The Essential Memphis Library index
If you wanted to build a home library of things relevant to Memphis history and culture, what should be in it? What books, movies, albums, songs, art prints, etc.?
Topic: Essential Memphis Library
RSSThere are 24 article(s) tagged Essential Memphis Library:
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September 2024
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The Essential Memphis Library: Big Star’s ‘Radio City’
Big Star drummer Jody Stephens will be joined by members of R.E.M., the Posies and Wilco to perform the “Radio City” album in its entirety Tuesday at a celebration of the album’s 50th anniversary.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Big Star’s ‘#1 Record’
Named after a Memphis grocery store chain, Big Star recorded three haphazardly distributed albums over the course of just a few years, toured sporadically, got good press and had no hits. This obscurity grew over time into a considerable cult.
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The Essential Memphis Library: ‘Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy’
“If W.C. Handy was a talented, opportunistic musician in the right place at the right time, Louis Armstrong was a genius, period. And Armstrong and his “All-Stars” band elevate Handy’s famous tunes.”
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The Essential Memphis Library: Otis Redding’s ‘Otis Blue’
From Sam Cooke to Motown, blues to the British Invasion to his own classic songwriting, Otis Redding’s groundbreaking 1965 album turned everything it touched into one man’s soulful sound.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Otis Spann’s ‘Hotel Lorraine’
At a Chicago church, on the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Mississippi-bred bluesman Otis Spann delivered what arguably remains the most profound musical response to the tragedy.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Elvis Presley’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel’/‘Hound Dog’
Elvis’ popularity may have started this week in 1956. That’s when “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel”— constituting two sides of one 45 rpm single — reached the top of Billboard's pop singles chart.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Moanin’ at Midnight’/‘How Many More Years’
Memphis was a way station for the Wolf on a journey from the Delta to Chicago, but he was in Memphis long enough to cut a two-sided single as monumental as anything created in one of America’s signature music cities.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Johnny Cash’s ‘Cry, Cry, Cry/Hey Porter!’
Cash recorded his debut single, released in June 1955, at Sun Records.
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The Essential Memphis Library: ‘Walk the Line’
The film stands as both a great Memphis story and a showcase for the city as a filmmaking location that can do more than play itself.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Rainmaker’
In 1997, Matt Damon's first starring role and Francis Ford Coppola's last major film intersected in Memphis with the third and (so far) final locally set John Grisham adapation.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Ira Sachs’ Sundance-winning ‘Forty Shades of Blue’
“Forty Shades of Blue” hit theaters 15 years ago today, and it is now among the many examples of films not currently available on any streaming platform. But if you’re lucky enough to find a way to see it, you’ll encounter a very good move.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Tom Cruise goes Beale Street flipping in ‘The Firm’
As a depiction of the terrain of Memphis, circa 1993, “The Firm” is notable for its trip to the now dated and decaying Mud Island River Park, arguably the most inventive use of a Memphis location in any film. Here, it’s the setting for a climactic Hitchockian chase scene.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Molly Crosby’s ‘The American Plague’
In a month’s time, during the late summer of 1878, the city’s population plummeted from 50,000 to 20,000, with the vast majority of those remaining infected by the fever. Crosby's "The American Plague" takes you to this crucible moment in Memphis history, and helps explain what it meant.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Preston Lauterbach’s ‘Beale Street Dynasty’
The book focuses on the family of Robert Church, who built a fortune operating brothels, then converted his wealth into building a black political dynasty in the Jim Crow-era South.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Peter Taylor’s ‘A Summons to Memphis’
The only Pulitzer Prize-winner with “Memphis” in the title, Peter Taylor's 1986 novel explores the fine social distinctions between Memphis and Nashville at mid-century.
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The Essential Memphis Library: John Prine’s made-in-Memphis debut
John Prine was raised in Illinois and settled in Nashville, but he recorded three of his first six albums at different Memphis studios, including his classic debut, “John Prine.”
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The Essential Memphis Library: B.B. King’s early recordings
From King’s WDIA debut in 1949 to his departure from Memphis only a few years later, he recorded a handful of early sides in the city.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Jay Reatard’s ‘Watch Me Fall’
The crazy-talented wunderkind Jay Reatard was coming into his own with 'Watch Me Fall.' Five months later, he was gone.
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The Essential Memphis Library: The Replacements’ ‘Pleased to Meet Me’
Recorded at Midtown’s Ardent Studios in late 1986 and early 1987, the Replacements’ “Pleased to Meet Me” is a fusion of the Minneapolis’ band’s ramshackle, often poetic post-punk with soul-honed Memphis studio sensibilities.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Elvis Presley’s ‘Elvis is Back!’
In all, the album comprises the coolest version of the Elvis the public tended to adore and rock puritans resist, mixing great schlock with great art until you can’t quite tell the difference.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Reggae giant Toots Hibbert’s Memphis pilgrimage
Three decades ago, Hibbert brought his sound — and all of reggae’s — back to one of its sources with a 1988 album recorded at Midtown’s Ardent Studios that went on to a Grammy nomination.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Isaac Hayes’ ‘Hot Buttered Soul’
This 1969 album established Hayes’ sound and persona. It not only made him a star, but it made him a new kind of star.
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The Essential Memphis Library: Al Green’s ‘Call Me’
With three hit singles, two turf-grabbing country covers, definitive secular and religious anthems and some of the most tender pop music ever recorded, 1973's "Call Me" is Al Green's finest moment.
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