Robert Gordon
Robert Gordon is the author of several books and documentary films. His books include Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters and It Came From Memphis, as well as two books about Elvis produced in co-operation with Elvis’ estate. He produced and directed the Grammy-nominated documentary Muddy Waters Can’t Be Satisfied, was Writer and Associate Producer on The Road to Memphis, an episode of the Martin Scorsese blues series, and directed music videos that have aired on MTV, BET, and CMT.
Most recently, Gordon has produced and directed Shakespeare Was A Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement’s Home Movies, and also produced and redacted William Eggleston’s Stranded In Canton. He is curator for the Barbican Centre’s It Came From Memphis festival, April 2005 in London. He produced the Al Green box set Anthology, for which his liner notes were Grammy-nominated. He has written for major music magazines in the US and UK, contributed to several anthologies including The Best of Rock Writing 2002, and managed, for nearly two decades, to avoid jobs that would have him in rush hour traffic. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife and two daughters.
40 articles
List of articles in the library
The Memphis Horns: All The Way From Memphis
Interview by Robert Gordon, Music & Sound Output, December 1988
The Memphis Horns Celebrate 25 Years ...
Band of Susans: Love Agenda (Blast First/Restless)
Review by Robert Gordon, Spin, September 1989
BAND OF Susans, a co-ed New York City quintet, have put more electric guitar on one record than any other band I've ever heard. Pop ...
The Pixies: Bossanova (Elektra)
Review by Robert Gordon, Spin, November 1990
POP AND NOISE no longer collide for the Pixies; on the new album, Bossanova, they mutate into new beasts. The feedback and vocal frenzy of ...
Report and Interview by Robert Gordon, Musician, December 1990
WHO Little Richard WHERE Macon, Georgia WHEN September 23, 1990 ...
Womack And Womack: Family Spirit (RCA/BMG)
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 27 June 1991
Shiver and Shake: Womack & Womack's family entertainment ...
Robert Johnson: The Devil's Work: The plundering of Robert Johnson
Special Feature by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 4 July 1991
THE SUN did not shine but it was hot as hell the day a memorial stone was unveiled for bluesman Robert Johnson near a country ...
Hole: Pretty on the Inside (Caroline)
Review by Robert Gordon, Spin, October 1991
THE WEATHERVANE continues turning, from R.E.M. to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and now, perhaps, to Sonic Youth. Coproduced by SY's Kim Gordon and Don ...
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 24 October 1991
Beyond the Bullet: Two L.A. rap records go outside the 'hood ...
Charlie Feathers: He Forgot To Remember To Forget
Interview by Robert Gordon, Q, November 1991
THE REBEL INN is on Highway 78, once a major thoroughfare linking Mississippi cottonland to the delta's big city of Memphis. The old motel's neon ...
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown
Interview by Robert Gordon, Creem, 1992
"I STARTED OUT in boogie woogie, went from there into big band jazz and I've just kept stepping on and on," says Gatemouth Brown. He's ...
Interview by Robert Gordon, Creem, 1992
IT'S BEEN more than five years since Michelle Shocked became an international star by sitting around a Texas campfire and singing her songs into a ...
Ray Charles: Rapping with Ray Charles
Interview by Robert Gordon, Interview, 1992
IN THE 1950s, Frank Sinatra tagged Ray Charles "Genius," an appropriate nickname for one of American music's most innovative figures. Charles brought a sophistication to ...
Sleeve notes by Robert Gordon, Rykodisc, February 1992
WINDING DOWN a recent set, Alex Chilton asked, "Anything else anyone needs done for them?" That menacing kindness goes a long way toward explaining the ...
Ray Charles: Charles The First
Interview by Robert Gordon, Q, March 1992
Ray Charles did soul music a big favour one day: he invented it. In 1992, the blind maestro they call "The Genius" is still going ...
Interview by Robert Gordon, Creem, March 1992
Robert Gordon takes on Ice Cube over racism, sexism, homophobia and society ...
James Carr: The Lost Voice Of Soul
Report and Interview by Robert Gordon, Q, October 1992
WHEN IT WAS BUILT IN THE 1950s, Memphis's Mid South Building was probably stylish and sleek. Today, the blocky turquoise exterior pales next to the ...
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 22 October 1992
Sweet and Low: Bob Mould's contentment ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 7 January 1993
ALBERT KING performed in overalls to the very end, even when he wore a tux. Like his music, King was urban but not ashamed of ...
James Carr: At the Dark End of the Soul
Profile and Interview by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, May 1993
THE WALLS OF the office are mostly bare, the blue carpeting subdued. The fax machine in the corner seems like an anachronism. Only the large ...
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 27 May 1993
BOTH THESE albums go to great lengths to take listeners to new places. Producer Robert Palmer fabricated a studio environment in the former sanctified church ...
Curtis Mayfield: The Original Superfly Guy
Interview by Robert Gordon, Q, July 1993
Curtis Mayfield is a full-scale genius. First with the Impressions, and afterwards with his solo stuff, he defined, then redefined, the sound of black America. ...
Billy Lee Riley: Blue Collar Blues
Sleeve notes by Robert Gordon, Hightone album, 1994
BILLY LEE RILEY would be a multi-instrumentalist even if he didn't play guitar, harmonica, and bass. That voice. Those voices. ...
The Mekons: Retreat From Memphis (Touch and Go/Quarterstick)
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 26 May 1994
The Glory of Shopping and... the Mekons' pleasure pleasure ...
Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson: Jim Dickinson: Earth Father
Retrospective and Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, October 1994
Backwoods, Mississippi. Home to Jim Dickinson, the revered producer and professional redneck whose work spans the story of Southern music from Sun Records to Big ...
Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd: The South Rises Again: The Improbable Return of Redneck Rock
Overview by Robert Gordon, Creem, 1995
Robert Gordon on Capricorn Records and the Southern Rock Revival ...
Dan Penn: Once More With Feeling
Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, March 1995
Otis. Janis. Aretha. Gram. Each cut classic songs by the hallowed Dan Penn. Coaxed out of retirement, he recorded last year’s universally acclaimed Do Right ...
Sonic Youth Go Guitar Crazy On Lucky 13th Release
Report and Interview by Robert Gordon, Rolling Stone, 13 July 1995
WHAT'S A nice downtown New York band like Sonic Youth doing in Memphis, Tenn.? Recording their next art-damage album, of course, and immersing themselves in ...
The Grifters, Pavement, Sonic Youth: Memphis Sound Machine: Easley Recording
Interview by Robert Gordon, Spin, December 1995
Bands from Sonic Youth to Pavement have turned Easley Recording into the new lo-fi capital. ...
Elvis Presley: Sweet Movements Of A Hillbilly Hellion
Essay by Robert Gordon, Cleveland Ballet Company (official program), 1996
THERE ARE CINDER block joints you can still go to in Memphis, wooden shacks in Mississippi, places that are out of the way and not ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: New Daisy Theater, Memphis
Live Review by Robert Gordon, MOJO, December 1996
JERRY LEE LEWIS turned 61 and his seventh wife, Kerrie, threw him a party on Beale Street in his adopted hometown of Memphis. But Beale ...
Sleeve notes by Robert Gordon, Hi Records, 1997
Al Green's voice is a beautiful musical instrument. Al Green's singing can create pictures, can loll in clover and tease birds. That man can sing ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, MOJO, March 1997
AT TOWNES VAN ZANDT’S FUNERAL, HIS longtime friend and fellow songwriter Guy Clark stepped to the microphone and, adjusting a guitar around his neck, said, ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, Rolling Stone, 5 March 1998
JUNIOR WELLS, one of the greatest harmonica players in blues history, died of lymphatic cancer on January 15th in Chicago. He was 63. ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Love Throat: Bobby "Blue" Bland
Interview by Robert Gordon, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1998
BOBBY BLAND'S people seat me at a table, make sure I'm comfortable. An effective entrance demands the proper set-up. ...
Interview by Robert Gordon, Oxford American, July 1998
THE FINGER-POPPING, head-bobbing joie de vivre that Dave Myers exudes all over his new CD is not readily apparent when I call him up to ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, Rolling Stone, 15 October 1998
ROCKABILLY PIONEER Charlie Feathers died in Memphis on August 29th of complications following a stroke. He was sixty-six. ...
Little Milton: Welcome to Little Milton (Malaco)
Review and Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, December 1999
Legendary blues and soul artist steps out with younger talent on his 13th album for Malaco ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Natural Born Killer: Jerry Lee Lewis
Profile by Robert Gordon, Playboy, February 2005
IT'S A DECEMBER NIGHT and despite the chill, Jerry Lee Lewis wears flip flops, green and blue plaid pajama bottoms, and a loose nylon jacket ...
Bert Berns: Hit Man: Joel Selvin's Here Comes the Night
Book Review by Robert Gordon, The New York Times Book Review, 30 May 2014
BERT BERNS the producer is the Phil Spector you've never heard of. Bert Berns the songwriter is the Leiber and Stoller you've never heard of. ...
Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Tav Falco
Book Excerpt by Robert Gordon, 'Memphis Rent Party' (Bloomsbury), June 2018
TAV LOOKED at me and said, "Our show was great. We cleared the room." A pal of mine was at the smallish San Francisco club ...
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