The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

 I love music. I mean I really love music. Sure, I love the blues, and Chuck Berry, old rockabilly, honky tonk, punk, heavy metal, hell I even love The Beatles. I was never a huge fan of Elvis, but I sure dig Johhny Cash. I also love jazz, classical, guitar music of all sorts. But I also listen to a lot (and I mean A LOT) of foreign music. I laugh when I hear Americans talk about having 'eclectic tastes' in music. I'm not sure they even understand what it means. And it's not their fault. Most have never been exposed to non-American music, with the exception of the occasional hit on the radio. Here, we might here an act from Britain or Canada, maybe even the odd German or Swedish act. Once in a while something might flow up from Mexico. Aside from the relatively recent influx of K-Pop and J-Pop, most Americans would probably be surprised to know that music (of all sorts) exists elsewhere.  How many have actively seeked out the music of Morocco, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Afr...

 I had this conversation (again) the other day, this time with a friend who does give guitar lessons. I, as a general rule, refuse to. Most people who say they want to play guitar really only like the idea of playing guitar. They want to magically be able to play anything, as if there's a trick to it. Well, there is. It's called working at it. On the occasions when people ask for lessons, the first thing I tell them is that I will NEVER teach them a song. Never. Under no circumstance. What I would do, if I can be convinced to give lessons, is teach them the skills to figure out how to do it on their own. Trust me, it's ultimately far more rewarding this way.  I could, if I chose, in one hour teach someone 3 basic chords. With those chords they can play a million songs. But that's not what they think they want. "Teach me how to play my favorite song!" No. I'll teach you how to figure it out yourself. Nowadays, if you want to learn to play that killer riff...

 Never one to accept boredom as part of my reality, I've come up with yet another crazy idea to fill my time and do something useful and productive. I'm currently writing up plans for a series of music workshops, aimed at overseas universities, teaching the history of American music, from the perspective of a working musician. Starting with Stephen Foster's pre–Civil War compositions to James Blands' "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" to the influence of the blues on 20th century American music and its global influence.  I guess that if I want to do this, I should probably have some sort of credentials, but I'm just a guitar thumper who has spent most of his life in bars and nightclubs, and the occasional journey to recording studios. That said, I look pretty good on paper! Michael C Metzger, aka Memphis Mike Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, performer, session musician, member of the de facto Rockabilly Hall of Fame house band (Jackson, TN 2000-200...

 I once saw a friend's social media post about his 'eclectic tastes' in music. Among his wide-ranging listening habits were the works of Nirvana, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Bob Marley, and Robert Johnson. I enjoy, to varying degrees, all of them, but allow me to correct him; This is not 'eclectic'. This is all guitar music, predominantly American, all based around early blues concepts. It was mostly recorded* during a brief period (1930s-1990s). The common factor is that this is all 'popular' music, especially among the 'classic rock' enthusiasts. It lacks any real diversity. Why is that an issue? Because the definition of eclectic is 'deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.' I have a question for people who consider themselves music fans. Do you love music ? Or do you love certain sounds popularized through corporate media? If you love 'music', I should be able to play for you p...

I've only ever copped one guitar solo from a record. I prefer to improvise, and this goes back to when I first started playing. I doubt I'd ever even heard of improvising at the time. I'd already tried my hand at various instruments, to varying degrees of success. I started on piano. Too much sitting still. I tried violin but for some reason, after a few weeks I was pushed to the cello. This was fine by me...until I broke a cello. So I next opted for something a bit more durable. TRUMPET! (coronet, to be precise) I enjoyed this but again, my thoughts on the subject were never really involved in the equation. Our school's marching band had quite a reputation, and my brother played tuba, so it was assumed I too would excel on tuba. Wrong. 2 or 3 weeks in and I skipped my happy ass out of the school band.  Next up was drums. Having spent most of my childhood listening to classical music, I was starting to pay attention to songs on the radio, or stuff I heard blaring from m...

I've been gigging professionally (meaning I get paid to do it) since 1979. Some shows were better than others, some days I got paid more than others. But a gig is a gig. If you're a musician and you're getting paid to do your thing, it's pretty awesome. For large parts of the 1980s, I made my living gigging. I was mostly playing in punk and rockabilly bands, but as you can guess, that's only ever gonna pay so many bills. So, I played in country, Top 40, funk, wedding bands, whatever was paying. I did some session work when I could. That's a particularly tough gig to get. Unless you live in NYC, Chicago, or LA, your options on that are limited.  When I was 19, a drummer friend called me about playing bass in a blues band. Let me tell you, Ohio in the mid 1980s was not exactly a hotbed of blues music. Even with the popularity of SRV and the Fab T-Birds at the time, there were surprisingly few blues bands. As a lifelong blues fan, I was definitely interested. One o...

 The Killer is gone but he'll never be forgotten. A friend and I have had a decades-long, friendly, dispute over who was the real 'king of rock & roll', Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis? * My friend is a diehard Elvis fan. Not quite one of the 'Elvis People' , as my old friend Billy Poore and I would say (meaning the cult-like followers who, to this day, believe he's alive and may well be the 2nd coming of the Lord) but fanatical enough to overlook the over-the-top ridiculousness of Elvis' post Army career. I mean really, the bulk of those movies were trash. The music was just as bad. "Do The Clam" and "Edge of Reality" come to mind. Sure, he had a few good songs here and there ("Burning Love" and "Suspicious Minds" were both great!) but the majority of it was a snoozefest. Elvis could have claimed the crown and held on to it if he hadn't been so good at following orders. He always had someone to tell him what to do a...