Andria Lisle
Andria Lisle (pictured at Ellen's Soul Food restaurant in 1997) is a Memphis-based writer on blues, soul and other genres. She has written for Mojo, Raybeat, the Memphis Flyer and The Oxford American.
49 articles
List of articles in the library by artist
Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 1 November 2001
I FELL IN LOVE with Ryan Adams the moment I first heard his voice. It was in the early fall of ‘97 and I was ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: Love Story
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 17 August 2006
Psychedelic-rock legend ARTHUR LEE began and ended his life in Memphis. In between was quite a journey. ...
Chris Bell, Big Star: Big Star Boxed Up
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 10 September 2009
Big Star is celebrated with a lavish musical "scrapbook." ...
Big Star, Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson: 40 Years of Ardent
Retrospective and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 26 October 2006
The little recording studio on Madison has played a big part in Memphis music history. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Simply Red: Mick Hucknall meets Bobby "Blue" Bland
Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, June 2008
He revolutionised soul in the early '60s, sings like an angel in anguish, and has influenced everyone from Otis Redding to Van Morrison. Now Bobby ...
Blue Mountain: Back to Blue Mountain
Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 30 August 2007
WAS 1993 REALLY so long ago? It seems like almost yesterday when Oxford, Mississippi's Blue Mountain arrived on the alt-country scene. With songs such as ...
Booker T & The MGs: Memphis Sunset: The Mysterious Death of Stax Heartbeat Al Jackson, Jr.
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, Grand Royal, Fall 1997
JULY 31, 1975 – Booker T & the MGs drummer and Stax session musician Al Jackson, Jr. is shot in the chest with a .22-caliber ...
Jeff Buckley: Our Glorious Spring: Jeff Buckley
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, Summer 2000
THERE IS A PICTURE, taken early in May 1997, at Ellen’s Soul Food Restaurant in Memphis. It’s a Sunday afternoon, and we’ve just arrived from ...
R.L. Burnside: R. L. Burnside: Burnside On Burnside (Fat Possum)
Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, January 2002
IN THE LAST decade R.L. Burnside, the best-known purveyor of Mississippi hill country blues, has become almost an anti-hero of the blues scene. His label, ...
Review by Andria Lisle, Tracks, December 2004
OUTBACK COUNTRY: the Aussie singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers staked her claim to the genre with The Captain (2000), her folksy debut. ...
Rodney Crowell: Fate's Right Hand (Sony/DMZ)
Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2004
Texas-to-Tennessee country star takes a lonely, introspective journey on this breathtakingly unconventional release. ...
The Dixie Chicks: Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2003
When they criticised President Bush's war, the Dixie Chicks went from being new country darlings to enemies of the state. Now they’re unlikely keepers of ...
Essay by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, Summer 1999
"Oxford Town in the afternoon,Ev’rybody singin’ a sorrowful tune.Two men died ‘neath the Mississippi moon,Somebody better investigate soon.Oxford Town, Oxford Town,Ev’rybody’s got their heads bowed ...
Felice Brothers: Roots-Revivalist Wind Propels Earthy Band
Interview by Andria Lisle, The Commercial Appeal, 2 November 2007
A FEW years ago, New York native James Felice was living in his car. Now, in a band called the Felice Brothers — which includes James' real-life ...
Bobbie Gentry: Chickasaw County Child – The Artistry of Bobbie Gentry
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, July 2004
A 23-track set that further mystifies the story of the songwriter behind 'Ode To Billie Joe'. ...
Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Al Green: Soul Searching
Profile and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2004
In the late '70s, Al Green was a troubled superstar who abandoned the stage in favour of the pulpit. Then last winter, after 25 years, ...
Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Sunset Serenade: Saying Goodbye to Memphis Music Legend Willie Mitchell
Obituary by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 14 January 2010
AT 7:25 A.M. ON Tuesday, January 5th, 81-year-old producer "Poppa" Willie Mitchell died at Methodist University Hospital. An entire chunk of local music history died with ...
The Grifters, Those Bastard Souls: Bastards No More: Life After Grifting
Interview by Andria Lisle, Ray Gun, July 1999
The Grifters’ David Shouse seeks redemption with THOSE BASTARDS SOULS. ...
Guided By Voices: Do The Collapse (TVT)
Review by Andria Lisle, Ray Gun, August 1999
GUIDED BY VOICES’ Bob Pollard has reinvented his rock’n’roll vision, trading his home recording ethos for a slick pop sound. This aesthetic change reflects other ...
Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard: Robert Pollard: Last Call
Interview by Andria Lisle, Harp, March 2005
BY THE time you read this, Robert Pollard will have pulled the plug on Guided By Voices: The band's final concert occurred on New Year's ...
Hi Rhythm, Willie Mitchell: Hi Rhythm: Love and Happiness
Retrospective and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 2 July 2004
Hi Rhythm, Memphis' other soul house band, made music into a family affair ...
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, December 2002
"SOMETHING TOLD ME IT WAS OVER/When I saw you and here talking/Something deep down in my soul said, 'Cry, girl'/When I saw you and that ...
Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2002
CATEGORISING RICK James isn't as easy as one might think. Sure, he's the bad boy of black pop, a groove-minded funkster with a nasty attitude, ...
Lazy Lester: Blues Stop Knockin’
Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 24 January 2002
ONE OF THE LAST of that great fraternity of Excello bluesmen – and a throwback to the days when harp-blowers like Little Walter Jacobs, Jimy ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: Endless Love
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, May 2006
He missed a European tour last summer and it seemed the end had come. Now, Arthur Lee convenes a new band in Memphis. ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: Love Hurts
Retrospective and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2006
Egomaniac, original, troubled genius: Arthur Lee — who died last month — was all of these and more, his band, the legendary Love, kicked viscerally ...
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, June 2004
The Coal Miner's Daughter becomes a country music queen – with a little help from one of The White Stripes. ...
Jerry McCain: Absolutely the Best – The Complete Jewel Singles
Review by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, Summer 2001
BLUES HARMONICA fans beware: Jerry "Boogie" McCain's harp-blowing is anything but conventional, and this collection, featuring material cut a decade into his career, during the ...
The Mighty Hannibal: Hannibalism! (Norton Records)
Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, November 2001
THESE 28 TRACKS, spanning 15 years of the Mighty Hannibal’s career, epitomize Southern soul at its finest – and most obscure. ...
Review by Andria Lisle, Ray Gun, October 1998
OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS, I've endured a recurring theme in my late night dreams: the Rolling Stones, finally realizing the vapid decline of their ...
North Mississippi Allstars: North Mississippi All Stars: 51 Phantom (Tone-Cool)
Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, January 2002
EARLIER THIS YEAR, the North Mississippi All Stars received a nomination for a Grammy (Best Contemporary Blues Album), the LB Critics' Awards for Best Debut ...
Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, November 2001
IN 1949, THE year that Leadbelly died, Odetta made her first appearance on stage – in a Los Angeles production of Finian’s Rainbow. ...
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, June 2001
WHEN ANN Peebles and Gene "Bowlegs" Miller first crossed paths at the Rosewood Club in South Memphis, neither would have called it destiny. As Miller ...
Elvis Presley: Sam Phillips: Rock'n'Roll Evangelist
Obituary by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2003
For Sam Phillips rock'n'roll was a religion And, boy, did he spread the gospel. ...
Robert Randolph: Sacred Steel… Live
Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 11 October 2001
Pedal-steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph delivers The Word at B.B. King’s. ...
R.E.M.: R.E.M: The Warner Years 1988-2004
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, March 2005
The best — and worst — of major label era R.E.M., repackaged in deluxe, 2-CD sets that include DVDs full of surround sound mixes, live ...
Obituary by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2004
Rick James died on August 6, after last month's MOJO went to press. Andria Lisle pays belated tribute. ...
Royal Trux: Veterans of Disorder
Review by Andria Lisle, Ray Gun, October 1999
Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema, the "Glimmer Twins" of Royal Trux, have packed a lot of living into the past decade – including heroin abuse ...
The Staple Singers: I'll Take You There: The Everlasting Legacy of the Staple Singers
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2001
THE DRIVE FROM Memphis to Drew, Mississippi, is a treacherous one even today. Highway 61 will take you as far south as Clarksdale, before you ...
Memoir by Andria Lisle, MOJO, March 2008
Demonised during his lifetime, Ike Turner left a musical legacy that matched his fearsome reputation. Andria Lisle, a former associate, pays her respects to one ...
Ike Turner: The Redemption Of Ike
Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, Stereotype, July 2001
ROCK AND BLUES trailblazer Ike Turner celebrates a new outlook, new album and his 50th year in music. ...
Othar Turner: Seven decades of blowin’ fife and hollerin’ goat: Othar Turner
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Pulse!, May 1998
"PURE FUNK and earth" is what Luther Dickinson calls the lilting blues played by 90-year-old Othar Turner, last surviving master of the cane fife. And ...
Tony Joe White: Just Like Fonzie
Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 14 September 2006
Nearly 40 years into his music career, Tony Joe White still feels cool. ...
Andre Williams: Bait and Switch (Norton)
Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 24 August 2001
R & B LEGEND Andre Williams first achieved acclaim the mid-'50s on Detroit's Fortune Records with classics like 'Bacon Fat' and 'Jail Bait' on which ...
Interview by Andria Lisle, Harp, May 2005
"WE FEEL outside of things, and we like that feeling and we don't like that feeling, depending on our mood at the time or the ...
List of genre pieces
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2007
He founded Atlantic, the greatest "indie" record company ever, signed everyone from Ray Charles to The Rolling Stones, and did it all with a rare ...
Obituary by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, March 2000
FOLLOWING A STRUGGLE with cancer, legendary saxophonist Fred Ford died on November 26, 1999. He was 69. Ford, a pillar of the Memphis music community, ...
Overview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Downtowner, July 1998
There’s an old saying that goes like soKeep trying and you’ll get where you want to goWhen things get rough, buckle downDon’t give up – ...
Roots-Music Renegades: Fat Possum Records
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, December 2001
With artists Robert Belfour, T-Model Ford, and Hasil Adkins, Fat Possum Records captures the last gasps of a dying art. ...
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