Artist Spotlight - Curt's Blues

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The Fieldstones – A Memphis Blues Institution

There’s no mystery how I came to wanting to briefly profile the thrilling blues of Memphis’ The Fieldstones this week. As often happens with many artists and bands, I found one of their great releases, Memphis Blues Today!, in my blues collection and realized it must have been at least ten years since I listened to it. One spin in my CD player made me realize that a decade is too long a time to go between listening to this astounding release. This certainly won’t be my longest blues artist profile ever, but it’s one I really want to present. Their music is that good!

I once heard The Fieldstones referred to as “the remnants” of a prior band. Derogatory? Yes. Untrue? No, but still disrespectful nonetheless. Let me explain.

Back in 1974, a collective of musicians who had actually known each other in Memphis, Tennessee going back 20 years to the 1950s were playing, or in some cases, appearing as featured musicians, in a band led by Leroy Hodges; Leroy Hodges And The Funky Four. Of course, Memphis has always been a hotbed of music, and all involved had made their way to the city from other towns to ply their musical skills. As it were, Hodges passed away, so what now would become of the band?

Well, all concerned knew how popular their music was with the blues-loving public, so the natural thing to do was to keep things rolling. Understand, the group had a very unique sound, one heavily influenced by the contemporary sound of their exceptional dual blues guitar threat offered by Willie Roy Sanders and Wordie Perkins (it often seems as though the two are in some form of a guitar battle), the rock-n-roll sounding bass outlines of Lois Brown, the deeply soulful and R&B-influenced organ stylings of Otto “Bobby” Carnes, and the tight percussion frameworks laid down by Joe Hicks. Hicks, by the way, was profoundly influenced by the distinctive and beautiful fife and drum tradition he absorbed while he lived in Mississippi.

Sanders’ powerful vocals spoke to his training as a young man in the gospel quartet arena. Hicks’ dynamic expressive singing style was a direct offshoot of many of the singing drummers he was exposed to via other Memphis-based bands.

Together, the individual musical influences may seem too diverse to produce a cohesive, functioning whole. But that wasn’t the case at all.

The reality was that the high cumulative musical proficiencies yielded a rough, oh-so-raw type of blues, though one with a delicious funky and thick groove. Think the music blasting from a Mississippi juke into the dense night air; that’s the feel. However, something, some intangible that is still hard to identify, makes The Fieldstones’ music exclusively Memphis in tone.

The Fieldstones were a hit in Memphis, and played to enraptured audiences. Their tough blues, soul, and rock-n-roll stew spoke a musical language many found irresistible. Due to the band’s high audience draws and extreme popularity, The Fieldstones were recruited in the 1980s to record for the High Water Recording Company label. And the 1980s also provided other changes within the group. A vocalist by the name of Little Applewhite officially joined the band mid-decade, and near the time of The Fieldstones’ first recordings, a guitarist named Clarence Nelson began to succeed Wordie Perkins’ efforts.

Into the later part of the 1980s, Nelson passed away in 1987 obviously after a relatively short period with the band, and a trio of replacements took their places within the group, including MacArthur Orr, Andrew Turner, and Lee Roy Martin. And there were still more changes forthcoming.

In the very early 1990s, both bassist Brown and drummer Hicks began to have health concerns, eventually leading to their retirements.

During this period, a long-standing club gig also ended. Both a new bassist and drummer were hired by Orr, though venues for the group to play had thinned. Orr named the newly-stocked band the Daddy Mack Band, one that for a while enjoyed a regular spot at a nightspot wanting to showcase their enticing meld of blues. And from time-to-time, Sanders was among the jam-packed audiences, ready to be featured when called to the stage.

Hicks remained busy with other musical pursuits, Hicks too would step up for an organ performance with the Daddy Mack Band, and Perkins and Brown too were often to be in the club.

Of course, it all came to an end. But for an extended period, The Fieldstones were a Memphis blues institution, thrilling all with their coarse, tough blend on divergent-yet-complementary talents to produce some of the finest music in the contemporary era. One listen to their driving blues most likely to yield a new convert.

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The Fieldstones – A Memphis Blues Institution

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