Deadsplinter Up! All Night: Beale Street Mood

24/3/20 Jonee 33

The great Willie Mitchell was a Memphis music legend who started as a trumpeter and became one of the most successful and influential producers of soul and r&b of all time. In the early 50’s he transitioned from musician to band leader, taking over the band at the Plantation Inn in West Memphis where he introduced scores of white kids to rhythm and blues. This led to a job arranging and writing lead sheets for local labels including Sun Records. His big break came when he was hired by the fledgling Hi label to be their in house session leader. There he learned how to engineer and eventually began producing all of Hi’s output as well as arranging, leading the session musicians, and even playing on some cuts. Hi became Willie’s show and a showcase for his unique sound. Instrumentals were becoming big by the early 60’s, and Willie and Hi scored some hits with Bill Black’s Combo. Helping was the fact that Joe Cuogh, Hi’s owner, also supplied most of Memphis’s jukeboxes and had a chain of record stores where he could push his own vinyl.

As a reward for all his hard work, Willie got to record his own singles in the hopes of scoring some hits. A few of these tracks became popular in dance clubs which meant that the Willie Mitchell Band could hit the road and play one nighters around the south. One night in Midland, Texas, a fresh faced young singer named Albert Greene opened for them. Al had recently left his family’s gospel group and recorded a minor local hit song, but his career seemed to be spinning its wheels. Al was just another Otis Redding or Sam Cooke imitator. Willie saw the talent that night in Texas, though, and convinced Al to lose the “e” at the end of his last name and sign with Hi. Willie Mitchell and Al Green would become one of the great partnerships not just in r&b, but in popular music in general. Willie’s no nonsense production sound with punchy horns, grooving guitars, and tight rhythm were the perfect backing to Al’s angelic voice. At the end of their first session together, Al convinced Willie to let him record an original song of his, Tired of Being Alone, and the rest was history as they say. Hi would turn into something of a hit factory, filling up the soul charts with acts like Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, and Syl Johnson all with the Willie Mitchell sound. Willie also got to produce some outside artists like Ike and Tina Turner, and Denise LaSalle. He kept on recording in Memphis up until his death in 2010. At the time he was working on Solomon Burke’s final album

Willie Mitchell – Beale Street Mood

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33 Comments

  4. that was a lovely song…. i think i only know one memphis song tho…. i tend to avoid knowing anything more than the music of me favoured so i dont know how many came from memphis
    anyhoo

  6. Great stuff Jonee, you are an amazing source of musical knowledge. I’m in an Ass Pony sort of mood today so here’s a two-fer. Butterfly

    and Nemo

  9. Awesome post Jonee. I love this stuff.

    An old acquaintance of mine was Wayne Jackson, who was the trumpet half of The Memphis Horns. He was a real sweetheart of a guy and died too early at 74. Here’s one of his tracks with Robert Cray: I Guess I Showed Her.

  11. As always, Jonee, an interesting backstory with knowledge rendering my ability to live up to your DUAN impossible so I might be way off-base here:

    …then again:

    And:

    Because:

    So:

  15. I was busy earlier and didn’t properly thank you for the great post Jonee. I hadn’t know anything about Willie Mitchell.
    John Hiatt – Memphis in the Meantime

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