The Hi/Royal Recording Studio


Photo of Hi logo


Photo of Hi/Royal Studio by Joe Pusateri


1320 S Lauderdale


Photo of Hi/Royal Studio by Joe Pusateri


Hi, which recorded at the converted Royal theater on Lauderdale, Formed in Memphis in 1957 by Joe Coughi, Sam Esgro, Bill Brown, Bill Crudgington, Nick Pesce, Ray Harris, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch. Coughi bought out Esgro, Brown & Crudgington before the first record was released. Claunch forced out in 1959, later cofounded Goldwax Records., scoring in 1959 with the Bill Black Combo's hit, "Smokie - Part 2." In the wake of "Smokie," Hi had become a house of instrumentals for Black, Willie Mitchell and Ace Cannon. By the late 60's Mitchell was the man, going for the Soul market. He found was Ann Peebles and the smooth Al Green. Others who recorded at Royal are Gene Simmons, O.V. Wright, Ike and Tina Turner, Paul Butterfield, Don Bryant, Otis Clay, Syl Johnson, and Charlie Rich, and the great Hi Rhythm Section - Teenie Hodges (guitar), Leroy Hodges (bass), Charles Hodges (keyboards), and Howard Grimes (drums)--and the Memphis Horns!

Hi Record Story and Discology from David Edwards and Mike Callahan



Photo of inside Hi/Royal Studio by Unknown source




Photo of Willie Mitchell,Sputnik,Ace Cannon at the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis 1999 by Joe Pusateri



Bill Black Combo album Ace Cannon Album Willie Mitchell Album Paul Butterfield's Last Album
Otis Clay Album O.V. Wright Album Hi Rhythm Section Album Al Green Album
Auther Alexander Album Don Bryant Album Willie Clayton Album Ann Peebles LP cover



NOTES ON THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD SESSION

In 1979 Elizabeth Barraclough went to Memphis to record an album with Willie Mitchell, the legendary producer who had guided Al Green through a series of giant hits earlier in the decade. Kimmet was working with Barraclough and remembers that her interests in "Memphis Soul" had grown significantly after her first Bearsville recording, and with Albert Grossman's blessing they flew to Memphis and met Mitchell. "He was totally into it and a terrific guy from the start, and we made a record there," Barraclough recalls. "Willie also made some trips to see us in Woodstock, and we used his back-up singers on some television shows like 'Midnight Special.' So we were developing a good friendship with him."
Barraclough was Butterfield's girlfriend, and she returned from Memphis thinking a Mitchell-Butterfield combination would result in a good album. "So Paul and Elizabeth went down to Memphis and Willie assembled his studio guys, including Michael Toles who was the guitar player and session leader. And the Hodges brothers and Memphis Horns would come around, and Paul knew of them. He fit right in with these guys."
It was an intriguing combination. But as with his first solo album, a lack of quality material hampered things from the start. "It would have been nice to say to Paul and Albert, 'Let's wait a year and get some good tunes together,' but it never was," Barraclough continues. "Albert was always ready to go with an artist if he said he had the songs together, so he let Paul. I would later learn from other A&R guys that stopping projects for lack of material wasn't that uncommon, and I would do it myself with some projects at Bearsville. But Albert's final word was often, 'I don't care -- let them make the record. And if it doesn't work out, well, whatever. If that's what Paul wants, let him make the record.' We'd had a few disasters with Paul that we had to shut down, but the Memphis thing got made anyway."

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©2002 Joe Terry


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