"I use Memphis musicians because I know what they're going to do and I know how it's going to come out," Mitchell says. "I'm very comfortable here." An independent producer since 1980, Mitchell works out of Royal Studios in Memphis, where he laid down his most famous tracks. He recently produced sessions for Tom Jones and loaned the Willie Mitchell Horns to Come on Home, a blues tribute album by Boz Scaggs. He also produced an album by bluesman Jimmy King.
He doesn't rely on technology, Mitchell says. "I come from the hip: real organ, real piano, real saxophones, real guitar. Synthesizers? Maybe a line or something, but nothing dominant. I believe in real music."
Any favorites? "When I do a record, I don't look back on it," Mitchell says. "I don't cry over spilt milk. I have had records that didn't happen. I had a bunch of records that did happen. I never look back. I don't think about it. A record be on your head so long. When a record's over, it's over."
Did he sense how many of the records he produced would be classics? "You can feel it, man, you can feel a good record," Mitchell says. "There is no favorite one. Records are good or bad, one of the two."
Article comments
1 - ron dominic
I've been listening to willie mitchell since the sixties on vinyl. I still play his famous hit soul serenede and feel like its 1960's all over again. nothing like listening to real soul from a man who knows it all.
i'm glad willie is one of our major contributions to the music industry!!!!
thanks willie
ron dominic entertainment