User:Mventura4/This is Memphis

We All Are Memphis

"This Is Memphis" is an independent documentary film and record project about the roots of Memphis music and the powerful role the city has played, and continues to play, in the gestation of classic American music forms. With Memphis being the birthplace of American music, its influence and inspiration is so pervasive worldwide that it is hard for us to see its influence anymore. The Memphis area has not only been the central spawning ground of American music, it continues to be a crossroads of musical innovation. “This Is Memphis” is dedicated to return a national and international spotlight to the Memphis/Mississippi Delta/Hill Country music community. The project depicts an understanding of the significance of this extraordinary musical tethering spot, and assesses the area’s role in the nation and the world. It is a look back through a contemporary lens, a retrospective that strives to create something entirely new.

The film, together with companion albums and live concerts, will capture this odyssey into the heart of Memphis' musical culture. The core of the film consists of a series of cinema encounters that pair venerable legends (from blues, Gospel, R&B, rock 'n roll and soul traditions) with rising figures in contemporary music. Harnessing the power of this multigenerational force, original songs have been written, produced, and recorded in a variety of legendary venues.

It is important that the world understands where American music was born and where popular music worldwide got its roots, influences and inspiration. It is equally important to seamlessly bring together multiple generations so the world can see that the music from The Memphis area is continuous, relevant and important. This music fuses together generations and helps us all understand each other.

“This Is Memphis” returns Memphis music to the forefront of the world by creating a climate for collaboration between iconic masters and young stars from the Memphis region. It explores how the spirit of the Memphis sound lives on, imaginatively reinterpreted by younger cutting-edge artists. All the musicians that participated in the film and record are from or have roots in the Memphis/Mississippi Delta/Hill Country area. The project shows the world the rich history of Memphis/Mississippi music while also proving that the great music continued even when the region was out of  the spotlight.

Recordings/Tracks:
 * Aint No Sunshine- Bobby Blue Bland featuring Yo Gotti with Hill Country Revue
 * Wish I Had An Answer- Mavis Staples with North Mississippi Allstars
 * Be Like Me- Bar-Kays Featuring 8 Ball and MJG
 * If I Should Have Bad Luck- Charlie Musselwhite with the City Champs
 * Trying To Live My Life Without You- Otis Clay Featuring P-Nut with The Hi Rhythm Section
 * Push + Pull- Bobby Rush featuring Frayser Boy
 * Suppose To Be- Booker T featuring Al Kapone with North Mississippi Allstars
 * I Forgot To Be Your Lover- William Bell Featuring Snoop Dogg with Students of Stax Foundation Music School
 * Curly Hairs- The City Champs Featuring Charlie Musselwhite
 * Crosscut Saw- Dennis Graham featuring Drake with The Hi Rhythm Section
 * Knock on Wood- Featuring Kirk Whalum, William Bell with Lester Snell and Charles "Skip" Pitts (Lester Hayes Band)
 * Tired Of Being Alone- Featuring Stephanie Bolton With IFFY and The Hi Rhythm Section

To highlight the historical basis for the music, the recording sessions and filming for the project were done all done in various Memphis studios. Many of the sessions were filmed at the famous Royal Studios, home of Willie Mitchell and HI Records. This is the studio is located on the famous Beale Street and was where the legendary Al Green recorded his records. Beale Street served as a school where young talent was nurtured and it produced musicians who shaped the course of American music.

Royal Studios is now a National Landmark, because of the large impact it has on the history of Memphis music. The film captured a recording session with Dennis Graham, Drake, the Hodges Brothers, and Boo Mitchell at Royal Studios. The session bridges the generations, and emphasizes the idea of family and the richness of Memphis music history. This captures the entire spirit of the project.

All project proceeds will be donated to The Staxs Foundation, The Blues foundation’s Hart Fund, and Memphis Church Health Center to help aging musicians with medical care and emergency services. This is a key component of the project - making "This is Memphis" by the Memphis music community, about the Memphis music community and for the Memphis music community.

Music is Memphis’ greatest gift to the world and its peculiar genius. In this river city poised on America’s racial fault-line, in this place of rich cultural mixtures, spirituals and gospel first met Delta blues and rockabilly. Here, the hill country merged into the Mississippi floodplain; giving rise to R&B, rock ‘n roll, and soul music. “This Is Memphis” is an exploration and a celebration of a place that has long been a crossroads of musical innovation.

Film Producers –


 * Cody Dickinson- three-time Grammy nominated musician and producer Cody Dickinson. A native of Memphis, Dickinson has toured the world playing music with his many bands—including North Mississippi Allstars, Hill Country Revue, The Word, 30db. He has recorded original music for such films as Barnyard, Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror, and Black Snake Moan.
 * Martin Shore- began his entertainment career as a touring musician for Bo Diddley, Mick Taylor, Bluesman Willie, Clarence Clemons, Albert Collins and many others. He is a Grammy-nominated producer who has produced soundtracks for such films as Saw, RIZE, Saw II, Rock School, and Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror. As a filmmaker, he has produced or executive produced such motion pictures as Tell Tale, The Countess, and Dark Tide, starring Halle Berry. Shore is the founder and chairman of Social Entertainment, a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), and a voting member of the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA).
 * Jerry Harrison- Long history of playing in bands, beginning at High School in Milwaukee. After High School, he attended Harvard University where he continued to form and join bands.  In 1972 he moved to Los Angeles to record a demo for Warner Brothers.  After his band split in 1974, he returned to Boston and got a job teaching at Harvard.  Harrison decided to study Architecture at Harvard while continuing his band endeavor. He recorded a few solos which featured well known artists but during breaks he expressed his skills as a record producer.  After releasing one final album, he focused on producing.  In the 1990s with his involvement in platinum-selling releases he became a well known producer.  He reunited with The Talking Heads one final time in 2002 for their induction into the Rock and Roll of Fame.  He continues working as a producer and as a Chairman of the Board for Garageband.com.

Executive Producer –

Boo Mitchell- an American musician, songwriter, audio engineer, record producer and owner of National Landmark, Royal Studios. Boo Mitchell grew up around music and well known recording artists; his father, Willie Mitchell, operated Royal Studios and was a producer. Mitchell began his musical career at a young age, 17, playing keyboard on a Grammy Award Winning gospel album for Al Green. January of 2010, Mitchell became manager of Royal Studios when his father passed away. During his career, Mitchell has been a part of many platinum and award winning albums, including John Mayer’s Continuum which certified double platinum. He continued operation at Royal Studios as owner, manager, and producer.
 * Bulleted list item

History of Memphis Music Memphis is the "Home of the Blues" and the American music history, especially that of the blues, rockabilly, and rock-n-roll came from Memphis. But key institutions in Tennessee’s classical music history are based in Memphis as well, and several nationally recognized artists in jazz, gospel, and rhythm-n-blues have strong associations with the. Beale served as a school where young talent was nurtured and it produced musicians who shaped the course of American music. At the same time of this explosion of popular music, classical music institutions developed in Memphis, and sometimes artists from these institutions participated in the more popular side of the Memphis Music Scene. Gospel music, too, was important in the rise of the Memphis music scene. Gospel, jazz, blues, soul, and rockabilly have combined to create the distinctive Memphis music tradition, a legacy still savored by music lovers across the nation. The main thing to keep in mind is that the music and people who wrote and sang it generally came from outside of the city and then moved to the city to perform it to audiences in places like Beale Street and on radio stations. It was in Memphis that people could make their

Hi Records Hi Records was a hit factory that is as alive today as it ever was, constantly repackaged and reissued, an inspiration to new generations of musicians and fans. Hi Records struck platinum in that middle ground between gritty Southern Soul and the era's slicker disco and Philly sounds. But long before the R&B mega-hits and Superfly threads, Hi was born a rockabilly cat in blue suede shoes. When segregation was the norm and the civil rights movement was just beginning to pick up steam, it was no big deal to play in racially mixed bands in Memphis and Hi Records allowed this to happen. Over time, Hi changed from a rockabilly label to an instrumental powerhouse which was a national trend in the early Sixties. So many instrumentals were released that many people thought Hi stood for "Hit Instrumentals." In the early Seventies, Hi had it all. Ann Peebles had cracked the dam, Al Green busted it wide open and Hi's flood of hits kept coming. Teenie Hodges and Green turned out the timeless classic, "Take Me to the River." Peebles, Bryant and Memphis DJ Bernard Mr. B. Miller wrote "I Can't Stand the Rain" a twist on all those "Singing in the Rain"-type songs, a precipitation protest that anyone who has survived the Memphis monsoon season can understand. Hi Records was a hit factory that is as healthy today as it ever was --constantly repackaged and reissued -- an inspiration to new generations of musicians and fans.