Over the years, The Kitchen Sisters have zeroed in on Memphis, Tennessee in a big way. The inspiration for that and the inspiration for some of our favorite stories is Knox Phillips.
Davia met Knox in 1997 in Memphis when she was doing casting for Francis Ford Coppola’s film The Rainmaker. She was on the set standing next to a guy. Cool hair, great smile. During the long set up between takes they started talking. About Memphis, about music, about radio. She told him about a new series we were starting to produce for NPR — Lost & Found Sound. Stories about sonic pioneers and people possessed by sound. The guy with the cool hair listens.
“Girl, I think you better come over to the house and meet my parents. My dad, Sam, started the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records. He recorded Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Howlin’ Wolf.... When he sold Elvis’ contract he and my mother, Becky, used the money to start the first all-girl radio station in the nation, WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts.”
Nikki was on a plane to Memphis the next day and we drove to the Phillips family house that night. Knox, Sam, Becky and Sam’s girlfriend Sally were all there and the stories started pouring out. We walked in at 7:00 and left after midnight, recording the whole time. Those interviews became the basis of some of the most groundbreaking Kitchen Sisters pieces.
Knox Phillips — producer, promoter of Memphis music, Keeper of his family's legacy, died in April 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, and never really got his due. His massive spirit, love and music live on.
121 - San Francisco—Stories from the Model City, Part Two
120 - San Francisco—Stories from the Model City, Part One
119 - Nancy Pearl—Librarian Action Figure
118 - The Nation's 10th Keeper—David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
117 - Dieter Kosslick’s Last Red Carpet Ride
116 - The Bob Dylan Archive - A Curveball Comes To Tulsa
115 - You Too Can Barbecue - Stubb's Blues Cookbook Cassette & More
114 - Chamelecon—Below the Border in Honduras with Scott Carrier
113 - Filmmaker Agnés Varda — A Conversation
112 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Celebrating 100 years
111 - Palaces for the People—Author Eric Klinenberg from The Librarian Is In
110 - Filmmaker Wim Wenders - The Entire Caboodle
109 - Linda Spalding - A Reckoning
108 - The Dark Side of the Dewey Decimal System
107 - William Ferris—Keeper of Southern Folklife
106 - 21 Collections—Every Object has a Story
Bonus Episode - The Free-Range Archivist: Jason Scott
105 - The Keepers: The Unrelenting Oral Histories of Eddie McCoy
104 - The Keepers: Emily Dickinson's Hidden Kitchen
103 - The Keepers: The Lenny Bruce Collection
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