edited by Mark Jordan
Songwriting Seminar '97
Next week, the Memphis Songwriter's Association will hold its 24th Annual
Songwriter's Seminar at the French Quarter Suites on Madison. The seminar
will be March 29th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature a panel of music
professionals taking questions from registrants as well as critiquing submitted
songs.
To register to have your song critiqued, submit a cued, one-song tape demo
with your name, the date, and a copyright notice written on the cassette;
seven typed copies of the lyrics, without your name, folded to cassette
size and rubber banded around the tape; and a check or money order for $45
($30 for NARAS and MSA members) made out to the MSA. Send the registration
materials to: Memphis Songwriters Association Seminar '97, Room 110, 4500
Summer Ave, Memphis, TN 38122.
New stuff in the bins
Despite
its almost constant tour schedule, Big Ass Truck somehow found time to record
a new disc, titled Sack Lunch EP, which has just been released on
North Carolina's Yep Roc Records. The six-song disc is a collection of predictably
funky (and sometimes psychedelic) grooves that should scratch the band's
recording itch until they get back into the studio early this summer to
record their third full-length record. Until then, fans can hear live versions
of the Sack Lunch songs as well as some of B.A.T.'s even newer material
when the band plays Newby's next Saturday, March 29th.
Speaking of Newby's, last week the Highland strip music hall hosted a CD
release party for Mea Culpa. Released on Frankenstein Records, Blindfolds
and Cigarettes features solid songwriting by Gilbert Garcia and a smart,
British-pop sound with harmonies that remind one of the Beatles and the
Byrds.
And finally, Silver Eagle Records has just released live recordings by two
of Sun Records' (and therefore rock-and-roll's) greatest artists. Jerry
Lee Lewis Live and Carl Perkins Live are both culled from the
archives of the Silver Eagle Cross Country Music Show, the syndicated weekly
radio program that debuted in 1981.
The Carl Perkins set was recorded in 1983 at New York City's Lone Star Cafe.
Playing with a tight, rocking band, Perkins rips through a set list of such
boogie classics as "Mojo Working," "High-Heel Sneakers,"
and, in a tribute to his friend and rival Elvis, a show-closing rendition
of "That's All Right, Mama" and "Blue Suede Shoes."
Jerry Lee Lewis Live was record in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1984,
just a few months before the Killer's 50th birthday. The concert finds a
subdued but still playful Lewis pounding out his standards like "Whole
Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire," as well
as some early rock classics made famous by his contemporaries, such as "Georgia
on My Mind," "Chantilly Lace," and, most fittingly, "Sweet
Little 16."
n the last
track of the Kudzu Kings' first CD, lead singer Tate Moore affects his best
Roy Orbison and begins to croon what at first sounds like a tender ode to
his love:
We've been together quite some time/ And though I've strayed you've always brought me wine/ And I know you'll never make me blue
But then things take an unexpected turn:
But I've just got to tell you darling/ I -- love -- beer/ Longer than any woman I've ever known/ I'll love beer after you're dead and gone/ I know the words "I love you" are what you long to hear/ But there's another in my life and that's my beer
"I
Love Beer" is just one of several potable-themed songs on the Kudzu
Kings' self-released eponymous debut. For instance, there's also "Panola
County Line," a paean about having to drive to the next county on a
Sunday to buy beer. And if that's not enough, the band's publishing company
is even called Beer Drenched Lyrics Music.
Don't get the idea that all these guys care about is drinking, however. Other lyrics on the disc tackle such weighty subjects as ticks on a hound, Roto-tillers, and working in a barbecue joint, all backed by a jubilant, raucous country beat.
Obviously, this Oxford, Mississippi-based band doesn't exactly mine the same thematic depths as fellow native son William Faulkner. (Though both apparently draw on John Barleycorn as a source of inspiration.)
"Most of the songs were written about life here in Oxford," says the band's guitarist, Max Williams. "It's a really nice way of life here. Everything is pretty smooth and slow. There's no hustle and bustle going on here.
"Pretty much [our music] is directed towards the party crowd and people who like to have a good time and people who are having trouble having a good time."
The Kudzu Kings have been having a good time ever since Williams, Moore, bassist Dave Woolworth, keyboardist Robert Chaffe, and drummer Chuck Sigler first got together in 1994. Back then the band played a variety of styles and were often as likely to play a Traffic cover as a countrified reggae tune. Though the addition of former Beanland guitarist George McConnell, "the grandfather of the group," added to the band's jam quotient, increasingly they felt themselves being drawn to a distinctive country sound.
Today, the band gets lumped in with such new sweethearts of the rodeo as Son Volt and Wilco. But while those groups just put a little twang into their rock, the Kudzu Kings have developed a sound that convincingly draws on rockabilly, bluegrass, and Texas swing, as well as the outlaw country of artists like Waylon Jennings.
"The music we do is pretty much just a mix of different kinds of country music," says Williams. "It's not necessarily straight-up country. It's bluegrass, a little swing, some other things. And the way it all mixes makes us sound pretty unique."
In their almost three years together, the band has built a strong regional following, especially among college students. For their first CD, they chose to come to Memphis last August and work with legendary Memphis producer Jim Gaines, whose credits include Santana, Steve Miller, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Because of time and budget constraints, the band had to record and mix the entire album in only five days.
"It was a little rushed, but it sounds pretty good for the amount of time we did it in," Williams says. "We pretty much tried to tape it all live. Jim really helped us capture the sound. That's probably the hardest thing, to capture a good raw and live sound in the studio."
It was even harder for a band whose weekly rehearsal is actually a gig. The Kudzu Kings have cut their teeth playing regular Tuesday-night gigs around Oxford, first at Ireland's and most recently at Proud Larry's. While these shows have allowed the band to build a loyal fan base and work up new songs at the same time, the beer-hall atmosphere hasn't been conducive to honing their original material.
"The CD helped us because there were songs that we'd just jammed on Tuesdays, but we had never actually sat down and figured out what we were going to do," says Williams. "It made us tighter and it also made it more concise. Everybody is actually contributing and helping create a sound instead of just jamming."
This weekend, the Kudzu Kings will trumpet the Memphis release of their CD with a party at Newby's. With a year of heavy gigging planned, its not likely they'll get to take life quite as easy as they have been. But with any luck, all the work will keep their refrigerators stocked with beer so there won't be any more mad dashes across the county line.