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Duke Arts Presents

Take Me to The River: Memphis Soul & R&B Revue
featuring William Bell, Bobby Rush & Don Bryant

Thursday, January 25, 2018 | 8:00 pm

Carolina Theatre of Durham


Memphis musicians William Bell, Bobby Rush, and Don Bryant are three of this country’s great elder statesmen of soul music. Recording for labels in Memphis and elsewhere in the South, they produced a bevy of acclaimed albums and helped turn out hits for the likes of Otis Redding, Tina Turner, and Al Green. With a sultrier, grittier sensibility than their Motown neighbors up north, the Memphis sound these artists created was recently featured in Take Me to the River, a musical documentary that took home the Audience Award at SXSW Film Festival and helped put this revue on the road.

Soul singer, architect of the Stax Records sound, and 2017 GRAMMY winner William Bell (“Born Under a Bad Sign,” “You Don’t Miss Your Water”) is joined by ribald blues showman and fellow 2017 GRAMMY winner Bobby Rush (“I Ain’t Studdin’ You”), and gospel and soul great Don Bryant of Hi Records (“I Can’t Stand The Rain”), all backed by Willie Mitchell’s legendary Hi Rhythm Section — the heartbeat behind Al Green’s biggest hits. Join us at the Carolina Theatre of Durham for a musical tour of the rich soul music legacy of Memphis, Tennessee led by some its most adept practitioners.

Take Me to the River is a co-presentation of Duke Performances & The Carolina Theatre of Durham.


“Take Me to the River reminds us where all the great music came from.”

Boston Globe