With BR549, the group that reimagined country music in the 1990s, Chuck Mead performed on stage for more than ten years. His vocals and guitar playing contributed to the band’s cult popularity, but BR wasn’t his first time performing on stage.
After BR549 split up, Mead started a solo career and was appointed musical director of the Million Dollar Quartet, a play based on the accidental banding together of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley one Memphis day at Sun Studios. He worked on the Broadway premiere of the show and continues to work with the touring companies that bring it to theaters all across the country. Working on CMT’s TV show Sun Records gave him further exposure to Memphis music.
The sounds of Mead’s most recent album, Close to Home, were influenced by his stay in Memphis. He collaborated with producer Matt Ross-Spang to record at Memphis’ storied Sam Phillips Recording Studio. He claimed that it is both his least country record and a true country album.
In the video below, Chuck Mead recounts an experience meeting Keith Richards and Levon Helm over a weekend. The rock and roll elite mingled with Chuck’s band, BR549. They were asked to perform at a charity in New York City.
Keep going for the video below: