Andrew McCalla, also known as DJ Buck Wilders, is known around the city for being “that record store dude” who manages Shangri-la Records (named one of The Best Record Stores in the USA by Rolling Stone) in midtown.
He’s also known for spinning records at some of the most popular soul parties in Memphis. After going by several different DJ names that he made up before shows, “Buck Wilders,” a name given to him by a friend, stuck because he felt it perfectly personified how ridiculous he felt about having a “DJ name.”
An avid vinyl collector, his obsession started when he was 15 after his mother passed on her vinyl collection and an old turntable. Like most folks that go gaga over wax, he spent his youth digging through thrift stores and record stores, or pretty much anywhere he thought he might come across a hidden gem. Seventeen years later, he has thousands of records, which come in handy for McCalla since he has been playing records on Memphis radio station WEVL since 2007.
The show he now hosts, Memphis Beat, highlights a plethora of music made in our fair city and has been a staple of the radio station since 1977. (It also beat the canceled TNT television show of the same name to air by about 23 years.) You can catch it every Tuesday at 1PM on wevl.org where it streams live.
When McCalla deejays soul nights, primarily in local venues, he uses two turntables and only plays vintage music. He rarely orders records online, instead usually looking around town in places like Goner Records, River Records, and BoJo’s Antique Mall (before it closed).
Check out some of his Recordmendations!
Ted Lucas – Ted Lucas
“There is actually a Ted Lucas self-titled record from 1975 that I would recommend… It is literally the best record I have ever heard. It’s kind of folk and psychedelic—rock psychedelic, I guess. He originally played sitar for Motown Records, and this was released in the mid-seventies as a solo project. It is one of my favorite records of all time—a friend of mine told me about it after a label in Nashville had re-released it.”
Michael Chapman – Fully Qualified Survivor
“Another one would be Micheal Chapman and the record Fully Qualified Survivor; it’s also an old record. It’s actually pretty similar to Ted Lucas as far as the genre of music. Chapman is really mellow and dark, but it is still psychedelic, folk, rock music. Jared [McStay, the owner of Shangri La] actually put it on in the store one day, and I really liked it. It was re-released from Light in the Attic Records.”
Phil Cordell – “Red Lady”
“Phil Cordell’s ‘Red Lady’ is a single. It’s a European release, it’s more psychedelic than the last two, and it’s weird. It was released no later than ’70, maybe ’69—it’s weird because it sounds like it was released yesterday. It has a really modern vibe to it with harp and sitar—the production of it sounds like a brand new record. I found it online a couple of years ago because it is not a common find!”
Photo and interview by Ashli Blow
