BSC is proud to expand its mission and introduce ILTM – a new weekly video series filmed in culturally relevant spaces. I Listen to Memphis is about Memphis music today, the musicians who make it, and the places and culture that fuel it. We are here to inform, inspire, and share the best of Memphis music.

Want an early look at next week’s video before anyone else? Join ILTM!

Hunter’s Chapel Church has ministered to the Como, MS community from this same spot for more than 175 years. On the headstones in the cemetery on it’s southern side you’ll see familiar names like Strickland, Turner, and Boyce – families synonymous with the sounds of the North Mississippi Hill Country going back generations. Music has been at the heart of the church’s ministry since the beginning. The Hunter’s Chapel Male Chorus recently celebrated a remarkable milestone – the group has been making a joyful noise for over a century. The Hunter’s Chapel Singers sang with church member “Mississippi” Fred McDowell on his landmark gospel record, Amazing Grace, recorded in 1966. McDowell, Napolian Strickland, Otha Turner, Jesse Mae Hemphill, RL Boyce, and many more pioneers of the North Mississippi sound shared these pews on Sunday mornings.

The Wilkins family is a strong contender for being the “First Family” of Memphis music. Patriarch Rev. John Wilkins has served from the pulpit of Hunter’s Chapel for over 3 decades. The family’s talents branch throughout the Memphis gospel world. His daughters, Tangela, Joyce, and Tawana, his grandchildren, and even great grandchildren are all involved in the music ministry of local congregations. It should come as no surprise then to learn that Rev. Wilkins’ father was Rev. Robert Wilkins, a first generation bluesman who, after witnessing a murder while performing on Beale Street in Memphis, gave up the secular world, became a minister, only recording sacred music from that day forward. Rev. Robert Wilkins became a favorite of young, white, blues musicians during the folk revival decades later. In 1962, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards named their band after one of Rev. Robert Wilkins’ songs. And they paid tribute to Wilkins by recording his song, “Prodigal Son.”

Director – Christian Walker
Produced by Waheed AlQawasmi “WA Films”
Cinematographer – Jordan Danelz
Camera Operator/Editor – Jared B. Callan

Special thanks to Pigeon Roost Collaborative and Inherent Media.

 

BSC is proud to expand its mission and introduce ILTM – a new weekly video series filmed in culturally relevant spaces. I Listen to Memphis is about Memphis music today, the musicians who make it, and the places and culture that fuel it. We are here to inform, inspire, and share the best of Memphis music.

Want an early look at next week’s video before anyone else? Join ILTM!

Don Bryant is Memphis music personified. Steeped in the musical traditions of the church and street corner jams in South Memphis neighborhoods. Fronting vocal groups for WLOK broadcasts as a child. As a teen, the musical phenom was the frontman for Willie Mitchell’s band at night and he wrote hit songs for Mitchell at Royal Studios during the day. One of those hits, 1973’s “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” he co-wrote with Hi Records’ newest signee, Ann Peebles. The duo married the following year and Don’s career as an artist took a backseat to behind-the-scenes production work and to supporting his wife’s burgeoning career. But, he never stopped singing and, in 2017, he took to the studio and crafted his first record in almost 50 years, Don’t Give Up On Love.

 

https://www.fatpossum.com/artists/don-bryant/

 

Memphis’ music reputation was built on blues long before gospel or soul, so it’s no surprise that real-deal blues is still the thing in neighborhood joints throughout the Memphis area. Perhaps the most well known of these nightspots is Wild Bill’s, a long standing, North Memphis institution on Vollintine Avenue that’s been serving up hot music and cold, 40 oz. beers for 30 years. Some of the South’s biggest blues artists have cut their teeth within these walls. Wild Bill’s is a must for anyone looking for an authentic, Memphis blues experience.

 

http://wildbillsmemphis.com/

 

Director – Christian Walker
Produced by Waheed AlQawasmi “WA Films”
Cinematographer – Jordan Danelz
Camera Operator/Editor – Jared B. Callan

Special thanks to Pigeon Roost Collaborative and Inherent Media.

BSC is proud to expand its mission and introduce ILTM – a new weekly video series filmed in culturally relevant spaces. I Listen to Memphis is about Memphis music today, the musicians who make it, and the places and culture that fuel it. We are here to inform, inspire, and share the best of Memphis music.

Want an early look at next week’s video before anyone else? Join ILTM!

Dirty Streets was birthed in DeSoto County, a suburb of Memphis that sits halfway between Beale St. and the North Mississippi hill country. Good schools, clean fast food restaurants, and churches on every corner and good times are just a 10 minute drive in either direction. The boys from the ‘burbs like to take that Memphis sound and that hill country sound, take them into their parents’ garages, mash it all together, combine what’s in the air around them with the far away sounds of FM Radio and who knows what else. Think: Big Star, The Box Tops, Moloch, etc. This tune, Loving Man, is on Dirty Streets’ brand new record, dropping September 14th, titled “Distractions.”

https://dirtystreets.bandcamp.com/

Kelley Anderson,  of Crystal Shrine and founding darling of Those Darlins, purchased a double shotgun house surrounded by vacant lots right off of Crump Blvd. last year. The Beach House has a lowfi, rock show feel with each abandoned room thematically designed.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBeachHous…

 

Director – Christian Walker
Produced by Waheed AlQawasmi “WA Films”
Cinematographer – Jordan Danelz
Camera Operator/Editor – Jared B. Callan

Special thanks to Pigeon Roost Collaborative and Inherent Media.

 

BSC is proud to introduce I Listen to Memphis. ILTM is about Memphis music today, the musicians who make it, and the places and culture that fuel it. We are here to inform, inspire, and share the best of Memphis music. Want an early look at next week’s video before anyone else? Join ILTM! http://www.ilistentomemphis.com

Marcella Simien’s parents say she was a restless creative from the start. As a child she captured daydreams in her journals, weaving pages into song, filling the spaces with accordion and piano. By the time she was a teen, Marcella was joining her father (a multiple, Grammy award-winning Cajun and Zydeco artist) on the road and stage on a regular basis. Marcella eventually moved to Memphis to attend art school and Memphians knew right away that we’d lucked up. We know soul around here and Marcella is the genuine article. http://www.marcellaandherlovers.com/

Serendipitously joining Marcella on the Wurlitzer piano in this performance is Spooner Oldham. Spooner is an icon of American music, having written many of soul music’s greatest hits and performing on countless others – including this song, I’d Rather Go Blind, originally recorded by Etta James in 1968. Spooner called Memphis home in the 60’s and was one of the principal forces behind American Studios’ legendary run at the top of the charts. https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/sp…

The P&H Cafe is a rite of passage for Memphis artists, filmmakers, actors, musicians, and comedians. It’s like a grittier Les Deux Magot for Memphians, if Les Deux served pitchers of domestic beer and unbelievably good patty melts. For multiple generations the P and H has provided an indispensable watering hole, a stage, a meeting place, and a home away from home for the Poor and Hungry of the Memphis scene. http://pandhcafe.com/ Director – Christian Walker Produced by Waheed AlQawasmi “WA Films” Cinematographer – Jordan Danelz Camera Operator/Editor – Jared B. Callan Special thanks to Pigeon Roost Collaborative and Inherent Media.