Category: Music

Buddy Miller’s Touchstone: “That’s How I Got to Memphis”

How I Got to Memphis

The first time I fell for Buddy Miller‘s music is when I heard his cover of Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis.” At the time, I’d borrowed Miller’s 1995 CD Your Love and Other Lies from my friend. Although I eventually came to love the entire album, it was “That’s How I Got to Memphis” that grabbed me on the first listen and never let me go.

I have followed Miller’s career since then, buying and enjoying all of his albums. If asked to name my favorite Buddy Miller album, it would be Cruel Moon (1999).

But asked me to name my favorite Buddy Miller recording, though, I would have to go past all of the wonderful original songs of his. And I’d name his cover of “That’s How I Got to Memphis.”

Buddy Miller’s Relationship With the Song

Considering how that song has remained a standout in Miller’s catalog for me, I was fascinated that the Tom T. Hall song means so much to him. In this video recorded at Tom T. Hall night at Music City Roots on November 16, 20111, Miller explains how the song is his favorite and how it has become his “touchstone.”

Miller has been playing the song since it came out.  And he has played it at every gig. Additionally, he played it the first time he met his wife, the singer-songwriter Julie Miller.

What Is the Meaning of the Song?

The title of “That’s How I Got to Memphis” gives you and idea about the question of the song (how did the singer get to Memphis?). But it is Tom T. Hall’s great storytelling ability that tells you just enough to answer the question and leaves just enough unclear, so that everyone may hear something different in the song.

In “That’s How I Got to Memphis,” the singer explains how he is seeking a lost love and how that journey brought him to Memphis. The song does not answer all of the questions, like why the woman went to Memphis, what kind of “trouble she’s in,” or the exact reason she left the singer. But the singer’s quest to find the answers to these questions allows the listener to fill in the blanks, even as the story breaks your heart.

The song is about life and loss. If the song were from the woman’s point of view, one might be tempted to categorize it as a song about a stalker, even as we wonder why she left and why she always threatened to go to Memphis. But because the song is in the voice of the broken-hearted man speaking to another person who may be a stranger or a friend, a great singer can remind you of the pain of losing something you once loved.

Or you may see the song as more about the journey of getting to another place. The beauty of Hall’s song is in the ambiguity, which leaves a lot to be revealed in the connection between the singer and the listener.

Other Versions of “That’s How I Got to Memphis”

Several other artists have covered the song, sometimes shortening the title to “How I Got to Memphis.” The song has been recorded and/or performed by artists such as Bobby Bare, Bill Haley and the Comets, Solomon Burke, Rosanne Cash and the Avett Brothers. More recently, Jeff Daniels sang the song on the series finale of HBO’s The Newsroom.

“That’s How I Got to Memphis” first appeared on Tom T. Hall’s 1969 album Ballad Of Forty Dollars & His Other Great Songs. Below is his version.

What is your favorite Buddy Miller song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Otis Redding: Soul Manifesto (Short Review)

    Otis Redding Box Set There is little reason not to own the Otis Redding box set Soul Manifesto: 1964-1970. The twelve-CD set set features eight studio and live records recorded during Reddings’ lifetime and four posthumous albums. The set features no extras beyond the music. But it comes to Redding, the music is enough.

    Albums in the Set

    Rhino released the set as part of its Original Album Series. The five studio albums released between 1964 and 1967 during Redding’s lifetime are: Pain in My Heart, The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, The Soul Album, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul, and King & Queen (a duet album with Carla Thomas). The classic live albums are Live in Europe and In Person at the Whisky a Go Go. And the four studio albums released between 1968 and 1970 after Redding’s death are: The Dock of the Bay, The Immortal Otis Redding, Love Man, and Tell the Truth.

    That is a lot of Otis Redding. Although Soul Manifesto was released in late 2015, it has taken me awhile to savor the music. Of course, the big question for music fans is whether or not they need all of these albums.

    Do Fans Need All of These Albums?

    The answer for most fans is yes. I already owned the outstanding three-CD set The Otis Redding Story (1989). A lot of fans may have the excellent 2-CD collection, Dreams to Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology (1998). A great 4-CD collection is Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding (1993). Unfortunately, the latter set seems to be out of print.

    Of course, there are some good single CD collections. So one may easily find a lot of the big songs, like “Shake,” “Respect,” “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song),” “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” “Mr. Pitiful,” and “Try a Little Tenderness.”

    But if you really love Otis Redding, there is never enough. Going back through the original albums collected in Soul Manifesto, one hears a special consistency in Redding’s career. There are no bad songs. Yes, you recognize some songs more than others, but each album is excellent in its own right.

    You know a lot of the hits, but the twelve CDs give you the chance to listen to Otis Redding fresh, hearing songs that you never heard before in the order they were released. You get to start with “Pain in My Heart” opening his first album and then go though both hits and lesser-known songs. You get his first posthumous album with “Dock of the Bay,” which still leaves us pondering what more Redding would have accomplished had he not died in a plane crash at the age of 26.

    No Extras In This Set

    Of course, it would be great if the albums featured extras or included special liner notes. Some fans may want to wait and hope for more re-releases of the individual albums with extras.

    For example, Rhino already released a special edition of Redding’s classic third album Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965). The collector’s edition of Otis Blue not only includes the original album in both mono and stereo. And it also includes rarities, alternate mixes, and live versions of the album tracks. Pitchfork gave a glowing review to that special edition.

    Two Big Reasons to Get Soul Manifesto

    There are two reasons, though, one might still want to buy the bare-bones Soul Manifesto: 1964-1970 and get all the albums in one place as they were released. First, the price is great. You may buy Soul Manifesto and get all twelve Otis Redding CDs for around $50 on places like Amazon (the mp3 version is more expensive, so get the CDs and burn them).

    The second reason to get Soul Manifesto? It is a ton of great music by one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century.

    What is your favorite Otis Redding album or song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Yankee Doodle George M. Cohan & “Over There”

    “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” starring James Cagney as George M. Cohan, is a fun Fourth of July bio-pic about the famous entertainer and songwriter.

    George M. Cohen Probably the most famous Fourth of July movie is Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), starring James Cagney as George M. Cohan. It is a spectacular and fun bio-pic about the famous entertainer and songwriter. And Cagney gives one of his greatest performances while also capture much about the sound and dance of the real Cohan.

    Cohan famously sang about being “born on the Fourth of July,” although he actually was born on July 3, 1878 in Providence, Rhode Island. As portrayed in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy, Cohan began with his career in vaudeville with his parents and sister in an act known as “The Four Cohans.”

    In the early 1900s, he was one of the biggest things on Broadway, creating and producing successful musicals. He wrote many of the classic songs we still hear today like “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “Yankee Doddle Boy,” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

    “Over There”

    In Yankee Doodle Dandy, we see Cagney as Cohan creating another one of Cohan’s classic’s, “Over There.” As portrayed in the clip, Cohan wrote the song in 1917 when the United States entered World War I.

    If you wonder what the real George M. Cohan danced and sounded like, Cagney gives a good sense in the film. But a surviving movie clip of Cohan shows him singing and dancing in blackface in The Phantom President (1932).

    Also, one may hear the real George M. Cohan in the clip below. He is introduced at around the one-minute mark.  Then, he sings “Over There.”

    “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and Death

    Yankee Doodle Dandy was released on May 29, 1942, and the film went on to receive several Academy Awards. Among the awards, Cagney won the Oscar for Best Actor.

    Cohan reportedly originally wanted Fred Astaire to play him. But he lived to see Yankee Doodle Dandy released with Cagney in the lead role.

    Cohan died on November 5, 1942 not long after the movie’s release.  He passed away at the age of 64 at his apartment at 993 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

    After Cohan died, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to Cohan’s wife Agnes Mary Nolan Cohan.  In it, he concluded, “He will be mourned by millions whose lives were brightened and whose burdens were eased by his genius as a fun maker and as a dispeller of gloom.”

    What better way to be remembered than as a “fun maker” and “dispeller of gloom”?

    Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, and check out our previous post on Fourth of July Songs.

    Photo via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Mississippi John Hurt: “Lonesome Valley”

    John Hurt Lonesome Valley Mississippi John Hurt was reportedly born in Carroll County, Mississippi on July 3, 1893.  But some sources, including his gravestone, say his date of birth is March 8, 1892.

    Born in the nineteenth century less than thirty years after the end of the Civil War, Hurt lived to see the start of the Civil Rights movement, giving us some fantastic music along the way.

    Hurt first recorded in the late 1920s, but his music found no audience. And then the record company went out of business during The Great Depression. So, Hurt returned to work as a sharecropper in Avalon, Mississippi.

    But new fans discovered Hurt when his recordings of “Frankie” and “Spike Driver Blues” appeared in Harry Smith’s collection The Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952. And in 1963, music collector Tom Hoskins found Hurt based on Hurt’s song “Avalon,” which referred to his hometown.

    Hoskins convinced Hurt to return to performing. Hurt’s performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival helped re-launch his career. He performed across the country, appeared on television, and recorded new albums.

    Hurt’s musical style crossed different genres, including blues and folk. He played his guitar with a unique syncopated fingerpicking style that he taught himself.

    Below is a fantastic 1965 recording of Mississippi John Hurt singing “Lonesome Valley” on folksinger Pete Seeger’s TV program, Rainbow Quest.

    Hurt got to enjoy his new success for a handful of years, dying in November 2, 1966. But, man, we are lucky he found his way back from obscurity.

    A number of collections collect his music from both eras of his career. One of my favorites is the 2-CD set that collects his 1960s recordings, The Complete Studio Recordings Mississippi John Hurt.

    What is your favorite Mississippi John Hurt song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Little Eva: Loco-Motion & More

    Little Eva got a big break as a result of a babysitting job, leading to her hit recording of “The Loco-Motion.”

    Little Eva

    Eva Narcissus Boyd, who became known as Little Eva, was born on June 29, 1943. Although she is best known for her recording of “The Loco-Motion,” she recorded several other songs such as “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,” “Let’s Turkey Trot,” and “Old Smokey Loco-Motion.”

    “Loco-Motion” and a Big Break

    Little Eva had her big break as a teenager when she was babysitting for singer Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin. King and Goffin wrote the song “The Loco-Motion” and asked Little Eva to sing the demo.

    King and Goffin loved the demo.  So, they released Little Eva’s version of the song, which became a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1962.

    Not many videos exist of Little Eva performing. The above video for “The Loco-Motion” seems to cobble together different scenes so it appears she performs the entire song. But reportedly the only existing video of her singing “The Loco-Motion” is a short clip from the show Shindig!

    Below, however, is Little Eva singing “Let’s Turkey Trot,” another dance song. She performed the song on a March 3, 1965 episode of Shindig!

    After “The Loco-Motion”

    After “The Loco-Motion,” Little Eva worked with King and Goffin but she never saw the success of “The Loco-Motion” again. Little Eva recorded a demo for another King and Goffin classic, “One Fine Day.” But The Chiffons instead recorded the official release, scoring a hit with it.

    Instead of getting “One Fine Day,” Little Eva recorded “Old Smokey Locomotion.” The song was a re-hash of “The Loco-Motion,” combining it with “On Top of Old Smokey.” The odd combination is kind of fun nonetheless.

    King and Goffin wrote another song inspired by Little Eva: “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss).” But the inspiration was unfortunate. The songwriters based the song on conversations with Little Eva, who told them her abusive boyfriend loved her.

    Little Eva did not get to record the song.  Instead, the Crystals recorded “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss),” which was produced by Phil Spector. King later said she regretted writing the song about domestic violence.

    After her early success, Little Eva lived much of her life in obscurity in North Carolina. She never received much money from her music. And she retired from recording in 1971 and worked as a nanny. Still, she returned to doing some recording and touring on oldie circuits after Kylie Minogue had a 1988 hit with her version of “The Loco-Motion.”

    Singing With the Angels

    Little Eva performed until diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2001.  She passed away April 10, 2003.

    In 2008, a local TV station found out her grave in Belhaven, North Carolina needed some work. The city restored the cemetery area and marked Little Eva’s grave with gravestone featuring a steam locomotive and the words “Singing with the Angels.”

    What is your favorite Little Eva song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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