AC IVERY: The man from Memphis, with the voice from heaven

ANXIOUSLY sat in a Tennessee holding cell awaiting sentencing, Memphian Christian singer-songwriter Alfred AC IVERY acknowledged his shortcomings, sought forgiveness, and reached out to the one place he believed could offer redemption.

And from that moment, his life has exemplified the message of Psalm 50:15, “And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

But growing up in a supportive and loving environment, there were no indications of the troubles that would eventually arise.

“My family is ten of us, five girls five boys, I’m number nine of the ten so next to the youngest,” he said. “I was asked to lead my first choir song at the Pentecostal Evangelist Church here in Memphis when I was twelve years old, and I was performing throughout the Memphis district from the age of fifteen.

“And although I did not know this because my mother and my father divorced when I was very young, my father was a singer, had his own band and he loved music. But as far as growing up in the household with my older sisters and brothers – they loved and played music all the time, every genre. They loved R&B, they loved the Jackson Five, all those great soul and R&B singers of the day, so I grew up under their influence and music was something that was poured into me at a young age. My mother too, she loved music and would always play albums for us, children’s songs, you know, ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round…’  all that stuff!

“But I didn’t really start thinking about music on a personal level until I got into my teens, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and began to be introspective about my feelings and my emotions, and that all came out in songs which is why I started writing, so music has always been a part of me, especially growing up.”

However, despite his soulful, emotive voice reminiscent of the Deep South’s greatest singers, and a back catalogue of breathtaking quality, the inevitable repercussions of Ivery’s far from ideal lifestyle eventually caught up with him.

“Actually, it seems pretty benign when I look back on it, but I was driving around without a licence and I was a pretty bad driver at that time, I had fender benders or I’d run a red light and I kept getting caught,” he added.

“So, after so many times getting caught, I was thrown in jail to await my sentencing and the judge I was assigned to was known as being the ‘hanging judge.’  If you did the crime, you had to do the time, right? – and that’s where the story picks up on the bible.

“I was sitting in the holding pen with another guy who was charged with the same thing I was, although the way it worked was, he only had one charge against him, and I had four, but he had a defence attorney that he paid for, and I had a public defender. They called him out before me to go up before the judge and after a while my lawyer came back and told me the judge gave him the two-year mandatory sentence, and she said, “OK well, you’re next,” and she just walked out the door.

“So I was in the cell all by myself and it was like the weight of the world just hit me because I was brought up in a Christian home, my mother loved the Lord very deeply and I always went to church, I knew the way, but when I got up to a certain age I just went buck wild.

“But everything just came down on me because I felt I strayed away from God and just allowed myself to get into situations where I messed up my life and now here I am facing a two-year mandatory sentence, and I just broke down and cried out to God. I said, “God you know I’m so sorry I know I messed up, I know I did bad.”

“I was crying out and in the midst of all my crying, a still small voice just broke through all the misery I was feeling on the inside, and he said, “If you give me your life, I’ll set you free,” just like that. It wasn’t an audible voice but it was resounding, I could hear it and it was separate from everything else I was feeling or saying, just a voice that spoke to me and when he spoke to me it’s just like a peace and a joy came over me – number one because he would come and speak to me and deal with me even though I didn’t deserve it, and a joy just came over me and I remember distinctly telling God, I said, “God, thank you so much for speaking to me and for reaching out to me, I needed to hear you, but I want you to know that if you do not deliver me, if you do not set me free, I will serve you even if I have to do it two years in jail,” and I began to praise God right there in that jail cell.

“And then they called me up. I stood before the judge and the court room was packed, my older brother who was a preacher was standing at the back of the court room, and I was just out in the prison clothes, you know the greys, and the judge looked at me and he didn’t say anything. He called my lawyer up and they were talking, then he called the prosecutor up and all three of them were talking. The court room started murmuring and the judge looked at me and he said, “Mr Ivery, I don’t ever want to see you in my court again, case dismissed!

“And everybody in the court just went, ‘WOW!’ and I made like a big, ‘WHAT?’ and I felt God not only had to bend the rules for me that day, he had to break the rules for me, but he didn’t do it for the other guy and I went back to my cell praising God and of course, I’ve been living for him ever since.

“Believe me, I’m so glad I have that story because if it wasn’t for that I don’t know what position in my life I would be in right now. God really changed my life after that, I met my beautiful wife Gwenita, and we gotten married, and it’s been a wonderful journey ever since.”

Ivery’s life now is dedicated to the Awakening Nations church, and the further enhancement of his musical skills, aiming for a greater appreciation of his talents, despite some early, harsh, misplaced criticism.

“Like I said, I been writing songs since I was a teenager, been singing before crowds since I was a late teenager. I’ve sung before thousands of people, and I’ve sung for three or four people, I’ve done it all, I’ve sung at Overton Park Shell, – [site of Elvis Presley’s first Memphis concert] – but also I’ve had people come up to me – in front of the full audience, people who were in charge of the event – and say, “you outta not be singing,” you know, and in front of the whole crowd, and it left me thinking, ‘I don’t have what it takes.’

“I’ve had another person – the memory is so distinct in my mind – after I finished singing say, “you need to find something else to do,” and I know those things are few and far between, but it’s those conversations that go deep.

“But today my writing and singing is very therapeutic. The songs I write are actually just ‘heart song’s,’ songs that are straight outta my heart, straight outta my pain or my joy or my sorrow. It’s the only way I know how to write, the only way I want to write. I don’t want to be superficial or just write them for ear candy, I want to write something that is going to be able to go out there and help someone who’s experiencing similar things or who may experience similar things, to be a therapeutic thing for others as it is for me.

“You want so much for other people to hear you and to see you and to feel what you feel when you are writing, and it just means so much when people do say nice things about my music, it’s like water in a dry land, and it’s hard for me to even express.

“But Memphis is a very tough city and if you don’t have a thousand people already following you, then they don’t see you, it’s just “well something must be wrong, that song might be good but obviously you don’t got what it takes ,I mean look at you, you have no followers,” all that kind of stuff.

“I don’t really have a lot of people other than my wife or a close friend to tell me ‘Oh Alfred that’s a beautiful song!’ I don’t have anybody to really reinforce when I put a song out there and it doesn’t generate any real response, and coupled with when you go to places and have certain people you respect say things so critical that make you doubt your own validity, it’s a crushing thing, so whenever someone says “oh that is a wonderful song,” I grab it, I go THANK YOU!

“But my wife is always telling me, “Alfred your music is beautiful, your music is wonderful, you have your audience out there,” and you know she’s always encouraged me and reinforced me, and the rest of my family too, definitely, definitely, we are very close family, very supportive.”

Ivery’s songs pierce your soul, a welcome, deep meaning to the lyrics, inspirational, emotional, a reminder to the impact music can have, should have, on our lives.

“That means so much to me. I’m just one person in the world, just like other individuals, but I hope I could help someone to see the reality and to have the connection of who God is – because God is always trying to reach someone. One thing I know about God is that he loves everyone, and that he’s always going to try to reach everyone. If they have any type of reception to receive, he’s gonna try to reach out and touch them.

“And it’s inspiring too. The inspiration for my music is a myriad of things that I go through on a daily basis because you know, trying to live this life, you’re still a human right, you still have your ups and downs and the temptations and your failures as you try to walk a Godly life. And I’m not perfect, so whenever I hit a snag or do something disappointing it’s a great impact on me because I want to be everything that I know I should be in God because I owe him so much.

“But in my songwriting, it’s not only things I might mess up in or have messed up in, but just things that happen in your life, those are the things that inspire me to write. But mostly, a lot of the songs I write come up while I’m asleep and it will be a lyric that will come to me, but it’ll always be a melody that comes first – I don’t play any instrument but I am learning guitar – so that comes first and it’ll wake me up, and with that melody will be a lyric, just a piece. And then I will say “Lord help me to write this song, give me what you want me to say,” so I say that prayer and with the lyric or  whatever I’m going through, or whatever I’m feeling, or whatever has happened in my life, would start to be attached to that melody and I’d begin to develop that song from whatever’s going on in my life.

“So, this how the vast majority of songs come about, it’s very rare that I just sit down one day and say, ‘oh I wanna write a song – and just write a song!’ It has happened, but very rarely.

“And we have the ‘Awakening Nations’ churches in two places – Memphis and Houston. I’m part of the music ministry of the church as far as the worship team is concerned and they’ve had a great impact on me. They focus on the individual, and they focus on Jesus. And what we believe is that Jesus came to save everybody and to empower everybody to live their best lives as he did, and to do the things that he did, and to love like he did, and to be there for people like he was.

“But I can’t help but right songs and can’t help pursue music because that’s part of who I am. Ever since I was a teenager it’s been a huge part of my life, and I want to go to the ‘Dark Horse’ recording studio in Nashville this year to record six songs. They recorded music with some big-name gospel Christian artists, Michael W. Smith, and King and Country and other artists like Taylor Swift and Dolly Parton too.

“I want to be part of a studio that is known for creating top level music and trying my hand with that because I haven’t been in a studio of that level up to this point. I’m going to give myself an opportunity to see what a studio of this calibre can do for me, that’s my next step. I’m going full steam ahead with music – and with the church.”

Ivery’s dedication to his music is admirable, his talent exceptional. But especially noteworthy is the fact he manages all aspects of his music career independently.

“There’s no team behind me, I do everything myself, but I’ve done things with some people! I did a song with Kirk Whalum, he did the famous saxophone solo with Whitney Houston on ‘I Will Always Love You.’ He recorded a song with me called ‘Between Heaven and Earth,’ and I’ve worked with Ann Peebles in her studio, she’s backgrounding on one of my songs called ‘Quiet Storm.’

“This is years ago and I haven’t really put it out there at all because I didn’t feel like nobody cares, but as far as things clicking for me, as far as getting the kind of attention or anybody wanting to manage me anything of that nature, it never came to pass, but it doesn’t stop me from doing what I love to do.

“But in fact, I got a word from God that things are going to happen with my music. I do have an audience you know, it was a word of encouragement to keep on going and I trust that what happens is going to happen because I believe ultimately God has a plan. I mean why would he give me all these songs and allow me to write these songs, and no one takes notice or anything? I don’t know, but at this point honestly, I just stop trying to figure it out and just do what is in my heart to do and that it’s the right call.

“I really don’t think I’m all that great of a singer because I’ve been told that so much all my life, but I know I can sing, in fact I wrote a song called ‘I’m not a great singer, but I know I can sing.’”

In a city where current musicians are often overlooked at the expense of past legends, few would begrudge AC Ivery the breakthrough he so richly deserves, his voice the epitome of the sweet, soulful music for which Memphis is universally recognised.

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