Mem Shannon

March 12

Inspired by his father’s collection of blues records, Mem Shannon played both clarinet and guitar by the age of 15, but he didn’t get serious until he saw B.B. King. He spent several years playing in bands around his New Orleans hometown until his father died in 1981. Shannon took a job driving a cab in order to help his family pay bills, putting his music career on hold until 1990, when he started playing in local clubs again. He formed Mem Shannon and the Membership, and they played at the 1991 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 1995, Shannon’s debut album, A Cab Driver’s Blues, did well enough that he was able to give up cab driving the following year in order to make music his full-time job. Its success led to national media coverage from the likes of ABC World News, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, E! Entertainment Television, The New York Times and NPR. His song “S.U.V.” from his fourth CD, 2002’s Memphis in the Morning won Living Blues magazine’s Critics Poll Song of the Year. In 2011 Shannon and the band appeared on an episode of HBO’s New Orleans-based series Tréme performing “Who Are They” from their 1999 Spend Some Time With Me album. A regular on the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival for more than 15 years, Mem Shannon and the Membership have released six albums worldwide, and continue