Rock-n-roll, blues, and barbecue, this is Memphis to you, me, everybody. You would think that every Memphis musician spent his infant years rocking ever-so-soulfully on the back beat of a bar-playing blues hound. Don’t fall prey to the hype.
Jamie Randolph had his beginnings in the cozy suburbs of the big city under the watchful eyes of his supportive parents and the Church. Think what you will. But every true artist has his past to thank. Rather than following in the footsteps of so many with the same beginnings, Jamie used his upbringing to fuel his own musical birth. Church became Jamie’s home away from home where he would hone his skills, develop his voice, and pound out songs on the piano by ear.
An accomplished songwriter, guitarist, and rock pianist, Jamie brought his fair share to the table when he joined Retrospect in 2001. This Memphis-based band earned regional buzz, landing “Forgetting Evelyn” on local and college radio, receiving accolades from The Recording Academy and the placing high in the GRAMMY Independent Music Showcase.
It is from this springboard that Jamie now comes to us, merging his history and talent. His new band, Jamie Randolph and The Bloodsuckers, pumps out an enduring swill that exposes Jamie’s eclectic musical palate and love for dark imagery and (literally) vampires. Rich, melodic grit becomes the time-warped testimony and bold exploration of life’s flipside that fuels his irreverent compulsion to know what hurt is and the beauty it creates.
This artist relentlessly weds alt-country, theatrical indie-rock, and life-worn lyrics in a cathartic purge to rid hard memories by making them trophies of aesthetic cadence. When you hear Jamie Randolph, you’ll be tempted to compare him to Ryan Adams, Hem, Counting Crows, and Elliot Smith even as you hear deep undertones of Fiona Apple and Miles Davis. The shared quality with these milestone artists is his ability to experience and transpose the beauty that is born from the ashes.
His forthcoming album, Villain, will effortlessly lull you into an inverted world where pain becomes joy and unbridled expression becomes art. With engineer/producer Matt Martone (Magazine – Jump Little Children, 3 Doors Down) at the helm you can trust the twangy, darkly symphonic surge that sweetly invites you to light a cigarette, sit on a humid porch at night, and re-orient your memories into the forgotten beauty that lurks in their corners.
