Go Memphis

Thanks to a restaurant coupon, J. T. Schlichter began playing guitar with Mike Strickland at the Los Pilares restaurants. “It was buy-one-get-one-half-off on any meal at Los Pilares,” recalled Schlichter, 18. Three years ago, Schlichter and his mom visited the restaurant where Strickland was performing. They then began going every Saturday. Schlichter worked his way into Strickland’s act. Full story »

What did Nick Pagliari want his second full-length album, Please and Thank You, to be? “I just wanted it to be better,” he said. “Not to say there was anything wrong (with the first CD, The Sail), I just think every time you go in the studio it’s a learning process.” Pagliari, a native Memphian now living in Columbia, S. C., began working on the CD in May, 2007. Full story »

If you happened to be at The Cove on Halloween, you might have seen four guys — wearing bonnets, dresses that came down to their jeans or hairy legs, and steel-toed work boots — playing hillbilly music. The only thing missing were corncob pipes, but a few of them dangled cigarettes from their mouths as they performed. Full story »

Crimson Time Bomb had its beginnings at Memphis Music Store at Poplar and White Station. Josh Siegel, 17, saw Chase Bushnell, 16, playing guitar. “He was sitting there playing the ‘Free Bird’ solo note for note,” he said. “My jaw dropped. I was like, ‘I have to talk to this guy.’ ” Bushnell was playing lead and Chris Borgelt, 19, was playing rhythm. Full story »

Elvis sang, "If you can't find a partner, use a wooden chair." Landon Lane's philosophy was, "If you can't find a piano, use a wooden table." quot;I was in a bar one night and 'Great Balls of Fire' came on," said Lane, 34. "I started mimicking it. I was probably 17 or 18 years old. Full story »

Rebearth lead singer Chris Graham was born with a gruff voice. “He came out of the womb with a beer in his hand and a cigarette,” said drummer Dustin ‘Trip’ Beckley, 23. “I’ve seen family videos when I was 6 and it was really, really scratchy,” said Graham, 28. “I never even thought about singing ’cause it was so scratchy. You hear all these people now with such clean pristine voices. Full story »

You might have seen The Barbaras perform in their pajamas. Or bathing suits. Maybe one of them was dressed up as Santa, or ice cream. "We don't want to be shocking or anything like that, but we also don't want to be boring visually," said guitarist/keyboardist Will McElroy, 22. Full story »

Before he strums his guitar on stage, Charlie Shaw removes his cowboy boots. “It does have its practical side,” said Shaw, 24, lead singer in Silent Parade. “I can use my feet to change settings on my pedals. Some people think it’s some kind of a statement. It’s not that. A lot of people think it’s like a schtick — ‘I’m the guy who takes his boots off.’ Full story »

Karma Elektra takes its name from actress/model Carmen Electra. "I think it's just kind of a very funny, silly name," said lead singer/drummer Drew Ryan, 23. "We have a song called 'I Wish Our Name Wasn't Karma Elektra.' Full story »

Recording at the legendary Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios, The Infidelles are following in the footsteps of Al Green, Ike and Tina Turner, Ann Peebles and John Mayer. When the band members, all in their 20s, wanted to make a new CD, their manager, Charley Burch, suggested Royal. “He knew we couldn’t cut these songs in a home studio,” said singer/guitarist/songwriter Mick Parrish, 21. “He knew that we needed a place that had ghosts in it. Full story »

Instead of singing, Grace Askew could be unearthing a tyrannosaurus rex. “I wanted to be a paleontologist, digging up dinosaur bones,” said Askew, 21. That was at age 8 after she saw “Jurassic Park.” “It was scary, but I love scary movies.” Joni Mitchell changed all that. Askew began listening to lot of Mitchell after getting a guitar at age 13. “I’d never heard anything like her. I could identify with her kind of writing. Her sense of imagery — I loved that.” Full story »

The summer of ’08 is a period of adjustment for The Summers. “We just moved here from Southern Indiana in the beginning of June,” said Branson Summers, 15, the drummer in the band that includes his brothers Jared, 13, on bass and vocals; and Wesley, 13, on guitar. “It doesn’t suck,” Wesley said. “We just haven’t been here that long. So, we don’t know what to do yet.” Full story »

Jared Cole got the star treatment — for a while — after he started his first band in middle school in Tipton County.
“We called up The New Daisy here in Memphis,” he said. “We were like, ‘Hey, we’d love to come play up here.’ We didn’t know anything about it. We didn’t know what the Daisy was.” Full story »

Rehearsing in an un-airconditioned storage unit with temperatures nearing 100, Prosevere should change its name to “Persevere.” “This is what we call our ‘Hell Space,’ not our ‘Hell House’ ’cause it’s so hot,” said guitarist Eric Ashe, 24. Full story »

Greg Lackey named his band "Kings of the Delta," but his home is West Memphis. Full story »