Memphis Gold Headlines Silver Spring Blues Festival

Memphis Gold will headline the first Silver Spring Blues Festival at Downtown Silver Spring on Saturday, May 9, 2009.

Here are the liner notes from his new album "Prodigal Son."

"Memphis Gold has come a long way in his short 13 year tenure in the Mid Atlantic, including the crowning achievement of recording 3 CD`s. He has shared the stage with such artists as Bernard Allison, Beat Daddys, James Brown, R.L. Burnside, Big Lucky Carter, Debra Coleman, Shemeika Copland, Robert Cray, Eddie Cusak, Dwayne Doopsie, John Hammond, John Jackson, Junior Kimbrough, Little Jimmy King, Johnny Lang, Taj Mahal, Selena McDay, Bob Margolan, Bobby Parker, Lucky Peterson, Little Jimmy Reed, Martha Reeves, Duke Robillard, Jimmie lee Robinson, Roomful of Blues, Otis Rush, Charlie Sayles, Guitar Shorty, Mavis Staples, Hubert Sumlin, The Temptations and Jimmy Vaughn.

Chester Chandler, aka (Memphis Gold) was born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 4, 1955. Chester was the thirteenth child of fourteen, born to John and Reada Chandler. John his father and also a musician, played the bass fiddle and piano in the Church of God in Christ- where at the tender age of 4, Chester was first introduced to the guitar. Chester was quickly recognized as a promising musician, by the age of 8, he was a regular at Beale Street in Memphis, where he played the guitar and danced for pocket change from the crowd.

As a young boy age 12, he was mentored by the 1928-35 Victor/Brunswick/Vocalion Recording Artist, The Reverend Robert "Tim" Wilkins. Wilkins' major claim to fame was the tune "That`s No Way To Get Along," which was appropriated by the Rolling Stones in 1966 and released as "Prodigal Son" on the best selling album Beggars Banquet.

"Nevertheless, I`m happy to report that, no, Memphis Gold did not tell me that he sold his soul to the devil down at the "crossroads" of Highways 49 and 61 in order to play like the guitar wizard that he is," says Larry Benicewicz of the Music Monthly/Maryland Musician. "He is the genuine article, perhaps a thowback to the blues men of yore who learned their licks at the knee of legendary partriarchs like Charlie Patton. And having done so, serves as one of the last links to the days when cotton was king on the Mississippi Delta."

In February of 1996, Chester Chandler rescued 9 children from a train crash in Silver Spring, Md., which was coming from the Harpers Ferry Job Corps, West Virginia. Ironically, he had performed a blues seminar for the children several months before. Chester Chandler aka (Memphis Gold) has appeared on the Leeza Show, NBC Dateline, and the Discovery Channel for his heroic effects."

http://www.memphisgoldprod.net