First ever anthology of legendary Memphis R & B/Soul tenor saxophonist and founding member of the Mar-Keys Charles “Packy” Axton.  Packy was the son of Stax co-owner Estelle Axton and played with the likes of Steve Cropper, Booker T., Teenie Hodges, and Duck Dunn, all included here.  17 sides of rare and raw ’60s Soul.  Featuring liner notes by former Shangri-La... read more

A dynamite new gospel album from the legendary Memphis soul side-man Charles Hodges, who played organ and/or produced several classic cuts by Al Green, Ann Peebles and Little Milton, just to name a few.  On God He’s Able, Rev. Hodges is joined by his brothers LeRoy and Teenie as well as Stax arranger/keyboardist Lester Snell. Tracklist: 1. God He’s Able 2. Down By The... read more

The brand new album from Memphis’ favorite roots-pop chanteuse.  Features contributions from a host of well-known local musicians, including Dave Cousar, Paul Taylor, Rick Steff (Lucero), Nahshon Benford (Lucero, Snowglobe), and Jonathan Kirkscey (Mouserocket).  FOR A LIMITED TIME, ALL COPIES ARE SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. Tracklist: 1. Damn Love Song 2. You Can’t Keep Me 3. Red... read more

Re-issue of the classic LP by Jay Reatard’s original band, The Reatards.  Also includes 21 bonus songs that were previously only available on long out-of-print cassettes.  Released by our friends at Goner Records. Tracklist: 1. I’m So Gone 2. Stacye 3. I Love Living 4. When I Get Mad 5. C’mon Over 6. Out Of My Head Into My Bed 7. You Fucked Up My Dreams 8. It Ain’t... read more

The latest LP from the indie/experimental Memphis group.  Very weird and fun.  Released by BAA Music Group. Tracklist: 1. The Latest Headlines From The Most Important News 2. Young Smiles No Teeth 3. It’s A Beauty 4. They 5. Movie Night 6. It’s Entertainment 7. Tunica 8. America 9. Lizzy’s Internet Dream 10. Pop It Right Now 11. Just Busted 12. I Don’t Read 13.... read more

The sophomore release by Memphis’ own John Paul Keith.  Released on the Fat Possum subsidiary label Big Legal Mess. Tracklist: 1. Never Could Say No 2. You Devil You 3. Anyone Can Do It 4. Songs For Sale 5. Afraid To Look 6. The Man That Time Forgot 7. I Think I Fell In Love Today 8. Dry County 9. Somebody Ought To Write A Song About You 10. Bad Luck Baby 11. I Work At Night 12. The... read more

12 Cuts of Memphis soul, funk and blues.  Features guest appearances by William Bell, Otis Clay, Charlie Musselwhite and Percy Wiggins. Tracklist: 1. High Roller 2. Got to Get Back (To My Baby) 3. Just Chillin’ 4. Catch This Teardrop 5. Jack and Ginger 6. Sundown on Beale 7. Weak Spot 8. 90 Days Same as Cash 9. I’m Going Home 10. Cauley Flower 11. Work That Sucker 12. Got to Get... read more

Robby Grant strikes again with another batch of off-kilter pop gems! Highlights include “Naked As a Jaybird” featuring ex-Clear Shelby Bryant, “I’m Your In”, and “Your Black Eye”. Track listing: I’m Your In It’s Not the Things You Want Tell Them All Naked as a Jaybird You Don’t Need It Let The People Sing/The Computer Thing Moments Tune Your Black Eye I Don’t Think Why ... read more

Emotional but low-key folk/Alternative with heart-breaking accents of cello and electric guitar. Holly, aka Holly Cole, is a songstress with a sound that isnt from around these author: Shangri-La Record Store, Memphis Holly, aka Holly Cole, is a songstress with a sound that isnt from around these parts. An epic flowing sound that may remind you of the expansive West Texas soundscapes of say,... read more

Aching Big Star-informed Memphis pop from wunderkid Paul Taylor on Makeshift label! Taylor played with the Dickinson brothers in DDT before they went onto North Mississippi All-Stars jam band fame, and was perennially the best bass player in Memphis since he was 13 or so. So he took up drums. He’s all over Shelby Bryant’s great Cloud Wow Music, and this has some of the same... read more

Having played together since high school, the members of snowglobe have a unique ability create complex songs with a rich pallet of sounds in a seemingly nonchalant way. The Memphis based band continues the long lasting tradition of playing honest music for the “right reasons”. “The sheer wealth of instruments the band uses creates moments as jam packed as rush hour. Principal... read more

If there’s a difference between being musically obtuse and being psychedelic, it’s to be found in bands like Snowglobe. Rather than being quirky and experimental for the sake of sounding druggy and far-out, bands like Snowglobe produce sonic landscapes that defy convention for the sake of pure creativity. For many bands, this isn’t always successful, but thankfully... read more

Our Land Brains is a warm and inviting record filled with comfortable sounds and friendly melodies. Though the Beatles and Beach Boys influences aren’t quite as obvious, Snowglobe shares many psychedelic affinities with the Elephant 6 bands, such as the Apples in Stereo and especially Neutral Milk Hotel. The result is a charming and affable listen with swelling thrift-store organs,... read more

Amazon.com sez: Will Roy Sanders was the leader of Memphis’ Fieldstones, one of the finest blues bands to ever perform. The Fieldstones ruled the Memphis juke joint scene from the early ’70s until the early ’90s, playing at a legendary Memphis haunt called Green’s Lounge, among other places. In the early ’90s, Sanders took over Green’s Lounge and continued... read more

Amazon.com sez: Johnny Romania’s debut cd, “popchaser,” is a refreshing mix of pop, rock, and electronica. Heavy on the synthesisers, the album creates an ambient mood, yet, at the same time, does not fall into the cliche’ of pop/electronic as many albums lately have. Johnny Romania’s sound is distinctly their own. Musical hightlights include the spacy “my... read more

Ten More Years: Shangri-la Records cd spans the time of 1989 through 1999, documenting the first ten years of naïve Shangri-la Projects madness. The collection features the greatest hits of the 1990s by bands as diverse as 611, the Grifters, the Simple Ones, Strapping Fieldhands, the Memphis Goons, Citizens’ Utilities, Doug Easley, and even the legendary Mr. Will Roy Sanders. A great... read more

Too big for a 7″ but not big enough for a full lp, this slab of beautiful misery arose out of a winter of discontent in Memphis. As of this date, Eureka is the only record cut in the full spector of Shangri-la Projects’ slapback. Unleashed circa spring, 1995. Tracklist: 1. Eureka IV 2. His Jesus Song 3. Slow Day For The Cleaner 4. Whatever Happened To Felix Cole 5. Founder’s... read more

Two Cups for a Tale, the Simple Ones’ second cd, was produced at Rakapolis Studios under the production guise of legendary drummer Roy Berry, now in Lucero.  While studying under their friends the Grifters, the Simple Ones pop crafted their own niche of ’90s guitar rock that will leave your headphones wanting more.  Currently lead guitarist/singer Jared McStay can be found... read more

The first Simple Ones cd Worth the Weight combines many of their great early singles plus some new heavy hits to sway your head.  Important safety tip for Lucero fans:  Roy Berry drums for this band! Tracklist: 1. Hubba Hubba 2. Rift City 3. The Wrath of God 4. Drunken Kiss 5. Pen 6. Left in Space 7. Disco Infernal 8. On My Nerves 9. Watch This Sucker (Come On, Let’s Go!) 10. Jim’s... read more

A full-grown mouth of a meal of great Memphis bands rocking the sweat shops and apartments of the ‘90s. Many of these folks you have heard of — the Oblivians, ’68 Comeback, & Impala — and others you gotta hear.  17 tracks in all and not a clunker in the bunch.  A great period of Memphis music represented here! Tracklist 1. Gibson Bros. “Emulsified” 2. Monsieur Jeffrey Evans... read more

More rockin’ tunes from back in the day – 16 tasty morsels in all! Tracklist: 1. The Breakers “Don’t Send Me No Flowers” 2. Ole Miss Downbeats “Geraldine” 3. The Shades “Shady Lady” 4. The Percussions “Your Love” 5. The Merits “Please, Please Little Girl” 6. The Scepters “Little Girls Were Made To Love” 7. The Chasers “I Need Your Lovin” 8. The Ponees... read more

This cd contains 15 unforgettable gems from the golden era of Memphis music.  Liner notes from garage rock authority Eric Friedl of Wipeout! and Goner Records’ fame round out this excellent slice of Memphis history when the Beatle boots met the soul of the South in garages all over Memphis! Tracklist 1. Flash and the Casuals “Uptight, Tonight” 2. LeSabres “Rising Mercury... read more

Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Strapping Fieldhands have to be one of the finest, most enigmatic American bands to arrive on the continent since Syd Barrett & company moved to Athens in the early ’80s. The easy-on-the-ear pop hits “Ben Franklin Airbath”, “the Oath,” & “the Author in Her Ear” put the Fieldhands in a league of... read more

Following many small & large tours & much college radio hoopla, the Grifters went back to Easley Recording for this tour de force of amazing songwriting & guitar fussing.  Our biggest seller (4 stars in le Rolling Stone!), we all went out & bought new shoes.  Released in May, 1994. Tracklist: 1. Rats 2. Maps of the Sun 3. Dead Already 4. Black Fuel Incinerator 5. Skin Man... read more

One Sock Missing full-length lp/cd came out in April, 1993 to rave reviews & cart-wheeling kids everywhere.  Recorded on 4-track mostly in the infamous flower shop where Dave & Stan worked (& where the band practiced at night) & then smoothed over somewhat at world-famous Easley Recording, the heat and beautiful pop dissonance from this record melted turntables across the... read more

All Music Guide sez: Lucero’s Nobody’s Darlings is the sound of the Replacements, 20 years later, a little more sober, and from Memphis instead of Minneapolis. In other words, the band’s occasional feints toward country music and electric blues come off with a lot more credibility and just as much enthusiasm. Just like the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me,... read more

All Music Guide sez: 1372 Overton Park might be Lucero’s major-label debut, but the Memphis-based band retains all of their rough-and-tumble indie charms. Gruff-voiced frontman Ben Nichols still sings about people with dead-end lives: the type of characters whose “heroes are the losing kind.” But Nichols definitely finds ways to make these troubled souls... read more

The Memphis Flyer sez: A bit of a stop-gap product while waiting for LaVere’s full-length follow-up to the still-going-strong Anchors & Anvils, Died of Love is a five-song, 22-minute hodgepodge of an EP: two traditional songs, two covers, and a new version of the A&A standout “Washing Machine.” There are none of the songwriting surprises here that animated... read more

All Music Guide sez: The simple arrangements add to the album’s left-of-center appeal, with steel guitars, fiddles, and guitars whipping up a lazy mixture that falls somewhere between old rock and country with perhaps a touch of jazz thrown in. At one moment, LaVere and company cover Tex-Mex (“Overcome”), the next, funky rock (“People Get Mad”). Even on a fairly... read more

The Memphis Flyer sez: This second record from the instrumental soul-jazz trio absolutely floored me. But the thing is, The Set-Up is one of those records that just keeps getting better with repeated listening, so now I can’t put it down. I find it quite helpful to put this record on when writing or working — though I understand one could also dance to it. Tracklist: 1. The Set Up 2.... read more