11/20/2022 0 Comments Anita ward ring my bell malaco![]() On Monday morning, he called to predict, “Man, have you got a hit. There, the B side stayed in constant rotation at his teen daughter’s slumber party. … To show you how really sharp we were, the one we picked out for the A side was not the hit,” Couch recalled with a laugh.įloyd took the record to his buddy, a top New Orleans soul disc jockey, who took it home. ![]() Determined, they decided to put out one of the recordings themselves on a 45. The Stax and Atlantic labels turned down the Malaco crew’s top picks on first listening, leaving them dejected. “And he would share the spoils with us,” Stephenson said.Ī week of recording music tracks and a marathon weekend of recording artists, who traveled from New Orleans in a borrowed school bus, paid off. Jingles, concert promotions, band booking and studio rental were the studio’s mainstay, but in 1970, New Orleans producer-arranger Wardell Quezergue, who had artists and songs, needed a studio, musicians and funds to record. The McDowell sessions were released to Capitol Records, and his album was nominated for a Grammy, scoring Malaco a bit of national attention. Prompted by another studio’s success with Delta blues, Stephenson suggested recording Fred McDowell. Inside Malaco Records Credit: Photo by Ron Blaylock “The rhythm and blues, soul music - whatever the name du jour was at the time - was what we liked better and what we were probably more successful at,” said Couch. “‘Anesthesia Rounds,” said Stephenson, who became Malaco’s vice president, recalling an early title.Īt some point, a favorite thread became a direction. They recorded just about anything at the outset, including country music and lectures by University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Dr. Music was the focus “and that’s about as pointed, I guess, as it was,” Couch said. Stephenson joined them in concert promotion, and the recording studio followed. Later in Jackson, Couch and brother-in-law Mitchell Malouf started Malaco Attractions. and Wolf Stephenson booked bands for dances. The seeds for Malaco were set at Ole Miss, where Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity brothers Tommy Couch Sr. Malaco’s struggles, as well as its successes, are part of the lore. ![]() The studio bears a reminder of a scene from the James Brown bio-pic Get On Up that was filmed there. But “not everyone stopped liking that kind of music,” Barretta said, and Malaco kept those fans in mind.Ĭertificates citing Malaco’s scores of Grammy nominations line the walls, and movie posters represent Malaco songs used on film soundtracks. Sounds long identified with Stax and Hi ebbed, displaced on the charts by newer waves, including disco. “They took up the mantle for what we call deep soul at a time when a lot of the larger companies had abandoned it (in the mid-’70s),” said blues music historian Scott Barretta. “While we’re celebrating the last 50, we’re still moving forward,” says Malaco president Tommy Couch Jr. Details aren’t set, but plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary include special vinyl releases, a coffee table photo book, a gospel celebration concert and other events throughout the year. was officially created a year after the studio building opened. A Mississippi Blues Trail marker stands at the gate of the recording studio that was founded on Northside Drive in 1967, and remains the home of Malaco Records, sharing the story of one of the foremost labels in Southern soul, blues and gospel music. ![]()
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