Memphis Going Down - by James L Dickerson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

For over one hundred years, Memphis, Tennessee, has been the center of musical innovation for American popular music. From W. C. Handy to Alberta Hunter and Lil Hardin Armstrong, in the early years, to B. B. King in the late 1940s, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1950s, to Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, and Al Green in the 1960s and early 1970s, Memphis music sizzled with a level of creativity unrivaled in the history of American music.

For five decades of the city's marvelous music history, author James L. Dickerson was at ground zero as a Memphis journalist, magazine publisher, and radio syndication owner, who had unparalleled access to many of the music greats of the latter half of the century.

Originally published as "Goin' Back to Memphis," this book was a finalist for the prestigious Gleason Award, previously given out annually by Rolling Stone magazine, BMI, and New York University. Memphis Going Down is an expanded and updated edition with additional text and photos.

Memphis Going Down is told in the words of the record producers, performers, and songwriters themselves as they reflect on their lives and music and its impact on popular culture. You'll hear legendary record producers such as Chips Moman, Willie Mitchell, Sam Phillips, and Jim Stewart talk about the ups and downs of the industry. And you'll hear the artists themselves: Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Al Green, Bobby Womack, B. B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Rufus Thomas, members of the Box Tops, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds go one-on-one with the author in an effort to understand the mysteries of Memphis music.

Review Quotes

"Memphis native Dickerson sifts through more than 100 years of musical, political, and cultural heritage in this work of history-as-memoir to provide a captivating profile of the one-time murder capital of the world. Beginning with the impact of bluesman W.C. Handy in the early 1900s, Dickerson combines sordid tales of brothels, racism, and political corruption with the role Beale Street played in the simultaneous evolution of both the city and American music. Chapters spanning a decade at a time cover the early influence of blues women Alberta Hunter and Memphis Minnie, backwater politician E.H. Crump, the rise of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, the founding of the Sun and Stax record labels, famous artists drawn to Memphis (including U2, ZZ Top, and Stevie Ray Vaughan); and even fellow Memphians Justin Timberlake and former Survivor vocalist Jimi Jamison. Dickerson (Ashley Judd: Crying on the Inside) references personal connections-Elvis's father worked in a store owned by one of the author's family members-and first-person accounts of his own role in the Memphis music scene as a journalist overtake the final third of the book. Nevertheless, all musical cities deserve a biography this thorough." -- Publishers Weekly (March 2013)

"Dickerson has written a loving, decade-by-decade profile of the town that gave us-besides Elvis-Carl Perkins, Booker T. and the MGs, Jerry Lee Lewis, Otis Redding, Roy Orbison, Isaac Hayes, and even the Box Tops, who with 'The Letter' scored 'the first pop hit ever recorded in Memphis by Memphis artists' ... Dickerson takes us into the back rooms with the movers and shakers on the business end of the music, spotlights the fabled Stax house band (better known as the Blues Brothers band) and traces the social history of Memphis, all in highly readable, highly recommended style-Booklist, first edition review; reviewed by Mike Tribby.

"I really enjoyed Dickerson's book on Memphis's music history because we were always out on the road and had no idea what was happening back at home in Memphis. Wish we had it to read back then."-Scotty Moore, Elvis's first guitarist and manager.