Melissa Etheridge has done some pretty gutsy things in her stellar career. She’s shown no fear in forthrightly standing up for her truths, both in her songs and her life.
But as an artist she’s never quite laid it on the line like she does on MEmphis Rock and Soul, scheduled for release on October 7, 2016 via Stax Records, a division of Concord Music Group. Sure, she’s sung songs by some of her biggest heroes before. But Otis Redding? Mavis Staples? Sam and Dave? Rufus Thomas? These are some of the names, some of the voices of music at the pinnacle of an era in American music, the people indelibly identified with the songs on this album. Captured at the historic landmark Royal Studios with a band of some of the preeminent figures in the Memphis scene, the album includes veterans of some of the city’s most cherished recordings. The songs themselves are all core to the famed Stax Records label, and the album is Etheridge’s loving tribute to the role the music of Stax played in her life, and in modern American life.
“You have no idea!” she says of diving into this project, which also features John Mayer’s deft guitar talents on two songs. “It took a lot of soul searching.”
On MEmphis Rock and Soul Etheridge brings her powerful voice and passionate vision to some of the era-defining treasures of modern music as well as some real discoveries she found in her explorations deep into the Stax catalog..
Whatever pause the task may have given her going in, it was forgotten immediately upon her arrival in Memphis for what turned out to be a buoyantly inspired and inspiring experience: 10 days of recording that exceeded even her most hopeful dreams. Just being in the studio, built by the late Willie Mitchell in an old vaudeville theater and still run by his son, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, was treat enough. “It hasn’t changed much since 1964, which is part of the magic,” she says. “It’s right in the middle of a neighborhood. You step outside and people are walking by. It’s the heart of Memphis, where everything is.”
Etheridge could not be happier with the results: an album that completely captures the spirit she felt as a kid hearing these songs. And now she’s thrilled to share her MEmphis Rock and Soul.
“I really loved doing all this,” she says. “I want people to put it on cleaning the house, or late at night with their loved ones, or driving down the road. I just want to move them.”
MEmphis Rock and Soul is our new SoulTracks Listening Room. Check it out and let us know what you think!
