Friday Video: Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story.

From PBS.

While in Memphis for the Folklorists in the South retreat we visited the amazing Stax Museum and heard a little bit about working behind the scenes at the museum from Levon Williams, curator of collections.  The visit to Stax was inspiring, and an excellent example of the power of music to work toward change.  So this week’s Friday Video is a trailer from PBS’s 2007 Great Performances presentation, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story. 

Stax was amazing for many reasons, especially its integrated approach to music in the same town where sanitation workers were paid less-than-human wages, leading to the Sanitation Worker’s Strike which was linked to MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign.   In addition to the genre-altering and community-building music, they also produced documentaries like the Wattstax concert and documentary in Los Angeles,  a film, according to PBS POV, that “captures a heady moment in mid-1970s, “black-is-beautiful” African-American culture, when Los Angeles’s black community came together just seven years after the Watts riots to celebrate its survival and a renewed hope in its future.” To enable everyone a chance to attend, tickets were sold for only a dollar each.  On many levels Stax was a movement a gave birth to a new form of music, soul music,  a raw and transcendent blend of gospel, blues, country, and jazz.

Here’s what PBS says about Stax and this film:

The legacy of Stax Records is a unique one that spans more than half a century. Stax Records is critical in American music history as it’s one of the most popular soul music record labels of all time – second only to Motown in sales and influence, but first in gritty, raw, stripped-down soul music. In 15 years, Stax placed more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts, and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts. It launched the careers of such legendary artists as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker T, & the MGs, and numerous others. Among the many artists who recorded on the various Stax Records labels were the Staple Singers, Luther Ingram, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Big Star, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, the Rance Allen Group, and Moms Mabley.

But Stax Records was more than just a label. It was a culture. While segregation was fervently supported in the South during Stax’s formative years in the 1960s, Stax was one of the most successfully integrated companies in the country – from top management and administration to its artists. With more than 200 employees, it was the fifth-largest African-American owned business in the United States during its time.

Teachers should take note that this film comes with a lesson plan including assignments that help students to both identify genres of music and the role Stax played in the community.  Check out the lesson plans by clicking here. 

For more information on the film and viewing options click here.  

Monday Music: Sister Clara Hudmon “Stand by Me.”

Today is a good day for Sister Clara Hudmon.  This song, which is one of my favorites of all time, can be heard on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Things That Have Been Here Before: Vashti Bunyan

From Last FM.

This weekend I stumbled across the recordings of Vashti Bunyan.  I’d heard her name before, but until this weekend I’d never really sat down to listen to her music.  She’s amazing.  She’s everything people love about gardens, dusk,  bittersweet days, and the beauty and confusion of the human condition. “Autumn Tears,” the first song on the video below, is a near perfect song.

Born in London in 1945, she released her first album, Just Another Diamond Day in 1970 but soon left the music scene to live in the country and raise a family.  Her work always had a cult following and in recent years her influence has grown. I often rant about my issues with Pitchfork, but Matthew Murphy’s review of her newer album, Lookaftering  (quite possibly the best album title ever)  provides some great background information for those unfamiliar with her work.

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Arkansas Tattoo Project Update

Native Arkansan, Rapper Cboddy of Little Rock with the Little Rock symbol and ARK in graffiti-style letters.

From Cboddy:  ”I was doing shows from state to state and I got to represent where I’m from in a way.  And what better way than to put the official Little Rock logo stamped on my arm.”  

Discussing what he loves about Arkansas: “Everybody knows everybody, so to me I look at everybody like family.  Everybody is so open-armed, to me anyway.”

Recently we began a documentation project examining the diversity of ways people choose to represent their home state of Arkansas on their body.   The project is in its beginning stages, and we’ve taken the documentation process online so it can be community-driven and grow organically.

Since we started the online Facebook version of the Us Tattooed Kids:  Arkansas Project last week, thirty-six tattoo photos have been submitted and we have 236 likes!  We also started a Twitter account for the project, which you can follow here.  I’ve also been doing interviews with as many people as possible—either online or in person—and many of these stories will be featured in the upcoming article.  In case your unfamiliar with the project, you can go here to read all about it.

Here are just a few photo updates we’ve received and a glimpse into some of the things people are saying about their tattoos and the larger concept of Arkansas as home.  If you know of someone with an Arkansas tattoo, please spread the word.  We want to hear from you!  To read more and join the conversation, visit us online on facebook or Twitter.

Basic state outline uploaded by John Crouch, a native Arkansan and classical composer who now lives in Maryland.

From an email interview with Crouch:  ”I had been saying for about a year that I wanted it. I don’t know if I would have gotten it if I still lived in Arkansas, but living in Baltimore for 6+ years made me miss Arkansas.”      ”After high school in Springdale, my formative early adult years were spent in Fayetteville. Now I’ve lived in Baltimore for six and a half years and I’m still amazed at how much more interesting and progressive a small Southern town can be than a fairly large Northeastern (technically, to some, a Southern Mid-Atlantic) city. I’ve had more than one instance of proclaiming the virtues of my small college town and how it adopted progressive causes and issues years prior to Baltimore.”

Here’s a few more images that have been posted to the site.  We’re still waiting to learn more about them.  But the images are pretty strong as is.  What’s your story?  

Submitted by tattoo artist, Scott Diffee. Waiting for more info on this tattoo.

I've been wondering if there are other city specific tattoos besides Little Rock. There are! Tattoo by Scott Diffee at the Parlor.

Skyline of LR. Tattoo by Scott Diffee.

Friday Video: Rest in Peace Etta James

Decided to scratch the Friday Video I had planned for today.  Rest in peace, Etta James.  Thank you for your music.

Musical Migrants Radio Series: Jesse Lee Jones and Yoko Noge

Yoko Noge. From Yoko Noge.com

You can follow the Boiled Down Juice online via Twitter or Facebook.  You might also be interested in the newly forming McElroy House: Organization for Folklife, Oral History, and Community Action.  If you know of a topic we should cover, please contact us with your ideas!  Thanks for reading! 

I’m really excited about today’s post, a look at the The Musical Migrant radio series now airing on the BBC in partnership with Falling Tree Productions.  So often we feature pieces about artists and activists who rediscover their roots.  But sometimes people feel more at home in a place  far away from where they were born.  This series sheds some light on this complex topic and provides an intimate look both at the successes and vulnerabilities of a few individuals who have chosen this path.  This post also features a short write-up from the series’ producer, who is also a bit of a musical migrant.

So today we’ll feature two pieces from the series, two musicians who have moved to other countries in search of a deeper connection with the music they love.   Produced by independent radio producer  and Western Kentucky University Folk Studies graduate student Rachel Hopkin, these pieces give us a behind-the-scenes look at how these individuals came to find a sense of belonging in music  so different from the styles of their homelands.

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Friday Video: “We Got to Have More Love, More Understanding…” Sister Rosetta Tharpe, France, 1960

Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Photo public domain.

Every so often I do my routine Rosetta search on Youtube to see what videos have made their way into the world of the internet.

If you’re not familiar with Arkansas’s own Sister Rosetta Tharpe, here’s a bit of background on this amazing woman from Cotton Plant who bridged the worlds of sacred and secular music.  From the Arkansas Encylcopedia:

Rosetta Nubin was born in Cotton Plant (Woodruff County) on March 20, 1915, to Katie Bell Nubin, an evangelist, singer, and mandolin player for the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). No mention is found of her father. Nubin began performing at age four, playing guitar and singing “Jesus is on the Main Line.” By age six, Nubin appeared regularly with her mother, performing a mix of gospel and secular music styles that would eventually make her famous. As a youth, she could sing and keep on pitch and hold a melody. Her vocal qualities, however, paled beside her abilities on the guitar—she played individual tones, melodies, and riffs instead of just strumming chords. This talent was all the more remarkable because, at the time, few African-American women played guitar.  Read the entire entry, written by William K. McNeil, here. 

This week I came across this gem, which features a few different songs, including the wonderful “That’s All.” I don’t know much about its original source of the video, but if you do I’d love to hear what you know.

As Sister Rosetta Tharpe sings, “We got to have more love, more understanding, everyday of our lives and that’s all.” Happy Friday everyone!

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607′s New Album YIK3S!

Cover of the new album.

I recently had the opportunity to visit with LR rapper 607 about how he got started, his inspirations, his love for music, his work with brother Bobby as the group Ear Fear, and this new album, Yik3s!

The show aired on KUAF’s Ozarks at Large Program last week.

 If you’d like to listen to the entire Ozarks at Large show for that day, click here. 607 plays shows throughout Arkansas and beyond.  Follow the links above to catch a show near you!

Arkansas Rapper 607 Releases New Album by Boiled Down Juice

Julianna Barwick, Magic, and Singing with Cats (kind of).

From Asthmatic Kitty.

Several months ago our friends at the Art of the Rural posted about muscian Julianna Barwick and the role her music plays in how we choose define the sounds of rural America.  Thanks to their post I started reading more about Harwick and her delay-pedal harmonies, the sounds of which bring back memories of playing with looping guitar pedals, vocals and recording equipment decades ago.

With its layered, looped vocals and stacked choral harmonies, her new album on Asthmatic Kitty records,  The Magic Place , is getting a lot of attention these days.  It was named in Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” list, among many other nods.   As the name implies, it’s an imaginative album, a meditation on place: just as much a mental space as a physical location.

From Asthmatic Kitty’s page:

“The Magic Place was a tree on our farm,” says Louisiana-raised Brooklynite Julianna Barwick. “It was in the back pasture. It was one tree that grew up, down and around. You had to crawl in and once you were inside, it was like there were different rooms, and you could actually lay in the branches. We named it ‘The Magic Place’ because it really was magical—especially for a kid… and that’s how I feel about my life right now—without trying to sound too hippy dippy or cosmic, this year has definitely been a magical one.”

I’m no music reviewer, but  I love her juxtaposition of thick, church-like vocals and shoe-gaze  meanderings.  Okay, sure, it kind of sounds like Enya for hipsters.  But whatever.  It’s more disanont, a bit confusing at times, and not entirely soothing.  But, after all, Enya kinda sounds like a choir.  And that’s the source Barwick is going for.  There is something in it that evokes, for me at least, that fine line between chosen meditation and the creative spirit born out of peaceful boredom.  If you grew up in the semi-rural south, chances are you’ll hear something of your own past in her ambient sounds. Check out the album at Bandcamp by going here.   Or check out a new video here:

After listening to her new album a few times I started to check out her previous two, Sanguine and Florine and it was these two collections of songs that really got me hooked. I love this new album and can see why it’s attacking the critical attention.  But I especially love the rawness and humor in some of her older stuff.  Here’s a nice little video about her recording and song (for lack of a better word) writing process here.

My favorite song is “Bode”  from the Florine EP.  Mystery, humor, restraint and release, and thick layers of vocals: It’s great.  Plus , we all want to sing with cats, don’t we?

Happy Birthday to Ella Baker: “Ella’s Song.”

Ella Baker

Today would have been freedom fighter and civil rights leader Ella Baker’s birthday.  Thanks so much to Americans Who Tell the Truth who posted this great Sweet Honey in the Rock video  of “Ella’s Song” this morning.  Lyrics below embedded video.

Lyrics and music by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock

We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons
Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons

That which touches me most is that I had a chance to work with people
Passing on to others that which was passed on to me

To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail
And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale

The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on
Is when the reins are in the hands of the young, who dare to run against the storm

Not needing to clutch for power, not needing the light just to shine on me
I need to be one in the number as we stand against tyranny

Struggling myself don’t mean a whole lot, I’ve come to realize
That teaching others to stand up and fight is the only way my struggle survives

I’m a woman who speaks in a voice and I must be heard
At times I can be quite difficult, I’ll bow to no man’s word

We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes