Author Archives: Rachel Hurley

Cincinnati garage rockers, The Greenhornes, are reunited and touring on behalf of their new record, Four Stars (actually, it’s got four actual stars as the title, but…). The band’s last full length was Dual Mono, released almost ten years ago.

Now, with drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence off duty from The Raconteurs (and Lawrence from The Dead Weather as well), frontman Craig Fox has his original lineup back in action. The band rescheduled their original Hi-Tone show at the end of May to this Wednesday, July 6th.

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Now go buy some records from Shangri-la!

This will be a digital-only release on the Shoulder Tap (www.shouldertap.com) imprint.

Some facts:

1. Recorded by Scott Bomar at Electrophonic Recording, Memphis, TN
2. The album will be available in 2 formats:
* digital download only
* 12×12 album-sized screenprint created by local artists Kong Wee Pang and Jay Crum with digital download.
* will be available July 5th (or a bit earlier) @ http://mouserocket.bandcamp.com
3. First video from album for “Take More” created by Chuck Vicious premiered at the LFM Music Video Showcase in March:

4. Record release show at the Hi-Tone on July 8th with The Fuzz & El Cento from Dallas. (Their last record was recorded by from Memphis dude Stu Sikes)

As director Aaron Hymes told the LA Times, “They were snapshots of things that were real and unaffected while simultaneously being filmed with the idea of hope and progression. I wanted to capture that upbeat, positive vibe and re-create those feelings with a contemporary twist. Downtown L.A. was the perfect setting. It’s a city that’s still changing, still moving forward, and has a uniqueness and sunny positivity you just can’t find anywhere else.”

From the new album ‘The Road From Memphis,’ in stores now!

For our last performance as Big Star, Jon, Ken and I had some very good friends join us to celebrate the music and lives of Alex, Andy and Chris on May 15, 2010. The performances really tell the story of what happened and how we all felt about that evening at Memphis’ Levitt Shell. The idea of trying to release the show in its entirety was overwhelming in the sense of time and effort needed for all performance clearances. So I thought, first artist first: John Davis was the first of many wonderful guest artists to join us on stage. He wailed on three songs: “In The Street,” “Don’t Lie To Me” and “When My Baby’s Beside Me.” These were just the right amount songs (and time) for an EP release. So with mastering engineer Larry Nix and Big Star’s engineer, John Fry, and our Neumann cutting lathe all residing in the Ardent Studios building how could we not cut vinyl?

Thank you,

Jody Stephens

The Big Star with John Davis of Superdrag – Live Tribute to Alex Chilton 7″ Vinyl Record can be purchased at http://ardentmusic.com

Former Drive-By Truckers guitarist, now front man himself, Jason Isbell will be headlining the Hi-Tone tomorrow night, the 24th. Along with his backing band, the 400 Unit, Isbell’s on the road in support of his third solo release (second with the Unit), Here We Rest.

Isbell and his band have played over 400 shows together over their short time together, so you know the band is going to be tight as all get out. And Isbell’s songs are great ones, never lacking any lyrical depth or strong melodies.

St. Louis’ Kentucky Knife Fight and our own The Heavy Eyes will open. Doors at 9pm/18+/$10 or $13.

Tickets / Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit / Kentucky Knife Fight / The Heavy Eyes

We don’t like to play favorites here at TVD-Memphis (well, maybe just a little) but Freelance Whales was definitely our favorite act at Bonnaroo! We were initially bummed when we rolled up on their first performance at That Tent because it was so jam packed it was impossible to get in close enough to actually see the band. Imagine our excitement when we caught their acoustic performance the next day at the much more intimate Sonic Stage. The band was even cool enough to do a meet & greet after their show and didn’t hesitate to jump in and do our interview backstage even though it was not scheduled through their management – they are a class act all the way! We love those guys!

Cory Branan has just released a brand new song for free download on his Facebook Page. It’s kind of hard to find, but look for the Free Exclusive Download tab on the right sidebar. We are still in love with this version of Bad Man he performed on The Warm Up a few weeks back.

The new album from The Bo-Keys is out today and has already gotten rave reviews:

“Breathes new life into classic sounds… a Memphis tour-de-force.”
— Meredith Ochs, NPR’s All Songs Considered

“Memphis soul legends in the making.”
— The Memphis Flyer

Check out their new video and then buy the album here.

Well, this is the shortest 5 Questions With segment we have done so far. Jeff the Brotherhood (of which no one in the band is actually named Jeff) are men of few words. We were bummed until we saw them play later that night and were blown away by their performance. Every bigwig blogger and scenester we had met at Bonnaroo was standing side stage to catch their performance, all looking at each other after each song and nodding knowingly, as if to say, “Yeah, these guys are going to be huge!”

Their new album We are the Champions is out today. Get it here.

Kylesa was definitely the hardest rocking band we saw at Bonnaroo. We were a little intimidated to sit down with them and do our silly little interview – and then we had to move them three times to find a quiet spot backstage! But Laura and Phillip were super cool about it! If you want to have your face blown off, we highly recommend checking out this band! Watch their video from their latest album Spiral Shadow to see what we mean!