MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL PREPS FANKHAUSER’S TALK TO ME CD

Talk To Me is the title of the latest album from Philipp Fankhauser, the highly regarded blues artist who is based in Thun, Switzerland.  Memphis International Records is preparing to release the album in the United States (through Megaforce/Ryko) and through its overseas distributors (Germany/Austria/Switzerland Sony) on May 25th 2004.

Fankhauser is certainly well known to European audiences but he is also familiar to North Americans as a result of role as guest vocalist with the band of the late blues great Johnny “Clyde” Copeland.  While the bulk of Talk To Me is comprised of original Fankhauser compositions it does include two Johnny Copeland compositions and Shemekia Copeland, Johnny’s daughter and a renowned star in her own right, penned the liner notes.  She wrote, “Philipp will always be very special to the Copeland family; his music is special for just about everyone.”

The album includes a version of “Members Only,” a song that was an R & B hit for Bobby Bland in the 1980s and produced for Fankhauser by Dennis Walker (Robert Cray, B.B. King, Maria Muldaur) with an appearance by the Memphis Horns. That track initially caught the attention of Memphis International co-founder David Less when he was running Gibson Music, a division of Gibson Musical Instruments, in the late 1990s. 

“When David Less played me Philipp’s version of  "Members Only” just after we started the label a few years ago, I was immediately taken with Philipp’s artful performance. I distinctly remember telling David, ‘We have to find this guy and put out an album by him" and now that’s just what’s happening.”  That same recording of “Members Only” is a featured track on Talk To Me. It was through the good offices of Alvin Youngblood Hart, whose own Memphis International debut Down In The Alley was Grammy® nominated, that Less and Merlis caught up with Fankhauser late last year. Hart happened to mention that he would be doing dates in Switzerland with backing by Fankhauser’s band and was happy to connect the Memphis International principals with Philipp. Fankhauser and manager Roger Guntern met with Less and Merlis at this year’s MIDEM conclave in Cannes to set the wheels in motion for the release of Talk To Me. Less noted, “Bob and I have long admired Philipp’s music and we’re very excited about having the opportunity to work with him directly on this album.” 

In connection with the release, Fankhauser will appear at this year’s Chicago Blues Festival on the Best Buy Stage on Saturday, June 12th.

Despite the fact that he was born and raised in Switzerland, Fankhauser has long been inspired by American blues artists and he has dedicated much of his life to following in their footsteps.  At the age of twelve, he was introduced to the music of Sunnyland Slim and, despite the fact that he could not understand the lyrics; he was completely captivated by the music.  A few years later, he met Louisiana Red who took him on stage.  Witnessing Montreux Jazz Festival performances in the early 1980s by Albert Collins, B.B. King, Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson, J.B. Hutto, Koko Taylor, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Stevie Ray Vaughan and, later, meeting and playing with Memphis Slim, Luther Allison, Katie Webster, Hubert Sumlin, Son Seals, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and Jimmy Witherspoon turned him into a professional bluesman from an unlikely place.

Philipp Fankhauser’s meeting with Johnny Copeland in 1984 was a life changing experience as Copeland became  Philipp’s mentor.  Philipp began his recording career in earnest in the late 80s and continued to release albums into the next decade.  He moved to New York in 1994 to perform as part of Copeland’s Texas Blues Machine and stayed in the US after Copeland’s tragic death in 1997, only returning to Switzerland in 2000.

Commenting on his association with Memphis International and the pending release of Talk To Me, Fankhauser stated, “Memphis is a very special place to me as it’s the U.S. city that I’ve visited more than any other. My first big idol was Elvis Presley so Memphis has long represented both magic and music to me. To be on a label named ‘Memphis International Records’ means a whole lot to me but even more so because I feel that David Less and Bob Merlis are two very straight-up gentlemen who know a whole lot about music, as they’ve been in the recording business, literally, all their lives.  I am very excited about working with them and, of course, being able to perform for American audiences again.”

Press Release English, Word document
Press Release German, Word document

Press and media contact:

United States & Canada:
Bob Merlis
+1 (323) 962 6887
bob@memphisinternational.com

Switzerland:
Hansjürg Schweizer
+41 (79) 351 93 65
schwe@dialogo.ch