The first time I remember hearing Alex Chilton was on Sunday trips in the summer of 1969. We would go to Greers Ferry Lake on weekends, and as we drove back to Weiner, Mom and Dad would put the radio on WMPS, which you could get all over east and central Arkansas. At least once on the way home every time, the DJ would play this, which has stuck with me all of my life:
Then, I moved to Memphis in 1972 and got into the soul coming from here,
and forgot about Alex's music until I was in my 30s, when I soon found out
about what I had missed:
I was actually fortunate enough to see them (now with Jon Auer and Ken
Stringfellow of the Posies) at the Double Decker Festival in Oxford several
years ago and they were magnificent.
He influenced more bands than you can count, and this tribute is woefully
inadequate; all I know is that, among Memphis musical contributors, his
influence is only topped by Elvis, Johnny Cash, Sam Phillips, Jim Dickinson
and Willie Mitchell.
And now, they're all gone, dammit.
No comments:
Post a Comment