So yesterday was Bandcamp Friday the day after Spotify sent out all there stats and people were starting to share them. Boy this is a great reminder for me how much I hate what they have done (propped up by the major labels) to the music industry. Here is my post I shared in our Facebook account.
Plus if you think Spotify is evil to musicians like me, it's getting worse in 2024 when they stop paying for songs that haven't had 1,000 streams. Egad that is 60 hours of streaming and where they paid them ONLY $4 in the past they are going to pay $0 and move it to the labels. This guy really explains it well, and I do believe we need a Bernie Sanders of Music to go after the 1% and get some legislation enacted to create fairness where there is an outright monopoly today. This video is also saved in my dissertation of how I would fix Spotify, completely opposite of their current plans.
So after that I was sitting at my computer thinking I wondered if there is playlist in there because I still love music. I had already starred the song "Take me back to Memphis" by Kelly Hunt; so I checked and found the magic 12 song amount and here's the eclectic playlist. Something about that city gets the musician to pick up the pace too; I just might have to visit it next year on our trip down south.
1) Take Me Back to Memphis - Kelly Hunt
I found Kelly written up in the October Bandcamp Country highlights and looking back she grew up in Memphis "Kelly Hunt grew up in Memphis and is now based in New Orleans, so you know she has a deep understanding of the rich musical history of the American South. On Ozark Symphony, she uses her Depression-era banjo and an impressive array of collaborators (cellist Natalie Haas, trad-music giant Dirk Powell, and multi-instrumentalist Kai Welch among them) to explore the album’s namesake mountains and the stories they have to tell. Hunt is not loud or showy, but she is a traveler, a storyteller, and a master channeler of bygone times."
I'm a sucker for a good banjo player toss in a cellist and I figured I would love this album and yes it's destined to me reviewed by me too. I started following her to see she was sharing a gig with Barnaby Bright who we just hosted for a house concert. Small world.
Yes the song cooks, and I love doing these playlists just find these live stripped down versions of the songs too.
2) All the Way to Memphis - Mott the Hoople
Oh yeah I have a few vinyls from my young days and I still love this song and "All the Young Dudes". While there is a pretty decent live video, I like the cleaner studio version with a brass section and clean piano. Too bad his axe was cold.
3) Coffee in Memphis - Drew Peterson
In a reverse to the last song, here's a video of a musician I met playing a gig in park in Bayfield WI this last summer; and his studio version (on his website) sounds like this audio file.
4) I've Been To Memphis - Lyle Lovett
Anytime Lyle comes up in a playlist, I'm happy. Now I've always felt bad for Allison in this song, I bet she's a pretty girl. Also I'm truly a suck for a waitress song, probably there is a playlist in that too.
5) Memphis Has the Best Parking Lots - Casey Joe Collins
Casey reached out to me to have his music in my library recently, and while I haven't given it enough listens yet; this song reminds I should .... he's good.
6) Memphis, Texas - Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez
Ok bending the Memphis TN, but these two were too good to pass up.
7) On a Rainy Night In Memphis - Emily Arin
Not sure exactly why I bought this 2011 album back in 2020, but this song reminds me I should listen to it more.
SCORE... I found this stripped down concert video from THIRTEEN years ago with only 953 views... let's give it some love it's pretty decent.
8) Riding Back to Memphis - Jason Daniels Band
Another purchase during the pandemic, it was a time when I was aggressive using my federal stimulus as my musician stimulus and it wouldn't be nothing for me to spend $300 on a Bandcamp Friday. Like I said earlier, this one shuffles along; such a great song of this playlist.
Pretty fun live video too.
9) The Sins of Memphisto - John Prine
Of course if you see John come up in a search you put him in, but I did want to keep it kind of tied to Memphis so I checked; here are the notes from John on the song,
"I never do my homework until after I'm done writing. And at the time, I thought that Memphisto was the city in ancient Egypt that Memphis, Tennessee, was named after. But the city in Egypt is Memphis. I also got it confused with Mephisto, Mephistopheles, the devil. But I thought, that's okay, it's kind of like the devil going to Memphis, Tennessee. I wrote this one under pressure from my producer, Howie Epstein. We were 12 cuts into The Missing Years, and Howie says, "We need one or two more cuts." And I went, "You're kidding. From where? We've been working for nine months. I don't have anything hiding on the shelf. You could take a autopsy, and you won't find a song inside of me." So I went and locked myself in a hotel room and went, "If he wants a song, he'll get a song." I tried to write one from as far in left field as I could and came up with "Memphisto." I'm convinced I was just working the whole song to get around the punch line "exactly Odo, Quasimodo." It's just hip lingo, kind of like "No shit, Sherlock." I'd had it for about four years, trying to work it into song." ~John Prine
So it COUNTS!
10) Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - Bob Dylan
Well again, it's Bob you have to include Bob even if it goes on for seven minutes.
11) Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - Old Crow Medicine Show
Yes the 50 year anniversary cover cd of Blonde on Blonde is incredible. There is a live video that I can't embed, but you can go watch it here.
12) Talk Memphis - Pierce Pettis
Great to end the playlist with one of my favorite songwriters.
- Stop over to the Review page to my other most spinned and loved albums.
- Browse the rest of the blogs by stopping at this "Theme Page."
- Enjoy Tune Tuesday which brings you one song from a past blog post.
- See what other post have been most popular recently with our Stats Page.
- Find out who in the world thinks he has the authority to write this blog in the About.
- Let me answer why you won't find the playlists on Spotify here.
- Finally, the Mission page explains why there is no advertising cluttering the page.
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