Sid Selvidge

Possessing a voice of unusual power and emotional resonance, Sid Selvidge embodied the ideal of a thriving regional musician who elected to establish himself in Memphis, Tennessee, the city he had made his home, rather than chase prospects that would require departure, consistently favoring his creative instincts above commercial pressures. Born in Greenville, Mississippi in 1943, he began playing guitar during his teenage years, yet his initial entry into performance occurred after he won a high school talent contest and secured weekend work as a disc jockey at Greenville’s WDDT-AM. His broadcasts focused on jazz and rock & roll, an experience he later credited with sharpening his vocal technique while elevating him to local prominence. A visit to Memphis sparked an immediate affection for the city (“Getting up to Memphis was like pulling up the shades,” he observed), prompting him to accept a position at KWAM-AM in West Memphis, Arkansas, just across the river. He enrolled at Southwestern College in Memphis, where his circle expanded to include blues legend Furry Lewis and the irreverent musical maverick James Luther Dickinson. Although he later pursued anthropology studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, he kept strong connections to Memphis and performed frequently at local spots, favoring solo guitar accompaniment. In 1969 Enterprise Records, a subsidiary of the storied R&B imprint Stax, offered him a contract and issued his first album, Portrait. The record produced the regional hit single “The Ballad of Otis B. Watson,” yet Selvidge disliked its production and arrangements; consequently he accepted a teaching post at his Memphis alma mater, then renamed Rhodes College, instead of committing fully to music. An eventual offer from Elektra Records drew him back, but the album recorded for that label remained unreleased. For his third project he proceeded independently with support from a friend and backer. Produced by James Luther Dickinson, who sometimes joined him in the experimental blues outfit Mud Boy & the Neutrons, 1976’s The Cold of Morning appeared on Selvidge’s own Peabody Records imprint after his partners withdrew; despite Selvidge personally handling distribution from his car trunk, the album earned strong critical notices and solid local sales, leading to well-received New York engagements that prompted the New York Times to declare “his voice is an astonishing instrument.” Notwithstanding the album’s modest success and subsequent major-label interest, Selvidge remained in Memphis, performing at intimate venues on his own schedule rather than grasping at uncertain stardom. There he continued regular appearances and managed Peabody Records, overseeing such varied releases as Alex Chilton’s deliberately chaotic Like Flies on Sherbert and a collection of standards performed by actress Cybill Shepherd. In 1993 he finally issued a major-label album after Elektra/Nonesuch enlisted him for its American Explorer series; Twice Told Tales broadened his visibility and occasioned another New York trip, this time with his son Steve Selvidge, who was then beginning his own musical path. Although no swift successor to Twice Told Tales materialized, Selvidge resumed recording at his measured tempo in the new century, issuing three albums on the local Archer Records label: 2003’s A Little Bit of Rain, 2005’s Live at Otherlands, and 2010’s I Should Be Blue. He once told an interviewer that his ultimate ambition was to perform at Memphis’s prestigious Levitt Shell in Overton Park on his 100th birthday, yet cancer ended his life in 2013 at age 69. In 2014 Omnivore Records released a remastered and expanded edition of The Cold of the Morning, an undertaking Selvidge had helped initiate during his final year. His son Steve has since built a notable career performing with the Hold Steady and Lucero while also collaborating with the North Mississippi All Stars, Todd Agnew, and Big Ass Truck.