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Issue 127, Winter 2024

In our 26th annual Southern Music Issue, an exceptional lineup of contributors celebrate Memphis as the unofficial capital of the Delta, where American sounds and stories flow between the riverbanks of time. Forgotten Bluff City melodies resurface, beloved icons mingle with lesser-known trailblazers, and distinctly Memphian spaces come to life through reported essays, profiles, personal narratives, visual art, Memphis-set fiction, and much more. The cover features a dynamic photograph of Al Green by renowned music photographer Eric Johnson, who Vanity Fair credited with being responsible for “some of the most memorable music imagery of the last few decades.” Johnson’s black-and-white portrait radiates with the fierce individuality and Memphis-specific charisma that this special edition celebrates. It’s at once glamorous and naturalistic, both soulful and a little bit punk.

The Memphis Music Issue is paired with a limited-edition vinyl record featuring songs that trace the city’s legacy and spirit on a format that honors the Memphis studio textures song-makers chase to this day—plus detailed liner notes celebrating each track. “Nashville is where you go to make a hit that sounds like everyone, writes featured contributor Robert Gordon in his essay about the jukebox industry. “Memphis is where you make a hit that sounds like no one else.”

Prologue: The Sound of You
by Patrick D. McDermott

POINTS SOUTH

Flickin’ on the Dreamstate
A story by Troy L. Wiggins

Searching for DJ Spanish Fly
A walk through the archives with the Memphis hip-hop pioneer
By Will Skeaping

A. C. “Moohah” Williams and His Teen Town Singers
The Memphis radio DJ who fought for civil rights, education, and a better future between tracks
By Alice Faye Duncan

Jazze Pha and Cee-Lo Green’s Lost Album
Revisiting the never-released Happy Hour LP
By Michael A. Gonzales

Mae Glover’s Songs and Hoodoo
The eminence gris of Beale Street
By Cynthia Shearer

The Sound of Music in Hawkins Bolden’s Scarecrows
The self-taught sculptor brought Memphis to galleries around the country
By Rebecca Bengal

FEATURES

How Jukeboxes Made Memphis Music
When R.E. Buster Williams ruled jukeboxes and jukeboxes ruled music
By Robert Gordon

GloRilla Is Memphis’s New Prophet
Gloria, hallelujah!
By Zandria F. Robinson

Elvis’s Soundtrack Songs: The Best of the Worst
Inside one of the most important bootlegs in music history
By Elena Passarello

From Gangsta Walkin’ at the Palace to Jookin’ Online
Tracing the Memphis hip-hop dance, from G-Style to Lil Buck
By Robert Greene II

How Memphis Gave Gospel the Holy Ghost
Chicago gave it form; Detroit gave it choirs; Philly gave it showmanship—but Memphis gave it Soul
By Robert F. Darden

The Life, Death, and Memphis Blues of Jay Reatard
Remembering a punk visionary and the songs he left behind
By Andria Lisle

LINER NOTES

Elle Perry on Al Green
Charles L. Hughes on Talibah Safiya
Jared Boyd on Ebonee Webb
V.C.R on V.C.R
Harris Wheless and Jerry Phillips on Cliff Jackson & Jellean Delk
Jeff Kollath on Bettye Crutcher
Stephen Deusner on Lorette Velvette
Jay Jennings on Julien Baker

FULL ALBUM CREDITS, plus notes on songs by: Angry Angles, Harlan T. Bobo, Don Bryant & the Bo-Keys, DJ Spanish Fly, Gospel Writers, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Lucero, and Napoleon Strickland

ART BY: Eric Johnson, Bill Carrier Jr., Henry Speller, David Onri Anderson, Calida Rawles, Kendrick Brinson, Mark Mann, Ahmad George, Ted Degener, Hawkins Bolden, Pete Turner, Christian Patterson, Jerald Cooper, Andrew Valko, William H. Johnson, R. Earl Williams, Ernest C. Withers, Dan Ball, Pete Jay, Chris Anderson, Aron Ives, Mark Murrmann, Mason Pearson, Anthony Lorenzo, Silas Vassar III, David Mah, BullyRook, Brandon Hicks, Chris Strachwitz, David Evans, Lawrence Matthews, Trey Harrison, Jay Leiby

Dive into Memphis magic with our 26th Annual Southern Music Issue!

Magazine

Issue 127, Winter 2024

POINTS SOUTH

FEATURES

LINER NOTES