<p>Over the years, The Kitchen Sisters have zeroed in on Memphis, Tennessee in a big way. The inspiration for that and <strong>the inspiration for some of our favorite stories</strong> is Knox Phillips.<br> <br> <strong>Davia met Knox in 1997 in Memphis</strong> when she was doing casting for Francis Ford Coppola’s film The Rainmaker. She was on the set standing next to a guy. <strong>Cool hair, great smile</strong>. During the long set up between takes they started talking. About Memphis, about music, about radio. She told him about a new series we were starting to produce for NPR — Lost & Found Sound. Stories about <strong>sonic pioneers and people possessed by sound.</strong> The guy with the cool hair listens.<br> <br> “Girl, I think you better come over to the house and meet my parents. My dad, Sam, started the <strong>Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records</strong>. He recorded Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Howlin’ Wolf.... When he sold Elvis’ contract he and my mother, Becky, used the money to start the <strong>first all-girl radio station in the nation</strong>, WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts.”</p><p>Nikki was on a plane to Memphis the next day and we drove to the Phillips family house that night. <strong>Knox, Sam, Becky and Sam’s girlfriend Sally were all there</strong> and the stories started pouring out. We walked in at 7:00 and left after midnight, <strong>recording the whole time</strong>. Those interviews became the basis of some of the most groundbreaking Kitchen Sisters pieces.<br> <br> Knox Phillips — producer, promoter of Memphis music, Keeper of his family's legacy, died in April 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, and never really got his due. His massive <strong>spirit, love and music</strong> live on.</p>