ALBUM REVIEW: Memphis Royal Brothers Extends the Good Times of ‘Take Me to the River’ Documentary
Grant Britt
Posted On July 25, 2024
It’s a gathering of royalty, but you won’t find this bunch up on thrones. With juke joints as the dream team Memphis Royal Brothers’ palaces, stages are about as elevated as they get. But the music takes it higher, to a level suitable for kings and queens but inhabited instead by these gritty royals draped in royal blues.
Inspired by the 2014 documentary Take Me to the River honoring the soul and blues contributions made by Memphis and Delta artists and their impact on a younger generation of artists, legendary Hi Records owner/operator Willie Mitchell’s son Boo and film producer Richard Bolen wanted to do a follow-up project with some of the artists featured in the movie.
Driven by a collection master musicians from the Hi Records and Stax Records fold dubbed the Royal Brothers Band for this project, Memphis Royal Brothers features a cast of guests including Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, and Jim Lauderdale and was recorded at the Royal Recording Studio in Memphis. Tower of Power vocalist Marcus Scott contributes his considerable tonsil talents throughout the project, and North Mississippi Allstars’ Luther Dickinson adds his guitar talents as well.
Bobby Rush kicks it off with a gritty confession: “Good God I Got the Blues.” His blues harp blasts are backed up by some serious brassy oomph from the Memphis Horns and a barrage of sassy “yeah-yeah-yeah’s” from a female chorus.
Charlie Musselwhite’s contribution on “Goin’ South” is more low key, a slow-drifting travelogue that that narrator/tour guide Musselwhite promises will take you so far South it’ll put cotton in your mouth.
Jim Lauderdale adds some country to the proceedings with the Ronnie Milsap-flavored “Brand New Heart,” a duet with powerful soul diva Wendy Moten, whose creds include a 15-year stint with Julio Iglesias and backing Vince Gill since 2016. Lauderdale and Moten seem to have kicked off a new genre here, soul country, a chart-hopping work-in-progress.
Tower of Power alum Scott takes on the Patsy Cline classic “I Fall To Pieces.” But co-producer Boo Mitchell wouldn’t allow the song to be song to be done along conventional lines. This one’s got strings instead of twangy guitars, lulling the listener into a near coma before blasting away about three-quarters of the way through with a burst of impassioned gospel, Scott carrying on like a tent revival preacher with ants in his pants.
This project is sustenance fit for kings and commoners alike, Southern royalty at its finest.
Memphis Royal Brothers is out July 26 on Royal Records.
