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" Oct 9- Oct 11, Helena, AR. "
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By Heather Gates
Music professor David Evans, founder of the University of Memphis' High Water Recording Co., has barely kept his head above water the last six months. After eight dormant years, High Water announced an agreement with HighTone Records, an Oakland, Calif.-based recording company, to resurrect 20 of the local label's recordings on CD over the next four years. Many of the "new" releases have been out of print for several years or are previously unreleased High Water tracks. They will be issued under a High Water HMG imprint and distributed worldwide by the REP Co. Since the agreement's announcement this spring, Evans, a professor of music and director of regional studies in ethnomusicology at the University of Memphis, has been working non-stop. "They've really kept me busy," Evans, who also performs with the Last Chance Jug Band, says. So far, six High Water catalog titles have been released; Evans currently is working on the seventh issue, featuring the Spirit of Memphis quartet. This July marked the first release: R.L. Burnside's Sound Machine, which was followed by Jessie Mae Hemphill's Feelin' Good and Chicago Bob and the Shadows' Just Your Fool. Subsequent releases include blues albums from Junior Kimbrough and The Fieldstones, as well as a gospel album from The Pattersonaires, Why Not Try My God. The High Water revival was a blessing, for Evans as well as for Delta blues fans. Evans started the label in 1979, a year after he joined the university faculty, with initial funding by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. "I saw it (the label) as an outlet for blues artists as well as a vehicle to promote their music," he says. Evans' heart lay in production, though, and the burgeoning label quickly demanded more administrative attention. "I was spending most of my time doing things like figuring royalties, handling receipts and even wrapping (album) packages. It got to be a nightmare," Evans says. In addition, university bureaucracy and state rules, and limited distribution capabilities, negated the label's efforts. The timing was all wrong, too. Blues in the 1980s was in Chicago, Evans says, and record producers weren't hearing much out of the South. "If it didn't sound like Chicago blues, or if it was country (traditional) blues, and didn't sound like Robert Johnson, it was difficult to get much attention." Conversion to CD technology after "we had gotten all this vinyl out," was the last straw. "The agony of running a day-to-day commercially marginal business was too much," he says. About a year ago, three record companies, including HighTone, approached Evans and other High Water representatives. Evans says his group chose HighTone because "security comes with having a larger label with a larger catalog." "HighTone has a good reputation, a strong catalog, and they have a reputation for starting obscure artists. In fact, they started out Robert Cray," Evans added. After the initial series of 20 releases, Evans hopes to produce once again, on the High Water HMG label. "I'd like the opportunity to get back in there (into a recording studio). There's still talent around here and I don't want High Water to get a reputation as a historical phenomena," he says. High Water will continue to release other music and will be used by university-based performers for independent recordings. Evans' only regret is that success for High Water didn't come sooner. "It was a struggle. I wished it could have happened earlier, not only for the label, but also for the artists," he says. Take, for instance, Hammie Nixon, who for many years was Sleepy John Estes' harp player, but was frontman in a 1984 High Water recording. "People couldn't adjust to his new role as a feature," Evans says. Nixon died three months later. Nonetheless, Evans knew High Water's time would someday arrive. "We dug down into a tradition that was there and brought up something worthwhile. Sooner or later, folks would get around to it and rediscover High Water."
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