Memphissippi Sounds: Free to Be Cam and Yella P (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from Part One…

Cam knew immediately that he and Yella P had created something special. “Once I saw his passion for the music and how dedicated he was, we went forward with any [opportunity] we could get,” he says. At the time, Pearson was teaching music to pay the bills. “I had to work around his schedule,” Kimbrough says, “and he’d work around mine. But it soon got to the point where even when it was 96 or 97 degrees, me and him were down on Beale Street, playing music for the people.”

Those busking gigs sharpened their musical chemistry, and helped Memphissippi Sounds build a dedicated fan base. They landed a spot at the Hill Country Harmonica festival at Foxfire Ranch in Waterford, Mississippi. Launched in 2010, that annual musical celebration of Black-owned land claimed to be the largest blues harmonica gathering in the U.S.

At the festival, Pearson and Kimbrough met producer Aki Kumar; impressed with the duo, Kumar signed on to produce their debut album. Sessions were booked at the legendary Sun Studio. “It was my first time recording there,” Pearson says. The studio’s signature style suited the Memphissippi aesthetic. “It’s real old-school,” Pearson says. “One take, Jake: you’ve gotta get it right.”

The sessions did include a bit of select overdubbing. “But not a lot,” Pearson says. “If I was playing guitar on a song, I’d maybe go back and put harmonica on top, because I don’t like using a rack.” And Cam recorded his drum and guitar parts in separate takes. “But most of it was, ‘What you get is what you get,’” Pearson says with a hearty laugh. Released by Little Village, Welcome to the Land balances the polish of a studio session with the live feel of a Memphissippi busking set. “We’re always in the moment,” Pearson says, and those studio sessions aimed to capture those moments.

Memphissippi Sounds has long since expanded their calendar of live dates beyond just busking. The duo toured Spain (“nine shows in nine days,” Pearson recalls) and the Czech Republic in 2023. “The Blues Alive tour was very interesting,” Kimbrough says. “The culture is very different; I noticed how people in the community really stick together.”

He was also struck by the way that the music was received at some dates. “I’m used to people jukin’ and dancing,” he says. “So it was a very different experience for me; they were studying the music.” But they liked it. And at one of the last shows of the tour, Memphissippi Sounds played a Prague event called It’s the End of the World. “It was cool to see how they accepted our music and culture,” Pearson says. “Because we are a juke band.”

Kimbrough and Pearson appreciate a wide range of musical styles beyond the blues, and those contemporary forms exert subtle influence upon their original music. “At some point, I might consciously – or unconsciously – incorporate certain [non-blues] guitar licks,” Pearson says. “But I’m a student of music, so for me, it’s all blues. It’s all from the same well.”

This year’s North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic features an eclectic all-star lineup including Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite, North Mississippi Allstars, Alvin Youngblood, Jimbo Mathus and many others. Kimbrough and Pearson are on the bill as well. In keeping with the freewheeling and spontaneous nature of their musical collaboration, neither many had much to say ahead of time about what their set would be like.

“I’m interested to see how the ‘conversation’ is going to shape out,” Pearson says. For much of 2024, Kimbrough was out west in New Mexico; Pearson wonders aloud if that extended trip might influence his musical partner’s style: “They’ve got that Spanish flavor out there.” In any event, the duo has been together long enough to have an unspoken communication that happens while they play. “Sometimes we improvise,” Kimbrough says, “and it sounds like it was premeditated and planned out. But it’s not. The music’s got room for the magic.”

Memphissippi Sounds have been working on new music since the release of Welcome to the Land. “We’ve got some new exciting music heading your way,” Kimbrough promises, hinting that they’ll unveil the music via live streams. “It’ll be different from what we’ve done these last years.” Pearson says that the new material they’ve been writing remains rooted in the Hill Country blues, with lyrics that will address social issues. We’re really trying to talk to the spirits and souls of people,” he says.

The duo hasn’t committed any of that new music to tape just yet. Kimbrough and Pearson will allow that they’ve “been looking at some local studios,” but in keeping with their spontaneous nature, they aren’t sure how and when any eventual recordings will be released. “At the moment,” Pearson says with a wide smile, “we’re independent. And we want the music to be as free as we are.”