#605 : Mem Mods - Vol. 1. (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2023 – Mem Mods

By Phillip Smith; April 7, 2023

Release Date : Feb. 24, 2023

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

Longtime friends Steve Selvidge (Big Ass Truck), Paul Taylor and Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), sons of Memphis music legends Sid Selvidge, Pat Taylor, and Jim Dickinson are now legends by their own right.  It took a pandemic to reconnect these three musicians who played together as kids in the 1970s to make this intoxicating new instrumental recording. With Selvidge on guitar, bass, Rhodes, and drum machine, Dickinson on bass and various keys, and Taylor on drums, percussion, various basses, synth pedals, and soundscapes, the trio drew inspiration from the music they loved growing up in Memphis.  They set the pin in the Bluff City as ground zero, exploded the sound into the outer dimensions, and created a dozen hypnotic, funky, space jams.

The album begins with the forward-driving beat and funktafied futuristic sounds of “Capricorn Catastrophe”.  This is a splendid slice of psychedelia topped off with horns.  Soaking in the warm groove of “Congressional Tadpole” is an absolute treat.  When I hear “Knotty Pine Kitchen”, I have visons of disco lights moving slowing across the ceiling and wall.  My brain totally expects to hear the soulful deep voice of Isaac Hayes kick in at some point.  I adore the funky Stax-flavored intro on “Midtown Miscommunication”.  It eventually wanders into Zappa-land.  Growing up in the Sixties and Seventies, one of my favorite toys was the ever-so-strange game of Cooties.  I never played the game; I just built the weird little creatures so my army men would have something to battle with.  “Cootie Party” may not be about that, but I like to pretend it is.  The Mem Mods trip concludes with “Horn Lake Hookup”.  If there is intelligent life out there, this is what they sent back after listening to the Memphis sounds in its heyday. 

I love the Mem Mods Vol 1., and hope there will be many more of these.  They are great!  

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TRACKLIST

 

01 Capricorn Catastrophe

02 Three On The Tree

03 Feather's On A House Cat

04 Congressional Tadpole

05 Harmolodica

06 Knotty Pine Kitchen

07 Midtown Miscommunication

08 Sonoma Smashup

09 Sparkle Skate

10 Cootie Party

11 Perseveration Blues

12 Horn Lake Hookup

South Memphis String Band - Home Sweet Home : From The Archives #10

Memphis Int'l,  2010

By Phillip Smith; April 24, 2010

Home Sweet Home, the debut release by The South Memphis String Band pays serious homage to early twentieth century Mississippi delta string and jug bands.   Channeling the likes of Gus Cannon, Missisppi John Hurt, and The Memphis Jug Band , musicians Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars, Black Crowes), Alvin “Youngblood” Hart and Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers) share the common experience of  being good friends, and having family connections and/or roots in the Memphis and North Mississippi area.   With an arsenal of instruments which include guitars, banjos, harmonicas, steel guitars, and mandolins, The South Memphis String Band helps the listener transgress to a slower and simpler time.

Sometimes, music can trigger the same feelings and emotions one experiences with ‘comfort foods’.  This album, I have realized,  has become one of my comfort foods.  Home Sweet Home is a melting pot, taking tried and true ingredients such as delta blues, gospel and folk music and slow simmering it into a Sunday family dinner.  I love the fact that The South Memphis String Band is consistent in style with each of its songs, yet allowing each to shine on its own accord. 

This is true.  Almost every morning, there is a song stuck in my head upon awakening.  Several times, that song has been “Deep Blue Sea”.  It‘s infectious.  Other cuts deserving mention are “Bootleggers Blues” and “Old Hen”.  Both are a little country-fried and dripping with authenticity.  Listening to the vocals dance around the banjo in “Old Hen”, just puts a big smile on my face.  I relished  “Worry Bout Your Own Backyard” as well, for its bluesy vocals and its wise lyrics, “Stop worrying about the whole world, and start worrying about your own backyard.”. 

 Home Sweet Home is a soulful experience and with each listen of  “Let Your Light Shine On Me”, I want to clap my hands and yell ‘Hallelujah!’

Rating =  4/5