Memphis Music InnerView

CREED is a band that still stands tall in Memphis music even after more than 40 years. Their one album, CREED, released in 1978, offers Southern-edged hard rock that has a slight AOR flavor thanks to the keyboard magic of Hal Butler. “Firecracker” and “Time and Time Again” are standouts. While Steve Ingle had all the drawing power any band would need, in the end, so did Hal Butler. In the ‘70s, a band had drawing power if they had an excellent soloist. Some bands had guitar soloist, while other bands drew crowds with a fantastic keyboard soloist. CREED had both. Any band that had Steve Ingle and Hal Butler in it was so worth the price of admission. Hal Butler resurfaced in 1999, featured on the Jimi Jamison’s SURVIVOR album “Empires”. Steve Ingle’s latest project is Triple X.

This week, my guest is a second-generation Memphis musician. His Uncle Johnny had a few hits in the early ‘60s, including “You’re Sixteen”. His father, Dorsey Burnette, wrote songs like “It’s Late” for Ricky Nelson. Billy has recorded his own solo material and was with Fleetwood Mac for almost a decade. He has also toured with John Fogerty and Bob Dylan, among others.

When I saw the recent purchase of Sun Records by Primary Wave, it reminded me of a conversation I had with an early Sun session man. As it turns out, there wasn’t just one Jerry Lee at Sun. There were two. I’m talking about “Honky Tonk” piano session man Jerry Lee “Smoochy” Smith. Smoochy has some great stories to tell about what The Stage Stop in Memphis was like before it was the Stage Stop. Back then, it was Smoochy’s Steak House and Lounge, a steak house fit for a king. You see where I’m going here, right? The King of Rock and Roll was served there. Who knew? Nobody and Smoochy told me why. Smoochy was also a member of the Mar-keys with Don Nix and Duck Dunn. He has stories to tell about Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Phillips, Carl Perkins, Chips Moman, and a few more. We started by talking about his Sun Sessions.

Bobby Whitlock was born in Arkansas but spent his teen years living in Millington and hanging out at some Memphis recording studios. In fact, he found himself in the Stax studio where Sam and Dave were recording “I Thank You.” You can hear Bobby supplying some of the handclaps on that record. Bobby went on to be the first white artist to be signed by Stax’s Hip imprint label. Bobby is a keyboard player, that is his instrument, but he was persuaded to play piano for the first time on a studio recording during the sessions for George Harrison’s “Beware of Darkness.” Early in the All Things Must Pass sessions, Clapton, and Whitlock, along with bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, formed the blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos. Whitlock wrote or co-wrote seven of the album’s fourteen songs, including “Tell the Truth”, “Bell Bottom Blues,” and “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad.” Two of the songs co-written by Clapton and Whitlock also feature Bobby on lead vocals, “Keep on Growing” and “Thorn Tree in the Garden.” On the other tracks, he and Clapton shared the singing.Now, Bobby has taken up painting, and he’s good at it. If you would like to view/purchase his paintings, go to https://www.bobbywhitlockart.com/

This week’s Memphis Music Inner View is the conclusion of my conversation with Pat and Susanne Taylor. Once again, you can hear the love between them that was so apparent in last week’s episode. Listen for Pat to mention Missouri, Susanne jumps in and teases him. If you listen closely, you can hear Pat give Susanne a raspberry before explaining his pronunciation. This is my tribute to Pat Taylor, who touched so many in the Memphis music community. We also hear from part of that community, their friends Jack Rowell and Greg Reding, in this episode.

Season 2 of the Memphis Music Inner View Podcast continues with episode 2, my conversation with Pat and Susanne Jerome Taylor. I worked hard to get this interview. Our mutual friend, Freddy Tate helped make it happen. I wanted the Taylors to share their story with the whole world. It is one of the most loving and respectful stories in the history of Memphis music. You can hear the love in this interview.Check it out on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, Pandora, or wherever you get yours.

My guest this week is Gary Talley of the Box Tops. Gary was an original member and then went on to tour and record with some of the greatest recording artists of the time. I'm talking about people like Billy Preston, Willie Nelson, Dr. John, Tim McGraw, and Tammy Wynette, to name a few. Gary tells the story of the Box Tops. He also talks about the Happy Together tour and meeting Leslie West many years ago.

I went to high school with this week’s guest on the Memphis Music InnerView Podcast. Ron Hall started “collecting” (albums, Memphis music memorabilia, all kinds of stuff) when he was in high school. I was aware that Ron was collecting and selling albums at the Flea Market, but in 2001 my good friend, Steve Johnston, told me about a great new book he got as a birthday gift. It was Ron’s first book, Playing for A Piece of the Door. I loved it and read about so many bands that I followed and others I just heard of. In 2003, The Memphis Garage Band Yearbook was published. Not only was it a great read, but like it’s predecessor, it was also a great tool for my research for my interviews and That Memphis Music Radio Show. In 2014, Memphis Rocks: A Concert History 1955-1985 hit the bookshelves. Ron also wrote Sputnik, Masked Men, & Midgets: The Early Days of Memphis Wrestling, which was the basis for the movie Memphis Heat. I pride myself on knowing a lot about Memphis music, but I bow to Ron’s knowledge on the subject.

You can’t have a conversation about Memphis Music without today’s guests’ name coming up. Reba Russell is a published songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, backing vocalist, bandleader, and producer, as well as a touring and recording artist. Reba Russell and her band tour the United States and Europe and have released 8 Independent Albums.If you have heard the podcast and would like to review it, just go to RateThisPodcast.com/memphismusic

Here's the conclusion of my interview with Robby Turner. If you have heard the podcast and would like to review it, just go to RateThisPodcast.com/memphismusic

This week’s show is my conversation with Robby Turner and what an Inner View it was. Robby has toured with the Highwaymen, Waylon Jennings, the Dixie Chicks, and he has worked with Sam Phillips, Chips Moman, Reggie Young, Tony Joe White, and Sun Records, to name a few. Although he is known for his steel guitar playing, he also plays drums, bass guitar, and many more instruments. If you have heard the podcast and would like to review it, just go to RateThisPodcast.com/memphismusic

The Memphis Music InnerView Podcast this week is Singer, Songwriter, and producer Dan Penn. Dan wrote hit songs for The Box Tops, Conway Twitty, James and Bobby Purify, and many more. He worked with American Studios, Ardent, and Fame. He also had his own studio, Beautiful Sounds, in east Memphis. This is a fun and interesting interview. We had fun doing it, and you can hear that. If you have heard the podcast and would like to review it, just go to RateThisPodcast.com/memphismusic

Danny Jones is a producer/engineer who has worked in three major music cities, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and New Orleans. He has worked on some incredible projects. I really enjoyed this interview; Danny has worked with some friends and a few I wish I knew better. This is a very interesting interview. If you have heard the podcast and would like to review it, just go to RateThisPodcast.com/memphismusic

My guest today is Linda Gail Lewis, the Killer’s Little Sister. As you will hear, Linda Gail has her own talent and even toured with her brother and Van Morrison as his Piano player.

Today’s podcast is my conversation with a Memphis Music icon, John Fry of Ardent Studios. From my 2014 interview with John, who was involved with Memphis music for decades. John talks about Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Big Star and their contribution to Memphis music. We also talk about when Ardent broadcast live shows over FM100, and two of John’s favorite subjects, the Big Star Movie and digital versus analog sound.

Good Morning Facebook, today the Podcast is with a man I have great respect for. He, like almost every American male in the ’60s, was in a garage band. His band was formed in Greenwood, MS, but he recorded and lived in Memphis for a while. Sid Herring and his band became well known in the midsouth. He looked like Peter Noone (Herman) of Herman’s Hermits, but his singing voice was compared to that of John Lennon.Sid lived in Memphis and recorded at TMI Studios with my friend, Jerry Williams, as part of a group called WatchPocket. He is still playing and recording from his home just outside of Nashville.There are links to all the songs we talk about on the YouTube post (link below).I hope you enjoy Season 1 Episode 5 – Sid Herringhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFLLiC41_sA

It's Monday, so here is my new podcast. This is my conversation with "Memphis Boy" piano player Bobby Wood. Bobby talks about the first time he met Elvis and it wasn't while recording with him at American Studios. He also talks about his current gig in the Garth Brooks recording band. Great interview, check it out.

“The Memphis music story that you’ve never heard.” Shoe: A Memphis Music Legacy.Memphis musicians, singers, songwriters, engineers, and producers reunite to remember and record their days at Shoe Productions. This underground studio was about to be left out of Memphis Music History. In this episode of Memphis Music InnerView, I talk with Andy Black about the making of Shoe: A Memphis Music Legacy. While some are talking about the difficulties of home quarantine with their family, here is a family who pulled together to create a little Memphis magic. A four-year project that Andy took on, and when he needed help, he turned to those who couldn’t say “No,” his son, Nathan, and wife, Linda. They became the perfect team to bring this project to life. Hear the story behind the story of behind the scenes at Shoe Productions.After you hear the story, you’ll want to see the Doc. Shoe: A Memphis Music Legacy is available for rent or purchase on their Facebook page.

George Klein is much more than a friend of Elvis Presley. He was one of the first DJ's in Memphis to play rock and roll on the radio, before Elvis. That was just the beginning of what George would do for Memphis, music wise. He became one of the most famous disc jockeys in Memphis history. He had the RKO "Boss" jock sound down when he was at WHBQ. You can't mention those call letters without thinking of George Klein or GK as Elvis called him.

It bothers me that for so long, George Klein has been seen as just Elvis' friend. George is an innovator and an ambassador to Memphis music. He has helped bring Memphis music to the world and the world of music to Memphis. George Klein is much more than a friend of Elvis Presley. He was one of the first DJ's in Memphis to play rock and roll on the radio, before Elvis. That was just the beginning of what George would do for Memphis, music wise. He became one of the most famous disc jockeys in Memphis history. He had the RKO "Boss" jock sound down when he was at WHBQ. You can't mention those call letters without thinking of George Klein or GK as Elvis called him. George met Elvis when they were in the eighth grade at Humes. He and Elvis had a lot more in common than their careers; they thought a lot alike. Like Elvis, GK doesn't have an unkind word to say about anyone. He is respectful, kind, and caring. In addition to his work at 56 WHBQ radio, George also had a TV show on WHBQ TV Channel 13 called Talent Party. Talent Party was always faithful to local talent. Every show featured at least one local act. That show broke a lot of Memphis talent, like a group called Knowbody Else. You may know them better as Black Oak Arkansas. He also helped launch Sandy Posey's career ("Born a Woman" and "Single Girl"). George broke some records on Talent Party that went on to be national hits. Songs by the artists that George believed in like "Keep on Dancing" by the Gentrys and Sam the Sham's "Wooly Bully," just to name a couple. Whenever a group wanted to be on the show, George didn't care what they had done. He cared about what they sounded like. No tape? No problem. George worked out a deal with Roland Janes at Sonic Recording Studios. For thirteen dollars, a group could go in and cut one to four songs to lip-synch on the show. GK watched to see what other music shows were doing at the time, and he noticed that many of them featured regulars. He decided to do the same. He picked two acts to feature every other week, Flash and the Casuals (later Flash and the Board of Directors), and Sherry Grooms were who he decided on. David "Flash" Fleischman (now co-owner of All Memphis Music, an internet station) told me, "I met GK four days after turning sixteen and getting my driver's license. I Drove to WHBQ because I wanted to meet this disc jockey. Not because I wanted to be in radio or was interested in radio, but because he booked bands and I was in a band. That was the start of what's been a 48-year friendship. I'm proud to call George Klein, my friend, and no matter what I do, I can never repay George for what's he's done for me. He's been there and advised me all these years, every step of the way. And one of the things that makes George so special is that he has helped so many over all these years. As the title of the Tina Turner song says, GK is "Simply the Best." GK not only discovered Memphis singing talent but other talent as well. During the annual Miss Teenage Memphis Pageant, the Talent Party fashion coordinator spotted a standout beauty. She brought the girl to George's attention, and they sent some pictures of her to a modeling agency in New York. The agency accepted her. She became the model of the year, and then Hollywood came calling on Cybill Shepherd. One of the groups that came to Memphis to be on Talent Party was an unknown band from California called the Soul Children (not to be confused with the Stax group that featured Jay Blackfoot). They didn't have a tape, so George sent them to Sonic Recording and Roland Janes to make their thirteen-dollar tape. They took that tape to Stax Records, and it got them a million-dollar contract. They changed their name to Con Funk Shun and went on to record 14 albums.

My guest on this episode is Tim Riley, Tim is what’s called a promotion man. Record promotion is the division of a record company that places songs on the radio. They build relationships with program directors and music directors at radio stations and try to get them to play their records. They may also contract a third party, known as an independent promotion man or woman, whose responsibility is to take their artist's new song and get it on the radio by any means necessary. Tim is an independent promotion man who has many stories about his promotions to draw attention to the records he was working and some he just liked.

My guest this week is Sid Herring of the Gants. The Gants were a great garage band from Greenwood, Mississippi originally known as the Kingsman. The Kingsman began with Sid Herring & Johnny Freeman in 1963 playing R&B covers and the type of instrumentals inspired by The Ventures. For a short period, Sid Herring lived in Memphis and the Gants recorded there. The British were invading, and Sid Herring was getting to be well known as the local singer who not only resembled Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, but his singing voice was compared to that of John Lennon. To add to that British Invasion connection the Gants opened for the Animals 1965 Florida tour.

Jimmy Tarbutton got his start in Memphis music by playing in a few garage bands including the Jimmy Hart led Gentrys. He and two others quit the Gentrys to form one of the best Memphis bands of the seventies, Edgewood. He worked at Jerry Williams’ TMI studios for a while before moving to Nashville seeking work as an engineer and producer.Jimmy has worked with José Feliciano, JJ Cale, and the Oak Ridge Boys to name but a few. He shared a lot of great stories in this interview and I enjoyed talking with him after all these years. I hope you enjoy this episode.

This episode's guest is a Memphis Music Icon, John Fry the owner of Ardent Studios. I believe this is John’s last interview before his untimely death on December 18, 2014. John Fry had been involved with Memphis music for years. His Ardent studios survived when others like Sun and Stax have fallen. John talks about Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Big Star and their contribution to Memphis music. Here’s the interview from September of 2013. I started by talking about the first broadcast from Ardent over FM100, the year was 1970 or 71 and the artist was Wishbone Ash.

Wait until you hear my conversation with Linda Gail Lewis, she is so much more than Jerry Lee's little sister. She is talented, warm, charming and a great storyteller! She talks about recording and touring with Van Morrison, her collaboration with Robbie Fulks, the legend of the Killer and the truth about him as well. It's interesting to hear about Jerry Lee from his little sister's perspective. You will also hear her play the piano in that undeniable Lewis style. If you listen, you will become a fan as I have. Thank you, Linda Gail.

Back in the seventies, nobody was bigger in the emerging new Memphis sound than David Beaver. With Memphis bands like Cargoe, Big Star, and Zuider Zee dominating the Memphis music scene, David Beaver was also a standout. First in the Gentrys then Edgewood and finally with D Beaver and Combinations. The latter two recorded at Jerry Williams’ TMI studios. The Combinations album was some pretty heavy stuff and Memphis loved it. I talked to David Beaver about all of it.

Andy Black has been involved in the Memphis music scene since he was in high school. He played bass and sang with the Strayfers. I know, because I was there. We met at Frayser High School and we have been friends ever since. He was at Shoe Productions for years helping create little ditties like "The Dog Police", "Disco Duck" and "Memphis I'm Coming Home To You." I talked to Andy about his time at Shoe Studio and the documentary about the importance of Shoe to the history of Memphis music. We also talked about working with Pat and Susanne Taylor for the first time they ever worked together on "Memphis I'm Coming Home to You" and that's not the Breaks. There is also more to the story of that song and Andy explains what the song is all about. He also talks about his new project with David Beaver.