Born And Raised In The South...,: Ashland, MS

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Ashland, MS

Ashland is a town in Benton County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 577 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Benton County. Ashland was incorporated on March 8, 1873 and has a Mayor-Alderman form of government. Mitch Carroll is the 28th Mayor of the Town of Ashland, and Sandra Gresham, Fort Knighton, Bobby Miller, Billy Taylor and Shannon Wilburn make up the present Board of Aldermen. Knighton and Miller, however, are likely to be removed upon the upcoming election. Bill Stone was elected to Mississippi State Senate in November 2007 and a special election was held in the town of Ashland to fill mayoral vacancy. Mitch Caroll defeated brother Mike Caroll by 17 votes to secure the position.

Ashland Water Tower

Ashland is the home of the Farese Law Firm, a regional firm renowned for its criminal and civil work. The firm has most recently been involved in the high profile Mary Winkler case from Selmer, Tennessee. Ashland is also home of Bill Renick, a 2007 candidate for Governor of Mississippi. Willie Mitchell, the legendary Memphis musician, owner of Hi Records, and producer of Al Green, is also from here.

Benton County Courthouse

Willie Mitchell is a soul, R&B, rock and roll, pop and funk music producer and arranger who runs Royal Recording in Memphis, Tennessee. He is best known for his Hi Records label of the 1970s, which released albums by a large stable of popular Memphis soul artists, including Mitchell himself, Al Green, Syl Johnson and Ann Peebles. Known at the studio as "Papa Willie," Mitchell earned his nickname by taking over the reigns of Hi Records in 1970 and guiding it through its most successful period. Mitchell's productions have been much noted for featuring a hard-hitting kick drum sound (usually played by pioneering Memphis drummer Al Jackson, Jr. of Booker T. and the MG's)

A trumpeter and bandleader in his own right, Mitchell released a number of popular singles for Hi Records as an artist in the 1960s, including "Soul Serenade."

He and Al Green revived their successful recording partnershp in 2003 when Green recorded I Can't Stop, his first collaboration with Mitchell since 1985's He is the Light. Their 2005 follow-up project was Everything's OK.

Hi Records was a Memphis soul and rockabilly label started by singer Ray Harris, record store owner Joe Cuoghi, Bill Cantrell, and Quinton Claunch in 1957 (see 1957 in music).

Hi's first big hit was "Smokie Part 2", an instrumental by The Bill Black Combo in 1959. Black was a bass player with Elvis Presley and a long time friend of founder Harris. Founder Claunch quit the label, selling his share to Carl McVoy in 1960,the same year that Willie Mitchell was brought in as musical director. Hi's most successful years were in the 1960s and 1970s, with albums for internationally known acts like Al Green, O. V. Wright and Ann Peebles. When founder Joe Cuoghi died in 1970, musician/music producer Willie Mitchell took over running the label. The label's music was mostly recorded at Mitchell's Royal Recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee and distributed nationally by London Records. The label used a house backing band of local session musicians, known as the Hi Rhythm Section, on its numerous hit recordings of the 1970s. The popularity of disco music in the late 1970s led to an eventual decline in the popularity of the label's Memphis soul style.

In 1977, Willie Mitchell sold the label to Cream Records owned by Al Bennett. Today it is operated by his daughter, Adalah Bennett Shaw. Licensed distribution is by Crimson Productions in Europe; EMI is the licensee in Canada and the United States.

Adalah Bennett Shaw died in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 8, 2008, at the age of 55.

Al Greene

Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer who received great acclaim in the 1970s. At the 2008 BET Awards Green was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, for all the work he has done throughout his career.