NMissCommentor

Alex Chilton broke into music as member of the Memphis blue-eyed soul band the Box Tops, singing their Dan Penn-written hit “The Letter” (“Give me a ticket for an airplane / ain’t got no time for a fast train… Oh the lonely days are gone, I’m coming home, my baby, she wrote me a letter.”)  [...]

Scott Barretta reports the death of Leland blues musician Dave Thompson in an automobile accident in South Carolina:
I received the terrible news today that Delta blues guitarist and vocalist Lil’ Dave Thompson died early this morning in an automobile wreck. According to a news report, he died in Aiken County, SC when the [...]

Sunday night was when Junior Kimbrough’s various jukes were open.  The last was in Chulahoma on State Highway 4, and burned down ten years ago.   Scott Barretta reports on his blog that for the last few months there’s been a new Sunday night juke at The Hut in Holly Springs:
The Hut is housed in an [...]

This cheery ballad, whose narrator takes up a life of crime and lives to regret it came up on the iPhone in the Watersons version, which I could not find online, and so I’ll post the video of Richard Thompson doing it, along with an mp3 of the Watersons’ version.
This one’s for Matt and all [...]

Here are two of the best prewar Memphis jug band musicians, Charlie Burse and Wil Shade, doing “Kansas City Blues” for a 1958 television special called “Blues Street”

There’s a wonderful NPR story about the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s birth.  Here’s a film of him in the best possible setting, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.  Watch his chording hand– he’s only using two fingers, because of an accident in a fire that could have ended his caree
For another film clip [...]

The headline, quoted above, tells the whole story:
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis Police are searching for a possible suspect in Wednesday’s death of Memphis musician Jay Reatard at his Cooper-Young home.
Officers were called to the 900-block of Meda around 3:30am and found 29-year old Jimmy Lindsey, Jr., also known as Jay Reatard, dead on arrival. The [...]

Bobby Charles most famously wrote “Walking To New Orleans” and “See You Later Alligator,” which he recorded for Chess, along with “But I Do” (Ernie K-Doe) and “Jealous Kind” (Joe Cocker).  He was also a close friend of the Band, who played (along with Dr. John and others) on his 1972 self-titled solo album.  He [...]

The Commercial Appeal describes the memorial service for Wilie Mitchell at Hope Presbyterian in Cordova.  Al Bell of Stacks Records, songwriter David Porter, also of Stax, Ardent Studios founder John Fry all spoke.
The event closed with an all-star musical revue featuring many of Mitchell’s protégés and collaborators. Among them were his famed house band Hi [...]

Goner Records says he died in his sleep.  For more about Reatard, here’s his Wikipedia entry.  h/t Commercial Appeal twitter feed.