The list of bands Jack Oblivian (Memphis, Tennessee) has played in or fronted is too long to name. Best known are probably: Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, and Tennessee Tearjerkers. But he was also active with Rhythm & Blues veteran André Williams (RIP 2019). With his music, Jack paved the path to success for bands like The White Stripes, The Black Keys or The Black Lips. However, he himself always remained an underdog, either known as a cult figure of genre-bending garage rock, or simply unknown.
Album of the Week: JACK OBLIVIAN AND THE SHEIKS – ‘Lone Ranger of Love’
Tyler Keith - The Last Drag
Over the last decade, with rock-n-roll in a seemingly hospice-like condition for those who even dare to care, Mississippi’s Tyler Keith has put out some of the fieriest music of his life through his work with the Apostles, Teardrop City, and solo. And that’s saying something, considering Keith’s resume in the previous 20 years with the mighty Preacher’s Kids and, perhaps most famously, the Neckbones, who released two celebrated albums for Fat Possum in the late 1990s as the bad ass garage punk band amongst the label’s bad ass bluesmen, which included R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.
A Dozen Delights: 12 Great Memphis Albums from 2019
Jack Oblivian & the Dream Killers — Lost Weekend (Black & Wyatt)
Guitar tones somewhere between molten lead and liquid gold, with echoes of classic rock, soul, rock ballads, and, yes, punk. Jack Oblivian's pithy, tightly woven lyrics never fail to connect, yielding sharp observations at every turn. There is an acute sense of loss to these tunes.
Toy Trucks — Rockets Bells and Poetry (Black & Wyatt)
Combining a chugging rock energy with a healthy dose of concise '60s pop songwriting, Jeremy Scott and company channel a balance of pop wistfulness and pounding rock delinquency. An unflinching chord-savvy craftsmanship informs compositions brought to life in lively, garage-y ways.
The Rock Doctors: Black & Wyatt Records Celebrate a Year of Rock N Roll
Although both Black and Wyatt had slowly ingrained themselves into the local music scene, the idea of opening their own record label was more of a happy accident than a thoroughly mulled-over plan. In fact, the idea began with local filmmaker and musician Mike McCarthy, who Wyatt had come to know through their work with the coalition to save the Mid-South Coliseum. “Mike had this record in the can—the Fingers Like Saturn record—which I guess was from about ten years ago. So he came to me and said ‘Robert, you ought to start a record label.’ I knew Dennis might be interested, so I told Mike that if we were to do it, I didn’t want to do just one record. I also told him that he should do it with us and be the label’s art director. That part appealed to him,” Wyatt says with a laugh.