Dr. John Bass, associate professor and longtime director of the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College, performs frequently as a professional musician and also speaks regularly on the musical traditions of Memphis. He has taught guitar at Rhodes every semester for the past 20 years, and while teaching a new course called Songwriting in Memphis during the Spring 2024 semester, he finally decided to record and release some of his own songs.
On Oct. 16, Bass is holding a vinyl listening party for his debut album, Nowhere In Between, which was officially released in April 2024 and is rooted in themes of home and away, the sounds of Memphis, and reflections of developing his craft as a musician. Free and open to the public, the event will be held 6-8 p.m. in the SoundRoom of the Memphis Listening Lab, located at 1350 Concourse Ave, Suite 269.
Bass will discuss the songs, the recording process, and the Memphis musicians who joined him at Archer Recording Studio to fuse together the eight songs on the album. The songs reflect Bass’ wide range of musical interests, including jazz, ’90s rock, rhythm and blues, and country.
“Developing and teaching the Songwriting in Memphis class not only pressured me to put my money where my mouth is and release some of my own material, but it also made me appreciate the intrinsic value of simply putting your voice out there for others to hear. Going through this process with my students in the class was a powerful experience.”
Bass grew up listening to his physician father play the banjo, and eventually picked up the guitar at age 13 and began playing in garage bands. He holds two degrees in jazz performance and a Ph.D. in historical musicology, but as Bass often tells his students, “Most of the professional decisions in my life have been about me trying to keep a guitar in my hands for just a little longer.”
As a guitarist, he has performed and recorded with artists including Bobby Rush, Kirk Whalum, George Coleman, and Eden Brent. In 2021, he arranged, produced, and performed on an original recording of America the Beautiful that featured blues legends Bobby Rush and Eddie Cotton. He has been invited back as a performer at the 2024 Festival Internacional de Guitarra in Cartagena, Colombia, having performed there last year.
Wrote author and Rhodes professor Dr. Charles Hughes about Nowhere In Between, “Memphis is everywhere on this album, often in conversation with Bass’ former home of Mobile and (despite the title) with all the physical and artistic places that he’s been along the way. Themes of home and travel – always deeply connected, despite their seeming opposition – recur throughout the album, as Bass reckons with what it means to find yourself somewhere or to wish you could leave. Recorded at the city’s Archer Studios with expert engineer Kevin Houston, Nowhere In Between feels like both a homecoming and a road heading out in new directions for this restlessly creative musician.”
To listen to and learn more about the record, visit www.johnbassmusic.com.