John Fry | The Ardent Music Blog

The Warm Up with William Beckett

05/27/2012 By Rachel Hurley

The Warm Up with William Beckett [ 15:44 | 36.01 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We’ve been rushing around all afternoon, because William Beckett is playing an early show at The Hi-Tone and we don’t want to miss it. He just released a new EP in April, called Walk the Talk, that we’ve had on repeat the past several days, and now having seen him perform live in Studio C, we’re pretty sure the show is going to fantastic.

After dragging him and his posse through the Stax Museum of American Soul music like we were on some kind of speed date, who do we run into back at Ardent but Don Nix?

So, of course we hung out for a little bit to check out the new Mark Massey album he’s producing. When Don Nix tells you to have a seat on the couch and listen to the playback – you do it! And before we headed over to record, he treated us to one of his classic John Fry stories. We need to remember to write these moments down…

Anyway, take a listen to the show where we talk about why he decided to do the new EP without a band and what it’s like to be a tall, white rock star in Japan (he’s headed there for the 7th time in just a few days) Plus, Beckett plays a brand new song called, “Great Night.” We’ll see you at the Hi-tone!

William Beckett is a singer/songwriter from Chicago. You can follow him on Tumblr.

Filed Under: The Warm Up Podcast Tagged With: Don Nix, John Fry, Stax Museum, William Beckett

Pick Three with Lincoln Barr of Red Jacket Mine

03/01/2012 By

1. Willie Morris – North Toward Home

A fellow Southern transplant in Seattle recommended this to me, and I initially added it to the massive pile of great Southern lit that I haven’t gotten around to…but something about his description compelled me to snag a used copy from Powell’s and take it on a recent trip to the Yucatán peninsula with my wife.

Morris hooked me instantly with his vivid descriptions of his boyhood in post-war Yazoo City, Mississippi, his social/political awakening at the University of Texas in the late 1950s, and his experiences as a somewhat-ashamed provincial in the “big cave” of New York City, where he worked as an editor for Harper’s from 1963 to 1971. This beautiful coming of age story affected me nearly as deeply as Robert Gordon’s It Came From Memphis (the book I credit for opening my eyes to the value of my Southern roots). Highly recommended.

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Filed Under: Pick Three Tagged With: Fender Stratocaster, Jason Collett, John Fry, Peter Elkas, Terry Manning, Willie Morris

The Ardent Sessions with Canasta

02/15/2011 By

How can you walk around the streets of Memphis and not write a soul song? It’s almost as if the oxygen there has been permanently bonded to sharp horn stabs floating in the air. As Canasta made our way down I-40 and crossed the Arkansas-Tennessee border, it was as if the ghosts of soul past and present jumped in the car and started humming in our ears.

Our good friend Rachel Hurley (aka Rachelandthecity) had set up an in-studio performance/webcast at Ardent Studios, as well as a show at the Hi-Tone for the evening. We hadn’t played Memphis before, and weren’t sure exactly what to expect. The strong musical history of Memphis was definitely well known by the band, so we were excited to see famous landmarks. But it didn’t truly speak to us till we walked through the hallways of Ardent Studios. Hanging on the walls were gold records by the like of Al Green, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and the MGs , and The Bar-Kays.

The Ardent Sessions with Le Switch

11/05/2010 By

Our Memphis trip will definitely go down as one of the best experiences we’ve ever had. We arrived in Memphis at 6am on a red-eye flight from L.A. We were dead tired. I think we were all a little drunk from the night before too. That aside, we were stoked to be in Memphis. The history, food etc… Memphis is a great town.

Ardent had set everything up for us (Gig, Housing, Museum and Studio tours, etc.). Red carpet treatment. We arrived at our hotel (Hunt Phelan) which is definitely the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in as a band.

It was crazy. We walked in, took the tour of the premises. We were staying in the classic suite (two bedrooms, living room, Temperpedic mattresses, room service etc.). I was totally waiting to get punk’d. Have some dude roll out and say “JUST KIDDING, you’re sleeping on my couch tonight”. But it didn’t happen! Apparently the Rolling Stones had stayed in this room. True or not, it was nice to hear.

The Ardent Sessions with Big Smith

07/09/2010 By

Last year my band Big Smith had the amazing experience of meeting John Fry, Rachel Hurley, and the gang at Ardent Studios. We loved seeing our buddy Pete Mathews nestled in his array of monitors and consoles, learning about the amazing success of the Soulsville Charter School , and being moved and inspired by our tour of the Stax museum, as well as the work and legacy of Ardent. I’ve written about this once in a lifetime experience at Ardent elsewhere in more depth.

Of the old Boston Garden, it was often said that when opposing teams played there, they not only played the Boston teams; they also had to play “the ghosts” living in the rafters: the specter of past Boston teams: their legend and their victories. At Ardent, it might be said that when you play there, you not only get to play with your band, you get to play with the ghosts. The legacy of great music is everywhere apparent at Ardent, from the gold and platinum records hanging on the walls, to the album covers and photographs, to the equipment. Holy mackerel, the equipment! A 2-inch tape machine is a great, lovely beastie under any circumstance, but when it has played a role in producing legendary music…well, these things ought to be preserved as monuments—preferably working monuments on which my bandmates and I get to record.

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Filed Under: The Ardent Sessions Podcast Tagged With: Ardent, ArdentStudios, Boston Garden, Ghost, John Fry, Stax, Stax Museum

Ardent Presents: Amy Speace

05/14/2010 By

Memphis 2009. I was in town from my then-hometown of Jersey City for the North American Folk Alliance Conference, a three day extravaganza of acoustic music, showcases and meetings and panels and workshops and late night (or early morning, depending on your perspective) hallway and stairwell jams. I was invited to Ardent Studios to play an acoustic set they would record for their “Ardent Presents” series. Having been confined to a hotel for days, it was nice to get outside, out into the bright Memphis sunshine and take a “field trip.”

I was definitely sleep-deprived, at 2am the night before having found a group of the best musicians around in a smoky stairwell, trading Townes and Woody songs. I think being half-awake/half-aware helped me when Jody Stephens pulled up to the hotel to pick me up for the session. When I was just starting out playing guitar, my college boyfriend, who was in a rock band, was obsessed with Alex Chilton and Big Star and the double CD “#1 Record/Radio City” was the soundtrack of my early 20s (and that to-be-doomed relationship).

Ardent Sessions: Oli Brown Band

07/27/2009 By Rachel Hurley

Up-and-coming guitar prodigy Oli Brown formed his breakout blues band, The Oli Brown Band, at the ripe old age of 17. A year later he released his debut album, Open Road, to astounding critical praise, eventually landing on several “Best Of” blues lists in 2008. With so much early recognition, his short career has hardly been the story of someone who has been living down and out. He even already has a signature line of guitars from Vanquish in production. So, it’s hard to believe this kid could know anything about the blues! However, when he arrived in Memphis in the spring of 2008 to perform at The International Blues Challenge, he proved that whether his own life was the inspiration for his art or if he simply was incredibly gifted at channeling his muse, the music moved the crowds just the same. John Fry personally invited Brown to come to Ardent Studios to record The Ardent Sessions.

The Ardent Sessions prsents Oli Brown

Ardent Sessions: Oli Brown Band [ 1:04:31 | 118.13 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Setlist:
00:45 Open Road
08:48 Played by the Devil
13:02 Love’s Gone Cold
23:18 Complicated
31:19 New Groove
36:37 Jam
49:48 Keep On Believing
57:05 Psycho

Oli Brown plays the Blues

Oli Brown Live Dates

August 1   Notodden Blues Festival    Norway
August 2   Notodden Blues Festival    Norway
August 4   International Guitar Festival, Bath UK
August 5   Storyville, Helsinki    Finland
August 6   Cambridge Rock Festival UK
August 7   Elojazz & Blues Festival    Finland
August 21 Rhythm Festival, Bedford    UK

Fredy Hollis on Bass

Oli Brown Band “Played by the Devil”

For more Oli Brown Band videos, click here

For more Oli Brown Band photos, click here

Recorded and Mixed by Alan Burcham

Assisted by Lucas Peterson

Mastered by Kevin Nix

This free music podcast was recorded live at Ardent Recording Studios in Memphis, TN.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ardent Sessions, Ardent Studios, International Blues Challenge, John Fry, Oli Brown Band

Ardent Presents: American Princes

06/29/2009 By Rachel Hurley

All the way from Little Rock, American Princes will put a bounce in your step while lighting up your intellect. The band visited Ardent Studios a few months before the release of their sophomore album, 2008′s Other People. As soon as I heard the new tunes, many of them performed publicly for the first time on The Ardent Sessions, I knew the album was going to be a success – and lo and behold the album was named as the best album of the year by Magnet Magazine. The guys are currently working on their follow-up and and booking a fall tour – so stay tuned!

American Princes play The Ardent Sessions

Ardent Sessions: American Princes [ 47:43 | 87.36 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Setlist:
00:40 Real Love
05:28 Watch As They Go
09:30 Son of California
13:40 Auditorium
20:10 Kid Incinerater
24:20 Still Not Sick of You
29:07 Never Grow Old
34:31 Open Letter
40:13 Shake Baby Shake
44:04 Gravel

Collins Kilgore belts one out

Will Boyd takes over vocal duties for the Princes.

The American Princes, “Gravel”

For more American Princes videos, click here

For more American Princes photos, click here

American Princes at Stax Museum with John Fry

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: American Princes, Ardent Sessions, Ardent Studios, John Fry, Stax Museum, Will Boyd

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