The Best of 2010: Memphis music debuts promise big things

Perhaps the most radio-ready Memphis artist of 2010 was pop-country singer-songwriter Myla Smith.

LaDonna Marie

Grace Askew invokes Tom Waits on her haunting full-length debut, "Until They Lay Me Down to Rest."

Ebet Roberts

Dan Montgomery's "You'll Never Be a Bird" is a tenderly-yet-wryly crafted portrait of his hometown of Philadelphia.

The year started on an unbelievably sad note for fans of Memphis music. Still reeling from the deaths the year before of the likes of Hank Crawford, Billy Lee Riley and Jim Dickinson, the city lost producer Hi Records architect Willie Mitchell, rising punk auteur Jay Reatard, bluesman Wilroy Sanders, and alternative-rock icon Alex Chilton, all in the first three months. The funeral parade continued with the deaths of contemporary Christian music pioneer Dana Key, cult power-pop figure Tommy Hoehn, and Chilton's Big Star bandmate Andy Hummel.

But amid the grief was some glorious noise. Scene veterans like Lucero, 8Ball & MJG, and recently minted Grammy nominee Luther Dickinson all hit new career peaks. Evoking the heyday of Stax, Hi, Ardent and American Sound, the city became a hot recording destination once again with Solomon Burke, Cyndi Lauper and Huey Lewis & the News making critically acclaimed records here. And all across the Mid-South, artists new and old of all genres were recording great new music.

Area artists released hundreds of recordings in 2010 on CD, online, and even on vinyl. I can't claim to have heard it all, but here is my subjective roundup of the recordings that made the biggest impressions on me over the past 12 months:

1. Rob Jungklas

Mapping the Wreckage

(Madjack Records)

A next-big-thing-that- never-became in the '80s, singer-songwriter Rob Jungklas had seemingly settled into a late-career groove of putting out dark, slow, deeply personal records like 2002's unflinching Arkadelphia that were as brilliant as they were difficult to listen to. But on Mapping the Wreckage, he picks up the tempo with an explosion of distorted guitar and attitude to match. It's a deeply poetic and varied work, highlighted by tracks like "Detox," which rocks as hard as anything that bands half the 60-year-old's age are turning out.

2. Magic Kids

Memphis

(True Panther Sounds)

The breakout stars of 2010, Magic Kids started the year as a band that, thanks to an aggressive touring schedule, was more heard about than actually heard in their hometown. But with their first full-length, the Beach Boys-y Memphis — the release of which was occasioned by a charming Levitt Shell concert that found the quintet backed by the Memphis Youth Symphony — the symphonic popsters have become a nationwide buzz band and a beloved part of the local scene.

3. Holly and the Heathens

Holly and the Heathens

(self-released)

When singer-songwriter Holly Cole released her debut EP, Fearless & Free, in 2006, it was clear that she could sing but she had yet to really find her voice. Four years later, she has made great strides with her second release. With a new backing band, the Heathens, featuring some of the city's most in-demand players such as Jake Vest and Krista Wroten, she has fashioned a lush, baroque folk-rock gem.

4. Harlan T. Bobo

Sucker

(Goner Records)

Following the romantic lows and highs of his previous records — 2003's Too Much Love and 2006's I'm Your Man — Harlan T. Bobo, easily the most acclaimed local singer-songwriter of the decade, found contentment on Sucker, a less-personal, more-fun sprint of a record full of more smartly crafted pop-rock tunes.

5. The South Memphis String Band

Home Sweet Home

(Memphis International Records)

Following Jim Dickinson's death in 2009, his sons Luther and Cody — both of the reconstituted North Mississippi Allstars, which has a record due in the new year — have seemingly chosen to play through their grief. Cody threw himself into the Hill Country Revue, his popular Southern rock-influenced side project that released its sophomore record this year. And Luther, who continued to play with the Black Crowes this year right up to their announced hiatus, put out last fall's Onward and Upward, which just received a Grammy nod. But my favorite is this debut from the South Memphis String Band, a roots supergroup featuring Luther, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Jimbo Mathus, that itself was just nominated for a Blues Music Award.

6. Kirk Whalum

Everything Is Everything: The Music Of Donny Hathaway

(Mack Avenue Records)

The Grammy people are notorious for making some truly bizarre calls, but they were right on the money by nominating Memphis saxophonist Kirk Whalum's latest for four awards at the ceremony to be held in February. Whalum, a past Grammy nominee who currently serves as the president/CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, crafted a loving tribute to the late, suddenly hip '70s soul singer Donny Hathaway.

7. Myla Smith

White/Gold

(Shake Rag Records)

Smith's follow-up to her 2006 debut was actually two EPs — White, which sets the young singer-songwriter in a modern pop setting, and Gold, which has a more relaxed country vibe thanks to the presence of acclaimed pickers Eric Lewis and Tommy Burroughs. Splitting her hand paid off for Smith, resulting in two of the most commercially viable recordings to come out of Memphis this year. This is the record that, when it popped up in my iPod's shuffle mode, people (including sometimes myself) were most likely to mistake it for the radio.

8. Minivan Blues Band

Dancing With the Devil Once Again

(self-released)

Ten years old this year, the Minivan Blues Band transcended its reputation as just another jam band with their second record, a wholly unplanned live disc cut last year at the Hi-Tone Café by engineer Dawn Hopkins. The set found the band largely setting aside the long improvisations that had defined them to reveal the disciplined, talented roots-rockers at their core.

9. Grace Askew

Until They Lay Me Down To Rest

(self-released)

Grace Askew has been busy in recent years cofounding the expectations of those who see her as just another pretty girl with a guitar. Her music, already a step removed from coffeehouse pabulum thanks to her deep, smoky voice, took a darker, Tom Waits-inspired turn on this haunting full-length debut, featuring excellent contributions from multi-instrumentalist Richard Ford and Askew's jazz-informed backup band, the Black Market Goods.

10. Dan Montgomery

You'll Never Be A Bird

(Fantastic Yes Productions)

Following the critical acclaim showered upon his last release, the 2006 concept album Rosetta, Please (A Love Story), troubadour Dan Montgomery did not disappoint with this tenderly-yet-wryly crafted portrait of his hometown of Philadelphia. The record is notable also for the contributions of one of the city's best supporting players in 2010, former Continental Drifter Robert Maché, who also played on this year's Shine, the best record of country singer Nancy Apple's career.

Honorable mentions

Most years I have trouble just coming up with 10 local records that I'm passionate enough about to include in the list. This year, I had trouble winnowing the list down to just 10, much less placing them in order of preference. Here are five more releases that were right on the bubble:

The Reba Russell Band

8

(Blue Eyed Bitches Records)

RT Scott

Talk of the Town

(Chicken Skin Music)

Sid Selvidge

I Should Be Blue

(Archer Records)

City Champs

The Set-Up

( Electraphonic Recordings)

Jamie Randolph & the Darkhorse

Jamie Randolph & the Darkhorse EP

(Tarragon Lake Records)

Best Reissue

Otis Redding

Live On the Sunset Strip

(Stax)

Every year it seems there is a treasure of reissued records from Memphis' rich musical past. Among the 2010 highlights was the long-delayed domestic re-release of Tommy Hoehn's 1978 power pop masterpiece Losing You To Sleep just months after his death. But it's hard to overlook the great soul man Otis Redding, whose 1966 four-night stand at the Whisky A Go Go finally gets the deluxe treatment on this two-disc set.

Best Album Non-Local Made In Memphis

Solomon Burke

Nothing's Impossible

E1 Entertainment

Again, there were lots of great entries in this category, but this only teaming of quintessential soul singer Solomon Burke and Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell, one of the last projects for both men before their deaths this year, simply has to take the prize.

Best Record By An Ex-Memphian

Doug Wamble

Doug Wamble

(E1 Entertainment)

Since graduating from Memphis State University, guitarist Doug Wamble has made a name for himself on the New York jazz scene, jamming with Charlie Hunter and Wynton Marsalis, among others. But his self-titled solo album bears the unmistakable imprint of the South, with a funky backbeat and the artist's own soulful voice floating on top.

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