Maybe It Was Memphis

History[edit]

The song was first recorded by Phil Seymour whose bass player, Michael Anderson, wrote the song. Seymour's version was released posthumously in 2001 on the expanded version of his 2nd Boardwalk album "Phil Seymour 2." It was produced by Richard Podolor.


Tillis first cut the song on Warner Bros. Records in the late 1980s^[1] under the production of Josh Leo, but did not release this version until Warner issued the album Pam Tillis Collection in the mid-1990s.


Her second and more successful version of the song was recorded on her 1991 album Put Yourself in My Place. It was released in November 1991 as the album's fourth single and became her third Top Ten hit on the Billboard country charts, peaking at number 3 in February 1992.^[2] "Maybe It Was Memphis" was also nominated for the Country Music Association's Song of the Year in 1992.^[3] This version also earned Tillis a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.


According to Arista Records' then-senior director of marketing Mike Dungan, executives were reluctant to release the song due to its more pop sound, and held off on doing so until Tillis had established herself.^[4]