Preston Shannon

Preston Shannon - Midnight in Memphis - 1996 - Bullseye Blues

Quite simply one of the best- if not the best- soul blues disc of the 90s! Produced by the legendary Willie Mitchell with keyboardist Ron Levy, Shannon delivers a masterpiece of Memphis Soul & Blues. Featuring members of the legendary Hi Records house band and recorded at Mitchell's Memphis studio, the album kicks off with two stunning mid-tempo Memphis soul burners co-authored by Mitchell: ("'Round Midnight" & "Baby I Will"), followed by a gritty blues called "Size 12 Shoes" with the lyrical refrain "My dinner was half ate up/The shower was cold enough for a duck/The bed wasn't cold it was hot/but what I saw next made me wish I had buck-shot!/Size twelve shoes under my bed/Baby I wear size ten!". A superior take on Leon Haywood's "The Streets Will Love You To Death" & the slow, sexually-charged blues "The Clock", plus juke joint blues "Honky Tonk" push this gem into the stratosphere. PERFECT! © 2007 by Blues Critic Media unless indicated otherwise. [May be used if web address www.bluescritic.com and company name are included.] © http://bluescritic.com/prestonshannon.htm

King Curtis once recorded a groovy tune on which he described and demonstrated the recipe for "Memphis Soul Stew" ("a pound of fatback drums," "a half pint of horns," "a pinch of organ," etc.). Midnight in Memphis is like a Memphis Blues Stew seasoned with chunks of soul; it combines every tasty ingredient to be found in both the blues and soul cookbooks. Co-producers Ron Levy (an aficionado of the Memphis sound) and Willie Mitchell (one of the creators of that sound) work with guitarist/vocalist Shannon (a regular on the current Memphis scene) to create one of the strongest contemporary soul-blues albums of the decade. On cuts like the slow-burner "The Feeling Is Gone," the sexual epic "The Clock," and the knockout "Size 12 Shoes," Shannon's gritty vocals convey so much commitment and authority as to enthrall the listener, especially when the CD is played loud as it obviously was meant to be. Shannon hit the ground running on his debut album Break the Ice. On Midnight in Memphis he soars. © Steve Hoffman, allmusic.com, http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wzfpxqwhldse

Preston Shannon is a very underrated vocalist and guitarist whose vocals are reminiscent of Bobby Womack and Otis Redding. His guitar technique evokes the sounds T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, and Albert King. A.O.O.F.C will not argue with what most of the music critics say about "Midnight in Memphis". As soul blues music goes, the album is on a different level. Everything about this album is good, and it's VHR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy Preston's great "All in Time" album for more inspiring Memphis soul blues.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 'Round Midnight Hanighen, Monk, Williams 4:30
2 Baby I Will Brown, Malone, Mitchell 4:27
3 Size 12 Shoes Knickleberry, McGhee 3:49
4 Nobody's Fools Brown, Malone, Mitchell 4:44
5 The Feeling Is Gone Malone, Malone 4:42
6 The Clock Brown, Mitchell 7:55
7 The Streets Will Love You to Death Heywood, Heywood 3:53
8 Honky Tonk Robey 3:40
9 Take Your Time Darby, Mitchell 3:34
10 Can't Lose What You Never Had Waters 4:49
11 Handee Man Brown, Mitchell 3:27
12 Midnight in Memphis Levy, Shannon 6:45

MUSICIANS

Preston Shannon Guitar, Vocals
Milton Price Bass, Guitar (Bass)
Thomas Bingham Guitar (Rhythm)
Lester Snell Piano
Ron Levy Organ (Hammond)
Steve Potts Drums
Lannie McMIllian Sax (Tenor)
James Mitchell Sax (Baritone)
Ben Cauley Trumpet
Jack Hale Trombone
Mashaa, William Brown, Bertram Brown Vocals (bckgr)



BIO

Memphis-based guitarist, singer, and songwriter Preston Shannon delivers soul-filled vocals atop his burning, venom-tipped guitar chords. His voice is deep and guttural, and he's a veteran of hundreds of live club shows and recording sessions as a sideman. Shannon's specialty is a blend of Southern-fried soul and blues, and his albums and live shows — always with a horn section — are an eclectic mix of danceable, grooving tunes and slow, soulful ballads. Born in Olive Branch, MS, Shannon's family moved to Memphis when he was eight. Although his Pentecostal parents didn't initially accept his fascination with blues music, they eventually did when they saw how serious he was about pursuing the music for his livelihood. Shannon served as a member of a popular '70s bar band Amnesty and played in a succession of other Memphis-area bands while working by day for a hardware company. Finally, he decided to play music full-time when he landed a spot in soul-blues belter Shirley Brown's band. It wasn't until 1991 that he put together his own band and began playing the clubs on Beale Street and other places. In the early '90s, he was discovered playing in a Beale Street blues club by producer/keyboardist Ron Levy, who brought Shannon's talents to the attention of executives at Rounder Records. Shortly afterwards, in 1994, his first widely distributed recording was issued on the label. Shannon has recorded three albums for the Rounder Bullseye Blues subsidiary, Break the Ice (1994) Midnight in Memphis (1996), and All in Time (1999). All three albums more than adequately showcase his talents as a singer who can alternate between uptempo, gospel-inspired numbers and slower, soulful love songs and ballads. Shannon's guitar playing contains echoes of the Kings, Albert and B.B., T-Bone Walker, and some of the rhythmic sensibilities of Little Milton Campbell. For many years a homebody who couldn't be heard much outside the Memphis city limits, Shannon has done some road work in recent years, traveling to blues festivals around the U.S. © Richard Skelly & Al Campbell, allmusic.com, http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wpfixqegld6e~T1