photograph by abigail morici
Podcast co-producers Eli Matlock and Emma Jane Hopper at the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College.
“You’ve heard it before: Memphis is a music town. There’s history here. But what do you know about the music aside from Elvis? Do you know the history of Hi Records? What’s hiding beneath the landmarks, behind Graceland, beyond Beale? That’s what we’re here to uncover.”
These are the opening words of Beyond Beale, a podcast created, hosted, and produced by Rhodes College junior Emma Jane Hopper. The podcast, made through the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College, explores Memphis’ undervalued and hidden music history.
“I felt like all anyone ever talked about when they thought about Memphis was Elvis,” says Hopper, a history major, Spanish minor, and music enthusiast. “I almost made this podcast for my granddad, who keeps asking me if I've been to Graceland. I don't know how many times I’ve got to tell him I’ve been to Stax, I’ve been to Sun" — but Hopper says she has no interest in visiting Graceland.
The podcast’s first season centers around the Memphis Country Blues Festival, which ran from 1966 through 1970 at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park. The festival was integrated when segregation ran deep in the city, and though it was relatively ground-breaking for its time, Hopper says, “I would be surprised if the average Memphian is familiar with the festival itself.”
Around the time of the festival, Hopper says that many of the city’s white residents did not respect or support country blues musicians, most of whom were Black. “There was just no municipal interest in showing off these super-talented artists, which is unbelievable to me,” Hopper says. Ultimately, this lack of interest, respect, and support meant that when the festival ended, its history faded into the background. “Augusta Palmer's been working on her documentary about it [The Blues Society] and Robert Gordon mentions it in his book [It Came from Memphis],” Hopper says, “but there's not a lot of stuff about it online.”
In each of the 30-minute episodes, Beyond Beale blends narration with interviews with people who were at the festival and people who have studied it. Among these interviewees are Henry Nelson, a festival attendee; Chris Wimmer, a festival organizer; and Jimmy Crosthwait, the festival’s emcee. The first episode describes the historical context, the second the festival itself, and the third the festival’s legacy, the future of the Shell, and the festival revival in 2017 and 2020.
“Beyond Beale has been a huge labor of love for me,” says Hopper, “and I’m really proud of it and the work that I along with [co-producer and audio engineer] Eli Matlock and [faculty advisor and music adjunct professor] Dr. J. Tyler Fritts have done. Also, I want to credit Cam Napier for our music, and Betsy John and Shaliz Barzani for our cover art.”
Beyond Beale is currently streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and at beyond-beale.simplecast.com. The final episode of the first season will air March 27. Hopper has yet to announce what topic the second season will cover, but she is hoping to release the next series in early August.
