Member Since: 5/18/2006
Band Members: I'm Brad Webb. I was born and raised in Memphis, TN, which has a rich musical heritage known the world over from Rock n Roll, Blues, Gospel, Rockabilly, Soul and R&B. I was blessed to be touched by all of these. I got my first guitar, a $13 Kay with painted on pickguard at age 14, a Silvertone at 15 and a Fender Strat at 16.
When I started playing gigs at 15 in 1966, Memphis music was going strong and I was interested in all of it. George Klein, a Memphis DJ, had a tv show called Dance Party that always had local bands and international acts such as The Gentrys, Booker T & the MG's, Charlie Rich etc, so as youngsters, we learned to compete at a high level of musicianship.
As early as 1966, my cousin Nick Kourvelous who played drums, and I would take a bus to check out Beale Street. There were a lot of Pawn Shops there and I learned to buy old guitars and work on them to make extra money.
In 1968-69, the Overton Park Shell had the 1st Blues concert with such acts as Johnny Winter, Furry Lewis, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and local favorite Moloch. That was pretty strong Mojo for a teen ager and I was drawn to slide guitar. I had never seen so many styles of blues and it was all good. The Shell had music every weekend and I caught as much as I could. That same year, when I went to the train station, I heard guitar bouncing off the marble walls. It was Furry Lewis playing a National and it raised the hair on my neck.
At this time. the Vietnam War was going on and my draft number was 17. While I was in the Navy, I knew that if I got out, I was going to do music the rest of my life.
I started to play with people like Roland Robinson from Eddie Floyd/Buddy Miles Band. Then I met his cousin, the famous Teenie Hodges from the High Rhythm Section. We mixed original music with covers to play clubs.I also taught guitar from 1973-1993. I found that very rewarding and it kept me in touch with young people.
I've been producing, writing, recording and playing guitar with Blind Mississippi Morris since 1986. We all played with Uncle Ben and His Nephews as Beale Street came alive again in the mid 80's.
When I started the studio in 1985, one thing I wanted to do was record a lot of the music I was hearing. The tourists that came from all over the world knew what they were hearing and it was a shame that none of it was being recorded.
The first people I recorded were Uncle Ben, Ollie "Nightengale" Hoskins, and Roosevelt Briggs.
I'm now playing guitar, recording different acts as well as writing and recording myself, trying to keep a balance.
Type of Label: Major