Songs For Emily The latest from the Pawtuckets is a bittersweet elegy to the then and now. by Mark Jordan t wouldn’t be entirely fair to call Rest Of Our Days, the new album from Memphis Americana band the Pawtuckets, a haunted record; that word implies a melancholia that this disc – full of rocking rhythms and soaring melodies – just doesn’t have. But still, a close listen reveals a cycle of songs soaked in longings for people, places, and times that are simply no more, from the lost love of the album’s opener, “Blackberry Winter,” to memories of good times with a best friend in the title and final track. And these images are further draped in youthfully idyllic images of the country, such as the peaceful meadow of “Shade” or the stage for young love in “Mississippi Parking Lot.” “We’ve grown up a lot since the last record,” says lead guitarist Kevin Cubbins. “The songs are more developed, more mature.” But to friends and fans of the band, one song on the album is more haunted than the others – “Song For Emily” written by guitarist Mark McKinney for his wife, who died last summer of heart problems. The track was written and recorded in less than two weeks, a fast pace that typifies Rest Of Our Days which was cut in a single weekend soon after Emily’s death. “I took a few weeks off and then we played the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival in late July,” McKinney says. “Finally, it was just time to record or crack up. So, I called [co-producers] Posey Hedges and Paul Ebersold and the guys and said let’s go. Let’s do it.” The resulting sessions at Ardent Studios, though fast-paced, were nevertheless understandably intense for the band. “Just going in the studio with my best friends and bandmates and cutting those songs – the floodgates just opened,” says lead guitarist Kevin Cubbins. “‘Song For Emily’ was really the hardest song for us to do,” adds McKinney. “I was real impressed with the guys. There was one take that after we finished I realized I’d forgotten part of a verse, and I was ready to just let it go. But the guys just picked right up and did it again even though it had been so tough on everyone.” That experience is typical for these band members, who seem to prefer to communicate their most personal thoughts and feelings through music. In fact, it was the personal vision of each other’s songwriting that first drew the Pawtuckets’ principal writers, McKinney and keyboardist/guitarist Andy Grooms, to each other three years ago. “We were both playing the coffeehouse circuit as solos.… We both liked each other’s songs and thought, why not put a band together?” McKinney recalls. “I’ll never forget. One of the first songs I heard Andy play was called ‘Picnic In A Cemetery.’ I always thought that was the weirdest subject for a song until I did it two months ago [on the anniversary of Emily’s death].” The death of Emily McKinney is just the best-known and most tragic of the changes – both good and bad – that have hit the band since the recording of their first record, Cloud 9 Ranch, two years ago. “We’ve grown up a lot since the last record,” says Cubbins. “These songs are more developed, more mature.” Another change has occurred within the band itself. Like the fictional metal band Spinal Tap, the Pawtuckets continue to be plagued by high drummer turnover. Best Of Our Days features Meyer Horn, the group’s second drummer (unless you count one drunken night at the Oasis with this writer behind the kit). But beating the skins when the Pawtuckets take the stage at Elvis Presley’s Memphis Friday to celebrate the new album’s release will be veteran drummer Anthony Barrasso. “I don’t feel like I’m replacing anybody,” says Barrasso, who previously had played in such bands as Bury the Bone and the Trust. “I feel like live we are creating our very own vibe that’s unlike anything else, including the record. On stage is where we do some of our best stuff.” Bassist Mark Stuart agrees but also credits the band’s two songwriters with giving them great material to work with. “I’ve heard everything there is to hear in this ‘Americana’ movement,” says Stuart, who with Cubbins hosts a weekly country and rock show called Hard Korn on WEVL-FM 90. “And I swear my three favorite writers in the whole genre are Steve Earle, Mark McKinney, and Andy Grooms. … I think anybody who listens to this record is going to like it. It’s just so raw and real.” McKinney puts it another way: “Anybody who has ever had somebody who was that perfect person and who they loved and who loved them back and they took all that for granted, needs to listen to this record.” And who, unfortunately, doesn’t fit that bill?

		Music Notes by Mark Jordan Music@Memphis.Net There is something kind of hopeless about one medium resorting to the one it is supposed to supplant to spread the word on itself. Nevertheless, the August issue of Yahoo! Internet Life, published by the people who bring you the world’s most-used search directory, superbly demonstrates just what the vast Net and the Web can do that print and broadcast can’t. (Or at least can’t do without a lot of difficulty and cost.) The issue’s cover story is “Music On The Net” (the cover features a familiar picture of Elvis with a digitally added computer mouse and the clever caption “URLS, URLS, URLS.”), and inside are features on how to get sonically plugged into the Web, how the Artist (formerly known as Prince) and Minneapolis label Twin/Tone utilize net technology, and where to buy music online. Also included are the winners of the magazine’s 1998 Online Music Awards for best Internet sites, with categories such as best record-label site (Virgin Records) and best music reference site (our favorite, the indispensable All-Music Guide). One thing the Yahoo package doesn’t really explore, however, is how the Net, because of its relative low cost and ease of use, has allowed even the lowliest garage band to propel itself onto a world stage. For today’s struggling, local, independent bands, the Web has all the power of an underground newspaper, a college radio station, and public-access TV multiplied by 100. Locally, Web surfers can find a lot of Memphis music out there. Several artists, such as Todd Snider and the Riverbluff Clan, have their own sites. Big Ass Truck even used their site to run a simulcast of a recent New York show. So, if you want to explore Memphis music in cyberspace, here are a few places to get started: MEMPHIS MOJO. www.memphismojo.com. Good all-around site with music listings and insightful recommendations on where to go and what to see. Also check out its sister site at www.BluesSpeak.com. The Memphis Music Link. www.people.memphis.edu/~pivy/mml.htm. Though hardly comprehensive, this site features hard-to-find biographical information on a wide array of local artists, including the Skam, Marguerite Piazza, Don Nix, the Gales Brothers, and the Subteens. THE other MEMPHIS MUSIC PAGE. www.SteveCox.com/music/m-music.htm. Administered by musician and fan Steve Cox, this site features RealAudio clips from a variety of Memphis and Memphis-related artists, including Joe Walsh, Target, Xavion, and Richard Orange, as well as tracks from Cox’s own recently released CD, Jazz Fantasies. Memphis Music Jukebox. memphisguide.com/Music/Memmu.htm. A vast and informative site with links to hundreds of artist bios, cyber tours of Stax, Sun, and American studios, and histories on everything from jug bands to blues to soul to rock-and-roll. Memphis Gothic Web. www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/6509/index.html. Though not uniquely Memphis and definitely not for everyone, this site – still under construction and in need of an update – is an interesting glimpse into a largely misunderstood music subculture. Just don’t make fun of them, no matter what you do. – Mark Jordan