Shangri-La Projects

Another Stellar Stereo Session from our friends of the label WYXR Radio! This one was for the classic Scruffs' record Wanna Meet the Scruffs!! Great talk with honest rapport from Zac Ives, Hot Tub Plumley, & (sometime!) Scruffs' bassist Rick Branyan. Kreature Comforts Fun Fact: the Scruffs toured with Johnny Thunders!

Ok, sometimes you go for this, and you get that. Dick Raichelson's symposium the week before last at the Sound Convention about the 1st recording sessions in Memphis in February, 1927, (Autozone World HQ!) was really fantastic! In addition to the raison d'etre, the talk about the recording sessions was educational, deep dish, and fascinating. But what was really fun and educational were the advertising graphics he dug up to tell his stories.

While he focused his talk on the actual recordings and the sessions, the ads for where and when the recordings might be purchased got me thinking about the first actual record stores in Memphis.

Everyone knows about Shirley's Poplar Tunes--later sold to the Cuoghis & the Novareses in the early '50s when they removed "Shirley" and her name from the enterprise and sign. Most hipsters know about the legendary Home of the Blues--on Beale St. where the Elvis statue currently resides--and the stories surrounding Ruben Cherry starting the store & label (the 1st store label in Mempho??) in 1948. And a few even know about Dewey Phillips' record department in the W.T. Grant's department store in the late 1940s/early 1950s. Dewey fashioned a p.a. system in his department and screamed at you through the p.a and threw records at you in attempt to move the latest wax & shellacs. His notoriety led to him being discovered by the g.m. of WHBQ and hired to take that insane show down the street to the airwaves at WHBQ on the first floor of the Hotel Chisca!

But were these the 1st record shops in Mempho??? Heck, no, according to Professor Raichelson! He showed slides of ads for records being sold at Goldsmiths in the basement in April, 1927, and at O.K. Houck Piano Company on Beale St. in May, 1927.

But the real grandaddy ad of them all is Mutual Furniture Company on 183 Beale St (at 3rd & Beale) from February, 1924!! If you google that address, you can see Silky Sullivans. Zoom in past the cheezy sign, and you can still see faded "Mutual Furniture Company" verbiage above the windows. Until someone shows me some other data, I'm calling this the oldest record store location in Mempho!

We are proud to be involved in a small way in a 102 year-old (at least!) tradition and industry here in Mempho! Thank you to Dick Raichelson for such amazing digging & great information!!

Shout-out to Ford Nelson, legendary Memphis dj. When we did the Will Roy Sanders/Fieldstones doc 27 years ago, he reached out to us and told us he used to have Will Roy play guitar on his show on WDIA when Will Roy was a kid in the early '60s!! He remembered Will Roy as quite a talented young guitar player! Ford Nelson was an O.G. Memphis dj for sure! RIP, Mr. Nelson, and thank you for your service!

Double-posting Thursday!!! Sorry for the swampin' of your feeds today, but, if you got $30 in your pocket, & you want some Memphis OG blues/gospel knowledge, get on down to that ole run-down hotel the city bought, across from Ellis Auditorium, tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. !! The Association for Recorded Sound Collections' convention is dropping the knowledge!!

Today was Friend of the Label Dick Raichelson, who we often used to see on our library research extravaganzas. O.G. indeed! Anyway, he connected some serious dots on the 1st recording sessions in Memphis in February, '27!!! (1927!!!) Great stuff! Sorry you missed it!

Friday: 9:00 a.m. Jug Bands by Roberta Schwartz followed by the B.B. King archive at University of Mississippi talk followed by a discussion with Friend of the Label Scott Baretta: Music Making at Parchman!

But wait, there's more, rekkid nerds!!

11:00 Dr. Dave Evans & the history of High Water Records from the man himself!! One of the great unknown stories of Memphis music history! Dr. Dave's talk will be followed by one of Dr. Dave's superstar students of the '80s, Kip Lornell, who wrote Happy in the Service of the Lord!!! Kip will be talking about his work in Memphis in the '80s!! Don't miss this if you have time!!