here:

http://musicianshalloffame.com/blog/?p=539

Forthcoming Dan and Spooner Collection

Link: http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2011/01/preview-sweet-inspiration-songs-of-dan.html

Songwriter Red West on From Elvis in Memphis

From an interview with Red (link below):

Elvis didn't listen much to his own music but he really loved his From Elvis In Memphis album, the one he did with Chips Moman; that was an album full of great songs and Suspicious Minds by my buddy Mark James. Elvis was so sick of this movie crap that he'd been recording and it was not doing his career any good. When he cut that album it (The session) was just loaded hits, In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, Don't Cry Daddy, Kentucky Rain. He brought the demos when he was doing the Change of Habit film with Mary Tyler Moore. He wore Suspicious Minds out. When his albums were released he would listen to them and think about them and wonder if he had done this or that or the other. But the one he played more than any was that Memphis album.

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/red_west_writing_for_the_king.shtml

Amber Brooke Taylor singing at Leipers Fork, TN with Legendary Guitarist "Reggie Young"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJshA8nBW70

The Sweet Inspirations

Very comprehensive article on the Sweet Inspirations:

http://bit.ly/g4cneJ

Interview with the late Myrna Smith:

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/myrna.html

I love the guitar lick on "Sweet Inspiration" -- played by Spooner Oldham (co-author of the song along with Dan Penn).

RAPID FIRE 20Q: Mandy Barnett-’Winter Wonderland’ heating up Billboard charts - Nashville Entertainment | Examiner.com

Gene C. has played drums for Mandy for many years. Here's an interview with her regarding her recent album -- with Gene on drums.

RAPID FIRE 20Q: Mandy Barnett-’Winter Wonderland’ heating up Billboard charts - Nashville Entertainment | Examiner.com

Memphis Boys -- Elvis Cruise

Memphis Boys played the Elvis Cruise November 4th through the 8th:

http://www.theelviscruise.com/Artists/View/Id/248/Category/Entertainment/

Here's a picture of Gene:

Beale Street Walk of Fame 11.7.10 Marty Lacker & Chips Moman

Here is a YouTube video of the presentation ceremony -- Marty Lacker accepts his award and also accepts on behalf of Chips. Congratulations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzkbVh__AxM



And a story on the ceremony:

http://www.examiner.com/cultural-events-in-memphis/chips-moman-and-marty-lacker-recognized-with-music-notes-on-beale-street

Memphis music legends Chips Moman, Marty Lacker earn notes on Beale Walk of Fame

Chips Moman and Marty Lacker to receive Brass Notes on Beale Walk of Fame. The ceremony is November 7, 2010, at 5 pm.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/06/music-legends-earn-notes-of-fame-on-beale/

Check out this list of previous recipients of the award. Very impressive company!

http://www.bealestreet.com/wordpress/beale-street-walk-of-fame

Chips Moman and Marty Lacker to receive Beale Street Blues Note

Elvis Unlimited, Elvis Presley, Graceland, FTD, CD

From the site:

Marty Lacker to get Beale Street Blues Note Honor This Sunday 11/7.

 It was announced today that Marty Lacker will be honored by receiving a Beale Street Blues Note, the equivalent of a Hollywood Walk Of Fame Star this coming Sunday, November 7 at 5: PM.

Also receiving a Blues Note at the same time will be Chips Moman, the acclaimed record producer who produced Elvis' 1969 sessions at American Studios,Memphis. Moman is also noted for producing over 100 other big hit records by a number of major artists.

Reggie Young Marker

Reggie Young Marker

From the site:

 "Called the most prolific session guitarist of all time, Reggie Young grew up along the Cotton Highway in Osceola in the 1940s. Joining a multitude of famous artists, such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presely, the Beatles, and Willie Nelson, Young has performed all types of music, including many songs dealing with his cotton heritage."

Location. 35° 42.169′ N, 89° 58.148′ W. Marker is in Osceola, Arkansas, in Mississippi County. Marker is at the intersection of West Hale Avenue and South Poplar Street, on the right when traveling east on West Hale Avenue. Click for map. Marker is in this post office area: Osceola AR 72370, United States of America.

Financial difficulties, lack of state support beset music hall of fame | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL

Financial difficulties, lack of state support beset music hall of fame | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL: "TUSCUMBIA - When visitors peer into the brightly lit display cases at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and admire items such as the handwritten lyrics to “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” by Dan Penn and Chips Moman, they see a faded text.

It didn't use to be that way."

Country Hall To Honor Dan Penn : MusicRow

Country Hall To Honor Dan Penn : MusicRow

From the site:

Esteemed music journalist Peter Guralnick calls Dan Penn the secret hero of his book Sweet Soul Music, which chronicles 1960s era R&B. Penn, a Nashville resident wrote classics such as “Dark End of the Street,” “I’m Your Puppet,” “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” “Cry Like a Baby,” “Sweet Inspiration,” “It Tears Me Up,” “Out of Left Field” and many more. His songs have been recorded by everyone from country acts the Flying Burrito Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ronnie Milsap, Lee Roy Parnell, Charlie Rich and Hank Williams Jr. to R&B artists Arthur Alexander, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding.

Born Wallace Daniel Pennington in 1941, Penn was raised on a small farm in Vernon, Alabama. Penn had excellent ears, and he spent countless nights huddled under his covers listening to the faint sounds of WLAC-Nashville on his transistor radio. He instantly took to R&B artists like Bobby “Blue” Bland, Ray Charles and James Brown, who were all featured on radio personality John R’s nightly program. By the time he was a teenager, he was an opinionated musical personality who, according to Penn himself, “lived, ate, drank and slept music.”

While still in high school, he joined his first band, Benny Cagle and the Rhythm Swingsters, and met a young sax player named Billy Sherrill. Sherrill, who would become one of country music’s most influential producers, was impressed by Penn’s songs and urged Penn to follow him to Florence, Alabama, where a vibrant recording scene was emerging.

Penn arrived in town with a hit song in his back pocket, “Is a Blue Bird Blue,” which was recorded by Conway Twitty in 1960. He soon signed a publishing deal with Rick Hall’s Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME) and became the burgeoning studio’s first artist on its Spar label. His local popularity grew even more when he joined the Fairlanes, a high-energy R&B and rock group in the Muscle Shoals area. Later, Penn took his band, the Pallbearers, on the road in a made-over hearse, introducing the southeast region to his own soulful voice and musical fervor. In the meantime, Penn flourished as a writer, forging partnerships with fellow songwriters Donnie Fritts and Spooner Oldham. Penn scored a major hit (co-written with Oldham) in 1966 with “I’m Your Puppet,” which reached the Top Ten on the pop and R&B charts for James & Bobby Purify.

Penn moved to Memphis, Tennessee, that same year and became a chief writer, producer and musician at Chips Moman’s American Recording Studios. The studio cut over 120 Top 100 hits in the late 1960s.

Penn and Moman’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” originally popularized by Aretha Franklin in 1967 and a country hit for Barbara Mandrell in 1971, is a standard that has been covered by the Flying Burrito Brothers, Brenda Lee, Willie Nelson, Kitty Wells and others. “Dark End of the Street,” also written by Penn and Moman, was a Top Ten R&B hit for James Carr before it was recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Kendalls, Linda Ronstadt, Gary Stewart, Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton and other country acts.

With writing partner Oldham by his side, Penn composed late-1960s pop hits for the Box Tops, including the smash “Cry Like a Baby” and the Top Forty “I Met Her in Church.” Penn also produced most of the Box Tops’ catalog, including their #1 record “The Letter” in 1967.

Penn also co-wrote Percy Sledge’s “Out of Left Field” and “It Tears Me Up,” Arthur Alexander’s “Rainbow Road,” Barbara Lynn’s “You Left the Water Running” (originally demoed by Otis Redding), Clarence Carter’s “Slippin’ Around,” Solomon Burke’s “Take Me (Just As I Am),” Laura Lee’s “Uptight, Good Man,” and the Sweet Inspirations’ “Sweet Inspiration,” among many other time-honored compositions.

Penn and his wife, Linda, relocated to Nashville in the 1970s. He released several critically acclaimed solo albums, including Nobody’s Fool (1972), Do Right Man (1994), Blue Nite Lounge (2000) and Junkyard Junky (2007). In 1999, Penn and Oldham released a live album, Moments from This Theatre. The same year, Penn worked with New Orleans R&B legend Irma Thomas on her album My Heart’s in Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn. He continues to write and produce, and is currently playing live shows with renowned Memphis keyboardist Bobby Emmons.

JR Cobb talks about his life in music

JR Cobb talks about his life in music:

http://www.themonticellonews.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=115&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=7173&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1096&hn=themonticellonews&he=.com

CityFest offers activities for entire family | Dothan Eagle

CityFest offers activities for entire family | Dothan Eagle

From the site:

Start with a songwriter’s roundtable. Stir in some rhythmic exercises. Add in a large helping of running, cycling, art and entertainment. Top it off with two worthy causes reaping some of the benefits. When all of these ingredients are blended together, the end result will be the inaugural Dothan CityFest.

This all-encompassing event will be held Friday, September 10, and run through Sunday, September 12. In between, organizers believe they will be able to offer something for everyone to enjoy.

This downtown extravaganza opens Friday night with the Downtown Music Fest, which features a songwriter’s roundtable. Proceeds from this musical event will go to the ALS Association, which is dedicated to fighting Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Larry Patrick, assistant director/programs for the Department of Leisure Services, says the Downtown Music Fest grew out of a conversation he had with Terry Collins, owner of Screentech. Collins wanted to hold an event for the ALS Association and include it with CityFest. Dothan native and professional songwriter Buddy Buie was soon brought into the conversation. Patrick says “A Songwriter’s Roundtable,” featuring Buddy Buie, J.R. Cobb, Chips Moman, Bobby Emmons and Wayne Carson, was chosen as the night’s event. It will be held in the Dothan Civic Center from 7-10 p.m. and will include a musical reunion of musical talent of the past from Do-than and the Wiregrass.

The Daily Guru: June 22: Dusty Springfield, "Son Of A Preacher Man"

The Daily Guru: June 22: Dusty Springfield, "Son Of A Preacher Man"

Chips Moman & Don Crews' American Sound (Recording) Studio

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=326748896964

Haven't posted much lately, but wanted to mention this great Facebook page authored by Erick Crews. Erick is the son of Don Crews, so he's certainly in the know. I greatly appreciate his kind words regarding this blog, and also all the enlightening articles and pictures he's posted. Keep it up Erick!

Back In Memphis Concert -- August 12, 2010

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Back-In-Memphis/128742160469340

From the site:

Elvis Unlimited presents Back In Memphis, August 12, 2010 8 PM Germantown Performing Arts Center with special guests:
Jerry Carrigan
Shane Keister
Reggie Young
Mike Leech
Billy Swan
Billy Burnette
Dennis Jale

Read about the Chips Moman Highway!

http://lagrangenews.com/bookmark/7907066

From the site:

The Troup County Commission on Friday dedicated the pending South Loop as “Chips Moman Highway” in honor of the LaGrange resident acclaimed as a songwriter and record producer for Elvis Presley, The Highwaymen - Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson - and a who’s who of other musical greats.

Moman is perhaps best known as the producer of the 1969 album, “From Elvis in Memphis,” which included the hit songs, “Suspicious Minds,” “In the Ghetto” and “Kentucky Rain,” and for writing such hits as “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” for Aretha Franklin, “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” for Jennings, and the B.J. Thomas hit, “(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” which won Moman a Grammy Award.

He got another Grammy for best spoken word album for his “Class of ‘55” recording featuring Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

“Chips Moman has dedicated his life to song and has gifted the world with some of its most remarkable and memorable music,” Commission Chairman Ricky Wolfe said, proclaiming June 12 - Moman’s 73rd birthday - as Chips Moman Day in Troup County.

“As a producer, songwriter and musician, his artistry permeated multiple genres of music and influenced the development of rock ‘n’ roll and soul music,” Wolfe said, reading from the proclamation. “His musical contributions will be enjoyed throughout the world for years to come. We are honored to recognize him today.”

When completed in 2012, the 6.1-mile, two-lane South Loop will connect Whitesville and Roanoke roads, diverting traffic from downtown LaGrange and improving access to West Point Lake and the big industrial parks around LaGrange-Callaway Airport. The $19.1 million construction is being paid for with federal stimulus funds.

“I can’t tell you what this means to me. … I’m flabbergasted,” Moman said at Friday’s ceremony in the jury assembly room of the Troup County Government Center.

An estimated 100 fellow musicians, friends and family members watched a 3/12-minute video, produced by sheriff’s Sgt. Chad Mann, with highlights of Moman’s career.

“He’s one of the great producers of all time,” said Buddy Buie, who attended the ceremony with his songwriting partner J.R. Cobb.

They’re responsible for such hits as “Spooky,” “Stormy,” “Traces” and “Every Day with You Girl.” Moman produced Buie’s song, “I Take It Back” for Sandy Posey and it became a hit.

Cobb said he came to LaGrange because “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“He’ll go down as a person who made a great contribution to music as a writer and producer,” Cobb said.

Others at the ceremony were some of Moman’s old studio session players from Memphis and Nashville - Reggie Young, Bobby Wood and Bobby Emmons, who was Moman’s co-writer on “Luckenbach.”

Also there was singer Eddy Arnold’s nephew, Jerry Arnold, who played drums in a band with Moman in the early Memphis days.

“Overall, he’s the most talented person I’ve ever run into,” Arnold said. “It’s unbelievable what he did. If my life depended on it and I needed someone to make a hit record for me, he’s the one I would contact.”

Moman hitchhiked to Memphis at age 14 and three years later was playing with Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. At his American Studios in Memphis, Moman produced an unprecedented 120 chart-topping singles between 1967 and 1971 by such artists as Elvis, Neil Diamond, Dionne Warwick and The Box Tops. In Nashville, he recorded stars such as Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard.

Moman has written more than 100 songs, starting with “This Time,” a love song for a girl at Rosemont School, which became a No. 1 hit for Troy Shondell.

“He’s up there with guys like Muhammad Ali and Johnny Cash,” Kristofferson said in a phone interview. “It’s like Hank Williams or something - if you’ve got what it takes. He does.”

Sheriff Donny Turner got his guitar signed by all the musicians at Friday’s ceremony, including Young, who wrote, “Please Arrest Jimmy Buffet,” referring to a song Buffet recorded that referred to Young as being drunk.

Turner, who has recruited Moman for fundraising concerts on behalf of the Pineland campus of Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes, got the wheels rolling toward naming the South Loop after Moman.

“It’s been amazing getting to know Chips, and to recognize his talent to put words and music together for our enjoyment for all these years, and to know he’s from right here in Troup County,” Turner said. “To be able to get him back into the community and have him help us put on some concerts and raise some money for the kids, it’s been an honor.”

The sheriff had received letter in August 2008 from Stan Daniel, a retired record promoter and longtime friend of Moman’s.

“We are having more than our share of problems getting this famous record producer recognized in Memphis,” Daniel wrote.

Daniel first suggested a museum, but decided visitors might infringe on Moman’s privacy.

Turner went to County Manager Mike Dobbs, who showed the video about Moman’s career to the commissioners.

“They said, ‘Yeah, this needs to be done,’” Dobbs said. “… He’s had many, many honors and this is just one more.”

Lincoln Wayne Moman (he got the nickname “Chips” because of his affinity for gambling) was born in a house on Stonewall Street and lived in several LaGrange neighborhoods growing up as his parents got jobs with different textile plants run by Callaway Mills. He lived mostly in a two-story house at the end of Houston Street with his grandmother, mother and aunts, and all their children - a crew that sometimes swelled to 28 people under one roof.

Moman started playing guitar at age 3, accompanying his mother as she sang. He moved with his parents, Mildred Magnolia Deberry and Abraham Lincoln Moman, to the country when he was about 9 years old and attended Rosemont School while living on Rosemont, Smokey and Briley roads in south Troup County. He shares a birthday with his aunt, Bertha Lee Moman Robinette of LaGrange, who turned 97 today.

Moman returned to LaGrange in 1996 and lives on his family farm near West Point Lake with his wife, Jane. They tend to horses, and he enjoys his dogs and cats, and watching old westerns on TV. Moman can’t play guitar because of a stroke he suffered about two years ago, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.

“I really believe that caring about other people is an important factor in a person’s life and if you don’t have that, you don’t have anything,” he said. “If you can’t care about the people you love, what are you?”

Read more: La Grange News - Your source for local news, classifieds, business listings and events in La Grange, Georgia.

THE Book for Memphis Boys Fans

Recently, we featured an interview with Roben Jones regarding her newly published book about the Memphis Boys. I'm delighted to report that it's a truly great read, and I'm of the opinion that this is THE standard reference for fans of the Memphis Boys. The book succeeds on so many levels, I don't know where to start! So as not to incur carpal tunnel syndrome :), I'll just highlight some of my favorite aspects of the book:

1) A birds-eye view of the sessions. I often have to remind myself that most of these sessions took place more than 40 years ago. Even those who were there have sketchy memories of what happened. Roben has done a great job of conducting extensive interviews with a wide range of participants to give us a real sense of 'you-are-there.'

2) A better appreciation of how songwriters contributed to the success of American Studios. We now know more about the roles of writers like Wayne Carson, Dan Penn, and Spooner Oldham (and many others) as musicians, producers, and engineers.

3) Wider recognition of Tommy Cogbill as innovator and leader. Although the recordings speak for themselves, Roben's interviews with session mates underscore how highly regarded Tommy was as musician, friend, and mentor.

4) Acknowledgment of the Memphis Boys as music industry pros. It's great to read about how much admiration and respect colleagues had for their work.

I have only scratched the surface here, but I strongly encourage you to buy this book! You won't regret it! Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Memphis-Boys-Story-American-Studios/dp/1604734019/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269792106&sr=8-1

Alex Chilton, 1950-2010

Very sorry to hear of the passing of Alex Chilton, lead singer of the Box Tops. Listening to the recording nowadays, it's hard to believe that Alex was only 16 years old when he sang The Letter. Mature beyond his years!

http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/2010/03/18/alex-chilton-1950-2010/

http://specialgadgetinformation.blogspot.com/2010/03/alex-chilton.html

http://www.newser.com/article/d9eh9fpo0/alex-chilton-who-sang-the-letter-and-influenced-generation-of-musicians-with-big-star-dies.html

From Elvis in Memphis

I referred to this radio show in a previous post, but I did not know whether it was currently available online. After free registration on this site, you can listen to this one hour documentary about Elvis's experience recording at American. All five Memphis Boys participated and share their stories! Great stuff!

http://www.prx.org/pieces/38599-from-elvis-in-memphis

Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' Celebrates 40th Birthday : NPR

Listen to Charles Chalmers' recollections about the Aretha Franklin Respect sessions with Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=11070888&m=11070889

The Elvis Presley Legacy Project

In this video, Bobby Emmons talks about recording with Elvis:

http://www.elvis.com/LEGACY/default.asp?id=13

In the Ghetto

Mac Davis reminisces about the writing of In the Ghetto. Interesting to learn that the guitar lick Reggie plays in the intro (which he acknowledges was taken from Mac's demo) actually originated from country singer Freddy Weller!

http://www.acecollins.com/Books/elvis.html

Reggie Young | NAMM.org

NAMM's Oral History project featured this interview with Reggie Young:

http://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/reggie-young

American Sound Studio - Wikipedia

Wikipedia's article on American Sound Studio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sound_Studio

I Can Help

Interesting post about the recording of Billy Swan's I Can Help, which featured Reggie, Mike, Bobby Wood, and Bobby Emmons.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov07/articles/classictracks_1107.htm

Willie Mitchell

So sorry to hear about Willie Mitchell's passing. His personal web site has links to many news stories and tributes to him (see the Facebook page for example):

http://www.williemitchell.com/

I really love this NPR interview with Willie and Al Green -- the link shows us some of Willie's genius in working with Al for months until he got the sound he was looking for. A truly gifted and giving man!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1075008

Nice Articles from American Songwriter Magazine

Here are several links to good articles from American Songwriter Magazine:

BEHIND THE SONG: Dark End of the Street

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2009/07/behind-the-song-the-dark-end-of-the-street/

WRITING FOR THE KING

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2007/07/writing-for-the-king-the-songs-that-rocked-the-world-and-the-writers-behind-them/

Meccas of Southern Soul: Memphis & Muscle Shoals

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2006/03/meccas-of-southern-soul-memphis-muscle-shoals/

Gene Chrisman | Pro-Mark Drumsticks, The World's Finest Sticks™

Gene's self-penned (and impressive) resume is here at the Pro-Mark website.

http://www.promark.com/community/profile/3783/

Roben Jones Interview

Fans of the Memphis Boys have much to be excited about with the upcoming publication of Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios by author and poet Roben Jones. We were very fortunate to obtain an interview with Roben, who is also an occasional contributor to this blog. This book is a must read -- I've reserved my copy!

Here's the description from Amazon's site:

Memphis Boys chronicles the story of the rhythm section at Chips Moman's American studios from 1964, when the group began working together, until 1972, when Moman shut down the studio and moved the entire operation to Atlanta. Using extensive interviews with Moman and the group, as well as additional comments from the songwriters, sound engineers, and office staff, author Roben Jones creates a collective biography combined with a business history and a critical analysis of important recordings. She reveals how the personalities of the core group meshed, how they regarded newcomers, and how their personal and musical philosophies blended with Moman's vision to create timeless music based on themes of suffering and sorrow.

Recording sessions with the Gentrys, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, the Box Tops, Joe Tex, Neil Diamond, B. J. Thomas, Dionne Warwick, and many others come alive in this book. Jones provides the stories behind memorable songs composed by group writers, such as "The Letter," "Dark End of the Street," "Do Right Woman," "Breakfast in Bed," and "You Were Always on My Mind." Featuring photographs, personal profiles, and a suggested listening section, Memphis Boys details a significant phase of American music and the impact of one studio.

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Allen: Roben, this is a great thing you've done. Tell our readers a little about yourself – the usual bio stuff.

Roben: Thanks for the compliment Allen. About me – I'm from West Virginia, a little town called Hansford that's right on the edge of the big mountains. When I was a child and lived there, the town was unincorporated, which meant that it wasn't even on a map, and that was kind of strange. It's like your town doesn't exist or something. When I was fourteen my family came to Gallipolis, Ohio, and I've been there ever since.

I had a year and a half at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Shane Keister, one of the later Memphis Boys, also went to school there, about four years before I did. And Bobby Wood's wife Janice is from Gallipolis! So there's a bit of synchronicity.

I was a poet for many years before I wrote this book. I really thought I was going to be the next Emily Dickinson. I wrote for little magazines, gave readings, read my work on West Virginia Public Radio and so on. All the things poets do. My first major publication was in an anthology called Wild Sweet Notes: 50 Years of West Virginia Poetry. It came out in 2000. It’s still in print if any of your readers would like to find it.

Allen: How did you become interested in the Memphis Boys? When did you first hear them?

Roben: I tell the full story in my preface to the book, but to sum it up, one Saturday morning in April 1969 I heard on the radio the Box Tops version of I Shall Be Released. I was fourteen.

To this day I can't describe how affected I was by that record. It wasn't the song so much as it was the production. I didn't know who had done it until I bought the 45, but Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman had woven the music so creatively around this Bob Dylan tune that they had transformed it into a statement of their own. It was just such an original concept. It made me aware of the producer's role in making a great record.

And that was just IT for me. I had to hear more. I started collecting all the Memphis Boys work.

Allen: Lots of people are fans of the Memphis Boys, but in writing a book you are paying them the ultimate tribute. What made you decide to do it?

Roben: It was a case of one thing leading to another. I’d met Mike Leech online, which was quite a thing, and I'd been asking him questions about the songs and sessions. Mike asked me one day if I'd ever considered writing a book about the Memphis Boys. Up until that second, I hadn’t. I knew their great history needed to be documented, but it had never occurred to me in a million years that I could be the one to do it. But Mike thought I could, and he encouraged me. He believed in me more than I believed in myself at that point, and so I agreed to try.

I knew that the book would be my way of thanking the group, and Chips, for all the beautiful music they had created. My goal was to tell their story accurately, in a way that would do them honor and let the world know what they'd accomplished.

Allen: I understand it's being published by the University of Mississippi Press. How’d you hook up with them?

Roben: Actually, it's being brought out by the University Press of Mississippi. They are a smaller press that specializes in books about Southern culture. They are based out of Jackson, Mississippi.

As to how it happened – that came about through Hayward Bishop, the Memphis Boys' former percussionist and second drummer. Hayward knew John Broven, who ran Ace Records in England and who also had contacts among publishers here. Hayward arranged to have Broven see a rough draft, and from then on Broven shopped the book. He recommended that I try the University Press of Mississippi. I sent them some sample chapters and they liked it. So all thanks to Hayward and John Broven for that.

Allen: Tell us about your research efforts – give us an idea of the range of sources you used to write the book.

Roben: I spoke to a fair number of people – old patrons of the group like Quinton Claunch, Fred Foster, and Papa Don Schroeder. I also spoke with a few singers – B. J.Thomas, Sandy Posey, and Brenda Lee. Brenda did an album at American in 1970 that she considers one of her best ever. I talked to some of the songwriters who had been a part of American – Wayne Carson was the one with whom I spoke most often. I interviewed a few of the sound engineers, interesting characters like Ed Kollis, who's also one of the most underrated blues harmonica players in the world.

I read and re-read the great histories that had already offered a slight look at American – Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music was a major source. It was an example of how a music history should be written. I also re-read the works of just plain historians, people like David Halberstam and William Manchester, who could tell not only the facts but the facts behind the facts, if you will. I was learning how to be a historian as I went along, and it's to be hoped that their styles helped teach me what to do.

One really cool thing was that both Reggie Young and Bobby Emmons had kept all their session logs! Many musicians don't do that but they had. That was a big help in determining exactly whom they were recording and when. Reggie would get out his session books and go over them with me line by line. And we'd discuss details of the important dates. It was just like being back there.

I also talked to musicians in Nashville who were establishing their careers at the same time the Memphis Boys were, because I wanted to know what influence the group had on their contemporaries. I’ve got a comment in the book from Ron Oates, the piano player, who was saying that the younger Nashville musicians wanted to incorporate some of that freedom and expressiveness they admired into their own sessions. I talked to several other people as well, but the one from whom I learned the most was Norbert Putnam. He gave me a context, supplied me with a lot of background details, especially about the early days of Muscle Shoals when Reggie was working many sessions there and Dan Penn and Spooner were part of it all.

Allen: You mention that the guys said you uncovered stuff they didn't know. Could you give us a sneak preview?

Roben: Here's one example. After the Elvis sessions in 1969, when the studio became really successful, some of the guys thought that the atmosphere and mood of the place changed. Which was completely understandable, because everybody was dealing with success at a level they had never anticipated. Several people observed that things got more complicated, but they kept that observation to themselves and had absolutely no idea that anyone else among them was seeing it that way too.

Understand that they never sat down as a group and talked about what was going on when it happened. These are very matter of fact sort of people. They didn't analyze anything, they just did it. The way they communicated best with each other was through that incredible music.

Allen: I think you may have the most complete discography to date – better than the Memphis Boys themselves. How did you find that information?

Roben: I've already mentioned Reggie Young's and Bobby Emmons' session books. But I'd been a record collector since discovering their work in 1969.I have a friend in New York City who's also a record collector and American Studios buff, and we'd pool our information about new releases and older singles. A friend of John Broven's over in England helped me some as well, and I also got some assistance from the guys themselves. Several of them made CDs for me of single releases I didn't have and had never heard, because they all wanted me to know as much of their work as possible. They went far out of their way to do that, and I appreciate it very much.

Allen: I've always wanted to know more about Tommy Cogbill. What did you find out about him?

Roben: Learning more about Tommy Cogbill was one of the absolute delights of doing this book. I discovered the group through Cogbill, as you know, and he was my favorite always. The book in fact is dedicated to him.

Tommy Cogbill was the heart and soul of the Memphis Boys. What Otis Redding was to Stax, what Duane Allman was to his band, what Keith Richards is to the Stones – that was the role Tommy played for the American Group. He was the one they all looked up to, the one whose opinions mattered most. Even Chips deferred to him in many ways.

He was Mr. Reliable, the one holding everything together. He was very much a gray eminence because he was quiet and preferred the background. He was respected not only as a musician but for the content of his character, as Spooner Oldham is. Tommy embodied the strong silent type – he always had time for people, was patient with younger musicians. That patience was what Jimmy Johnson and Roger Hawkins both remembered most about him.

The Memphis Boys could be very tribal at times – they had a way of shutting out most of the guys who came in later. Tommy never did that. He accepted everybody just as they were, on whatever personal or musical level he found them. There was no pettiness in Tommy. And when he became successful, he went through a few changes here and there about it but for the most part just stayed unaffected as ever and concentrated on doing good work.

It's one big hope of mine that people will go back and seek out Tommy's work as a producer. He’s remembered for Angel of the Morning and Sweet Caroline, but he did many other great works as well. As a producer, he was twenty years ahead of his time. As a bass player, he was the best.

Allen: Very little – other than the Aretha sessions – has been written about the early years of Muscle Shoals when Tommy, Chips, and Reggie covered sessions in Muscle Shoals. You talked to Roger Hawkins, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Donnie Fritts among other people. What did they have to say about the Memphis Boys?

Roben: The guys in Muscle Shoals were a revelation. I want to write something about them alone someday. They are incredible musicians too, and they all speak of Tommy, Chips, and Reggie with the greatest admiration and respect.

As you know, Dan and Spooner were part of American for several years, and Donnie was pretty much an honorary group member. They all say they learned from Chips' standards of excellence and Tommy's total commitment to the music. And the guys in the Shoals' first rhythm section, who worked with Reggie before they moved to Nashville, say they used to listen to the Memphis Boys records and learn from them. They thought it was a better way of making music than the assembly-line Nashville formula that was in use back then.

Jerry Carrigan said that later in his career, when he sat in with the group for some sessions in Nashville, he’d walk into the studio smiling because he knew that he and they had the same approach to making music. He wouldn't have to fight them to do something creative on the record because they were creative as a matter of course.

Allen: Give us a sense of the average studio session – how it went, how they put the music together.

Roben: It really depended on who was producing. It was very informal always, but if Chips was at the board there would be a lot of cutting up and kidding around. He’d sit around and talk to everybody beforehand, just visiting with everybody to get them relaxed and loosened up. That was unheard of in Nashville where everything was on the clock.

Chips would work with the band, sometimes all night long, like a sculptor slowly carving his vision from wet clay, working with a song until it was both technically right and expressive of a true feeling. He is a writer himself so he knew how to frame a lyric. He’d make a few gentle suggestions, but he also left a lot up to the band.

He also did a lot of just hanging around, hanging out with them. He liked an environment where it was just like a family in a house, or a bunch of good old boys picking on a front porch somewhere.

Tommy was a little more precise. You got in there, you did the song in a couple of takes, and if it didn't work he'd set the piece aside. Tommy wouldn't be in the studio all night. He usually had everybody out of there by 10 PM.

Dan Penn is a great producer, very underrated about the moods he can create on record. He sort of combined the two styles. He was as informal as Chips but as precise as Tommy.

The musicians used to horse around to put the out of town acts at ease. It didn't always work, but the singers were then supposed to be awed at the depth and beauty with which these guys could play.

Allen: Talk about the studio in terms of the physical setting. How did they come to acquire the building at 827 Thomas Street?

Roben: That was all Chips' doing. He had the building, he had the studio from the moment he started bringing the band in for sessions. He had found it, he said, while he was just driving through town. As you know, he discovered the movie theater that became the Stax building, and he'd found it the same way, so he had a talent for seeing great old buildings and knowing what would work. That’s an essential skill for a producer, I think. He was in partnership with Seymour Rosenberg when he found 827, and Seymour's father owned an auto-parts store further down on Chelsea Avenue, so that may have had something to do with the location.

Allen: What about the Memphis Boys in the pre-American days? They started at Hi, Stax, and Sun. How did it all come together?

Roben: If there was a catalyst, it was the Bill Black Combo. That’s where Reggie Young and Bobby Emmons worked. They parlayed that into a staff job at Hi, and later on both Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill joined them there.

Gene Chrisman and Bobby Wood came from the Sun side of things. They were in a club band together, an outfit called the Starlighters.Stan Kessler recorded them and he used all the musicians plus Chips for Bobby's solo record in 1964.That's why he often gets credit for putting the band together.

They all knew each other from the clubs, but Chips was the only one who had any Stax affiliations. Later on Shane Keister worked for a little while at Stax, and Hayward Bishop drummed for the remnants of the Bill Black Combo. So that kind of takes the story full circle.

Allen: What do you think makes these guys so special? You have talked about the check-your ego-at-the-door philosophy among other things.

Roben: Lack of ego is part of it, but that isn't the only characteristic that makes this group special. They may not be egomaniacs in the usual sense of the word, but they do have a great deal of craftsmanly pride. They never wanted to put their names on a product of inferior quality. Listen to the songs on the albums they did – there is absolutely no filler. From Chips right on down the line, they wanted absolutely every song on every session to be the best it could be, and they wanted every song to have the potential of being a Number One hit.

That attitude was helped along by the fact that each and every member of this group, past and present, is a musical virtuoso – we're talking world class, skill on a symphonic level. And that's not just hyperbole, because these guys incorporated principles from classical music into their work – the concept of dynamics, for example. It makes for music of great subtlety and nuance.

Another factor – and it's hard to believe this has been overlooked as people have written about this group – has been the very specific philosophy of life expressed in their music, in large part because of the subject matter Chips emphasized on his sessions. It is music about sorrow, pain, unhappiness, hard times, suffering, and how to endure them with stoicism and grace. It’s the very voice of the working-class South, people who try and try but can never get ahead or catch a break. Chips and this group speak to them and for them. And they should rightfully be recognized for the depth and breadth of that viewpoint. It’s grown-up music for grownups, and it has so much to say.

Allen: Do you know anything about Chips' vault and whether future releases of early American recordings are a possibility?

Roben: I can't presume to speak for Chips, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he releases something else eventually. I hope he does. We’ll all need something beautiful and stoic to listen to as we get older.

Allen: What are they up to now? Do you still talk to them?

Roben: Do I talk to them? Oh sure, some of them more than others. Mike Leech has been my best friend since before the book, so I guess I hear from him the most. Occasionally I hear from Bobby Wood. I usually see Reggie at various musical events when I get to town for them – it's always good to see him. I’ve stayed in regular touch with Spooner Oldham, Shane Keister, Wayne Carson, Glen Spreen, and Donnie Fritts. I talked to Hayward Bishop a lot. I've remained close to a few of the Shoals guys as well.

The group are less active than they used to be, especially since Chips has retired, but now and then they get together for special events, like this past summer when Chips and the core group reunited for Elvis Week in Memphis.

I just want to say in closing, thanks for giving me space on the blog to talk about the book and for asking me some great questions. I’ve never done an email interview before, and it's been lots of fun.

This book was truly a labor of love, and so much happened to me during this journey that I could write a book about writing a book! Maybe I will someday. I’d also like to extend my thanks to all the group and their friends for being so open, so gracious, and so patient with me. Doing this book is something for which I'll always be grateful. I wouldn't have missed this for anything.