The term “power pop,” while arguably overused, does capture a certain blend of chugging rock rhythms, shimmering acoustic and electric guitars, and sweet vocal melodies and harmonies, usually of the sensitive male variety. To put a finer point on it, power pop is the sound of bands, as opposed to loops and samples. And for that reason, it’s somewhat of an endangered species. Yet the classic records of power pop, from Big Star to Van Duren, endure. And sometimes the diehard fans of those sounds coalesce into groups that can master all of power pop’s key ingredients.
The Sonny Wilsons are one such group, and it’s no coincidence that they hail from Memphis, which was arguably power pop central in the last century. Those who saw The Baseball Project play Overton Park Shell in 2023 heard them as the support act, and many were wowed by their mastery of power pop’s most infectious elements, especially their vocal harmonies. It didn’t hurt that one of the band’s founders, Jon Auer of The Posies and the revived Big Star, joined them onstage that day. His vocals continue to help Jody Stephens’ ongoing Big Star Quintet sparkle with some of the original band’s vocal grandeur — no small feat — and he brings that talent to The Sonny Wilsons as well.
He’s all over the band’s recent album, Maybe, but Auer won’t be with the group when they take the stage at the Hi Tone this coming Sunday, May 17th, joining Rock Eupora, Your Academy, and Shorty & the Grooves. As he explains, that’s to be expected with his busy schedule, though he does play with them as often as he can. “I never rule it out,” he says. “Last year, it didn’t work out, and I don’t know if it’ll work out this year. But it’s always fun to sit in with them, and that’s what I do, basically. There’s a lot of harmonies and stuff and that’s, I think, one of my ‘superpowers.’ I just do it naturally, walking around hearing other records, wherever I go. I just write harmonies. It’s part of my makeup, so it’s fun getting to sing those harmonies that I put on the record.”
That record is well worth having for any fans of the genre, capturing the spirit of power pop in a wholly original way. Certainly any music aficionado can spell out the formula required for great pop laced with rock, but ultimately it comes down to the songwriting, and The Sonny Wilsons deliver on that front. Indeed, that’s what led Auer to cast his lot with the Memphis group. “This project was born with a song,” he says.
It was a tune written by Memphian Allen Couch Jr., who briefly joined The Posies onstage at Lafayette’s Music Room a few years ago when the band offered fans a chance to “be a Posie for a song.” Not long after, Couch, who serves as DeSoto County Court Judge when not rocking out, reconnected with his friend from the ’80s, Capt. Adam Yancey, a pilot, as both developed plans to start what is now the annual Memphis PowerPop Festival. Along the way, they began writing and recording song demos of their own. Yet they felt a little rusty. Having met Auer when the latter played the Big Star Third concert at the Shell in 2019, Couch reached out to him for a little assistance.
“Allen approached me looking for some consultation about a song,” says Auer. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is really cool! What else ya got?’” Couch and Yancey, it turned out, had a lot. ”It just started off as guys trying to write good songs, and I’m always attracted to that. So I was like, ‘Well, hey, if you want to record something…’ That slowly turned into, my gosh, a whole record, which I was pretty heavily involved in. Adam, Allen, and myself were the band, basically.”
Cutting basic tracks at Ardent Studios (with Jody Stephens playing drums on one track), they then added overdubs by way of swapping files long distance, each using their respective home studio rigs. Auer notes that Couch was somewhat of a secret weapon during these sessions, and in the demos that preceded them. “This guy,” he says, referring to Couch, “can completely do a demo at home, playing all the instruments, drums, bass, guitar, whatever is needed. And he often did, and that was often the starting point for our studio recordings as well.”
Now, with the album out since last fall, the band is ramping up their live shows, as with their Hi Tone appearance on Sunday. Typically, when Auer can’t make it, “I play drums for the live band with Johnny Norris on bass and Danny McGreger on guitar,” says Couch. But sometimes they have to reshuffle the players even further. That will be the case when The Sonny Wilsons play The Cavern Club in Liverpool, as part of the International Pop Overthrow festival, May 24-31.
“We kind of had to put together The Sonny Wilson’s 3.0 because not everybody could make the trip,” says Couch. “David Brookings is going to join us Sunday, along with Dan Shumake and Chris Swenson, and then he’ll be with us in Liverpool, plus his band is playing over there at The Cavern as well. Talk about a bucket list item I never knew existed! You know, I’m sure we all love The Beatles, but Abbey Road is where it all started for me. My parents had an eight track of the album, and I wore that thing out. As soon as I could get my own money, I bought every Beatles album I could find. So this is a big deal. It’s especially meaningful to me.”
