Memphis Kee Dark Skies
Recent consumer-driven country music suggests that individuals (or, at most, duos) are the way to go – less risk, fewer ego conflicts, and more reward for the all-too-fleeting buck. Memphis Kee – both the individual and the band – don’t subscribe one bit to that theory. Kee himself is the lead singer and primary songwriter for his namesake group, but it’s a band in the truest sense – credit and composition are shared, and their experience as a touring outfit is evident in their recordings. Their second full-length record, Dark Skies, furthers the Austin-based quintet’s sharp, guitar-driven approach to making basic, unfussy (read: GOOD) country music.
Take the album’s first track and lead single, “I’ll Come Runnin’,” as a prime example of that music-over-ego approach. The song was written not by Kee but by lead guitarist Spencer Carlson, and it’s his slide work that drives the uptempo tune. Lyrically, the song features a supportive partner – “You’re havin’ trouble lookin’ in the mirror/I got something to clean up those spots.” Yes, it’s a promise to a girlfriend (who, as it turns out, Carlson was yet to meet), but it’s also a subtle reference to how this band does business. Collaboration also comes from outside the band, with fellow Texan Jamie Lin Wilson chipping in vocals and a co-write to Kee’s acoustic-driven look at long-lasting love, “Bewitched” – “The silhouette of the mountain a little blacker than the sky/But it makes it oh so easy to count the diamonds in your eyes.”
Like any good Texas band, though, Memphis Kee specializes at rocking out. From the greasy guitar solo/outro on “I’ll Come Runnin’” to the guitar-and-organ groove on “With None,” where multi-instrumentalist Jake Waylon’s swampy arrangement backstops Kee’s insistence that so much of life is up to chance – “Not all lives are charmed” – Dark Skies is a consummate country-rock album. Maybe the best example of this is the album’s last track. “Twenty Dollar Chain” is a tribute to a ragged night out that fully belongs on an episode of the Paramount+ series Landman. With a sticky, bluesy rumble that might remind you of another Texas-based band, ZZ Top, and with working-class lyrics growled as much as sung – “I hate workin’ that road crew/But not as much as bein’ poor” – the track attacks Friday night with a vengeance much the same way that Memphis Kee approaches their brand of country music – loudly and without quarter.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Starting Over” – On another Carlson-penned tune, Memphis Kee moves stylistically roughly 1,000 miles east to Jacksonville, Florida with an Allmans-ish mix of vocal harmonies and Southern-fried dual guitars.
Dark Skies was produced by Adam Odor, engineered by Casey Johns (second engineer – Ethan Lugbauer), mixed by Kevin Szymanski and mastered by Eric Conn. Songs written by Kee and Spencer Carlson, with co-writes going to Jamie Lin Wilson and McKinley Kee, and composed by Kee, Carlson and Jake Waylon. Memphis Kee is Kee (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Carlson (lead, baritone and slide guitar, vocals), Waylon (rhythm guitar, keys, mandolin, harmonica, vocals), Joey Sisk (bass, gang vocals) and Paul Pinon (drums, cabasa, chains, pizza box, spare tire wheel, gang vocals), with guest vocals from Jamie Lin Wilson.
Go here to order Dark Skies (available to purchase and stream January 16): https://www.memphiskee.com/
Check out tour dates here: https://www.memphiskee.com/tour
