Our Memphis trip will definitely go down as one of the best experiences we’ve ever had. We arrived in Memphis at 6am on a red-eye flight from L.A. We were dead tired. I think we were all a little drunk from the night before too. That aside, we were stoked to be in Memphis. The history, food etc… Memphis is a great town.
Ardent had set everything up for us (Gig, Housing, Museum and Studio tours, etc.). Red carpet treatment. We arrived at our hotel (Hunt Phelan) which is definitely the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in as a band.
It was crazy. We walked in, took the tour of the premises. We were staying in the classic suite (two bedrooms, living room, Temperpedic mattresses, room service etc.). I was totally waiting to get punk’d. Have some dude roll out and say “JUST KIDDING, you’re sleeping on my couch tonight”. But it didn’t happen! Apparently the Rolling Stones had stayed in this room. True or not, it was nice to hear.
We explored Memphis a little and went to Sun Studios, which was very special. We ate some BBQ at Paynes then headed over to Ardent to record a one hour live session. When we arrived at Ardent it was pretty surreal. I was pretty nervous because I knew we were going to meet Jody Stephens and John Fry and then have to perform in this studio that has so much history. But, as things tend to unfold, everybody was so nice and welcoming. It was really fun. We played in front of a little audience and hung out for a bit. We had a gig that night at the Young Avenue Deli. A few our friends that live around the area came out. A lot of the folks that were at studio taping came down and we had a great show.
We were the only people in the hotel that night, So we could be as loud as we wanted. It was pretty ridiculous. The next day we rolled out of bed and headed back to Ardent to meet with John Fry. He drove us down to the Stax museum and gave us a free tour. It was a one of kind experience hearing him talk about Stax, Ardent, Memphis and all these artists. He spoke of our heroes like he would about his family and neighbors. It was really comforting to hear the stories.
We all geeked out for a few hours at the museum but had to make our way to Nashville that day. What a truly amazing experience. Thanks Ardent, Memphis. You’re awesome and we can’t wait to come back!
—AK
Enter to win Le Switch’s CD “The Rest of Me is Space” by simply leaving a comment, your name, and a contact email address in the comments to this post. We’ll choose one winner each Friday for that week’s giveaway which ALSO includes the entire Ardent Music catalog. (That’s just 2 artists at this point, but hey, who’s counting?)
To hear more great Ardent Sessions please visit Ardent Presents.
