Memphis Posts
SEC Football Update, Memphis Style!
Ron Higgins was on fire over the weekend. He's one of the best writers about SEC football newspaper writers outside of Tony read more...
Why Swampland Sports Loves the BCS
Despite winning back to back national titles in football, the SEC susre seems to hate the BCS. Lately, this hatred has been read more...
Why I Love Bonnie Bramlett
I remember reading about Delaney and
Outward Bound
“The eye and mind would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive—but once read more...
Billy Bob Thornton's Boxmasters Signed to Vanguard
Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters have signed read more...
Dickinson's Eats & Dylan's Prize
Bob Dylan Wins Pulitzer Prize & Jim Dickinson's Best On The Road Eating 4/7/08
A Shot of the Blues
A Daily Dose of Authenticity...Keith Richards...James Burton...MLK...Widespread Panic...The Black Crowes...Jim Dickinson...
The Legacy of Ardent Records
The Legacy of Ardent Records 4/2/08
Snowflakes: Southern Sweet 16
Here a quick primer for our teams in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament. East – This is read more...
Snowflakes: Tar Heels are the Tourney's Favorite
The best postseason in sports is upon us with the NCAA Tournament beginning. Brackets will soon be ruined as productivity takes a read more...
Snowflakes: Conference USA's Mediocrity is True Source of Calipari's Frustration
Memphis has their sights set on the Big Dance and the Final Four as they cruise through another C-USA Tournament at home. When the read more...
The Dickinson's Mojo & The Black Crowes' Voodoo
Mystery & Manners Investigates The Mojo of The Dickinson Family & The Black Crowes' Voodoo 3/11/02
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
* Well, it finally happened. The 47-game home winning streak and the perfect record on the season ended for Memphis last Saturday read more...
Snowflakes: #1 vs #2
Another Call To Harry Crews & Beyond
...An Ongoing Pursuit & Recording of the Mystery And Manners Saga...Widespread Panic...Jim Dickinson...Harry Crews and read more...
New CD's from Delaney, Bonnie and Whitlock
This may be the only time in history that the stars have lined up like this. Literally. If you check out the GRITZ CD read more...
Jim Dickinson On The Line
Mystery & Manners Interview With Memphis Legend Jim Dickinson 2/9/08
Snowflakes: Big East/C-USA Hoops
* With the league’s RPI being 11th in the nation, it’s a distinct possibility that Conference USA could be a one-bid read more...
Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday
Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Could this week finally bring the contest where #1 Memphis actually loses a conference game? The read more...
Luther Dickinson: Night Before theTour...
Luther Dickinson Talks Present, Past & Future 1/16/08
Full Moon Fever With Stanley Booth
Full Moon Fever With Stanley Booth 12/24/07
Southern Greats Play Post Led Zeppelin London Gig
Sam Moore, Ben E. King, Percy Sledge and Solomon Burke Perform Post Led Zep Gig 12/11/07
John Sayles Interview
Mystery & Manners John Sayles Interview 12/8/07 On Thursday I interviewed
TF Rivalry Week Preview
Rivalry games define college football. More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means read more...
Johnny Cash's First Wife's New Book
New Book From the Late Vivian Cash 11/19/07
TF Saturday Preview: The Year of Transition Nears An End
The wild year continues. In many ways this was just a sign of the transition college football around the Footprint has read more...
The Word Returns
The Word Returns In December 11/14/07
Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film
Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film 11/11/07
TF Saturday Preview: Everything's Still To Be Decided
Patrick Snow has it right. This year's
TF Saturday Preview: Pole, er.. Bowl Position
If you aren't a Florida or Georgia fan, this weekend might be a good one to spend with the kids. This is a pretty thin weekend read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: Act Like You've Been There Before!
It's the old saying when a player celebrates a little too much - act like you've been there before. This rules seems to also read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance
Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on
Tribal Fever's Weekend Slate (10/6/2007)
Let's start with this week's College Football Preview from Athlon. Swampland's own Patrick Snow hosts each read more...
William Eggleston: The Father of Color Photography
The Photography of William Eggleston 10/4/07
Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored
Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored 9/28/07
Swampland welcomes Tribal Fever!
It was only a matter of time before Swampland Sports starting covering the colleges in earnest. Today marks the start of Tribal read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of September 18, 2007
New Releases Doyle Bramhall
Macon's Tribute To Otis Redding
Macon's Tribute To Otis Redding 9/16/07
It Was Thirty Years Ago Today
I can remember exactly where I was when I heard that Elvis was dead. I was in my Barracuda, turning left into the Westgate Mall in read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of August 14, 2007
Darren Kozelsky
DEATH WEEK
The 30 year anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death falls on August 16, 2007. Like it or not, Elvis ranks as a southern icon. read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/30/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. One of the biggest connection points for read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of July 31, 2007
New Releases 10 Mile Crossing
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/22/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. What a messy story. The news of Michael read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of July 17, 2007
New Releases Raul Malo
The True Adventures of Stanley Booth
6/10/07 THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF STANLEY BOOTH As I wrote in the
Swampland Gets The Blues
Ain’t nothin’ like the blues. From the distant wail of Son House, to the darkness of Robert Johnson running from the Hell read more...
Hank Jr. Assault Charges Dropped
Memphis prosecutors dropped assault charges against Hank Williams Jr., citing lack of evidence about the 2006 incident. A read more...
Sir Mack Rice Keeps On Keepin' On
2/18/07 Stax Records songwriter Sir Mack Rice penned "Mustang Sally" (Wilson Pickett), "Respect Yourself" read more...
Tony Joe White Releases "Uncovered" on Swamp Records
1/1/07 On Tony Joe White's latest CD, Uncovered, he renders new versions of "Rainy Night in Georgia", read more...
Townes Van Zandt & Eddie Hinton on Film
12/11/06 The work of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt is now available on DVD. Be Here To Love Me can be found at
Robinson & Dickinson Collaborate
12/10/06 Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) and Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All-Stars) will perform as Circle Sound on read more...
Memphis Reviews
Brothers of the Southland
Brothers of The Southland is one of the best of the plethora of “all star” bands playing today, and their debut CD is a read more...
Lovers
(www.bobbywhitlock.com) Joined by a stellar group of musicians, music icon, Bobby Whitlock and wife, CoCo Carmel, have read more...
Hernando
Hernando North Mississippi Allstars Songs of the South By James Calemine Hernando is read more...
Meat Market
The Woodstock Album
The Woodstock Album Muddy Waters Chess/MCA Records By James Calemine Recorded in two days at read more...
Song of America
Song of America Various Artists 31 Tigers Records By James Calemine This 50-song, 3 CD read more...
Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding
Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding Otis Redding STAX Records By James read more...
I Don't Want No Trouble
I Don't Want No Trouble Don Nix Section Eight Productions By James Calemine Songwriter Don read more...
Killers From Space
Killers From Space James Luther Dickinson Memphis International Records By James read more...
Live at the Bohemian Caverns
Live at the Bohemian Caverns Carla Thomas Stax Records By James Calemine Recorded live at the read more...
Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built
(Atlantic DVD) Let me tell you a story. According to The Rolling Stones and Led read more...
Black Snake Moan
Come Early Morning
Stax Records 50th Anniversary Celebration
Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration Concord Music Group By James Calemine This 50 song, 2 CD boxset stands as the read more...
Live At The Summit Club
Johnny Taylor Live At The Summit Club Stax Records R & B great Johnny Taylor existed on read more...
The Queen Alone
Carla Thomas The Queen Alone Stax Records By James Calemine Carla Thomas--the great Rufus Thomas' read more...
New Lease On Life
New Lease On Life William Bell Wilbe Records William Bell's music epitomizes the classic read more...
Portraits and Songs From the Roots of America
Enclosed within the new Music Maker book titled Portraits and Songs From the Roots of America rests a CD featuring 22 read more...
Electric Blue Watermelon
The Dickinson Brothers pay homage to their Hill Country brethren and Memphis musical kin on Electric Blue Watermelon. The read more...
Home
Delaney and Bonnie Home (Stax) For their second album back in 1969, Delaney and Bonnie read more...
This World Is Not My Home
Amy Levere This World Is Not My Home (Archer) My first spin of Amy read more...
Last Man Standing
Jerry Lee Lewis
Lonesome In Black - The Legendary Sun Recordings
This definitive collection features Johnny Cash's recordings for the Sun Records label from 1955-1958. These stark classics serve as read more...
The Heroines
Tony Joe White's work inspired many great musicians like Ray Charles, Brook Benton, Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, read more...
Memphis ArticlesThe Top Ten Guitarists of the Southern Rock Era
The Greatest Guitar Slingers of The Southern Rock Era by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Duane Allman
Southern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known nationally for our college football crowds and pageantry, but the spring read more...
Gritz Legends of Southern Rock
A handful of bands from the Southern Rock Era have earned the title of "Legend." These are the bands that defined the genre and set the bar for all other bands in their wake. These are the few, the originals, the Legends of Southern Rock.
The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most every proposal for a college playoff is a horrible idea for college football at large and especially read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS Sound Warehouse Fayetteville read more...
Jim Dickinson's Best Memphis Barbecue & Favorite Meals On The Road
When I interviewed the High Priest of Memphis Mojo—Jim Dickinson—I asked him if he’d be interested in submitting his inimitable insight on barbecue, music and movies. Mr. Dickinson sent along some very interesting details on these cultural topics. His expertise in these read more...
Dixie Fried with The High Priest of Memphis Mojo Jim Dickinson
JIM DICKINSON INTERVIEW DIXIE FRIED WITH THE HIGH PRIEST OF MEMPHIS MOJO By James Calemine "Some people say worried blues ain't tough, If they don't kill you they handle you mighty rough."
Luther Dickinson Interview: The Secret Code of Memphis Guitars
Luther Dickinson Interview The Secret Code of Memphis Guitars By James Calemine "I'm gonna leave Memphis and spread the news/Memphis women don't wear no shoes."
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate league strength across college football, but it is basically all we have. Here’s my opinion read more...
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic certain fan bases are with their expectations. I thought I would examine each job, and how it matches up read more...
College Football: More Balanced Than Ever
By Patrick Snow As a kid growing up in the South, the question of whether you liked college or professional football better just would not have been asked. The NFL was always watched and enjoyed, but it never compared to the passion and excitement of Saturdays in the SEC. As I started working in the sports media, I met more and more people (Northeasterners read more...
NFL Label Book: Overrated
By Patrick Snow Just like many a bad segment of talk radio, another ‘label’ book was recently released into America to get football fans arguing with each other. We have Philly-based ESPN field reporter Sal Paolantonio to thank for this latest regurgitation of what former NFL player is either overrated or underrated. I hesitate to jump into the intended read more...
The Great Southern Sportswriters Series
Writing and storytelling have always been deeply ingrained in Southern culture. The people that combined that art with the Swampland Footprint's passion for sports make the whole experience more special and unique. Swampland Sports is proud to offer this series of profiles of the best sportswriters our Footprint has to offer. You've already probably read them read more...
Ron Higgins, (Memphis) Commerical Appeal
Ron Higgins grew up around sports during his youth in Louisiana. He has spent read more...
A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the Footprint has become downright confusing. It used to be that there were three main conferences, the read more...
The King Is Dead! Hang The Doctor!
The King Is Dead! Hang the Doctor!
W.C. Handy Music Festival, Florence, Alabama, July 22-29
“If Beale Street could talk Married men would have to take up their beds and walk…” Beale Street Blues W. C. Handy wrote those words when he was living in Memphis in 1916. It had been a long road from Florence, Alabama, to Memphis, Tennessee, read more...
John Hammond
by Michael Buffalo Smith January 2007 After three decades, John Hammond proves he's still a vital performer in American music. One of the very few white blues musicians performing at the beginning of the first blues renaissance of the mid-'60s, he found himself onstage alongside artists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis and Skip James. read more...
Cowboy Jack Clement
COWBOY JACK CLEMENT CASH, PRIDE, SUN and POLKA by Michael Buffalo Smith May, 2006 Cowboy Jack Clement is a true Nashville legend if ever there was one. From his days working at Sun Studios, to writing hit songs for Johnny Cash, producing Waylon Jennings and Charley Pride, Cowboy Jack has always kept it real, and read more...
Luther Dickinson 2006
Luther Dickinson Of The North Mississippi Allstars By Derek Halsey May 2006 The self-described ‘world boogie’ sounds of the North Mississippi Allstars have been flowing out of this trio for ten years now. This electric blues-based group is touring behind their latest release, “Electric Blue read more...
Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars)
LUTHER DICKINSON TALKS ABOUT HIS DAD'S MUSICAL LEGACY, ELECTRIC BLUE WATERMELON AND TOURING WITH JOHN HIATT By James Calemine October 2005 Luther Dickinson called me from Texas while the North Mississippi Allstars bus rolled onto their next destination during a tour with John Hiatt behind his new album Master of read more...
John D. Wyker's Cat Tales - Dan Penn
A DAN PENN CAT TALE by JD Wyker April, 2005 Conway Twitty's version of "Is A Bluebird Blue" was real important to Dan Penn...or should I say Wallace Pennington..It was the first real money he made as a songwriter! I was lucky enough to have been at Spar Music above City Drug Store in read more...
Tony Joe White
TONY JOE WHITE: THE SWAMP FOX by Michael Buffalo Smith October 2004 Tony Joe White is an American treasure. In 1969, Tony Joe came bursting out of the swamplands of Louisiana with his classic, “Polk Salad Annie,” a Top 10 Hit, followed in 1970, read more...
Tom Dowd
From The Manhattan Project to the Allman Brothers Band An Interview with Tom Dowd by Michael Buffalo Smith Fall 2002 Okay. We know that he has produced some of the greatest records in the history of rock and roll, from The Allman Brothers Band’s Fillmore album to Layla by read more...
Tom Dowd Memorial
TOM DOWD The Legendary Producer Dies on October 27, 2002 By Derek Halsey Last May I was invited to be backstage at the Grand Ole Opry as the guest of the excellent country and western singer, Joni Harms, whom I had interviewed earlier here at GRITZ. Joni plays country music like it should be, like it used to be, and it was a read more...
Travis Wammack
"SCRATCHY" WAS JUST THE BEGINNING Travis Wammack is Still Rocking May, 2001 by Michael B. Smith We can think of no better introduction to our exclusive interview than the following article from ROLLING STONE, written a few years back by Greg Shaw. "There are some names you never forget. read more...
Stanley Booth: Can I Get A Witness
Can I Get A Witness The True Adventures of Stanley Booth By James Calemine Winter 2000 Jack Kerouac was a writer. That is, he wrote. Many people who call themselves writers and have their names on books aren’t writers and can’t write—the difference being a bullfighter who fights a bull is different than read more...
Bobby Whitlock
Layla, and Many Other Songs of Love Bobby Whitlock Talks About Derek & The Dominos, Duane Allman, Gram Parsons, Eric Clapton and more... by Mitch Lopate Winter 2000 I see you released a new album on the Grapevine label, and it's called "It's about Time." Tell me (about) "It's About read more...
Delaney Bramlett
DELANEY, CLAPTON, ALLMAN AND FRIENDS A Conversation with Delaney Bramlett by Mitch Lopate Fall 2000 One can't say the name "Delaney Bramlett" without thinking of an ever-growing family of musicians and their music - hence the slogan, "Delaney and Bonnie and Friends." The read more...
Bonnie Bramlett
Don't You Remember You Told Me You Loved Me Baby? A Conversation with Bonnie Bramlett by Jill McLane Smith Summer 2000 From her work with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, to her friendships with a who's-who of '60's and '70's rock and roll, to her role on TV's "Roseanne," Bonnie Bramlett has always managed read more...
Koko Taylor
Praise the Bridge that Carried You Across An Audience with The Queen of the Blues by Michael Buffalo Smith 2000 I understand that Koko is a nickname. How did you come to be called Koko?