Several volumes already exist about the glory days of Sun or Stax, but Jones’s meticulously researched and atmospherically written book is probably the first serious study of another of Memphis’ musical hotbeds. Set up by Stax stalwart Chips Moman in 1964, American and its cadre of intuitively talented players left their fingerprints all over some genuinely iconic records.
Here was where the bulk of Dusty Springfield’s seminal Dusty In Memphis was put together, where Elvis Presley chose to come after his 1968 TV special triggered a creative resurgence, where Aretha Franklin and Neil Diamond cut some of their favourite tracks, and where a stroppy teenage Alex Chilton, then leader of The Box Tops, moaned about having to sing advertising jingles for Coca-Cola.
American’s house band (many of whom were also writers) included such luminaries as Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Donnie Fritts and Toni Wine. They were invariably attracted by the looseness of the set-up, as opposed to the rigidity of the union-abiding New York studios and their world of lead sheets and clock-punching. Jones evocatively captures the excitement of the times – including the hullabaloo surrounding Presley’s visits – with the diligence of an expert historian, but never at the expense of a thrill-seeking fan of great music.
