$5 Cover: Jack Yarber
Cult hero keeps low-key profile in Midtown Memphis music scene
His music: With his unassuming demeanor, Jack Yarber easily blends into the Midtown music scene, even as he’s revered as a cult hero on the international garage rock circuit. Yarber moved to Memphis from Corinth, Miss., in the mid-1980s, after forming that town’s first punk group, Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves. Soon after, he co-founded Compulsive Gamblers and the Oblivians, two bands that Jack White and Swedish rockers the Hives cite as major influences. When the Oblivians combusted at the height of their success in the late 1990s, Yarber recruited a top roster of local performers for his growling, country- and soul-inspired garage outfit, Jack-O and the Tennessee Tearjerkers.
Photo by Alan Spearman
Jack Yarber is happiest when he allows himself to be a conduit for music. A recent performance at the Hi-Tone Cafe drew a faithful crowd.
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In $5 Cover: Yarber performs a set at Earnestine and Hazel’s as other characters spar in the background. Featured song: “Ain’t Got No Money.”
In $5 Cover Amplified: A day in the life of Jack Yarber finds a garage rock iconoclast searching for the perfect riff.
On Memphis music: “I’m a fan of the extremes in Memphis music — I’ll play an Al Green record, then put on one by Monsieur Jeffrey Evans. With my own music, I just want to try to do something that’s kind of like a Salvador Dali painting, but with one chord.”
Latest news: On May 9, Jack-O and the Tennessee Tearjerkers celebrate the release of The Disco Outlaw, their fourth full-length, with a concert at the Hi-Tone Café. This summer, Yarber will reunite with the Oblivians for a 7-country, 15-date European tour.
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