The Tennessee Three was the backing band for country and rockabilly singer Johnny Cash for nearly 25 years, providing the unique backing that came to be recognized by fans as "the Johnny Cash sound".
111-578: Roy Cash Sr., oldest brother of Johnny Cash, was service manager at a car dealership in Memphis, Tennessee . In 1953, while the younger Cash was stationed in Germany with the US Air Force , Luther Perkins joined the staff there, where he met co-workers Marshall Grant and A.W. "Red" Kernodle. Grant, Kernodle and Perkins began bringing their guitars to work and would play together when repair business
222-517: A cowboy hat . His next MCA album, This One's Gonna Hurt You , came out in 1992. The lead single " This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time) ", also a duet with Tritt, was a top-ten hit in 1992, but the followup singles "Now That's Country", "High on a Mountain Top", and "Hey Baby" were less successful. Kennerley and Cash were once again among the contributing vocalists, while Ashley Cleveland and Pam Tillis both sang backing vocals on "High on
333-458: A love triangle , the album featured vocal contributions from Pam Tillis, George Jones , and Emmylou Harris , as well as a poem recited by Johnny Cash. An uncredited review of the album in AllMusic was largely favorable, stating that "no one's idea of a commercial country album, one has to admire the sheer ambition of the project, as well as the guts it took MCA Records to release what amounts to
444-611: A "blueprint" for future incidents of police brutality nationwide. The incident also resulted in the disbanding of the city's "SCORPION" unit, which had been mandated with directly combating the most violent crimes in the city. All the officers charged with involvement in Nichols's death were members of the unit. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 324.0 square miles (839.2 km ), of which 315.1 square miles (816.0 km )
555-519: A Mountain Top". Johnny Cash provided duet vocals on "Doin' My Time", while the track "Me and Hank and Jumpin' Jack Flash" sampled voice recordings of Lester Flatt, Hank Williams , and Ernest Tubb . Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly rated the album "A", finding the "stylistic mix" superior to preceding albums, noting influences of bluegrass , Southern rock , rockabilly , and blues in his delivery and song choices. Also in 1992, Columbia issued Let There Be Country . This One's Gonna Hurt You
666-679: A compilation called The Marty Party Hit Pack in 1995, which contained singles from his previous MCA albums, as well as "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", the previously-unreleased "The Likes of Me" and "If I Ain't Got You", and two cover songs previously found on multi-artist tribute albums released in 1994. These were a rendition of Elvis Presley 's " Don't Be Cruel ", featuring The Jordanaires and previously found on It's Now or Never: The Tribute to Elvis , and The Band 's " The Weight ", featuring The Staple Singers and previously found on Rhythm, Country and Blues . Both of these cover songs were produced by Don Was , while Don Cook handled production on
777-1317: A fair. She hasn't changed a bit. She looked great then and she looks great now." Stuart said he told his mother then that he was going to marry Connie Smith. Smith explains how they have sustained their marriage : "Make the Lord the center ... and commit." ^ A. shared with Joe Nichols , Rhonda Vincent , Emmylou Harris , Rodney Crowell , James Taylor , Alison Krauss , Vince Gill , Terri Clark , Merle Haggard , Carl Jackson , Ronnie Dunn , Rebecca Lynn Howard , Glen Campbell , Leslie Satcher , Kathy Louvin, Pamela Brown Hayes, Linda Ronstadt , Patty Loveless , Jon Randall , Harley Allen , Dierks Bentley , Larry Cordle , Jerry Salley , Dolly Parton , Sonya Isaacs , Del McCoury , Pam Tillis , Johnny Cash and The Jordanaires . ^ B. shared with Everett Lilly , Bea Lilly, Charles Lilly, Daniel Lilly, Mark Lilly, Rhonda Vincent , Billy Walker , Ronnie McCoury , Rob McCoury , David Ball , Charlie Cushman, Larry Stevenson , Joe Spivey, Eddie Stubbs , Jason Carter , Dickey Lee , Freddie Weller, Mike Bub , Rad Lewis, Andy May, Darrin Vincent , Marcia Campbell, Clay Rigdon, Eric Blankenship and Bill Wolfenbarger. †Honorary former member;
888-630: A focal point of Spanish activity until, as Holmes summarizes: [T]he Treaty of San Lorenzo or Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 [implemented in March 1797], [had as its result that] all of the careful, diplomatic work by Spanish officials in Louisiana and West Florida , which has succeeded for a decade in controlling the Indians [e.g., the Choctaws ], was undone. The United States gained the right to navigate
999-563: A large territory in the Southeast. French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered the historic Chickasaw in this area in the 16th century. J. D. L. Holmes, writing in Hudson's Four Centuries of Southern Indians (2007), notes that this site was a third strategic point in the late 18th century through which European powers could control United States encroachment beyond
1110-594: A member of this band, Stuart met mandolinist Roland White , a member of Lester Flatt 's backing band; White invited Stuart to perform with Flatt at a concert in Delaware in 1972, which led to him becoming a regular member of that band. He continued to tour in this capacity until Flatt retired in 1978, and recorded an independent album called With a Little Help from My Friends that same year. After this, Stuart performed with Vassar Clements and Doc Watson before joining Johnny Cash 's band in 1980. In 1982, he released
1221-625: A multicultural mix of influences: country , rock and roll , soul , and hip-hop . The city is home to a major professional sports team , the Grizzlies of the NBA . Other attractions include Graceland , the Memphis Pyramid , Sun Studio , the Blues Hall of Fame and Stax Museum of American Soul Music . Memphis-style barbecue has achieved international prominence, and the city hosts
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#17327873319961332-564: A new song "How a Cowboy Has to Ride", written by Vicky Wootton. Wootton died of dementia on April 9, 2017, in Gallatin, Tennessee , at the age of 75. Holland died at his home in Jackson, Tennessee on September 23, 2020, at the age of 85. Former rhythm guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Marty Stuart remains active as a solo artist and in collaboration with his wife, country singer Connie Smith . Former lead guitarist Kerry Marx remains active as
1443-474: A recording contract with Columbia Records . Stuart released his self-titled debut album on Columbia in 1985. The album accounted for Stuart's first chart entry on Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with his first single release, " Arlene ". Three other singles charted from the album in 1986: "Honky Tonker" and "All Because of You", both written by Steve Forbert , and Stuart's own "Do You Really Want My Lovin'". However, these songs were less successful on
1554-541: A second album called Busy Bee Cafe on Sugar Hill Records . The album was composed of a jam session that included a number of country and bluegrass performers such as Cash, Watson, and Earl Scruggs . In 1985, Stuart accompanied Johnny Cash to Memphis and played on the Class of '55 album that also featured Carl Perkins , Roy Orbison , and Jerry Lee Lewis . At the end of the session, Perkins presented Stuart with his guitar. Later that year, Stuart left Cash's band and landed
1665-548: A second album for Columbia titled Let There Be Country , which charted two singles in 1988: the Merle Haggard composition "Mirrors Don't Lie" and "Matches". Due to the underperformance of the singles, Columbia chose not to release the album, and Stuart exited the label to return to Mississippi. After briefly rejoining the Sullivans, he returned to Nashville and signed with MCA Records in 1989. That label issued
1776-528: A session and touring guitarist for various musicians and joined the Grand Ole Opry as one of their guitarists in 2000 before becoming the Opry's musical director in 2018. John Carter Cash also remains active in music, mostly in working to maintain his father's musical legacy by producing various releases of archive recordings. (Key members listed in bold.) In the 2005 film biography of Johnny Cash, Walk
1887-533: A solo artist in the early 1980s. He is known for his combination of rockabilly , country rock , and bluegrass music influences, his frequent collaborations and cover songs, and his distinctive stage dress. His greatest commercial success came in the first half of the 1990s on MCA Records Nashville. Stuart has recorded over 20 studio albums, and has charted over 30 times on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His highest chart entry
1998-471: A speaking panel after the film. Also in attendance was Jane Seymour , wife of the film's producer, James Keach . Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee . It is the county seat of Shelby County , in the southwesternmost part of the state, and is situated along the Mississippi River . With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census , Memphis
2109-764: A surprise appearance on string bass) on April 6, 1999, while taping a TNT television special in New York City. After Cash's death in 2003, then-manager Trevor Chowning revived the band's career in 2006. They recorded and released a tribute album to Johnny Cash titled The Sound Must Go On. In August 2007, the band made their first appearance in Scotland since the 1990s at the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness-shire. A planned Tennessee Three concert in January 2008, commemorating
2220-423: A unique and deeply personal artistic vision." After this album proved to be commercially unsuccessful, Stuart left MCA in 2000. His next album was 2003's Country Music , released on Columbia Records . For this album, Stuart assembled a new backing band called Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, consisting of Harry Stinson on drums, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Brian Glenn on bass guitar. Included on
2331-674: A yellow fever outbreak, 20,000 residents fled the city. The ensuing panic left the poverty-stricken, the working classes, and the African-American community at the most risk from the epidemic. Those who remained relied on volunteers from religious and physician organizations to tend to the sick. By the end of the year, more than 5,000 were confirmed dead in Memphis. The New Orleans health board listed "not less than 4,600" dead. The Mississippi Valley recorded 120,000 cases of yellow fever, with 20,000 deaths. The $ 15 million in losses caused by
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#17327873319962442-543: Is " The Whiskey Ain't Workin' ", a duet with Travis Tritt . Stuart has won five Grammy Awards out of 16 nominations. He is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame . John Marty Stuart was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi , on September 30, 1958. Stuart learned to play guitar and mandolin as a child, and by age 12, he had joined a gospel band called The Sullivans. While
2553-597: Is a national transportation hub and Mississippi River crossing for Interstate 40 , (east-west), Interstate 55 (north-south), barge traffic, Memphis International Airport ( FedEx's "SuperHub" facility ) and numerous freight railroads that serve the city. Marty Stuart John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt , and then in Johnny Cash 's road band before beginning work as
2664-748: Is known for his extensive collection of country music memorabilia. Some of his collection was exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum in 2007 as "Sparkle & Twang: Marty Stuart's American Musical Odyssey." The exhibit later appeared at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and at the Arkansas Statehouse Museum. In early 2018, Stuart co-curated, along with the Grammy Museum , an exhibit at
2775-500: Is land and 9.0 square miles (23.2 km ), or 2.76%, is water. Downtown Memphis rises from a bluff along the Mississippi River . The city and metro area spread out through suburbanization, and encompass southwest Tennessee, northern Mississippi , and eastern Arkansas . Several large parks were founded in the city in the early 20th century, notably Overton Park in Midtown and the 4,500-acre (18 km ) Shelby Farms . The city
2886-659: Is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville . Memphis is the fifth-most populous city in the Southeast , the nation's 28th-most populous overall, as well as the largest city bordering the Mississippi River and third largest metropolitan statistical area behind Greater St. Louis and the Twin Cities on the Mississippi River. The Memphis metropolitan area includes West Tennessee and
2997-428: Is the original B-Bender guitar, built and designed by White and Gene Parsons around 1967, to allow the guitarist to manually raise the guitar's 'B' string one whole step to play in a style similar to a pedal steel guitar . Stuart bought this unique guitar in 1980 from White's widow, and continued to play it in concert, as of 2019. Stuart is host of The Marty Stuart Show , which features traditional country music in
3108-663: The Civil War and the end of slavery , the city continued to grow into the 20th century. It became among the largest world markets for cotton and hardwood . Home to Tennessee's largest African-American population, Memphis played a prominent role in the American Civil Rights Movement . Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 after activities supporting a strike by the city's maintenance workers. The National Civil Rights Museum
3219-771: The Mississippi River and won control over the Yazoo Strip north of the thirty-first parallel. The Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas. In 1796, the site became the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee, in what was then called the Southwest United States. The area was still largely occupied and controlled by the Chickasaw nation. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down
3330-570: The Statler Brothers . Cash decided to discontinue using the name "The Tennessee Three", ostensibly for legal reasons (Grant had filed a lawsuit against Cash, which was settled out of court years later). The reconstituted band was called The Great Eighties Eight after Grant left. Others joined the group after that, with Wootton and Holland remaining off and on as the group's anchors. In September 1989, Cash hired Kerry Marx and Steve Logan as guitarist and bassist, respectively, and renamed
3441-641: The Treaty of Tuscaloosa , signed in October 1818 and ratified by Congress on January 7, 1819, the Chickasaw ceded their territory in Western Tennessee to the United States . The city of Memphis was founded less than five months after the U.S. takeover of the territory, on May 22, 1819 (incorporated December 19, 1826), by John Overton , James Winchester and Andrew Jackson . They named it after
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3552-649: The Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma , entitled "Marty Stuart's Way Out West: A Country Music Odyssey". The exhibit highlighted the West Coast impact on country music, featuring items by artists including Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard , Buck Owens , and Stuart himself. Many of the items in the exhibit came from the private collection of Stuart, including the last portrait of Cash (taken by Stuart four days before Cash died). Yvonne and Mavis Staples of
3663-628: The ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River . From the city's foundation onwards, African Americans formed large proportion of Memphis' population. Prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States , most Black people in Memphis were enslaved, being used as forced labor by white enslavers along the river or on outlying cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta . The city's demographics changed dramatically in
3774-542: The "Perkins Brothers Band". In 1961, the group released two instrumental singles on Columbia recorded in 1959 (before Holland joined) as The Tennessee Two and Friend . The four songs would later be included in Cash's greatest hits collection More of Old Golden Throat . Luther Perkins died from injuries sustained in a house fire in August 1968 after reportedly having fallen asleep with a lit cigarette. Bob Wootton filled in as
3885-572: The 1850s and 1860s, due to waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and the Great Famine , Irish Americans made up 9.9% of the population in 1850, but 23.2% by 1860, when the total population was 22,623. Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861, and Memphis briefly became a Confederate stronghold. Union ironclad gunboats captured it in
3996-453: The 1880s Memphis led the nation in sanitary reform and improvements. Perhaps the most significant effect of yellow fever on Memphis was in demographic changes. Nearly all of Memphis's upper and middle classes vanished, depriving the city of its general leadership and class structure that dictated everyday life, similar to that in other large Southern cities, such as New Orleans , Charleston, South Carolina , and Atlanta, Georgia . In Memphis,
4107-585: The 1960s, the city was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement , as its large African-American population had been affected by state segregation practices and disenfranchisement in the early 20th century. African-American residents drew from the civil rights movement to improve their lives. In 1968, the Memphis sanitation strike began for living wages and better working conditions; the workers were overwhelmingly African American. They marched to gain public awareness and support for their plight:
4218-411: The 1990s was also defined by his distinct clothing and hairstyle. Meyers described him as having a "striking black mane, speckled with well-earned gray...[o]ften tied in a black or pink bandana headband", faded jeans from Levi Strauss & Co. , a black T-shirt, cowboy boots , a concho belt , and a rhinestone -studded suit jacket designed by Nudie Cohn (sometimes termed the "Nudie suit"). Stuart
4329-538: The 20th century, with four lynchings between 1900 and the lynching of Thomas Williams in 1928. A Tennessee Powder Company built an explosives powder plant to make TNT and gunpowder on a 6,000-acre site in Millington in 1940. The plant was built to make smokeless gunpowder for the British Armed Forces during World War II . In May 1941, DuPont (1802–2017) took over the plant, changed the name to
4440-413: The 40th anniversary of Cash's Folsom Prison performance, was scrapped after disputes between prison managers and the concert promoter. In January 2008, Wootton announced on his mySpace page that Holland had decided against continued touring with him, instead forming the "W.S. Holland band". In an interview, Wootton said that Holland had decided to dissolve the partnership after Wootton backed out of playing
4551-740: The Appalachians and their interference with Indian matters—after Fort Nogales (present-day Vicksburg ) and Fort Confederación (present-day Epes, Alabama ): "Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis. Spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws." In 1795 the Spanish Governor-General of Louisiana , Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet , sent his lieutenant governor, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos , to negotiate and secure consent from
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4662-624: The Chickasaw Ordnance Works, and produced powder for the United States Armed Forces . There were 8,000 employees. The plant was dismantled after the war in 1946. From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a place of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump . He gained a state law in 1911 to establish a small commission to manage the city. The city retained a form of commission government until 1967 and patronage flourished under Crump. Per
4773-668: The Fabulous Superlatives. Stuart hosts and produces the 30-minute episodes, with WSM disc jockey and Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs serving as the show's emcee. Stuart is a member of the board of the Country Music Foundation and is a past president. Stuart has also been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992. On August 12, 2020, Stuart was selected to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame . Stuart's first wife
4884-487: The Fender resulted in the band's famous steady, simple "boom-chicka-boom" or "freight train" rhythm. By 1955, Cash and his bandmates were in the Memphis studio of Sun Records to audition for owner Sam Phillips . Kernodle was so nervous that he left the session and the group, not wanting to hold them back. The band presented themselves as "The Tennessee Three", but Phillips suggested that they call themselves Johnny Cash and
4995-458: The Folsom anniversary concert. As The Tennessee Three, Wootton, drummer Rodney Blake Powell, and Vicky and Scarlett Wootton continued touring in 2008 to appreciative crowds across the globe. The band continued to tour throughout 2009, with the addition of upright bassist Lisa Horngren and drummer Derrick McCullough. In 2012, Wootton's band released another album, titled All Over Again . It includes
5106-511: The Line , the band members were portrayed by the following actors . True to their supposed characterizations described earlier, Perkins was played as stiff and expressionless onstage, while Grant was played as animated and gregarious: The film contains a subtle foreshadowing of Perkins' fate, in a brief scene in which Perkins falls asleep with a lit cigarette in his mouth. Cash retrieves the cigarette and stubs it out. Cash later suggested that this
5217-555: The Moon". Daniel Gioffre of AllMusic highlighted these three tracks in particular as being among the strongest on the album. Nash rated the album "B", stating that "As a singer, Marty Stuart has all the zip of unbuttered toast, and as a writer, too many of his songs float aimlessly...Yet Stuart has genuine love for the early country greats and injects his own work with such impassioned strains of old hillbilly styles, that he charms in spite of his limitations." Following this album, MCA issued
5328-585: The Ohio River to claim the land, arriving on July 20, 1797. By this time, the Spanish had departed. The fort's ruins went unnoticed 20 years later when Memphis was laid out as a city after the United States government paid the Chickasaw for land. At the beginning of the century, as recognized by the United States in 1786 Treaty of Hopewell , the land still belonged to the Chickasaw Nation . In
5439-669: The Ryman . In October 2005, Stuart released a concept album, Badlands: Ballads of the Lakota , which pays tribute to the Sioux culture in what is now South Dakota . In 2007, Stuart produced Porter Wagoner 's final album on the predominantly punk label Epitaph Records . The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart's band since 2002, includes him on guitar and mandolin, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Harry Stinson on drums, and from 2002 until 2008, Brian Glenn on bass. From 2008 until 2015, Paul Martin
5550-523: The Staple Singers gave one of their father "Pops" Staples' guitars to Marty Stuart after Pop's death. Mavis Staples explained, "My father was Marty's godfather. My sisters and I took him in as our brother. He's the only one that I've heard who -- when he's playing guitar, he sounds like Pop. He can play just like him." Stuart's guitars also include 'Clarence', the familiar two-tone Fender Telecaster , once owned by Clarence White . This instrument
5661-622: The Sylvers , Jay Reatard , Zach Myers , and Aretha Franklin . On December 23, 1988, a tanker truck hauling liquefied propane crashed at the I-40/I-240 interchange in Midtown and exploded , starting multiple vehicle and structural fires. Nine people were killed and ten were injured. It was one of Tennessee's deadliest motor vehicle accidents and eventually led to the reconstruction of the interchange where it occurred. On June 2, 2021,
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#17327873319965772-471: The Tennessee Two . When Cash moved to Columbia Records in 1958, Grant and Perkins followed him. In 1960, drummer W.S. Holland joined the group, which was renamed The Tennessee Three . Holland has been credited as one of the first country music drummers. He had collaborated with Cash on recordings earlier in the 1950s, as well as having played with Carl Perkins (no relation to Luther Perkins) and
5883-469: The album Hillbilly Rock that year. Co-produced by Tony Brown and session guitarist Richard Bennett , the album charted four singles on Hot Country Songs. First was a cover of Cash's " Cry! Cry! Cry! ", followed by "Don't Leave Her Lonely Too Long", which Stuart wrote with Kostas . While these were unsuccessful on the charts, the album's title track (written by Paul Kennerley ) became Stuart's first top-ten country hit in 1990. The album's final release
5994-430: The album four-and-a-half stars out of five, comparing it to Dwight Yoakam 's Hillbilly Deluxe in style and saying, "Stuart kicks country-pop in its well-defined hindquarters[…]But Stuart is just as deadly when he slows things down and does a ballad." Also in 1991, Stuart co-wrote a song with Travis Tritt called " The Whiskey Ain't Workin' ". Recorded on the latter's 1991 album It's All About to Change , this song
6105-579: The albums were covers of Porter Wagoner 's " A Satisfied Mind ", Carl Butler and Pearl 's "Sundown in Nashville", and Johnny Cash's "Walls of a Prison", as well as the Merle Haggard duet "Farmer's Blues". Two singles from the album both charted: "If There Ain't, There Ought'a Be" and "Too Much Month (At the End of the Money)". Thom Jurek of AllMusic wrote that the album "is relentless in both its attack and in
6216-401: The altercations, which were described as "heinous" and showed "a total lack of regard for human life", according to Memphis police chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis. The officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and other crimes. The relatively rapid dismissal and prosecution of the offending officers were favorably perceived by Nichols's family, and Davis called it
6327-435: The annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest , which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year. Higher-level educational institutions include the University of Memphis , Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College . Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying indigenous cultures over thousands of years. In
6438-679: The area annexed was slightly smaller than first proposed. In 1893 the city was rechartered with home rule , which restored its ability to enact taxes. The state legislature established a cap rate. Although the commission government was retained and enlarged to five commissioners, Democratic politicians regained control from the business elite. The commission form of government was believed effective in getting things done, but because all positions were elected at-large , requiring them to gain majority votes, this practice reduced representation by candidates representing significant minority political interests. In terms of its economy, Memphis developed as
6549-437: The black settlement was left in ruins. Two whites were killed in the riot. Many blacks permanently fled Memphis afterward, especially as the Freedmen's Bureau continued to have difficulty in protecting them. Their population fell to about 15,000 by 1870, 37.4% of the total population of 40,226. Historian Barrington Walker suggests that the Irish rioted against blacks because of their relatively recent arrival as immigrants and
6660-411: The charts. The success of "Arlene" helped Marty to receive a nomination by the Academy of Country Music Awards for Top New Male Vocalist , losing to Randy Travis . AllMusic writer Jim Worbois gave the album a mixed review, stating that it was "Not a great album, but made somewhat more interesting by some of the people appearing on the record and the inclusion of two Steve Forbert songs." He recorded
6771-678: The city has a majority African-American population. Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American South . Many renowned musicians grew up in and around Memphis and moved to Chicago and other areas from the Mississippi Delta , carrying their music with them to influence other cities and listeners over radio airwaves. Former and current Memphis residents include musicians Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Muddy Waters , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , Robert Johnson , W. C. Handy , Bobby Whitlock , B.B. King , Howlin' Wolf , Isaac Hayes , Booker T. Jones , Eric Gales , Al Green , Alex Chilton , Three 6 Mafia ,
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#17327873319966882-445: The city population. The Union Army's presence attracted many fugitive slaves who had escaped from surrounding rural plantations. So many sought protection behind Union lines that the Army set up contraband camps to accommodate them. Memphis's black population increased from 3,000 in 1860, when the total population was 22,623, to nearly 20,000 in 1865, with most settling south of the city limits. The rapid demographic changes added to
6993-430: The city were the lower classes, such as German and Irish immigrant workers and African Americans. None had the means to flee the city, as did the middle and upper-class whites of Memphis, and thus they were subjected to a city of death. Immediately following the Board of Health's declaration, a Citizen's Relief Committee was formed by Charles G. Fisher. It organized the city into refugee camps. The committee's main priority
7104-493: The city. A massive panic ensued. The same trains and steamboats that had brought thousands into Memphis, in five days carried away more than 25,000 refugees, more than half of the city's population. On August 23, the Board of Health finally declared a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, and the city collapsed, hemorrhaging its population. In July of that year, the city had a population of 47,000; by September, 19,000 remained, and 17,000 of them had yellow fever. The only people left in
7215-479: The country to come home. Though yellow fever cases were recorded in the pages of Elmwood Cemetery's burial record as late as February 29, 1874, the epidemic seemed quieted. The Board of Health declared the epidemic at an end after it had caused over 20,000 deaths and financial losses of nearly $ 200 million. On November 27, a general citizen's meeting was called at the Greenlaw Opera House to offer thanks to those who had stayed behind to serve, of whom many had died. Over
7326-453: The danger of their work, and the struggles to support families with their low pay. Their drive for better pay had been met with resistance by the city government. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , known for his leadership in the non-violent movement, came to lend his support to the workers' cause. King stayed at the Lorraine Motel in the city, and was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968,
7437-406: The day after giving his I've Been to the Mountaintop speech at the Mason Temple . After learning of King's murder, many African Americans in the city rioted, looting and destroying businesses and other facilities, some by arson. The governor ordered Tennessee National Guardsmen into the city within hours, where small, roving bands of rioters continued to be active. Fearing the violence, more of
7548-431: The disease carried by river passengers traveling by ships along the waterways. During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, more than 5,000 people were listed in the official register of deaths between July 26 and November 27. The vast majority died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 40,000 one of the most traumatic and severe in urban U.S. history. Within four days of the Memphis Board of Health's declaration of
7659-423: The election of all the at-large positions. Memphis did not become a home rule city until 1963, although the state legislature had amended the constitution in 1953 to provide home rule for cities and counties. Before that, the city had to get state bills approved in order to change its charter and other policies and programs. Since 1963, it can change the charter by popular approval of the electorate. During
7770-445: The epidemic bankrupted Memphis, and as a result, its charter was revoked by the state legislature. By 1870, Memphis's population of 40,000 was almost double that of Nashville and Atlanta, and it was the second-largest city in the South after New Orleans. Its population continued to grow after 1870, even when the Panic of 1873 hit the US hard, particularly in the South. The Panic of 1873 resulted in expanding Memphis's underclasses amid
7881-416: The epidemic reported seeing as many as 100 to 150 patients daily. The Episcopal Community of St. Mary at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral played an important role during the epidemic in caring for the lower classes. Already supporting a girls' school and church orphanage, the Sisters of St. Mary also sought to provide care for the Canfield Asylum, a home for black children. Each day, they alternated caring for
7992-483: The fifth-busiest inland water port in the U.S. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network considers Memphis a "Sufficiency" level global city as of 2020. Memphis is a center for media and entertainment, notably a historic music scene . With blues clubs on Beale Street originating the unique Memphis blues sound, the city has been nicknamed the "Home of the Blues". Its music has continued to be shaped by
8103-556: The first millennium A.D. people of the Mississippian culture were prominent; the culture influenced a network of communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The hierarchical societies built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture. The Chickasaw people, believed to be their descendants, later inhabited this site and
8214-682: The franchise until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.) Historian L. B. Wrenn suggests the heightened political hostility of the Democratic contest and related social tensions contributed to a white mob lynching three black grocers in Memphis in 1892 . Journalist Ida B. Wells of Memphis investigated the lynchings, as one of the men killed was a friend of hers. She demonstrated that these and other lynchings were more often due to economic and social competition than any criminal offenses by black men. Her findings were considered so controversial and aroused so much anger that she
8325-683: The freedmen. Unlike the disturbances in some other cities, ex-Confederate veterans were generally not part of the attacks against blacks in Memphis. As a result of the riots in Memphis, and a similar one in New Orleans, Louisiana in September, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . In the 1870s, a series of yellow fever epidemics devastated Memphis, with
8436-594: The greater Mid-South region , which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas , Mississippi and the Missouri Bootheel . One of the more historic and culturally significant cities of the Southern United States , Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods . The first European explorer to visit the area of present-day Memphis was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto in 1541. The high Chickasaw Bluffs protecting
8547-618: The group The Johnny Cash Show Band . By the early 1990s, the band consisted of Bob Wootton (guitar), W.S. Holland (drums), Dave Roe (upright bass), the singer's son John Carter Cash (rhythm guitar), and Earl Poole Ball (piano). This was the final configuration of the Johnny Cash Show Band until Cash's death in 2003. ( Marty Stuart joined the group on guitar for a one-off performance of Cash's version of "Rusty Cage" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1996.) The group made its final appearance backing Cash (with Marshall Grant in
8658-692: The group's guitarist at a performance the following month and then continued with the band. He participated in their landmark February 1969 performance with Cash at San Quentin State Prison , when the singer's live album was recorded. In 1971, the group recorded an instrumental album dedicated to Perkins: The Tennessee Three: The Sound Behind Johnny Cash . Through the 1970s, the Tennessee Three continued to work as Cash's studio and stage backing group. One major exception occurred in 1975 when Columbia Records , seeking to update Cash's sound, had
8769-508: The local Chickasaw so that a Spanish fort could be erected on the bluff; Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas was the result. Holmes notes that consent was reached despite opposition from "disappointed Americans and a pro-American faction of the Chickasaws" when the "pro-Spanish faction signed the Chickasaw Bluffs Cession and Spain provided the Chickasaws with a trading post". Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas remained
8880-554: The location from the waters of the Mississippi was contested by European settlers as Memphis developed. By 1819, when modern Memphis was founded, it was part of the United States territory. John Overton , James Winchester , and Andrew Jackson founded the city. Based on the wealth of cotton plantations and river traffic along the Mississippi, Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South . After
8991-490: The middle-class began to leave the city for the suburbs. In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Memphis's population as 60.8% white and 38.9% black. Suburbanization was attracting wealthier residents to newer housing outside the city. After the riots and court-ordered busing in 1973 to achieve desegregation of public schools, "about 40,000 of the system's 71,000 white students abandon[ed] the system in four years." Today,
9102-472: The naval Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city and state were occupied by the Union Army for the duration of the war. Union commanders allowed the city to maintain its civil government during most of this period but excluded Confederate States Army veterans from office. This shifted political dynamics in the city as the war went on. The war years contributed to additional dramatic changes in
9213-402: The next year property tax revenues collapsed, and the city could not make payments on its municipal debts. As a result, Memphis temporarily lost its city charter and was reclassified by the state legislature as a Taxing District from 1878 to 1893. But a new era of sanitation was developed in the city, a new municipal government in 1879 helped form the first regional health organization, and during
9324-521: The orphans at St. Mary's, delivering children to the Canfield Asylum, and taking soup and medicine on house calls to patients. Between September 9 and October 4, Sister Constance and three other nuns fell victim to the epidemic and died. They later became known as the Martyrs of Memphis. At long last, on October 28, a killing frost struck. The city sent out word to Memphians scattered all over
9435-532: The pleasure it provides to the listener. There are hot licks everywhere, with great songs, vocals, and a tapestry of moods, textures, and shades that serve to leave one impression: Stuart's radical experimentation of the last ten years has resulted in his finest moment thus far." In 2005, Stuart launched a custom record label, Superlatone Records, to issue overlooked Southern Gospel and Roots music recordings. Stuart released three critically acclaimed collections on Superlatone, Souls' Chapel , Badlands , and Live at
9546-509: The poorer whites and blacks fundamentally made up the city and played the greatest role in rebuilding it. The epidemic had resulted in Memphis being a less cosmopolitan place, with an economy that served the cotton trade and a population drawn increasingly from poor white and black Southerners. The 1890 election was strongly contested, resulting in white opponents of the D. P. Hadden faction working to deprive them of votes by disenfranchising blacks . The state had enacted several laws, including
9657-416: The poverty and hardship it wrought, giving further credence to Memphis as a rough, shiftless city. Leading up to the outbreak in 1878, it had suffered two yellow fever epidemics, cholera , and malaria , giving it a reputation as sickly and filthy. It was unheard of for a city with a population as large as Memphis's not to have any waterworks; the city still relied for supplies entirely on collecting water from
9768-402: The project. Stuart co-produced the album with Brown, while also contributing on guitar, mandolin, and songwriting. The album's opening title track featured Vince Gill , Ricky Skaggs , and Harry Stinson on backing vocals. Also included were two covers: Billy Joe Shaver 's "If I Give My Soul" and The Flying Burrito Brothers ' "Wheels", as well as the mandolin instrumental "Marty Stuart Visits
9879-478: The publisher's summary of L.B. Wrenn's study of the period, "This centralization of political power in a small commission aided the efficient transaction of municipal business, but the public policies that resulted from it tended to benefit upper-class Memphians while neglecting the less affluent residents and neighborhoods." The city installed a revolutionary sewer system and upgraded sanitation and drainage to prevent another epidemic. Pure water from an artesian well
9990-408: The remains of Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest were removed from a Memphis park. On January 7, 2023, after a routine traffic stop, five African American police officers brutally beat a 29-year-old African American man, Tyre Nichols . Nichols died from his injuries in the hospital three days later. Officer body cam footage and local surveillance cameras captured
10101-403: The requirement of poll taxes , that made it more difficult for them to register to vote and served to disenfranchise many blacks. Although political party factions in the future sometimes paid poll taxes to enable blacks to vote, African Americans lost their last positions on the city council in this election and were forced out of the police force. (They did not recover the ability to exercise
10212-476: The river and rain cisterns, and had no way to remove sewage. The combination of a swelling population, especially of lower and working classes, and abysmal health and sanitary conditions made Memphis ripe for a serious epidemic. Kate Bionda, an owner of an Italian "snack house", died of a fever on August 13, 1878. Hers was officially reported by the Board of Health, on August 14, as the first case of yellow fever in
10323-481: The singer record an album with a new set of session musicians (including members of Elvis Presley 's touring band ), titled John R. Cash . This was the only major Cash recording of the era on which no member of The Tennessee Three participated. The album was unsuccessful. The next album released, Look at Them Beans , reinstated both the Tennessee Three as core session musicians and the accompanying Johnny Cash sound. In 1980, Marshall Grant left to become manager of
10434-652: The stress of war and occupation and uncertainty about who was in charge, increasing tensions between the city's ethnic Irish policemen and black Union soldiers after the war. In three days of rioting in early May 1866, the Memphis Riots erupted, in which white mobs made up of policemen, firemen, and other mostly ethnic Irish Americans attacked and killed 46 blacks, wounding 75 and injuring 100; raped several women; and destroyed nearly 100 houses while severely damaging churches and schools in South Memphis. Much of
10545-644: The title track (another duet with Tritt) and "You Can't Stop Love" that year. The title track also won Stuart a Vocal Event of the Year award from the Country Music Association . Nash rated the album "A−", finding an influence of The Beatles in "Thanks to You" and of Delta blues in "The Mississippi Mudcat and Sister Sheryl Crow". Stuart released another album in 1999 called The Pilgrim . It charted only one single that year with "Red, Red Wine and Cheatin' Songs". A concept album based around
10656-504: The top ten. Bennett and Brown stayed on as producers, with the former also contributing alongside Stuart on both guitar and mandolin. Kennerley and Kostas contributed as both songwriters and backing vocalists; also performing backing vocals on some tracks were Billy Thomas and Ray Herndon , who were also recording on MCA in McBride & the Ride at the time. Jana Pendragon of AllMusic gave
10767-592: The two new songs. "The Likes of Me" was previously cut by Conway Twitty on his 1993 album Final Touches , on which Cook was also a producer. Both of these new songs issued as singles in 1995, but neither entered the country music top 40. Jay Orr of New Country magazine criticized "The Likes of Me" and the two cover songs, but otherwise found the album a "neat summation" of Stuart's music. The Marty Party Hit Pack became Stuart's fourth and final gold album in 1998. Stuart released Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best in 1996, which produced two more minor chart entries in
10878-514: The uncertain nature of their own claim to "whiteness"; they were trying to distinguish themselves from blacks in the underclass. The main fighting participants were ethnic Irish, decommissioned black Union soldiers, and newly emancipated African-American freedmen . Walker suggests that most of the mob was not in direct economic conflict with the blacks, as by then the Irish had attained better jobs, but were establishing social and political dominance over
10989-564: The vein of The Porter Wagoner Show , Flatt & Scruggs , the Wilburn Brothers Show , and Hee Haw . The Marty Stuart Show began airing at 8:00 pm on November 1, 2008, on cable's RFD-TV . Although no new episodes have been produced as of 2022, the network continues to air old episodes of the show under the name The Best of the Marty Stuart Show . Each episode features music by Stuart and his band
11100-547: The world's largest spot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market, both commodity products of the Mississippi Delta. Into the 1950s, it was also the world's largest mule market. These animals were still used extensively for agriculture. Attracting workers from Southern rural areas as well as new European immigrants, from 1900 to 1950 the city increased nearly fourfold in population, from 102,350 to 396,000 residents. Racist violence continued into
11211-524: Was " Western Girls ", which Stuart also co-wrote. Hillbilly Rock was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1997 for shipments of 500,000 copies. His second MCA album, Tempted , followed in 1991. The album charted four singles on Hot Country Songs between 1991 and 1992: " Little Things ", " Till I Found You ", " Tempted ", and " Burn Me Down ", of which all except "Till I Found You" reached
11322-472: Was Johnny Cash's daughter Cindy , to whom he was married from 1983 to 1988. Since July 8, 1997, Stuart has been married to country artist Connie Smith , whom he had admired since his childhood. Stuart described encountering Smith many years earlier, after attending her concert: "I met Connie when I was 12 years old. She came to the Indian reservation in my hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi , to work at
11433-644: Was certified gold by the RIAA in 1993. Stuart won his second Grammy Award in 1993, in the category of Best Country Instrumental Performance , as one of several featured artists on Asleep at the Wheel 's cover of " Red Wing " on their 1993 album Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys . Love and Luck was his next album, released in 1994. Only one single, "Kiss Me, I'm Gone", made top 40 from
11544-439: Was discovered in the 1880s, securing the city's water supply. The commissioners developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the national City Beautiful movement , but did not encourage heavy industry, which might have provided substantial employment for the working-class population. The lack of representation in city government resulted in the poor and minorities being underrepresented. The majority controlled
11655-413: Was established there and is a Smithsonian affiliate institution. Since the civil rights era, Memphis has become one of the nation's leading commercial centers in transportation and logistics . The largest employer is FedEx , which maintains its global air hub at Memphis International Airport . In 2021, Memphis was the world's second-busiest cargo airport. The International Port of Memphis also hosts
11766-421: Was forced to move away from the city. But she continued to investigate and publish the abuses of lynching . Businessmen were eager to increase the city population after the losses of 1878–79, and supported the annexation of new areas; this measure was passed in 1890 before the census. The annexation measure was finally approved by the state legislature through a compromise achieved with real estate magnates, and
11877-474: Was how Perkins' house had caught fire. Promotion for the DVD release of Walk the Line by FOX Television included a history-making screening of the film at Hollywood's famed Arclight Cinema wherein actors in the film and their real-life counterparts performed a set of Cash's music prior to the screening. Original Tennessee Three members, Bob Wootton and W. S. Holland were among those to perform as well as serve on
11988-469: Was on bass. In 2015, Chris Scruggs replaced Paul Martin on bass, and also played steel guitar . Every member also sings. In a 1992 article for Entertainment Weekly , Kate Meyers wrote that Stuart "considers himself more a stylist than a singer, meaning he gets by with a mix of approaches...rather than relying on a fantastic voice of his own", citing Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe , and Muddy Waters as his main musical influences. Stuart's musical image in
12099-511: Was released in between "Tempted" and "Burn Me Down". It would go on to become Stuart's highest chart entry, reaching number two on Hot Country Songs in early 1992. It also won Stuart his first Grammy Award , for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals that year. This song's success also led to the two touring in 1992 as the No Hats Tour, a reference to the fact that unlike most contemporary country musicians, neither Tritt nor Stuart sported
12210-440: Was slow. When Johnny Cash moved to Memphis after returning from Germany in 1954, Roy introduced him to Grant, Kernodle, and Perkins. The four began to get together in the evenings at Perkins' or Grant's home and play songs. During this time they decided to form a band, with Grant moving to an upright bass , Kernodle to a six-string steel guitar , and Perkins buying a Fender Esquire electric guitar . Perkins' performance style on
12321-534: Was to separate the poor from the city and isolate them in refugee camps. The Howard Association, formed specifically for yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans and Memphis, organized nurses and doctors in Memphis and throughout the country. They stayed at the Peabody Hotel , the only hotel to keep its doors open during the epidemic. From there they were assigned to their respective districts. Physicians of
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