Acoustic Sunday Live: It’s a Memphis tradition over three decades old now, and this year’s iteration is perfectly in keeping with its predecessors. The series, curated by Bruce and Barbara Newman, makes use of the couple’s deep contacts in the folk music world, typically bringing in multiple artists who could fill a room on their own in support of a local cause. “This concert series has benefited the Memphis community in various ways for many years,” Bruce Newman says, “but I’m especially pleased to work with Ward Archer and his team at Protect Our Aquifer — and their associated community partners — to protect the environment in our own backyard.”
This year’s concert, at the First Congregational Church on December 5th, features Grammy-nominated and Blues Music Award winner Shemekia Copeland, Nashville singer-songwriter Will Kimbrough, Grammy-nominated country/Americana singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, Memphis’ own hip-hop legend Al Kapone, and the iconic singer-songwriter and folk musician Livingston Taylor.
Taylor, one of five musical siblings, has been making records nearly as long as his famous brother James, having signed with Capricorn Records in 1970. When we spoke, he was in Tampa, Florida, to film a video on the craft of stage performance, something he knows a thing or two about. “You have to be able to not only write a song; you have to be able to present it,” he says. “I’ve been a professor at the Berklee College of Music for 30 years, where I teach a course I wrote called Stage Performance. It’s about the minutiae of how to go on stage, what your responsibilities are as an entertainer, and why people should be willing to pay attention to you.” Former Berklee students who have put his guidance to good use include John Mayer and Susan Tedeschi. “It’s been a wonderful course to teach over these years, though I’m winding that down a bit and turning into a professor emeritus.”
But music is far from an academic exercise for the veteran pop/folk performer. Indeed, there’s a strong current of uplifting spirituality to his music, though only a small portion of it is technically gospel. “Like all human beings, I’m a spiritual fellow,” he says. “I have no sense of a strong Christian upbringing or anything, but I was raised in North Carolina, with a lot of those Black gospel sensibilities around. So it seems to fall pretty easy, to write gospel songs. I love writing songs like ‘Oh Hallelujah’ or ‘Step by Step,’ or one called ‘Tell Jesus to Come to My House,’ which are all strong, ‘paint the barn red’ gospel songs.”
His ultimate goal, though, is more of a nonsectarian call for peace. “My music is designed to calm people down. These days, we’re being pretty hard on one another, and I’d really like to see that calm down. Certainly the forces that are around us profit from us being agitated and at each other’s throats. They get viewers and listeners by being inflammatory. And to me, that’s a discouraging trend. I would love it if we found a way to be a little gentler with one another. What I’d love my music to emphasize is that we are well and strong and, at the basis of all of it, we like each other.”
It’s a message appropriate for any grassroots-oriented gathering, and Taylor is enthusiastic about playing the upcoming benefit. “It’s obviously a worthy undertaking. I’m delighted to know about Protect Our Aquifer. Yet my real enthusiasm is for the musical event itself.”
That enthusiasm is only compounded by bringing his music to the Bluff City. “Memphis is certainly my favorite city in Tennessee,” Taylor says. “Not taking away from Chattanooga or Nashville, but Memphis is the strong one. It’s got a very mighty heartbeat, and the idea of coming back there to make music is a real thrill for me. Just to make music in Memphis, with all the beautiful spirits of that great city, will be a lot of fun. There’s a lot of musical energy there. I find when I play in Memphis, my playing gets reinforced by all those ghosts.”
Acoustic Sunday Live! presents The Memphis Concert to Protect Our Aquifer at 7 p.m. on Sunday, December 5th, at First Congregational Church. $50 and up. Visit acousticsundaylive21.eventive.org/schedule for details.
