{"id":103070,"date":"2020-09-24T10:51:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T15:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=103070"},"modified":"2020-09-25T10:55:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T15:55:14","slug":"willie-mitchell-the-music-of-royal-studios-opens-oct-1st-at-grammy-museum-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/willie-mitchell-the-music-of-royal-studios-opens-oct-1st-at-grammy-museum-mississippi\/","title":{"rendered":"Willie Mitchell and the Music of Royal Studios Opens  Ocotber 1 at GRAMMY Museum\u00ae Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>New Year-Long Exhibit To Celebrate the History of the Legendary\u00a0 Memphis-Based Recording Studio\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CLEVELAND, MISS.  <\/strong>\u2014 The legendary studio that was instrumental in shaping the sound\u00a0 of <strong>Memphis<\/strong> soul will be celebrated with a new exhibit opening at <strong>GRAMMY Museum<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Mississippi <\/strong>on\u00a0 <strong>Thursday, October 1, 2020<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> In partnership with <strong>Memphis Tourism<\/strong>, the exhibit, titled <strong>Willie Mitchell &amp; The\u00a0Music of Royal Studios<\/strong>, is a collaboration between the Mississippi Museum and Memphis-based <strong>Royal\u00a0 Studios<\/strong>, and will tell the story of the iconic studio\u2014one of the oldest in the world that continues to operate\u00a0 today\u2014and the late <strong>Willie Mitchell<\/strong>, who ran the studio and produced many artists on its label, <strong>Hi Records<\/strong>.\u00a0On display through September 5, 2021, the exhibit will feature artifacts from Royal Studios and Hi Records artists, such as:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Boo Mitchell\u2019s Record Of The Year GRAMMY<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Award for <strong>Bruno Mars&#8217; &#8220;Uptown Funk,&#8221;<\/strong> which was\u00a0 recorded at Royal Studios\u00a0<\/li><li>Willie Mitchell\u2019s Trustee GRAMMY Museum<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Award\u00a0<\/li><li>Al Green\u2019s &#8220;No. 9&#8221; microphone, an RCA 77DX ribbon mic that Al Green preferred to use on his\u00a0 recordings\u00a0<\/li><li>Plus more artifacts from legendary Royal Studios artists and sessions\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC00234.jpg?resize=357%2C238\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-103071\" width=\"357\" height=\"238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC00234.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC00234.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC00234.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC00234.jpg?w=1500&amp;ssl=1 1500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DSC00234.jpg?w=1280 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Royal Studios display at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi will educate visitors on the impact that my\u00a0 father, Willie Mitchell, and all the producers and artists he worked with at Royal Studios and Hi Records\u00a0 have had on the Memphis sound,\u201d said GRAMMY-winning artist and producer <strong>Lawrence \u201cBoo\u201d Mitchell<\/strong>,\u00a0 son of Willie Mitchell and current owner of Royal Studios. \u201cWe are thrilled to be able to partner with the\u00a0museum to bring the history of Royal Studios to life in the form of this exhibit. The artifacts and stories we\u00a0 culled together will show how instrumental Royal Studios has been and continues to be in shaping the\u00a0 music and careers of so many influential artists of yesterday and today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are so grateful to Boo Mitchell and the Royal Studios team for helping us bring this exhibit to life,\u201d\u00a0 said<strong> Emily Havens<\/strong>, executive director of <strong>GRAMMY Museum Mississippi<\/strong>. \u201cWillie Mitchell and Royal\u00a0 Studios played such an important role in developing the Memphis soul sound. And today, as one of the\u00a0 oldest still-operating recording studios in the world, Royal Studios continues to bring us music by such\u00a0 contemporaries as Bruno Mars and John Mayer. We\u2019re thrilled to be able to share this important piece of\u00a0 music history with our visitors.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are thrilled for the opportunity to partner with GRAMMY Museum Mississippi and Royal Studios to&nbsp; share this important piece of Memphis music history,\u201d said <strong>Kevin Kane<\/strong>, President\/CEO of Memphis&nbsp; Tourism. \u201cAs the home of blues, soul and rock and roll, Memphis continues to have a large impact on&nbsp; American music, and, like so many studios in Memphis, Royal Studios has played an important role in putting Memphis on the musical map. It\u2019s an honor for us to get to partner with these two music&nbsp; institutions to bring the story of Royal Studios and Memphis music to life.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is currently open with updated health and safety protocols on Thursday\u00a0through Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm, and Sunday from noon to 3 pm. For more information, visit\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grammymuseumms.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.grammymuseumms.org<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For up-to-date information on upcoming GRAMMY Museum Mississippi exhibits and programming,&nbsp; subscribe to the Museum\u2019s newsletter at <strong>grammymuseumms.org\/newsletter<\/strong>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ABOUT ROYAL STUDIOS&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The building that Royal Studios and <strong>Hi Records<\/strong> reside in today was originally built as a movie theater in\u00a0 1915. Converted into a studio in 1957, Royal Studios\u2014home of Hi Records and the Hi Rhythm Section\u2014 grew from a minor rockabilly studio into one of the most successful producers of soul music worldwide.\u00a0Under Willie Mitchell, the musical direction of Hi Records changed significantly from rockabilly to R&amp;B as\u00a0 Mitchell helped fashion the modern Memphis soul sound. Mitchell signed with Hi Records in 1963 as a\u00a0 session trumpeter. The pinnacle of Mitchell\u2019s personal recording career was in 1968 with \u201cSoul Serenade,\u201d\u00a0 which reached No. 10 on the charts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Artboard3-1.png?resize=353%2C265\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-103072\" width=\"353\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Artboard3-1.png?resize=1024%2C770&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Artboard3-1.png?resize=300%2C226&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Artboard3-1.png?resize=768%2C578&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Artboard3-1.png?w=1500&amp;ssl=1 1500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Artboard3-1.png?w=1280 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After Hi Records president Joe Coughi passed away in 1969, Mitchell took on more production and&nbsp; administrative duties. Soon, his own recording career was eclipsed by his genius as producer of one of&nbsp; the most influential singers of the 1970s, Al Green. For the next four years, Green and Mitchell had a No.&nbsp; 1 hit each year. In his career with Hi Records, Green would go on to sell more than 20 million records.&nbsp; Other top artists who have recorded hits at Royal Studios include Chuck Berry, Melissa Etheridge, Bruno&nbsp; Mars, John Mayer, Charlie Rich, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart, Ike and Tina Turner and many more. Hi&nbsp; Records and Mitchell also produced other known artists, including Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, George&nbsp; Jackson, Ace Cannon and Bobby Blue Bland\u2019s highly influential album, <em>A Touch of the Blues<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently owned and operated by Willie Mitchell\u2019s son, Lawrence \u201cBoo\u201d Mitchell, and granddaughter,&nbsp; Oona Mitchell Bean, Royal Studios is one of the oldest perpetually operated recording studios in the&nbsp; world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ABOUT GRAMMY MUSEUM MISSISSIPPI&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Developed by the Cleveland Music Foundation\u2014a nonprofit organization founded in 2011\u2014the 28,000- square-foot GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is housed near the campus of<strong> Delta State University<\/strong>, home of&nbsp; the <strong>Delta Music Institute&#8217;s Entertainment Industry Studies<\/strong> program, which features the most unique audio&nbsp; recording facilities in the South. Affiliated with the Recording Academy&#x2122;, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi&nbsp; is dedicated to exploring the past, present, and future of music, and the cultural context from which it&nbsp;emerges, while casting a focused spotlight on the deep musical roots of Mississippi.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Museum&nbsp;features a dynamic combination of public events, educational programming, engaging multimedia&nbsp; presentations, and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a Mississippi-centric area that&nbsp;introduces visitors to the impact of Mississippi&#8217;s songwriters, producers, and musicians on the traditional&nbsp; and modern music landscape.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, visit grammymuseumms.org, &#8220;like&#8221; GRAMMY Museum Mississippi on Facebook,&nbsp; and follow @grammymuseumms on Twitter and Instagram.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ABOUT MEMPHIS TOURISM&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Founded in 1923, Memphis Tourism, a 501(c)(6) membership organization, serves as the official&nbsp; destination marketing and tourism organization for Memphis and Shelby County. The Memphis Tourism sales staff covers the convention, sports and tourism sales market segments and is supported by a&nbsp; marketing department that includes advertising, digital marketing, research, public relations and&nbsp; membership. Memphis Tourism also has representatives for the destination working in Australia, New&nbsp; Zealand, Germany, France, Japan and the United Kingdom. Each year thousands visit two Memphis&nbsp; Tourism owned and operated visitor centers in Whitehaven and Arlington, along with a third downtown&nbsp; center that is operated in partnership with the state of Tennessee State Department of Tourism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Memphis&nbsp; Tourism\u2019s commitment to workforce and economic development efforts are managed through its 501(c)(3)&nbsp; affiliate, Welcome to Memphis, which works to ensure tourism and hospitality professionals are equipped&nbsp; with customer service skills and destination knowledge to create a positive visitor experience.  The <strong>Memphis Sports Council<\/strong> operates within Memphis Tourism and works to bring a variety of large and small&nbsp; sporting events to Memphis and Shelby County each year, in addition to supporting annual sporting&nbsp; events. Memphis Management Group (MMG), a subsidiary of Memphis Tourism, operates both the&nbsp; Memphis Cook Convention Center and The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information&nbsp; about Memphis Tourism, visit www.memphistravel.com.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14544\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Year-Long Exhibit To Celebrate the History of the Legendary\u00a0 Memphis-Based Recording Studio\u00a0 CLEVELAND, MISS. \u2014 The legendary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":33816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6539,7887],"tags":[8903,8580,17114,17116,17115,12765,12259],"class_list":["post-103070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-events","category-local-music","tag-emily-havens","tag-grammy-museum-mississippi","tag-kevin-kane","tag-lawrence-boo-mitchell","tag-memphis-tourism","tag-royal-studios","tag-willie-mitchell"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/GRAMMY-Museum-LOGO.jpg?fit=650%2C286&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}