Big Star with John Davis - Live Tribute at the Levitt Shell
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3 song vinyl 7" EP available online at ardentmusic.com and in select record stores across the country.
Out digitally September 20th!
A message from Big Star drummer, Jody Stephens:
For our last performance as Big Star, Jon, Ken and I had some very good friends join us to celebrate the music and lives of Alex, Andy and Chris on May 15, 2010. The performances really tell the story of what happened and how we all felt about that evening at Memphis' Levitt Shell. The idea of trying to release the show in its entirety was overwhelming in the sense of time and effort needed for all performance clearances. So I thought, first artist first: John Davis was the first of many wonderful guest artists to join us on stage. He wailed on three songs: "In The Street," "Don't Lie To Me" and "When My Baby's Beside Me." These were just the right amount songs (and time) for an EP release. So with mastering engineer Larry Nix and Big Star's engineer, John Fry, and our Neumann cutting lathe all residing in the Ardent Studios building how could we not cut vinyl?
We hope to release more of the show down the road.
Thank you.
Jody Stephens -
Live Tribute at the Levitt Shell
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Big Star with John Davis - Live Tribute at the Levitt Shell – Don't Lie To Me3:17
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Big Star with John Davis - Live Tribute at the Levitt Shell – In The Street3:08
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Big Star with John Davis - Live Tribute at the Levitt Shell – When My Baby's Beside Me3:24
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Big Star Bio:
Even in the city of Elvis and Beale Street, Big Star may be Memphis’ strangest musical story. The iconic band released three great records, all of which are on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, but Big Star’s success would be measured in critical acclaim and fan loyalty, not in sales. Featuring Alex Chilton, former lead singer for the million-selling Box Tops, singer/guitarist Chris Bell, bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens, Big Star released its ironically moniker debut, #1 Record, in 1972. Bell left for a solo career shortly after its release, but buoyed by the support of the national music community, including pioneering rock journalists Dave Marsh, Cameron Crowe, Bud Scoppa and Lester Bangs, Big Star, as a trio, released Radio City in 1974. Hummel left after its completion and Chilton and Stephens enlisted sidemen and Memphis producing legend Jim Dickinson to make Big Star Third/Sister Lovers, the band’s darkest album. Chilton and Stephens parted ways after its completion in early 1975.
Combining the discipline and songwriting economy of Memphis soul, the broader emotional palette of Bob Dylan and the vocal harmonies and musical/technical explorations of The Beatles, Big Star created a brand new sound that came to be known as power pop.
After the breakup, the legend grew. Writers, artists and hardcore fans never stopped talking about Big Star. In 1993, at the height of the alternative rock movement, Big Star’s music never sounded more contemporary and Chilton and Stephens reorganized the group with Posies Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. Big Star performed for the next 17 years and, along the way, released Columbia, a recording of their debut performance together at the University of Missouri’s Spring Fest, and then In Space, a studio recording of new originals. The run ended with Chilton’s death on March 17, 2010, three days before a scheduled performance at SXSW. Devastated, Stephens, Auer and Stringfellow turn the show into a Chilton tribute. Also on the books was a Big Star concert at The Levitt Shell in Memphis. This too became a celebration of Big Star’s music and a tribute to Chilton, Bell and Hummel. That hometown show would be the final Big Star performance.
Quotes About Big Star:
“I never travel far, without a little Big Star.”
Paul Westerberg (The Replacements' “Alex Chilton”)
“No one I knew had ever seen them play… Information was scarce. So these records they’d put out… it was like seeing the heads of Easter Island or the Great Pyramids or something. You didn’t know what they were or how they’d gotten there.”
Peter Buck (R.E.M.) on Big Star
“I still listen to all the same stuff. You know, Big Star and everything. It still kills me.”
Johnny Depp - Interview Magazine
"...one of the best songwriters who ever lived."
Beck referring to Alex Chilton -
