In August, Decca Records released “Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience." The 12-track album traces a “100-year cinematic journey through the blues,” moving from Blind Willie Johnson’s 1927 masterpiece “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” to “I Lied to You” off the soundtrack of the 2025 feature film Sinners.
Freeman, the Academy Award-winning actor, who was born in Memphis and raised in Mississippi, produced the album and serves as its narrator. Freeman also enlisted several blues luminaries, including Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, Shemekia Copeland, and Memphian Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, to work on the project.
Freeman has long been a proponent of the blues through his Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The “Symphonic Blues Experience”
was recorded at Mitchell’s Royal Studios in South Memphis. And the songs also feature contributions from Chineke! Orchestra, a majority-Black ensemble from Europe, who added their contributions at Abbey Road Studios in London.
This week, Memphis will host two events connected to the project. The first will take place on Sept. 25 at the Memphis Listening Lab at Crosstown concourse. The event will feature a listening session and Q&A with Grammy-winning producer Mitchell, and virtual remarks from Freeman himself.
The following night, Sept. 26, the musicians behind the “Symphonic Blues Experience” will join the University of Memphis Symphony Orchestra to bring the album to life on stage during a concert at the Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center. Freeman is expected to attend and possibly appear as part of the event.
The Memphis Listening Lab event is free and open to the public. It begins at 6 p.m. For more information go to Memphislisteninglab.org.
Tickets to the concert start at $78. They are available at Scheidtcenter.org.
Bob Mehr covers music and features for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at bob.mehr@commercialappeal.com
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: 'Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience' album celebrations set
