Ella Johnson--3 Interviews for Memphis Music class--Spring 2014

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Ella Johnson
Term Paper
MUHL 6807—Memphis Music
University of Memphis
Spring 2014—Dr. David Evans
Memphis music is synonymous with Beale Street, W. C. Handy, the Goodwill station of
WDIA radio, B. B. King and Bobbly ‘Blue’ Bland, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes,
The Bar-Kays, Otis Redding, Stax Records and all of the sensational artists and music Stax
helped to create. Memphis music is also Sam Phillips and Sun Records and its first and major
music phenomenon, Elvis Presley; as well as Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and all
of the other outstanding artists Sun Records produced. Memphis music is also the gut-wrenching,
yet spirit-filled Gospel sounds of COGIC1, in addition to the innovations of Hi Records producer
Willie Mitchell and his star vocalist, Al Green. Memphis music is also Jeff Huddleston (a
leading saxophone player and mainstay on the Jazz scene, in addition to being a music teacher
and band director with the school system for nearly three decades); Memphis music is Darrell
Wilson (whose soul stirring vocals are powerful enough to match some of the best in the
industry); and Memphis music is nothing if it is not the leading lady of Beale Street herself, Ms.
Ruby Wilson.
During the beginning of this spring 2014 semester, the impending question we were asked to
keep in mind for this Memphis Music course, from which this term paper arises, is what is
Memphis music? Like most other things, it is ever evolving with new generations of Memphis
musicians and trends; and it obviously means different things to different people. On the
contrary, there are also some traits of Memphis music which never change.
1 COGIC is the abbreviation for Church of God in Christ.

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In class, we discussed Memphis music as having a “distinctive sound”--a deep bass sound
which is a very prominent feature in the mix of Memphis music. It may be best described as a
‘thumping beat’, if you will, that is in my opinion reminiscent of a beating heart2. That pumping
bass is more than average in Memphis music compared to other locales of music. It is easily
recognizable. It was, and is, as distinctive as the Motown Sound—after hearing only one or two
musical notes, you know it right off the bat.
Additionally, Memphis music is eclectic (a fusion of more than one genre). Traditionally, it
has consisted of jazz, blues, r &b, gospel and country. Memphis music today does not deviate
that much from its past fusion of genres. Two rather pervasive characteristics and qualities of
Memphis music include Christianity and improvisation. Memphis is considered the ‘Bible Belt’,
consequently Christianity and religion influences its secular music. Memphis music also has an
‘improvised’ quality to it, meaning it is not formalized as some other cities’ music. Phrasing,
among several other informalities, is one such example of this improvisational styling: saying
“sho” instead of “sure”. The late Otis Redding of Stax Records, among other Memphis recording
artists (African American and Caucasian), is one prime example of one who quite often used the
word in his music. This informal and southern abbreviation of various words in song, which are
adopted from everyday spoken language indicates Memphis music is also deeply rooted in
culture.
Classroom lectures and textbook studies on the history of The Bluff City’s music is one thing-
- which is all good and well. And these components obviously serve a helpful purpose--but going
straight to the sources (those who create the music, who are on the pulse of it, and other than the
listening audience, who are an integral part of it) is even better. To accomplish this I sat down
2 In the minds of some, this could equate to genuine music coming straight from the heart.

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individually with, again Mr. Jeff Huddleston, Mr. Darrell Wilson, and Ms. Ruby Wilson--three
exceptional and very prominent artists, who are keeping the tradition of Memphis Music alive--
to get their personal take, among other viewpoints, on Memphis music and what it means to
them.
Mr. Jeff Huddleston is the Director of Jazz Studies at Overton High School. He has taught
music at Overton for the past thirteen years. Prior to teaching at Overton, he taught music at
Fairley High School for fourteen years, and previous to Fairley High he taught Orff music at
Crump Elementary (where he proudly relays that he and the students put on some stellar
programs). Under his awesome leadership at Overton, Overton’s Blue Jazz Ensemble “placed
second in the Savannah Music Festival ‘Swing Central’ Jazz Band Competition and Clinic in
Savannah, GA [in March of this year]. By placing in this festival, the Blue Jazz Ensemble
became the first jazz band from the state of Tennessee to place in this festival and first jazz band
from Overton High School to place in a national festival. In addition to their second place finish,
the ensemble was also awarded a $2,500 award.”3
Mr. Huddleston is a native of Greenville, Mississippi. Instrumental music was a rich and vital
part of his upbringing. He and all of his siblings played instruments. An older sister played flute;
an older brother played saxophone, drums, and clarinet; another older sister played the flute; Mr.
Huddleston played sax, and still does. He also played a number of other instruments while
growing up. A younger sister under him played clarinet. Not only did all of the Huddleston
children play instruments, they were all in a band. Their first and biggest inspiration was their
father, a high school band director himself, who taught them all.
3 Data obtained from Overton High School’s website, http://www.mcsk12.net/schools/overton.hs/site/index.shtml.

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Mr. Huddleston states that as a child, he loved coming on visits to The Peabody in Memphis
where he got to see Robert “Honeymoon” Garner and Fred Ford4. They were his “real taste of
Memphis Jazz.”5 He states he has been in jazz since his senior year of high school—playing jazz,
writing jazz, and teaching jazz. He states he has taught many things but his passion is jazz. Mr.
Huddleston moved to Memphis twenty-eight years ago. Since that time, he has played with some
of the leading and best jazz musicians in Memphis, and some not so relevant to jazz, even Rock
and Roll. In particular, he considers Herman Green to be “a staple around Memphis.”6 He says
he has always enjoyed him. For quite a while, he even played sax for Green’s group, FreeWorld.
Other artists Mr. Huddleston has played with include seasoned artists “Mookie” Taylor, Marlon
Branch, Ken Suggs, and Gaddy Thomas. According to Mr. Huddleston, playing with such “high
level musicians that you can’t help but get better…It’s really been an inspiration when you hear
somebody who really laying it down, you can’t help but wanna show yourself well. You gotta
get back to the drawing board and make sure your skills are at the same level.”7 Mr. Huddle-
ston adds that he has also been impacted by having the chance to play with “some of the young
cats like Claude Hinds, Aldi Givhan, and Charles Pender.”8 Furthermore, he has had “the unique
4 Saxophonist Fred Ford and his long association with singer and master of the Hammond B3 organ, Honeymoon
Garner, had a showtogetheron WDIA radio. The two also formed a musical trio with drummer Bill Tyus. Fred Ford
was the voice of the barking & howling dog on Big Mama Thornton's original recording of "Hound Dog".
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4nPoFAlIcg.
According to Mr. Huddleston, Honeymoon Garner’s son,Robert Garner, Jr. (a professional musician in New York)
has been instrumental in helping him with the jazz program at Overton High School. He stops by Overton every
time he comes to Memphis.
5 Jeff Huddleston,interview by author, 16 April 2014.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.

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blessing to play with many vocal artists of Memphis as well.”9 They include Joyce Cobb, Melvia
“Chick” Rodgers (when she was in town), Melinda Rogers, and the one and only, Ms. Ruby
Wilson (another interviewee for this paper). Mr. Huddleston reflects that Memphis “has always
been a mecca for music talent.”10 As a top rate musician who has played with top rate Memphis
music talent, in addition to a lengthy career teaching music, I agree with Mr. Huddleston that he
has truly been “immersed in the Memphis music.”11
In response to my question on what he thinks about the nature of Memphis music today, Mr.
Huddleston provided the following response. He states there are not as many places to play as
there was when he initially came to Memphis (which was about 1986 since he has been in
Memphis for twenty-eight years). He wishes there were more places to play. He reiterates from
his previous statement, that he has really enjoyed being immersed in the scene in Memphis. He
wonders whether it’s the technology that has led to a lot of places not having live music like they
used to.
The humble and very modest Mr. Huddleston was not very forth-coming to the question of
where he view himself fitting into Memphis music from a historical and/or contemporary sense.
He was quick to say that he is not good at talking about himself. On the contrary, he was quick to
praise the accomplishments of some of his former students. He informed me that at one point,
there were five band directors in the city that came through Fairley High School under his
teaching. Most recently another of his students, Carrie Settler Simon, received a doctoral degree
9 Jeff Huddleston,interview by author, 16 April 2014.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.

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in Music Education from Florida State University. She was one of his very first students he
helped make All-West.
Other students who have excelled under Mr. Huddleston’s guidance include Brian Echols (a
band director in Houston, Texas) and Mario Warren (a band director at Whitehaven High
School). Still others who did not go into band directing but because, he assures, of the discipline
they gained from being in band and in school in general, helped them to go on to become school
principals. Steevon Hunter (who was formerly a band director) is now the principal (for grades 9-
11) at Power Center Academy High. Steevon Hunter is also a pastor of his own church.
Robert Gordon was in the band at Fairley High and is now the principal at Wooddale Middle
School. Another of Mr. Huddleston’s former students to succeed at grasping the stars is David
Parks, Jr. and Kameron Whalum. David is reaching superstar status as a bass player. According
to Mr. Huddleston, Parks, Jr. has played with Jamaican-American rapper, Sean Kingston, as well
as Justin Bieber.
Kameron Whalum, a trombone player, is the son of New Olivet Baptist Church minister
Kenneth Whalum, Jr. and his beautiful wife Sheila Whalum, as well as the nephew of Jazz
greats, Kirk Whalum and Kevin Whalum. Kameron was also a member of the Southern Comfort
Jazz Orchestra here at the University of Memphis. Kameron’s numerous stints and gigs include
his joining Bruno Mars and becoming a member of the “Hooligans” (one of their recent perform-
ances with Kameron as a member was The Halftime Show of Super Bowl XLVII).
Both Parks, Jr. and Whalum have come back to help support Overton’s Cool Breeze of Jazz
program. Furthermore, Mr. Huddleston says he is in regular contact with many of his former
students through social media. Mr. Huddleston, through the talents of his students, is definitely a
teacher who has paid it forward while also contributing to the Memphis music tradition for many

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generations to come. His former students keeping in touch with him, and the illustrious careers
they have landed and continue to land, speaks volumes about a remarkable teacher who has made
an enduring and lasting impact on their lives through the vehicle of, and his passion for, music.
Mr. Huddleston’s comments to what Memphis music means to him include, “It means a
soulfulness. Because without the soulfulness you don’t have anything. If you go to one of the
sessions with the guys that play…you know some people have all this technique in playing a lot
of stuff but when you really have the soulfulness in the music—when people can feel what you
play—the earthiness—it comes through where it touches the heart, that’s what Memphis music
means to me. Regardless of genre…you can tell it’s Memphis music if it touches you on the
inside. You can feel it; it’s so much vibrant earthiness to it; it’s the best way I can describe it. It’s
like it’s straight from your heart…to your heart. So from my heart to yours.”
He would like anyone who has ever heard him play to come away thinking that, “I was
touched. His music touched me. To me that’s the greatest compliment anybody could
ever…when I play if somebody comes up to me and said, ‘I felt that’, to me that means
everything.”
Mr. Darrell Wilson, a native Memphian, was the lead singer of the five member group, The
Soul Outsiders, when I heard him sing on the patio in the back of one of the clubs on Beale
Street in 2006. His rhythm, charismatic style, and soulful vocality impressed me. He didn’t just
stand and sing, but he energetically and enthusiastically moved about and interacted with the
audience, giving us all he had, as he sang in the open sun on that very hot summer day in
September.12 He was a consummate professional, no different in regard to most other singers or
12 To be exact, it was September 24, 2006. I purchased one of the group’s homemade CDs and wrote the date of
purchase on it. All five members signed it in addition to providing their dates of birth. Mr. Darrell Wilson was born
November 10, 1961.

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performers who give their optimal performance. But there was indeed something about him that
came across as unique.13 The group consisted of Mr. Wilson’s son Charles, and three other
instrumental musicians (one of which was female, Sandra, aka ‘Mother Nature’). The musicians
played their hearts out in the same vein Mr. Wilson sang like a well-seasoned professional. 14 I
recall at the time thinking what in the world is this group doing here in this obviously low-paying
gig when obviously they should be elsewhere making the money their talents warrant.
Mr. Wilson states that his singing career initially started out when Sandra “Mother Nature”
who later joined him with The Soul Outsiders asked him to be her Roadie (she was already a
singer). Then around about 1991, Mike Glenn of the New Daisy (who had previously met Mr.
Wilson at a private engagement he had done for the mayor of Forrest City, Arkansas) hired him
and about ten or eleven others to perform in the middle of Beale Street. He says he was not
initially supposed to be the lead singer. But when he was asked to do a Jeffery Osborne song (he
sang “Stay with me tonight”)15, it went from there. Mr. Wilson says that they remained in the
middle of Beale Street for about two or three years.16 Thereafter, they did something called the
Black Family Reunion in Overton Park. He states Ravyn Simone17 opened for him. He opened
for singer Tony Terry; and Terry opened for Gerald and Sean Levert18. He recalls they were all
13 It could possibly have been the thing Mr. Huddleston referred to as ‘touching the heart’. I do know that my family
and I were mesmerized by the authenticity and sincerity emanating as Mr. Wilson belted out his heart.
14 To the group’s credit and Mr. Wilson, they had been performing over fifteen years when I heard them. Thus,
practice does make perfect. But I still must say they had an air of uniqueness about them.
15 He sang a superb sampling of it during our interview.
16 They remained so long because they were very good and people were captivated by the first-rate shows that would
put on. At that time, it was a nine-piece band: Mr. Wilson as lead singer, a female lead singer, a horn player, a bongo
player, a harmonica player, two guitar players, one bass player, and a drummer.
17 I believe Mr. Wilson is referring to Ravyn Simone of The Cosby Show and That’s So Ravyn fame.
18 Mr. Wilson states that the two Levert brothers had broken up at this time and become two separate entities. Both
have since passed on.

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on that same show. From that point on, Mr. Wilson says he “went on to do almost every club on
Beale Street.”19 He and the group (which downsized over time) has played at countless Memphis
venues, including Willie Mitchell’s, Legends, and in Oxford, MS at a show called “Star Spangle
Celebration”20 headlined by Cybill Sheppard who introduced the band.
Earlier in his career, he says while in his early twenties he wrote a lot of songs that he “didn’t
worry about…and didn’t know a lot about royalties.”21 Without fully elaborating this point, he
states that he would sit with George Jackson whom he had become familiar with and, “who
wrote a lot of stuff for [among many others] Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor”22 (both of
which he met), and he and Jackson would be milling around and come up with songs. Mr.
Wilson says he would start singing and George Jackson would say to him, “I can use that… and
the next thing [he] knew [he] would hear the songs on the radio.” But again, he didn’t know
anything about royalties or anything--he would just start singing songs he had come up with.23
Mr. Wilson recorded his first studio album or CD in 1992 or 1993 under the name CW
Creations at Fritos Productions. He comments that the group “did newspaper interviews and stuff
like that.”24 Due to the cost involved for studio recording, he has done only one album. The
majority of his recordings have been recorded by him and the group as they performed live at
various venues, such as the particular CD I purchased from the group at their September 2006
19 Darrell Wilson, interview by author, 19 April 2014.
20 According to Mr. Wilson this event can be located in the archives of the newspapers.
21 Ibid.
23 A classic example of how many artists, two of which we have studied in this course, W. C. Handy and Rev. W.
Herbert Brewster, were ripped off.

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performance. Half of the songs are cuts in honor of Memphis artists.25 They include Al Green’s
“Love and happiness”; Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood”; Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay”;
Johnnie Taylor’s “Just Because”; Rufus Thomas’ “Walking the Dog”; and Wilson Pickett’s
“Mustang Sally”. Each and every one of the songs has that familiar soulful sound surrounded by
a thick bass that undeniably defines and identifies Memphis music (a tradition for the most part
that stems from an African American heritage).
Currently, Mr. Wilson performs solo, or with his son Charles, when he accepts gigs.26 All of
the other artists from The Soul Outsiders have gone on to start bands of their own. The group
parted due to a conflict of interest, name recognition: Since Mr. Wilson is the lead singer, he felt
(as it was also suggested to him) that his name should be familiar (e.g., Darrell Wilson and the
Soul Outsiders). Another reason he felt he should get name recognition was because there is so
much more involved for the lead singer. He had to “put in all the leg work”; drum up the gigs,
know the songs, and perform much harder than all the others who only had to show up and play
instruments. He says he made the decision during the time the group had been regular performers
for Sam’s Town Casino. It was required of them to perform three-hour sets at a time, which was
not only grueling but also “time consuming and a financial burden.”27
25 Mr. Wilson estimates there is almost no Memphis musician he hasn’t met. He says,(while pointing to a small hole
in the table), “Memphis seems like a big city but it is about as big as this hole in this table.” Therefore, it is easy to
run into the artists when playing a lot of the venues. Some of the artist he has met who have also inspired him; and
others have not only inspired him but given him pointers.They include the late Rufus Thomas, Al Green, and Larry
Dotson,Preston Shannon,Bobby Blue Bland (whom he helped across the stage at one of WDIA’s Juke Joint Party
performances before he passed on); and Benny Latimore (whom he says he “trips with all the time”).
26 Mr. Wilson is signed up with a booking firm, Memphis Sound, who helps to get gigs for him. I was able to make
contact with him for this interview thanks to the special events coordinator, Heidi Smith.

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Mr. Wilson’s viewpoint on the Memphis music scene now compared to 1991 when he started
out, he states it depends on where he is playing if the people are receptive to him: at some of the
venues the younger crowd only want to hear, according to Mr. Wilson, “climbing the wall” type
songs and little or no Memphis old school songs. Then some in the crowd will specifically ask
for the “pimping”28 material. He notices that most of the older audiences (“Black, White, or
whatever”) at most of the venues continue to be faithful supporters. They show the love and
appreciation. But in regard to the music he grew up on as compared to today, he says “it is totally
different from when I grew up…it’s more for the younger generation…so the blues that you hear
now is not like the blues then…you’ll get some but you’re not gonna get much…the messages
are, were more personal you know.”29
Mr. Wilson says that when he play venues now30 he has to get a “feel for the crowd” and cater
his music to the reaction, or lack thereof, of the crowd. He explains, “every venue that you go
to…the thing to keep in mind, this is what I live by, every venue that you go to, you can’t please
all the people. So that’s why when you come to one of my shows you’ll hear me doing r & b, I’ll
do the funk, the Parliament Funkadelic, I’ll do uhh Honky Tonk ba donk it donk, you know the
country music, I’ll do—aint no telling, you know, just aint no telling.”31
Mr. Wilson’s concluding remarks on the contemporary music scene for those starting out, he
suggests that they do as he heard singer Frankie Beverly say, “Don’t settle for what everybody
else is doing. If you got an idea, then try it. That’s why we’re happy, that’s why everybody
28 The term used to refer to old schoolmaterial.
30 As compared to when he started out in 1991 and his group were a ‘novelty item’, the crowd listened to almost
anything they sang because “it was a surprise for them to see a group like mine in the middle of Beale Street doing
what we were doing.”

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singing ‘We’re Happy’ now, you know because you don’t settle…don’t settle for what everyone
else is doing, try to be you…if you be you, you never know that might be your calling ‘cause you
might start singing and your soulful sound might be a Gospel soulful sound…and singing in
night clubs might not make you comfortable…you gotta be you and it will work out…and you
can’t please everybody.”32
Hailing from Texas, Ms. Ruby Wilson, is the undeniable and undisputed Queen of Beale
Street. As many artists often start out, she began her singing career in the church choir singing
professionally at age seven. She was also seven years old when she sang with one of the masters
of Gospel song writing and singing, James Cleveland. Ms. Ruby says she was fifteen when she
sang with another Gospel pioneer, Shirley Caesar. As a member in the choir, she got to sing with
“all the great musicians who came to [her] church.”33 She was sixteen years old when she
learned about the famous Beale Street (where she has appeared periodically for quite some time
now as one of the main attractions at her Godfather’s namesake club, B.B. King’s Blues Club
and Restaurant).
Ms. Ruby states she came to Memphis at the age of sixteen. She hung out for a while with
Bow Legs Miller.34 She recalls, she wanted to meet Rufus Thomas and Carla Thomas and he
33 Ms. Ruby Wilson, interview by author, 23 April 2014.
34 Gene "Bowlegs" Miller (May 27, 1933-December 25, 1987) was a Beale Street musician who was a trumpeter
and band leader.
Miller was on the scene when Beale Street was the real "live" Beale Street playing with such entertainers as Dwight
"Gate mouth" Moore, Maurice Hulbert, Jr., and Ma Rainey. He played with bandleaders Tuff Green and Phineas
Newborn Sr.
Miller formed his own band,Bowlegs & His Band, in the early 1960s playing regularly at such Memphis Clubs as
the Flamingo Room, Club Handy, Currie's Club Tropicana, and later playing at the Rosewood, Club Paradise, and
the Manhattan Club.

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took her around Memphis. There was some talk about her getting a job singing in Bow Legs’
band or group but he wanted her to audition and Ms. Ruby felt she did not need to because she
had already, in her opinion, been an experienced singer. At this point, she was already working at
a white club called “The Place across the Street”. And as the saying goes, the rest is history. For
it is common knowledge that she has not only sang at her Godfather’s namesake club, but at
many of the other clubs on Beale and around town; she has performed at most if not all of the
casinos in Tunica; she has performed at countless venues in the local tri-state area, nationally35,
internationally, and all over the world, perhaps several times over in her fifty years plus
combined career as a gospel and secular singer. Hers is a story that has been written time and
time again. She has appeared in twenty-nine movies (with two in the can that she has completed
but have yet to be released, making it a total of thirty-one movies to her credit). We see her
several or more times daily in several commercials on our local television stations (one of which
is for a law firm that has been running for years).
Ms. Ruby’s viewpoints on the contemporary music scene in Memphis is, “it is here today and
gone tomorrow.”36 She says people give her tapes all the time, “some of it [she] likes, a whole lot
of it, [she] can’t understand because they doing the wrong thing.”37 She feels “rap music is okay
He directed, arranged, wrote, produced and played with several leading entertainers such as Otis Redding, O. V.
Wright, Little Jr. Parker, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Joe Simon, Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Jerry Butler, B.B.
King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Al Green, Denise LaSalle, Ann Peeples, Nancy Wilson, Rufus Thomas, Sam & Dave,
Onzie Horne, Etta James, Ollie Nightingale, Johnny Nash, James Carr, and Willie Mitchell.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_%22Bowlegs%22_Miller
35 Ms. Ruby was scheduled to go to New Orleans, a couple of days after this interview, and perform for the twelfth
year in the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
37Ibid.

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in Memphis but it’s not going to last because Memphis is home of the blues, r & b.”38 As far as
music goes in the various venues, Ms. Ruby states “there should be more of the older original
musicians in the clubs than some of the newer artists with their negative rap music. The older
musicians are playing in the alleys, playing where they can get in…if it don’t rain and when it
rain, they’re out of a job. If they keep the older musicians in the clubs and kick out the younger
ones who think they’re playing the blues, then they can learn something. The older musicians
who know the blues are outside in the alleys while the younger boys are in the clubs, playing a
lot of noise. So they got to learn what the difference is.”39
Agreeing with Mr. Huddleston and Mr. Wilson’s summation, Ms. Ruby further states that,
“Beale Street is okay but Beale Street aint the old Beale Street when they had real blues in every
club. Now they got noise in every club and they young boys…playing noise. Ya know. That’s
the way I see it. And if they learn that, they can get Memphis music going again. Right now to
me it’s dead. Because everybody trying to be a Beyoncé or trying to be who they see on TV; they
already exist.”40 This is the point Mr. Wilson was making when he stated that everyone should
be themselves and do what is most comfortable for them as an individual. It is the philosophy
also of Mr. Huddleston when he talks about playing music from the heart.
In response to where she sees herself fitting into Memphis music, Ms. Ruby says she sees
herself fitting in from both an historical and contemporary standpoint because in her words, she
does not just sing one kind of music—another point Mr. Wilson made about catering to the
audience, but also in his own individual way—but Ms. Ruby says she sings all kind of music and
38 Ibid.
40 Ibid.

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her genre has different ranges. On another note, but still on the subject of how she fits into the
framework of Memphis music, she reflects that she would like her children to take her place
when she’s gone or while she’s still here, “to continue the history so that the legacy still lives
on.”41 She says that two of her children have sang background with her (one of her twin boys and
her youngest daughter). Ms. Ruby would like to be known as a person who shared her career
with everybody. She invites anyone to share the stage with her. She says, “aint no shame in my
game and you’re invited to my stage anytime you get ready. If you’re good come on…aint no
good, come on anyway. If you’re bold, do it. It doesn’t matter. Just do it. And make yourself
proud first. Then make me proud of ya.”42
In defining what Memphis music means to her, Ms. Ruby says, “Memphis music means a lot
to me. It’s a melting pot and people come and study us and they learn; and take it back to their
state, country—the Memphis sound.”43 She then refers to the Bar-Kays being in business for fifty
years. “All the acts around the world have listened to Bar-Kays and their soul, what they create.
And it’s not a quiet kept subject—it’s just they don’t want to expose it too much and let people
know they learned everything in Memphis…Memphis is a hard nut to crack. But after you crack
it, you’re in. It don’t matter where you’re singing, somebody gonna tell somebody they heard
you and saw you. It’s gonna get around—even if you can sing, or you can’t sing. It get
around…This is a town that you don’t need no written information…get on the phone and start
talking about people, everybody gonna know whether you’re good or bad.”44
41 Ibid.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid.

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In response to whether she is considering retiring soon, she quickly responds, “Naww! You
don’t retire from music—you just keep going.” She uses her Godfather, B. B. King as an
example, saying he is still performing at almost ninety years old in September. According to her,
he says he is going to retire soon but she says she won’t believe it until she sees it.
Her concluding remarks on Memphis music is to “just keep singing the blues and keep
singing r & b, jazz, Gospel…and you’ll get over.”45 But, she advises not to sing just one thing,46
or one genre because Memphis music is a combination of all of those things. It’s everything. And
if you say ‘I just sing the blues’, you might not get the job. I sing everything ‘cause I don’t
wanna miss no salary. I can sing it all—country and western (I came from Texas), r & b, jazz (I
did five jazz albums). I did a total of ten CDs. I got one LP. I got three cassettes…Aint no such
thing is I can’t do it. It’s just if I’m called, I’ll do it…Got a call last week to do a Nike
commercial… Memphis is a melting pot. If it’s not here, it’s on the way.”47
There you have it, the words of wisdom from three veteran Memphis musicians who,
although different in so many ways, are virtually the same in one regard, that in order to survive
it in Memphis music, a vocal or instrumental musician must be versatile.
45 Ibid.
46 Again, the same advice from Mr. Darrell Wilson and in anotherregard from Mr. Huddleston who centrally plays
the sax, but is skilled on several other instruments. Therefore, he can play various gigs calling for a variety of
musical instruments, and teach a variety of instruments.

17
17
On a side note I would like to add that Ms. Ruby is bouncing back quite well from the stroke
she suffered in 2009. Her vocal abilities are as strong as ever. But she still has a bit of a ways to
go as far as walking is concerned. But with the Memphis community constantly rallying around
her and those from as far away as New Zealand and around the world, she will triumph this as
well. My thanks again to Ms. Ruby, Mr. Huddleston, and Mr. Wilson in granting me their
interviews. ----Ella Johnson, May 2014

Ella Johnson--3 Interviews for Memphis Music class--Spring 2014

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