65 – Sam Phillips, Sun Records, and the Acoustics of Life

The Kitchen Sisters Present

The Kitchen Sisters & Radiotopia

Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2017

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Recording sound pioneer Sam Phillips — the father of Sun Records, the man who discovered Howlin’ Wolf, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash…, the creator of WHER, The First All Girl Radio Station in the World — talks about his journey, his adventures and “the acoustics of life.” With stories from his son Knox Phillips, his wife Becky, his biographer Peter Guralnick, and one of his first artists, Ike Turner.

Hear recordings from the archive of interviews we did with Sam beginning in 1998—personal stories told by the man himself and his family and friends.

Interest in Sam Phillips is running high right now –not that it was ever running low. There’s a new TV series out and there’s Peter Guralnick’s epic biography “Sam Phillips The Man Who Invented Rock’n’Roll.” And there’s a film in the works based on the book — one of the producers is Mick Jagger and Leonardo DiCaprio is playing Sam. Sam has had a monumental impact on the world of music and sound. And he’s had a monumental impact on The Kitchen Sisters.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Radio Topia. Welcome to the Kitchen Sisters Presently.
0:04.2	PRX. We're the Kitran Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nicki Silva.
0:09.1	Hi there, thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to support
0:16.1	Radiotopia and this show during our fall fundraiser. I love reading the
0:20.5	comments listeners leave when you donate like this one from a listener who says all my favorite Love Thank you, Kristen. Our fundraiser is coming to a close later this month. If we reach our goal of 1,000 donors, after the holidays we'll share a digital zine with everyone who donated to help us get there. But we're still a little short. As of this recording, we still
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0:54.3	podcasts like ours. As you've probably heard us say your donation not only helps
0:58.3	fund our show, it's also a vote of confidence, a statement that shows like this should exist. Thank you so much for
1:05.4	listening and supporting our work. You can head to radiotopia. FM slash
1:10.7	donate to make your gift today.
1:13.2	Thank you very much.
1:14.4	Way back in episode 13 of the Kitchen Sisters Present.
1:24.0	We were called Fugitive Waits way back then.
1:26.7	We played a story about legendary record producer Sam Phillips.
1:31.4	We record anything anywhere, anytime. It was about Sam Phillips and the early years of
1:37.4	his Memphis Recording Service, which he started before Sun Studios. Interest in Sam Phillips is running high right now.
1:45.0	I don't think it was ever really running low, but there's a new TV series out based on the Broadway musical,
1:51.0	a million dollar quartet, and there's Peter Geralnick's epic. Broadway musical, A Million Dollar Quartet.
1:53.0	And there's Peter Guralnick's epic biography of Sam.
1:56.7	The title is about as long as most books.
1:59.6	Sam Phillips, the man who invented rock and roll, how one man discovered Howlin Wolf, Ike Turner,
	...

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