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MHIC
on
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Subject:
Goin' to
Memphis |
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"Goin' to Memphis," a song written by Alan Lomax, with "new words"
added by John, was recorded in December 1959. The identity of the
chorus and the bass voice remains shrouded in mystery, although we
know it was NOT the Statler Brothers, who did not form as a group
until 1963 or join John's show until 1964, or Harold Reid, who was
just out of high school at the time. The Jordannaires participated in
John's very first recordings with Columbia Records and could well
have been the group on "Memphis" a year later, but actual records are
not definitive.
1959 was a tumultuous year in John's career. His long-time (well,
four-year) manager Bob Neal left him, one of the "casualties" of
John's move to California the year before. His record sales were
drying up: a year after his August 1958 start with Columbia his sound
had changed to a more rootsy folk, leaving behind the boom-chick-a
boom and slap-back sound of Sun Records, and the result was less
commercial. The Tennessee Two was not a particularly happy duo,
either; Marshall and Luther did not make the move to Hollywood with
John, choosing to stay in Memphis, which inevitably led to a distance
in more than just miles. The expected movie career did not
materialize,
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procession of musicians as John and producer Don Law worked to get
things back on track. For example, in just 1959, John used four
different musicians on piano, Marvin Hughes, James Carter Wilson,
Harold Bradley and Floyd Cramer (who was at the "Goin' to Memphis"
session). He also went through two drummers, Murry Harman and Michael
Kazak, neither of whom gave any reason to expand the Tennesse Two to
Three. It would be another year (and a continual change back and
forth from Harman to Kazak) before W.S. Holland would make his first
appearance at a Cash session, November 2, 1960, just three days
before the death of Johnny Horton. The first Cash recordings released
with Holland were "Blues for Two" and "Jeri and Nina's Melody."
Technically, the release was a Tennessee Three single, the proceeds
of which went to Horton's daughters (Jeri-Lynn was Billie Jean
Horton's (the widow) daughter by her first marriage; Yanina was
Horton's daughter). That restlessness, if you will, really continued
for several frustrating years, up until March 1963, when John covered
Anita Carter's 1962 recording of her sisters composition, originally
called "Love's Ring of Fire." It was hard to keep up with all the
players during this time. But I do think it was the Jordanaires on "Goin' to Memphis" (as well as the second version of "Johnny
Yuma"--the one John wrote--and "Second Honeymoon," also recorded on
the same day).
- Mark
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