A musical journey through the deep south is a melodious thing, and I should know – I did a trip there myself with a newly acquired husband, seven years ago, for our amazing honeymoon. How lucky we were. The music of Louisiana, Tennessee and Georgia provides an incredible trip through the rich history of the US, exploring the way Americans express themselves through jazz, soul, country, pop and blues. Even though I’m now an old married soul, these tunes still resound loudly in my life, and I want to jump on a plane every time I hear them.
We start with a blast in New Orleans, and the life-affirming noise of the brilliant Rebirth Brass Band. They’ve been mixing jazz, hip-hop and funk with the city’s centuries-old second line tradition (of brass band music at funeral parades) since 1983. Catch them at their regular haunt, the Maple Leaf, as I did, and you won’t be disappointed. Then we head to Nashville, to meet country’s first huge star, Kitty Wells with It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels – the genre’s first No 1 single, in 1952. She laid the groundwork for later Nashville-made stars such as Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift, and her lyrics are impressively forthright to boot: “Too many times married men think they’re still single,” she burrs.
The first ever rock‘n’roll song was also made in Tennessee, down the Interstate 40 in Memphis. Rocket 88 was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, but the band were actually Ike Turner’s (who the world would know more of later). Their song jangles and shudders like the promise of a new dawn. The first song about rock‘n’roll fame came from the south too – enter Louisiana boy Johnny B Goode. He lives “among the evergreens”, Chuck Berry tells us, and plays his guitar down by the railroad track; his mum says someday he’ll be the leader of “a big old band”, and the song’s still so thrilling, you believe her.
A few years later, a white boy from Tupelo came to Memphis too; soon after, Elvis Presley was a worldwide sensation. Memphis, Tennessee is about a longing for home that has a sad twist in its tale, but the tune has a wiggle in its hips, as do Presley’s vocals. Staying in Memphis with Stax Records – one of America’s most supreme soul labels – it’s Sam and Dave, and what is arguably the greatest song they ever released, Soul Man.
A quick dash across states follows, with Ray Charles and Georgia On My Mind. His 1960 single is even more moving when you realise he’s talking about his home (although the 1930 original was written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell about Carmichael’s sister, Georgia).
The south can be intriguingly rural too. Georgia boys R.E.M. made Automatic for the People in New Orleans, and their gorgeous instrumental named after the city is full of Louisiana’s heady strangeness. Then we zip back to their old friends, the B-52s, “heading down the Atlanta highway” to find their Love Shack. A party spirit thrives on open roads of the south, and it’s here in spades – and in squeals.
Next, we venture into downtown Atlanta, where so many rappers made their names. Elevators (Me & You) tells the story of how Outkast made it in the city, years before international fame hit with Hey Ya! Another tale of how the south leaves you wanting more, Tennessee Song, comes from contemporary country star Margo Price, who’s signed to Jack White’s Third Eye Records in Nashville.
We finish our journey with one of today’s greatest pop stars, Atlanta’s Janelle Monae, who reminds us how America’s rock‘n’roll spirit lives on in our time. Play all these songs loud. You’ll probably fall in love too.
For more inspiration and to book your trip to the US, visit ba.com/usa
