Memphis Blues (album)

Memphis Blues is the tenth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper. Regarded as a continuation of her 2008 comeback, the album was a nominee for the Grammy Awards 2010 and was released on her 57th birthday, June 22, 2010. According to the Brazilian daily newspaper O Globo, the album had sold 600,000 copies worldwide by November 2010.[6] Memphis Blues was voted the 7th best album of 2010 by the New York Post,[7] and it went on to become Billboard's biggest selling blues album of 2010. To support the album, Lauper made her biggest tour ever, the Memphis Blues Tour, which had more than 140 shows.

Memphis Blues
Studio album by Cyndi Lauper
Released	June 22, 2010
Recorded	March 2010 in Electraphonic Studios, Memphis
Genre	Memphis blues blues rock soul blues
Length	45:41
Label	Downtown Records
Producer	Cyndi Lauper Scott Bomar
Cyndi Lauper chronology
True Colors: The Best of Cyndi Lauper (2009) Memphis Blues (2010) Kinky Boots (2013)
Singles from Memphis Blues
"Just Your Fool" Released: 18 May 2010[1]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	45/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
New York Post	[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]

Background

Lauper announced via her official Twitter account in December 2009 that she would be recording a blues album. Sessions were held in March 2010 at Electraphonic Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with producer Scott Bomar, her frequent collaborator Bill Wittman and special guests B. B. King, Charlie Musselwhite, Ann Peebles and Allen Toussaint.[8]

Promotion

Lauper performed songs from the album on the Late Show with David Letterman on June 14,[9] on The Joy Behar Show on June 21, The Howard Stern Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show on June 22, Good Morning America on June 23 and Live with Regis and Kelly on June 24,[10] on The Early Show on July 20.[11] and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on August 30.[12]

Lauper has supported the album with the Memphis Blues Tour.[13]

Lauper was honored at the 2010 NARM Awards and performed several songs from the Memphis Blues album at the event.[14]

Commercial reception

Memphis Blues debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top Blues chart and at number 26 on the official Billboard 200, with a moderately successful first week sales of more than 16,000 copies.[15] The album is Lauper's third-highest charting album on the Billboard 200 of her career, trailing only her first two releases, She's So Unusual and True Colors. The album remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart for thirteen weeks, totaling 40 weeks in the chart. The album has sold 76,000 copies in the United States as of May 2016.[16] In 2011 it was awarded a double silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association which indicated sales of at least 40,000 copies throughout Europe.[17]

Seven songs from the album ranked in the Top 25 on Billboard's Blues Digital Songs chart, including "Crossroads" at number one.[18]

Track listing

Memphis Blues – Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Just Your Fool" (featuring Charlie Musselwhite)	Marion Walter Jacobs	3:37
2.	"Shattered Dreams" (featuring Allen Toussaint)	Lowell Fulson, Washington Ferdinand	3:52
3.	"Early in the Mornin'" (featuring Allen Toussaint and B.B. King)	Leo Hickman, Louis Jordan, Dallas Bartley	3:51
4.	"Romance in the Dark"	Roxanne Seeman, Philipp Steinke	5:44
5.	"How Blue Can You Get?" (featuring Jonny Lang)	Jane Feather	5:23
6.	"Down Don't Bother Me" (featuring Charlie Musselwhite)	Albert King	3:03
7.	"Don't Cry No More"	Don Robey	2:44
8.	"Rollin' and Tumblin'" (featuring Ann Peebles)	Muddy Waters	3:29
9.	"Down So Low"	Tracy Nelson	3:55
10.	"Mother Earth" (featuring Allen Toussaint)	Memphis Slim, Peter Chatman	5:19
11.	"Crossroads" (featuring Jonny Lang)	Robert Johnson	4:44
Total length:			45:41

Memphis Blues – Amazon.com edition / European edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Wild Women Don't Have the Blues"	Ida Cox	3:22
Total length:			49:03

Memphis Blues – Latin American edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"I Don't Want to Cry" (featuring Leo Gandelman)	Chuck Jackson	4:39
Total length:			53:42

Memphis Blues – Japanese edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Don't Want to Cry" (featuring TOKU)	Chuck Jackson	4:34
Total length:			53:37

Memphis Blues – 2 Disc Japanese edition (DVD)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Behind The Scenes Video Of Making Of 'Memphis Blues'"	4:36
2.	"Cyndi Talking About 'Memphis Blues'"	2:30
Total length:		7:06

Personnel

• Cyndi Lauper – lead vocals, production
• "Skip" Charles Pitts - guitar
• Lester Snell – guitar[19]
• Charlie Musselwhite - harmonica
• Allen Toussaint – keyboards
• Howard Grimes – drums
• William Wittman - bass, engineer
• Leroy Hodges – bass
• Marc Franklin – trumpet
• Derrick Williams – tenor sax
• Kirk Smothers – baritone sax
• B.B. King – vocals and guitar on Early in the Mornin[20]
• Jonny Lang – vocals and guitar on How Blue Can You Get
• Ann Peebles – vocals on Rollin' and Tumblin
• Scott Bomar – production

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2010-2011) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[21] 59 Belgium Albums Chart (Wallonia)[22] 79 Belgium Albums Chart (Flanders)[23] 77 Canadian Albums Chart 45 French Albums Chart[24] 31 German Albums Chart 77 Greek Albums Chart[25] 45 Japanese Albums Chart[26] 41 Swiss Albums Chart[27] 77 UK Independent Albums[28] 13 UK Albums Chart[29] 105 U.S. Billboard 200[30] 26 U.S. Billboard Blues Albums[30] 1 U.S. Billboard Digital Albums[31] 21 U.S. Billboard Independent Albums[30] 2 U.S. Billboard Internet Albums[32] 10 U.S. Billboard Tastemaker Albums[33] 12 Year-end chart Chart (2010) Peak position U.S. Billboard Blues Albums 1

Songs Year Songs Peak positions Billboard Digital Blues Songs[34] Canadian Blues Songs New Zealand Blues Songs Japan Blues Songs Irish Singles Chart Italian Singles Chart[35] 2010 "Just Your Fool" 2 1 10 1 66 — "Crossroads" 1 — — 15 — — "How Blue Can You Get?" 9 5 20 — — — "Rollin' and Tumblin'" 12 3 2 4 — — "Early in the Mornin'" 14 5 2 5 — — "Romance in the Dark" 17 — — — — — "Shattered Dreams" 25 — — 1 — — "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues" — — — — — 43 "I Don't Want to Cry" — — — 1 — —

Accolades

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2011	Memphis Blues	Best Traditional Blues Album	Nominated[36]

References

1. "Just Your Fool by Cyndi Lauper". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
2. "Critic Reviews for Memphis Blues". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
3. Jurek, Thom. "Cyndi Lauper: Memphis Blues > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
4. Aquilante, Dan (June 22, 2010). "Her true colors may be blues". New York Post. News Corporation. ISSN 1090-3321. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
5. Maerz, Melissa (June 21, 2010). "Cyndi Lauper: Memphis Blues". Rolling Stone. Straight Arrow. ISSN 0035-791X. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
6. Miguel, Antônio Carlos (January 20, 2011). "Cyndi Lauper volta ao Brasil renovada pelo passado" [Cyndi Lauper back to Brazil renewed by the past]. O Globo (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro. OCLC 24111258.
7. "Top 10 albums". New York Post.
8. Reighly, Kurt B (April 29, 2010). "Cyndi Lauper's Latest True Color? Blues". queersighted.com. Queer Sighted. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010.
9. "Cyndi on Late Show with David Letterman". Cyndilauper.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
10. "Cyndi appearances this week". Cyndilauper.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
11. "Cyndi Lauper on The Early Show". Cyndilauper.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
12. "Cyndi & Jonny Lang on the Tonight Show". Cyndilauper.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
13. Hall, Tara (April 5, 2010). "Cyndi Lauper expands summer trek". LiveDaily. Archived from the original on April 9, 2010.
14. "NARM To Honor Cyndi Lauper With Award For Creative Achievement". NARM.com. April 14, 2010. Archived from the original on August 22, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
15. "Cindy Lauper: a noite em que o blues se sobrepôs ao pop dos anos oitenta". Nonada.com.br. 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
16. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016.
17. "IMPALA announces Europe's best selling independent artists". Independent Music Companies Association. Archived from the original on September 11, 2017.
18. Trust, Gary. "Chart Beat Thursday: Eminem, Jason Derulo, Cyndi Lauper". Billboard.com. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
19. Cashmere, Paul (April 27, 2010). "Cyndi Lauper Covers the Blues" Archived 2010-04-28 at the Wayback Machine. Undercover.com.au. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
20. Daw, Robbie (April 22, 2010). "Cyndi Lauper sings the 'Memphis Blues'". Idolator. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
21. "The ARIA Report Week Commencing 25 April 2011 - Issue #1104" (PDF). pandora.nha.gov.au. Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
22. "Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues". ultratop.be (in French). Retrieved October 10, 2010.
23. "Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues". ultratop.be (in Dutch). Retrieved October 10, 2010.
24. "Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues". lescharts.com (in French). Retrieved October 10, 2010.
25. "Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues". greekcharts.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
26. シンディ・ローパー-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック "Highest position and charting weeks of Memphis Blues by Cyndi Lauper" Check |url= value (help). Oricon Style (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-01-16.
27. "Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues". swisscharts.com (in German). Retrieved November 14, 2010.
28. "2010 Top 40 Independent Albums Archive: 16th October 2010". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
29. "Chart Log UK 1994-2010 DJ Steve L. – LZ Love". Dipl.-Bibl.(FH) Tobias Zywietz. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
30. "Memphis Blues > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" at AllMusic. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
31. https://www.billboard.com/music/Cyndi-Lauper/chart-history/DLP
32. https://www.billboard.com/music/Cyndi-Lauper/chart-history/INT
33. https://www.billboard.com/music/Cyndi-Lauper/chart-history/TAS
34. https://www.billboard.com/music/Cyndi-Lauper/chart-history/BDT
35. http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/indici/per_anno/hpy2010.htm
36. 53rd Grammy Award Nominations, 2010 Archived 2010-12-03 at WebCite Retrieved December 2, 2010