The fabled city of Memphis has been essential to American
music--home of the blues, the birthplace of rock and roll, a soul music
capital. We know the greatest hits, but celebrated author Robert Gordon
takes us to the people and places history has yet to record. A Memphis
native, he whiles away time in a crumbling duplex with blues legend
Furry Lewis, stays up late with barrelhouse piano player Mose Vinson,
and sips homemade whiskey at Junior Kimbrough's churning house parties. A
passionate listener, he hears modern times deep in the grooves of old
records by Lead Belly and Robert Johnson.
The interconnected profiles and stories in Memphis Rent Party
convey more than a region. Like mint seeping into bourbon, Gordon gets
into the wider world. He beholds the beauty of mistakes with producer
Jim Dickinson (Replacements, Rolling Stones), charts the stars with Alex
Chilton (Box Tops, Big Star), and mulls the tragedy of Jeff Buckley's
fatal swim. Gordon's Memphis inspires Cat Power, attracts Townes Van
Zandt, and finds James Carr always singing at the dark end of the
street.
A rent party is when friends come together to hear
music, dance, and help a pal through hard times; it's a celebration in
the face of looming tragedy, an optimism when the wolf is at the door.
Robert Gordon finds mystery in the mundane, inspiration in the
bleakness, and revels in the individualism that connects these diverse
encounters.
"Blues, being the wellspring of all American
music for over a century, is always worth studying. Robert does it
right." --Keith Richards
"An emotional map of musical Memphis. If you don't know these characters, let Robert Gordon introduce you." --Elvis Costello
"Robert
Gordon's book is proof that Southern heritage is American heritage, and
all sorts of people--black and white, familiar and strange, dead and
alive--are what it is." --Greil Marcus
Profiles and stories of Southern music from the acclaimed author of Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion.
This file is intended only for preview!
I ask you to delete the file from your hard drive after reading it.
thank for the original uploader
No comments:
Post a Comment