Blues, being the wellspring of all American music for over a century,
is always worth studying. Robert does it right. --Keith Richards
**
An emotional map of musical Memphis. If you don't know these characters,
let Robert Gordon introduce you. --Elvis Costello**
**
Robert Gordon's book is proof that Southern heritage is American
heritage, and all sorts of people--black and white, familiar and
strange, dead and alive--are what it is. --Greil Marcus**
**
Profiles and stories of Southern music from the acclaimed author of
Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion.**
The fabled city of Memphis has been essential to American music--home of
the blues, the birthplace of rock and roll, a soul music capital. We
know the greatest hits, but celebrated author Robert Gordon takes us to
the people and places history has yet to record. A Memphis native, he
whiles away time in a crumbling duplex with blues legend Furry Lewis,
stays up late with barrelhouse piano player Mose Vinson, and sips
homemade whiskey at Junior Kimbrough's churning house parties. A
passionate listener, he hears modern times deep in the grooves of old
records by Lead Belly and Robert Johnson.
The interconnected profiles and stories in Memphis Rent Party convey
more than a region. Like mint seeping into bourbon, Gordon gets into the
wider world. He beholds the beauty of mistakes with producer Jim
Dickinson (Replacements, Rolling Stones), charts the stars with Alex
Chilton (Box Tops, Big Star), and mulls the tragedy of Jeff Buckley's
fatal swim. Gordon's Memphis inspires Cat Power, attracts Townes Van
Zandt, and finds James Carr always singing at the dark end of the
street.
A rent party is when friends come together to hear music, dance, and
help a pal through hard times; it's a celebration in the face of looming
tragedy, an optimism when the wolf is at the door. Robert Gordon finds
mystery in the mundane, inspiration in the bleakness, and revels in the
individualism that connects these diverse encounters.
