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Our first proper episode in a few weeks! Welcome back 2Legs Faithful! For E274 we were honoured to have the esteemed Jeff Slate, a New York City based musician and journalist join us! In this episode we cover a lot of ground! Dylan and Macca's late career albums from 1997 on (Time Out Of Mind & Flaming Pie) being the re-launch for a renaissance for both elder statesmen of rock at the time. "A Complete Unknown", The Beatles solo careers, Wings, Dylan/McCartney's approaches to their archival releases; the standards albums that both have done. Dylan's relationship with George/John and the non-existent one with Macca. We even touch on a little bit of The Who! We dish on how they both sound live currently (double standard ?) and the legacy that both will leave behind. Jeff Slate wrote the liner notes to the 50th Anniversary boxset to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017) as well as the Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 14: More Blood; More Tracks (2018). He has collaborated with Pete Townshend on several projects. He co-wrote a biography on Roy Orbison with Roy's sons. He has also interviewed Bob himself! If this wasn't enough he has his own solo career and he's just recently released his 4th Solo album The Last Day of Summer which features Dave Stewart and Earl Slick. Jeff is known for some controversial "hot takes" and you may hear 1 or 2 in this episode! We love and appreciate honesty here on 2Legs! To keep up with all of Jeff's activity please visit his website: Also, please consider joining our Patreon to get early access to shows, merch and our Discord server!
“I dreamed you, I saw your face. Caught my lifeline, went drifting through space”. What an incredible way to say “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you and my life would never be the same again”. I was talking with my pal Corey on our show The Ultimate Catalogue Clash about lyrics a couple of episodes ago and we've had an ongoing discussion since about how to appraise lyrics. Well, one of the ways that you can say a lyric is “strong” or “good” is if it immediately evokes an emotion in you. And boy does this one ever. I think most people have had that happen in their life when they've just immediately fallen in love. If it's not happened with a romantic partner in this specific way, I daresay that anyone listening who is a parent had it happen the first time they laid eyes on their first child. You know in that moment that nothing will ever be the same and that you immediately can't live without that tiny person.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find the official video here: https://youtu.be/HSOKVghuiIgIf you want to check out Jeff Slate's fantastic album, The Last Day of Summer, you can find that here : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k0c_chbHsywab6UUOpX3s1lI7V3u3KD78And if you want to check out Matt Jaffe's killer new record, Gone Enough To Miss, you can find that one here : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n2ngTjPQB1HHTsrfNuEGq82ttxcOFJY6wDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul RobertsSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Roy Orbison was a West Texas boy with an operatic voice. He was drawn to the guitar at age six. His monumental global career successes were matched by extraordinary personal tragedies. Jeff Slate is the co-author of the book The Authorized Roy Orbison.
Songwriter and journalist Jeff Slate joins Frank Mackay on this episode of The Frank Mackay Show!
Thursday Jazz Thursdays with MAQ at South Hill Cider and IthaKaraoke with a live band at Deep Dive. Friday, Cuban Music with Alejandro Ruiz at South Hill Cider, London McDaniel at the Antlers, Ben Folds at the State Theatre, Billy Prine at the Hangar Theatre, and Ithaca Underground presents Extra Life, BRIAN! and La Llorona at Sacred Root Kava Lounge. For your Saturday, Spaghett About It, live music and comedy with an all you can eat spaghetti dinner at Cedarwood. The Wallflowers with Jeff Slate at the State Theatre. Sunday, Alyssa Rodriguez – Nordic Music Scholar & Performer at the Canaan Institute, a traditional Irish music session at Liquid State, and there’s Modern Western Square Dancing at the Lansing Community Center. Wednesday, open mic night at Sacred Root Kava Lounge, and the Canaan Jam Session at the Canaan Institute, and Leo Kottke is at the Hangar Theatre. Thursday, Richie Stearns & Friends at South Hill Cider and Ithakaraoke with a live band at Deep Dive. Next Friday, a culinary benefit for chefs affected by Hurricane Helene at Bright Leaf Vineyard in King Ferry! And next Saturday, David Cross at the State Theatre. Lots more details and more 14850 Happenings at [...]
Before we kick off the season proper, let's listen to which version of Walls my guests so far have picked! When I wrote the question, "Which do you prefer, Walls (Circus) or Walls (No. 3), I assumed everyone would pick that latter. It didn't turn out that way!"Guests included, in order; Dallas Heliker, Jake Thistle, Gwen Jones, Janet Lovell, Jeff Slate, Megan Volpert, Corey Morrissette, Katie Moulton, Dan Spiess, Ivan Anderson, Tommy Edwin, Django Bayless, Dan Durkin, Matte Jaffe, Russell Mark, Mark Lindsey, Will Porteous, Doc Wiley, Chris Gillette, Pete Nester, Mary Beth Donnelly, Tim Bulman, Nora Hayward Olsen, Eric Senich, and me!The Tom Petty Project is a proud member of The Deep Dive Podcast Network, which you can find on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deepdivepodnetDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6BLRWuuAR43zHpNKIirOwAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul RobertsSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode is a fairly hastily organized chat that I had with Jeff Slate and Jake Thistle about the upcoming Wildflowers and Some of the Rest mini-tour that they're embarking on which kicks off at the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville. It was fun digging into the dynamic between the two of them. We recognized that Jake has been performing with Jeff for pretty much a third of his life, that they haven't yet nailed out exactly who is singing which songs, and that the name of their supporting band is the Gator City Allstars! You can find tickets for all four (so far) dates here: Jeff Slate: https://jeffslatehq.com/calendarJake Thistle: https://jakethistle.com/eventsDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music other than the piano version of Wildflowers, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul RobertsSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Musician, Rolling Stone/New Yorker music journalist and author Jeff Slate released his new book 'Guitar' earlier this year co-authored with Earl Slick, and is on tour with The Wallflowers. We explore social media politics and rock n roll's reckoning with historical racism, misogyny and MeToo. Get in touch: Email: soundaffectspodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @SoundAffectsPod Insta: @sound_affects_podcast Jeff Slate: Book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/308449/jeff-slate Album and singles: https://jeffslatehq.com/store Twitter: https://x.com/jeffslate Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jeffslate/ Website: https://jeffslatehq.com/ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jeffslate Links to things mentioned: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/eric-clapton-s-covid-vaccine-conspiracies-mark-sad-final-act-ncna1281619 David Bowie internet clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaHcOs7mhfU Support Sound Affects Pod: www.kofi.com/SoundAffectsPod Become a Patron of Sound Affects Podcast: hhttps://www.patreon.com/user?u=7816406&fan_landing=true&view_as=public
One of my very favourite virtuoso pianists is a Canadian/German guy named Michael Kaeshammer. The guy absolutely tears the roof off every time I've seen him live and what Benmont does here really reminds me of his playing. It's technically superb, rhythmically perfect, and so, so, so melodic! As much as I love hearing a perfectly-crafted Mike Campbell guitar solo, it makes my heart sing possibly even more when we get something like this from Benmont, probably because the instances of his solos are fewer and further between. Long Live Benmont Tench.Today's guest conversation sees the return of the only other Englishman to appear on the podcast so far, Will Porteous, who also has a brilliant new song out that we're going to talk about. Be advised that there is some profanity in this conversation as Will and I always seem to default to our two-mates-chatting-in-a-pub-forgetting-that-it's-being-recorded mode of conversation…. It's always a pleasure and a really good laugh chatting to Will so I hope you enjoy our conversation about this week's song, Wildflowers in general, and beyond!Check out Jeff Slate's new album here: https://tinyurl.com/4xrazhx5You can find Jake's live album here: https://tinyurl.com/ykzh74fmListen to the Honest & Unmerciful Record Review Podcast episide on the Black Crowes sophomore effort here: https://tinyurl.com/a93u89vpListen to the song: Album version: https://youtu.be/PeEj8M1K_mI Home Demo recording: https://youtu.be/e_4QsL3pCu4 Live: https://youtu.be/ktR8eaecWmU Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectAll music other than the piano version of Wildflowers, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul RobertsSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us a Text Message.It's incredible that my path has never crossed with that of Jeff Slate - we have mutual friends and musical experiences going back too long to calculate. It was a joy to chat with him about his album The Last Day of Summer, which is out now.Alongside the conversation, you can hear extracts from The Last Day of Summer, and I hope you enjoy listening in.Thank you for listening to Harmonious World. Please rate, review and share: click on the link and subscribe to support the show.Don't forget the Quincy Jones quote that sums up why I do this: "Imagine what a harmonious world it would be if every single person, both young and old, shared a little of what he is good at doing."Support the Show.Thanks for listening to Harmonious World. You can support the show by becoming a subscriber.Please rate and review wherever you find your podcasts - it really helps.Read my reviews of albums, gigs and books as well as a little personal stuff on my blogFollow me on instagram.com/hilseabrookFollow me on facebook.com/HilarySeabrookFreelanceWriterFollow me on twitter.com/hilaryrwriter
The journey of "No Reply" is a curious one. A song John seemed to not think much of, and originally offered to another Brian Epstein-managed artist, it was possibly slated to be the final song recorded for A Hard Day's Night. If not for Ringo's tonsillitis, who knows what would've happened with it. After spending some time with it though, and working it into a bit more interesting arrangement, it turned out to be the lead off track to the band's 4th album, and a real signpost to where the band was headed. More introspective than what had come before it, and a much less energetic album opener than Beatles fans were expecting, No Reply is a real sneaky song. It's filled with great melody and harmony, possibly one of the best bridges the band ever recorded, and it's all done very economically. Not a second is wasted on this song. It shows a real growth that the band is starting to go through, with John painting a brilliant scene throughout the song. It's a fantastic and unique way to start a Beatles record, and a song that doesn't get nearly enough love. Joining us this week is musician and journalist Jeff Slate. You may have read his articles in Rollling Stone, Billboard, or the New Yorker, or heard him as guest DJ on Sirius XM or KLOS. He's got a brand new record out, The Last Day of Summer with a laundry list of great players joining him. It's a fantastic pop rock album, we can't recommend it enough. He'll be on the road this November supporting the Wallflowers on the East Coast so don't miss it! Check out all things Jeff at www.jeffslatehq.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook! What do you think about "No Reply" at #88? Too high? Too low? Or just right? Let us know in the comments on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! Be sure to check out www.rankingthebeatles.com and grab a Rank Your Own Beatles poster, a shirt, a jumper, whatever you like! And if you're digging what we do, don't forget to Buy Us A Coffee! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/support
Today, the Spotlight shines On musician, songwriter, journalist, and returning guest, Jeff Slate.Jeff joined us about two years ago and while that discussion was more focused on his work as a writer and cultural observer, this talk focuses on his music career.Based in New York City, Jeff has traveled quite an interesting road from his roots in the mid-80s post-punk world to rubbing shoulders and working with luminaries like Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Pete Townshend, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nile, Margo Price, and Sheryl Crow.Jeff has a new record out, The Last Day of Summer, featuring Dave Stewart, Duff McKagan, Earl Slick, as well as members of Paul Weller's band and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. The album even boasts photos shot by famed rock photographer Bob Gruen.It was a real blast getting to know this side of Jeff's life and work. He's fun to spend time with and is someone who speaks his mind and who clearly cares. Check out Jeff's music (links are in the show notes) and enjoy our talk.(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Jeff Slate's album The Last Day of Summer)–Dig DeeperVisit Jeff Slate at jeffslatehq.comPurchase Jeff Slate's album The Last Day of Summer on Qobuz or listen on your streaming platform of choiceFollow Jeff Slate on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), and YouTubeJeff Slate visits Spotlight On in 2022James Honeyman-Scott: The Complete 1981 Pretenders InterviewBe sure to peruse this episode's extensive show notes at spotlightonpodcast.com–• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate Spotlight On ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. • Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of Spotlight On in your podcast app of choice. • Looking for more? Visit spotlightonpodcast.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Spotlight On email newsletter. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon. • Check out Spotlight On's next live event at The Royal Room in Seattle on Saturday, June 22! More info here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Today, the Spotlight shines On musician, songwriter, journalist, and returning guest, Jeff Slate.Jeff joined us about two years ago and while that discussion was more focused on his work as a writer and cultural observer, this talk focuses on his music career.Based in New York City, Jeff has traveled quite an interesting road from his roots in the mid-80s post-punk world to rubbing shoulders and working with luminaries like Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Pete Townshend, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nile, Margo Price, and Sheryl Crow.Jeff has a new record out, The Last Day of Summer, featuring Dave Stewart, Duff McKagan, Earl Slick, as well as members of Paul Weller's band and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. The album even boasts photos shot by famed rock photographer Bob Gruen.It was a real blast getting to know this side of Jeff's life and work. He's fun to spend time with and is someone who speaks his mind and who clearly cares. Check out Jeff's music (links are in the show notes) and enjoy our talk.(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Jeff Slate's album The Last Day of Summer)–Dig DeeperVisit Jeff Slate at jeffslatehq.comPurchase Jeff Slate's album The Last Day of Summer on Qobuz or listen on your streaming platform of choiceFollow Jeff Slate on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), and YouTubeJeff Slate visits Spotlight On in 2022James Honeyman-Scott: The Complete 1981 Pretenders InterviewBe sure to peruse this episode's extensive show notes at spotlightonpodcast.com–• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate Spotlight On ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. • Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of Spotlight On in your podcast app of choice. • Looking for more? Visit spotlightonpodcast.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Spotlight On email newsletter. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Mastodon. • Check out Spotlight On's next live event at The Royal Room in Seattle on Saturday, June 22! More info here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Legendary Nashville songwriter, Harlan Howard is purported to have coined the expression “three chords and the truth” and friend and colleague Bob Dylan is also remembered for the great line “All I need is my red guitar, three chords and the truth”. Well that's all this riff is. Three chords. No passing chords, no fancy inversions or suspended notes. Just three chords - D A E. Mike Campbell was and is famously prolific in his writing and brought all of that work to Tom in case there was something there that connected. In this case, Tom saw the truth in those three chords and decided to write a masterpiece. It may have taken a while for the final brushstrokes to arrive, but when they did, they truly transformed a young girl with a faraway look in her eye into the Mona Lisa. This episode includes a conversation with musician, writer, and former guest, Jeff Slate.If you want to listen to You Wreck Me before the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/-3aGZZueg08 If you'd like to listen to the fantastic version released as a part of the Fillmore box set, you can find that here: https://youtu.be/aPV745BKtr8If you have any interest in Van Halen, please check out my friends Corey and Mark over on And The Podcast Will Rock. You can find the show here: https://shows.acast.com/podcastwillrockDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectAll music other than the piano version of Wildflowers, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul RobertsSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jeff Slate is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician, writer, and journalist. His writings have been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, WSJ, the New Yorker, and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's box set. He discusses how the Beatles influenced his life and career, and how his appreciation of the song In My Life has changed over the years.Website: https://jeffslatehq.com/homeX: https://x.com/jeffslateInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffslate/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeffslateFollow My Favourite Beatles SongX (Twitter): https://twitter.com/myfavebeatlesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyFavouriteBeatlesSongInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/myfavouritebeatlessongOriginal music by Joe KaneLogo design by Mark Cunningham
Jeff Slate and Earl Slick first met over 15 years ago. In that time they have performed and recorded together many times. Jeff is a guitarist, producer, frontman, journalist, regular guest host on SiriusXM. and ASCAP songwriter. Earl is a legendary guitarist, most known for his long association with David Bowie, his work on the Double Fantasy album […] The post 113 – Jeff Slate and Earl Slick appeared first on The ESO Network.
Jeff Slate and Earl Slick first met over 15 years ago. In that time they have performed and recorded together many times. Jeff is a guitarist, producer, frontman, journalist, regular guest host on SiriusXM. and ASCAP songwriter. Earl is a legendary guitarist, most known for his long association with David Bowie, his work on the Double Fantasy album with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and his collaborations with Robert Smith, Slim Jim Phantom & Lee Rocker, John Waite, David Coverdale, and more. Our conversation focuses on Jeff's new album The Last Day of Summer (on which Earl played guitar), and Earl's new biography called Guitar (co-written by Jeff). We also get some great stories about how they became friends, touring with Bowie, working with Dave Stewart, journalistic integrity, selling real estate, what music greats they'd love to work with, and a whole lot more! https://jeffslatehq.com/ https://www.facebook.com/EarlSlickOfficial/ We hope you enjoyed our interview with Jeff Slate and Earl Slick as much as we did! Email us at modernmusicology1@gmail.com and tell us all about it, or leave a comment wherever you find our episode and let us know! And don't forget to rate us on your favorite podcast app! Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ModernMusicology Check us out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/modernmusicologypodcast/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ModrnMusicology Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk-MlcGy5u3fK1j4bVty1Kw Modern Musicology is part of the ESO Podcast Network. https://esonetwork.com/ Find more about us: Rob Levy: https://kdhx.org/shows/show/juxtaposition Stephanie Seymour: www.therearebirds.com R. Alan Siler: www.kozmiccreative.com Anthony Williams: https://watchers4d.podbean.com/
On this episode Mark and Alan welcome journalist and musician Jeff Slate to discuss how artists should play their hits live. Alan reviews The Black Crowes and -Kinney live in NYC. Producer Roger reviews the NYC Raven Drum Foundation first responders' benefit plus we have New Music Picks and Music News on Paul Simon, the announcement of the Glastonbury lineup, ELO announce a farewell tour, Dr Dre reveals he had several strokes while hospitalized in 2021, our thoughts on Timothee Chalamet photos from the set of the Bob Dylan biopic and we remember Cockney Rebel singer Steve Harley. If that's not enough, the crew even has some of their favorite drummer jokes! We want to make you part of the conversation. Leave us your comments via text or audio message at connect@sounduppod.com https://www.instagram.com/sounduppod/https://twitter.com/sounduppod
Singer/songwriter and musician Jeff Slate joins me ahead of the release of his new album, The Last Day of Summer. We chat about his love of Elvis Costello's music and its influence on his own songwriting. Jeff recalls the many and varied Costello gigs he's attended over the years and picks out some of his favourite EC songs. Jeff tells me about recording Imposters and Attractions, his album of music inspired by Elvis, which also featured a couple of Costello covers. Also an acclaimed music writer and broadcaster, Jeff looks back on his different Costello interviews and features for Rolling Stone and Esquire, among others. Check out Jeff's new single (Broken) Without You and look out for his new album in May 2024.
This is a special non-Petty episode of the podcast. I haven't recorded one in ages, but when former guest Jeff Slate reached out to me to ask if I'd be interested in talking to him about his new single which is out now and the album it's from which will drop in May, it wasn't a hard sell for me as I'm a fan of both his music and his writing. We had a great chat about throwaway lyrics, production differences when you bring in outside voices, and recording an album with people in remote locations during a pandemic lockdown. Jeff's new album features a glittering array of star names, from Dave Stewart to Earl Slick, to Duff McKagan, all the way to OG heartbreaker Ron Blair. Listen to Jeff's fantastic new single, (Broken) Without You, here: https://youtu.be/1oskIeP_7Y0 and check out his website for merch, dates, and other info here: https://jeffslatehq.comDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.Thanks to Warren Zanes for the invaluable resource that is his biography of Tom Petty. A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, Conversations with Tom Petty, this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Music journalist Jeff Slate returns to discuss the new Beatles & Stones material on the Fake Show podcast with host Jim Tofte...enjoy!!!
Originally aired on November 3, 2023: Talkin' Beatles with rock journalist Jeff Slate and gigglin' with Acme Comedy Co. headliner Sean Patton. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Another recap episode for you this week folks as I try to wrangle guest schedules! This week we're looking back at the songs of Tom's that my guests would love to hear covered by other artists. This is a question I always look forward to discussing and it's thrown up some brilliant ideas!In order, the people answering the questions are; Dallas Heliker, Gwen Jones, Nic Apostoleris, Janet Lovell, Jeff Slate, Megan Volpert, Dan Spiess, Corey Morrissette, Katie Moulton, Ivan Anderson, Tommy Edwin, Dan Durkin, Django Bayless, and.... me!Please note, there are a couple of curse words in this episode.The Tom Petty Project is a proud member of The Deep Dive Podcast Network, which you can find on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deepdivepodnetDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6BLRWuuAR43zHpNKIirOwAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com/Logo provided Ed Booth, who you can find here: https://edboothart.com/The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, Conversations with Tom Petty, this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hi folks. Technical difficulties and scheduling have prevented me from recording episode one for season eight, so I have compiled the first Twelve answers to my first quick fire question. It's interesting that there were so many different answers to what I imagined would be a pretty straight arm wrestle between Damn The Torpedoes, Wallflowers, and Full Moon Fever! But that's the beauty of Tom's cataloguel; there's something for everyone!In order, the people answering the questions are; Dallas Heliker, Gwen Jones, Nic Apostoleris, Janet Lovell, Jeff Slate, Megan Volpert, Dan Spiess, Corey Morrissette, Katie Moulton, Michael Washburn, Ivan Anderson, and.... me!If you are able to donate financially to humanitarian aid relief efforts in Ukraine, the Red Cross is coordinating a large-scale effort which you can contribute to by visiting their website here: https://donate.redcross.ca/page/100227/donate/1The Tom Petty Project is a proud member of The Deep Dive Podcast Network, which you can find on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deepdivepodnetDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6BLRWuuAR43zHpNKIirOwAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com/Logo provided Ed Booth, who you can find here: https://edboothart.com/The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, Conversations with Tom Petty, this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#889 - Alan Light & Jeff Slate on Bob Dylan's Shadow Kingdom Alan Light and Jeff Slate are guests on The Paul Leslie Hour to discuss Bob Dylan's Shadow Kingdom Are you here? We've got a discussion on this episode of The Paul Leslie Hour. Renowned authors, journalists, music critics and Bob Dylan experts Alan Light and Jeff Slate are joining us. Both Jeff and Alan were guests on the show last year on separate occasions, but this time they're back on this show at the same time. This episode is a panel discussion on Bob Dylan's new album Shadow Kingdom! Real quick, please subscribe to Paul Leslie's YouTube channel. We're trying to grow the channel as we approach 20 years of interviews! And maybe you'll like us on Facebook too! But it also seems to be time to begin this in-depth discussion on Shadow Kingdom, the latest release from Bob Dylan. Who's ready? The Paul Leslie Hour - Helping People Tell Their Stories is a talk show with new episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Some of the most iconic people of all time drop in to chat. Frequent topics include Arts, Entertainment and Culture.
Rob welcomes author and musician Jeff Slate to discuss FRAGMENTS: TIME OUT OF MIND SESSIONS 1996-1997, the latest installment of THE BOOTLEG SERIES. Have a question or comment? E-MAIL: firewaterpodcast@comcast.net Follow POD DYLAN on Twitter: @Pod_Dylan POD DYLAN "Jukebox" T-Shirt now available: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RobKellyCreative You can find POD DYLAN on these platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pod-dylan/id1095013228 Amazon Music Spotify Stitcher Complete list of all songs covered so far: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/pod-dylan-the-songs Buy these songs on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/no/album/fragments-time-out-of-mind-sessions-1996-1997/1653501405 This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK: Visit the Fire & Water WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com Follow Fire & Water on TWITTER – https://twitter.com/FWPodcasts Like our Fire & Water FACEBOOK page – https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork Support The Fire & Water Podcast Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts Thanks for listening!
Rob welcomes author and musician Jeff Slate to discuss FRAGMENTS: TIME OUT OF MIND SESSIONS 1996-1997, the latest installment of THE BOOTLEG SERIES.Have a question or comment?E-MAIL: firewaterpodcast@comcast.netFollow POD DYLAN on Twitter: @Pod_DylanPOD DYLAN "Jukebox" T-Shirt now available: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RobKellyCreativeYou can find POD DYLAN on these platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pod-dylan/id1095013228Amazon MusicSpotifyStitcherComplete list of all songs covered so far: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/pod-dylan-the-songsBuy these songs on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/no/album/fragments-time-out-of-mind-sessions-1996-1997/1653501405This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK:Visit the Fire & Water WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.comFollow Fire & Water on TWITTER – https://twitter.com/FWPodcastsLike our Fire & Water FACEBOOK page – https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetworkSupport The Fire & Water Podcast Network on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcastsUse our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcastsThanks for listening!
Jeff Slate is a musician, writer, and radio host with a long and deep connection to Bob Dylan. He wrote the liner notes to the More Blood, More Tracks edition of The Bootleg Series, and has done several events for The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa. He shares his insider's view and personal memories on Time Out Of Mind in this episode. As an artist and performer Jeff has won an ASCAP Award, toured as the opener for Sheryl Crow, worked on a project with Pete Townshend and much more. As a writer his work regularly appears in The Wall St. Journal, RollingStone, Esquire and The New Yorker. He hosts shows on SiriusXM and the BBC. In addition to the Dylan Bootleg Series he's written liner notes for The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's 50th Anniversary Box, Shawn Colvin, and others. And he's the co-author of The Authorized Roy Orbison book. We talk Time Out Of Mind, an album he skipped work to devour on release day, and hear how he got involved with the Dylan team and his views on Bob's live work, use of producers (or lack thereof), and much more. An extended version of this interview - with about 40 extra minutes of discussion, and a video version, is available to Premium Members at FreakMusic.Club or our Substack. For as little as $8/mo you get extended versions of our podcast episodes, video versions, and many more benefits. (New Annual Members get a free copy of Jochen Markhorst's Time Out Of Mind Book.) LINKS: - Jeff Slate Website - Twitter @JeffSlate - Instagram @jeffslate - Jeff's Music on Spotify - Song Heartbreak - Annimated Video (YouTube) Rev v2.
#795 - Jeff Slate Jeff Slate is a special guest on The Paul Leslie Hour! Are you here? Look, if you aren't here. What's the point of starting the episode? Think about it. This is The Paul Leslie Hour, now in our 19th year. On today's show we're continuing our exploration of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's new book The Philosophy of Modern Song published by Simon & Schuster. Our guest on this episode taped November 2nd, 2022 is with a downright gifted and knowledgeable person. Jeff Slate is his name and he's qualified to talk Bob Dylan. He's a singer-songwriter, music journalist, rock historian and radio personality. You seriously need to check out his stuff. Jeff Slate is passionate about great music. Here's some interesting tidbits. Slate wrote the liner notes to the Bob Dylan bootleg release “More Blood, More Tracks.”Jeff also wrote great pieces about Dylan for The New Yorker and Esquire. His specialized expertise in the Dylan world has been noted, but he's also written about The Beatles, Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, and others. You're going to love Jeff Slate's insight into the new Dylan book The Philosophy of Modern Song! Paul can't wait for you to listen. It's worth mentioning that we're trying our best to double the audience on our YouTube channel before we hit the 20 year mark. It's free and fast. Won't you click that button that says Subscribe? You can also help us in our mission to help people tell their stories. Just go to www.thepaulleslie.com/support And we thank you wholeheartedly! Jeff Slate, come forth! It's time to start another show. The Paul Leslie Hour is a talk show dedicated to “Helping People Tell Their Stories.” Some of the most iconic people of all time drop in to chat. Frequent topics include Arts, Entertainment and Culture.
Today's episode is the incredibly fun and wide-ranging conversation I had with Jeff Slate. Jeff is an ASCAP-award-winning singer songwriter from New York City who has fronted several bands including the 80's mod punk band the Mindless Thinkers, has worked with musicians such as Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar, has opened for Sheryl Crow, toured Europe and has released numerous albums and singles both as part of different bands and as a solo artist. He's also a prolific journalist, writing for publications such as Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Esquire and has interviewed or written about artists as varied as Bob Dylan, Bob Geldof, David Bowie, Willie Nelson, and of course Tom Petty.You can find Jeff's tour dates, his music, and tons more information about the incredible body of work he's put together over the last few decades here! https://jeffslatehq.com/Check out Jeff sitting down with his frequent collaborator, Earl Slick, and Heartbreaker Ron Blair to promote the 2019 Tom Petty All Star Weekend too: https://youtu.be/gyOxdQ0ATRcIf you are able to donate financially to humanitarian aid relief efforts in Ukraine, the Red Cross is coordinating a large-scale effort which you can contribute to by visiting their website here: https://donate.redcross.ca/page/100227/donate/1The Tom Petty Project is a proud member of The Deep Dive Podcast Network, which you can find on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deepdivepodnetDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6BLRWuuAR43zHpNKIirOwAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com/Logo provided Ed Booth, who you can find here: https://edboothart.com/The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you're looking for Tom's music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, Conversations with Tom Petty, this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jeff Slate is an ASCAP award winning singer-songwriter from New York City. He co-founded the 1980's mod/punk band the Mindless Thinkers, and in the mid-90's released The Townshend Tapes, on which The Who's Pete Townshend acted as executive producer. He later opened for Sheryl Crow on her “Tuesday Night Music Club” tour before founding the band The Badge in 1997, who released three albums and countless singles, EPs and live “bootleg” sets, two “best of” compilations, and went on to become darlings of the UK/European “mod” scene in the 2000's. In 2010 Slate released the solo single “Dreamtime,” which featured Earl Slick (Lennon, Bowie) and Carlos Alomar (Bowie, Lennon), as well as other alums of David Bowie's bands. Birds of Paradox, his first solo album of original material, was released in 2012. It was followed in November 2013 by Imposters & Attractions, and his contribution to the Pete Quaife Foundation Kinks tribute album Shoulder To Shoulder in 2015, which honored the band's late bassist. His 2016 album Secret Poetry was another all-star affair, lauded by critics and fans alike. A video of the song “Letter From Paris (Showed Me The Way)” featuring Slate and Slick, was directed by Patrick McGuinn.Jeff's music has appeared in advertising and films and on television, including in the hit show Gossip Girl. Over the past decade Slate has been a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and many other publications, writing about music and culture, and has appeared on television and radio numerous times, including on former-Sex Pistol Steve Jones's Los Angeles drive time show Jonesy's Jukebox, and SiriusXMs Volume channel, where Slate is also a guest host, as well as the BBC numerous times. He is the co-author of the 2017 book The Authorized Roy Orbison, written with the late legend's sons, and has written liner notes for albums by Orbison, the Small Faces, Shawn Colvin, for the Stax Records 60th anniversary reissue series and for The Beatles' 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 2018 Slate wrote the 10,000+ word essay included in Bob Dylan's More Blood, More Tracks, the 14 edition of his long-running Bootleg Series. In 2019 Slate appeared onstage at the first World Of Bob Dylan conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sponsored by the Bob Dylan Center there, where he interviewed The Byrds' Roger McGuinn and performed with the legend. He also performed at all-star concerts celebrating The Clash's album London Calling in New York and L.A. In 2020, and Slate appeared at a show in Los Angeles fronting the band from the “Echo In The Canyon” film, as well as at an all-star concert at New York City's Town Hall honoring the 80th birthday of the Woody Guthrie song “This Land Is Your Land.”During the 2020 lockdown, Slate performed over forty Facebook Live and Instagram Live streaming concerts to thousands of fans each week, including one for the Martin Guitars series “Jam In Place,” and released the live album Lockdown Live taken from those performances. He also released the single and animated video “Heartbreak,” which featured Slick, Duff McKagan and other rock and roll luminaries, and contributed a cover of the Traveling Wilburys' song “Handle With Care” with his band to the official celebration of Tom Petty's 70th birthday.Slate proudly plays a Martin OM-28E Retro Acoustic Guitar with Martin Strings, as well as Hofner basses and Vox amps.Photo credit: Rachel NaomiLearn More about Lyte Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jeff Slate is an ASCAP award winning singer-songwriter from New York City. He co-founded the 1980's mod/punk band the Mindless Thinkers, and in the mid-90's released The Townshend Tapes, on which The Who's Pete Townshend acted as executive producer. He later opened for Sheryl Crow on her “Tuesday Night Music Club” tour before founding the band The Badge in 1997, who released three albums and countless singles, EPs and live “bootleg” sets, two “best of” compilations, and went on to become darlings of the UK/European “mod” scene in the 2000's. In 2010 Slate released the solo single “Dreamtime,” which featured Earl Slick (Lennon, Bowie) and Carlos Alomar (Bowie, Lennon), as well as other alums of David Bowie's bands. Birds of Paradox, his first solo album of original material, was released in 2012. It was followed in November 2013 by Imposters & Attractions, and his contribution to the Pete Quaife Foundation Kinks tribute album Shoulder To Shoulder in 2015, which honored the band's late bassist. His 2016 album Secret Poetry was another all-star affair, lauded by critics and fans alike. A video of the song “Letter From Paris (Showed Me The Way)” featuring Slate and Slick, was directed by Patrick McGuinn.Jeff's music has appeared in advertising and films and on television, including in the hit show Gossip Girl. Over the past decade Slate has been a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and many other publications, writing about music and culture, and has appeared on television and radio numerous times, including on former-Sex Pistol Steve Jones's Los Angeles drive time show Jonesy's Jukebox, and SiriusXMs Volume channel, where Slate is also a guest host, as well as the BBC numerous times. He is the co-author of the 2017 book The Authorized Roy Orbison, written with the late legend's sons, and has written liner notes for albums by Orbison, the Small Faces, Shawn Colvin, for the Stax Records 60th anniversary reissue series and for The Beatles' 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 2018 Slate wrote the 10,000+ word essay included in Bob Dylan's More Blood, More Tracks, the 14 edition of his long-running Bootleg Series. In 2019 Slate appeared onstage at the first World Of Bob Dylan conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sponsored by the Bob Dylan Center there, where he interviewed The Byrds' Roger McGuinn and performed with the legend. He also performed at all-star concerts celebrating The Clash's album London Calling in New York and L.A. In 2020, and Slate appeared at a show in Los Angeles fronting the band from the “Echo In The Canyon” film, as well as at an all-star concert at New York City's Town Hall honoring the 80th birthday of the Woody Guthrie song “This Land Is Your Land.”During the 2020 lockdown, Slate performed over forty Facebook Live and Instagram Live streaming concerts to thousands of fans each week, including one for the Martin Guitars series “Jam In Place,” and released the live album Lockdown Live taken from those performances. He also released the single and animated video “Heartbreak,” which featured Slick, Duff McKagan and other rock and roll luminaries, and contributed a cover of the Traveling Wilburys' song “Handle With Care” with his band to the official celebration of Tom Petty's 70th birthday.Slate proudly plays a Martin OM-28E Retro Acoustic Guitar with Martin Strings, as well as Hofner basses and Vox amps.Photo credit: Rachel NaomiLearn More about Lyte
Imagine being asked to write the liner notes for the 50th anniversary reissue of Sgt. Peppers, being produced by Pete Townshend, interviewing members of The Beatles, touring with Bowie's guitarist Earl Slick, and having a successful solo career to boot. A.K.A What a life! Ladies and gents, enjoy Jeff Slate on The StageLeft Podcast! Produced by Bastian Hues.
Music journalist Jeff Slate discusses the loss of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts with Fake Show host Jim Tofte.
We talk to writer and musician Jeff Slate about the passing of drummer Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones. Jeff wrote the 124-page liner notes for the new Rolling Stones box set out now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Guests: Jeff Slate (2:05:40), Theresa Caputo (2:26:36), Adam Carolla (2:51:51). The KQ Morning Show - Originally aired on August 25, 2021 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In a delayed episode celebrating Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, we take a close look at his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks! Support The Next Track (https://www.patreon.com/thenexttrack). Show notes: Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (https://amzn.to/3lTk1ty) Blonde on Blonde (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_on_Blonde) Double Album (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_album) Episode #208 - Jeff Slate on Bob Dylan at 80 (https://www.thenexttrack.com/211) Mad Magazine fold-in (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Fold-in) Our next tracks: Robert Fripp, 13th of May 1979 at Le Trompe l'Oiel (https://www.dgmlive.com/tour-dates/1720) The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: US Tour '74 Live (https://amzn.to/3AApDwT) If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.
Musician and journalist Jeff Slate has written about, and for, Bob Dylan, and has recently released an album with one disc of Dylan covers. We discuss Dylan at 80, and choose our top five Dylan albums. Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks! Support The Next Track (https://www.patreon.com/thenexttrack). Guest: Jeff Slate (https://jeffslatehq.com) Lockdown Live (https://jeffslatehq.com/store#) Show notes: Episode #131 - Jeff Slate on Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks (https://www.thenexttrack.com/134) Bob Dylan discography (http://www.bobdylan.com/albums/) Bob Dylan Center, Tulsa, OK. (https://www.bobdylancenter.com) Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (https://amzn.to/32UAxin) Episode #194 - Pianist Simone Dinnerstein (https://www.thenexttrack.com/197) Episode #187 - Live Performances during Covid-19, and After (https://www.thenexttrack.com/190) Episode #195 - Timo Andres: Making Home Videos and the Creative Process (https://www.thenexttrack.com/198) Our next tracks: Miles Davis: Get Up with It (https://amzn.to/2Ptsmq7) Leonid & Friends: "25 or 6 to 4" (https://youtu.be/9_torOTK5qc) If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. Special Guest: Jeff Slate.
Tyler from The Midnight has a conversation with Tom about learning the guitar, their fanbase forming organically, their latest album, Monsters, their new EP, Horrow Show, and why he disagrees with Jeff Slate's controversial NBC op-ed, in which he claims Paul Simon will be a "footnote" to Bob Dylan in music history. This episode is brought to you by Modal Electronics, who make beautiful, innovative and powerful synthesisers. You can enjoy vibrant wavetable patches with their ARGON8 series. You can produce state-of-the-art analogue-style synth textures with their COBALT8 series. Go to modalelectronics.com to check out their incredible array of synthesisers. This episode is brought to you by Tinggly, who are on a mission to change the culture of gifting by encouraging everyone to give experiences rather than material things. Their team has handpicked the world’s best travel, adventure, culture, dining and more, bringing it all together in one place. Give stories, not stuff: go to tinggly.com to find out more.
New York City based singer-songwriter Jeff Slate is not only an internationally recognized recording artist and music journalist... From the discovery of The Jam in the 1970s, to a love of The Style Council and the first moments of Paul Weller Solo to now - Jeff has been there as a super-fan, a collector, master-interviewer and so much more! Jeff has also got his copy of Fat Pop (Volume 1) so stand by for news on what Jeff calls 'the best moments of the past 5 or so records'. Jeff co-founded the band the Mindless Thinkers in the 1980s, founded The Badge in the '90s, and has performed and worked with countless rock luminaries, including Pete Townshend of The Who, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Sheryl Crow and others. As a music journalist, Jeff writes feature articles and conducts in-depth interviews for Rock Cellar, Rolling Stone, Esquire, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, NBC and more... READ 2020 Reappraising Paul Weller's The Style Council READ 2020 Paul Weller: ‘The Modfather' Discusses Life in COVID-19 Isolation and His New Album, ‘On Sunset' READ 2018 Searching for ‘True Meanings' with Paul Weller READ 2015 Weller talks Saturns Pattern CHECK OUT JEFF SLATE'S MUSIC here In October 2020, Jeff released a new single, "Heartbreak" - recorded in sessions spanning the globe during the current pandemic lockdown and the first evidence of the sessions for a promised studio album in 2021 - the single featured an all-star cast of players, including his longtime collaborator Earl Slick (John Lennon, David Bowie) on guitars, Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses) on bass and Paul Weller's longtime drummer Ben Gordelier. If you want to support the podcast financially, you can buy me a virtual coffee via the link below (£3) Buy me a coffee on ko-fi
iTunes Spotify Youtube Patreon Jeff Slate is an ASCAP award winning singer-songwriter from New York City. He co-founded the 1980’s mod/punk band the Mindless Thinkers, who were mainstays on the Northeast college circuit. In the mid-90’s he released The Townshend Tapes, on which The Who’s Pete Townshend acted as executive producer, and opened for Sheryl Crow on her “Tuesday Night Music Club” tour. In 1997 he founded the band The Badge, who released three albums and countless singles, EPs and live “bootleg” sets, two “best of” compilations, and went on to become darlings of the UK/European “mod” scene in the 2000’s. In 2010 Slate released the single “Dreamtime,” which featured Earl Slick (Lennon, Bowie) and Carlos Alomar (Bowie, Lennon), as well as other alums of David Bowie’s bands. Birds of Paradox, his first solo album of original material, was released in 2012. It was followed in November 2013 by Imposters & Attractions, and his contribution to the Pete Quaife Foundation Kinks tribute album Shoulder To Shoulder in 2015. His 2016 album Secret Poetry was another all-star affair, lauded by critics and fans alike. A video of the song “Letter From Paris (Showed Me The Way)” featuring Slate and Slate, and directed by Patrick McGuinn, was streamed over 1,000 times on the day of its release. His music has appeared in advertising and films and on television, including the hit show Gossip Girl. Slate is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and many other media outlets, writing about music and culture, and has appeared on television and radio numerous times, including on former-Sex Pistol Steve Jones’s Los Angeles drive time show Jonesy’s Jukebox, and SiriusXMs Volume, where Slate is also a guest host, as well as the BBC numerous times. He is the co-author of the 2017 book The Authorized Roy Orbison, written with the legend’s sons, and has written liner notes for albums by Orbison, the Small Faces, Shawn Colvin, for the Stax Records 60th anniversary reissue series and for The Beatles’ 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 2018 Slate wrote the 10,000+ word essay included in Bob Dylan’s More Blood, More Tracks, the 14 edition of his long-running Bootleg Series. In 2019 Slate appeared onstage at the first World Of Bob Dylan conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sponsored by the Bob Dylan Center there, where he interviewed The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn and performed with the legend. Slate proudly plays a Martin OM-28E Retro Acoustic Guitar with Martin Strings, as well as Hofner basses and Vox amps. More info at www.jeffslatehq.com. Today’s episode is sponsored by Lensrentals. Use the code ROADIE15 for a 15% discount when you check out. Special Mentions: Jeff Slate Jeff Slate's Weekend Wilburys - Handle With Care Jeff Slate - Heartbreak - Official Animated Video (2020) Forbes - Live Music Venues Are Hurting But So Are The Crews That Make It All Happen Pollstar - Roadiecare: When Crews Fall Through The CracksNo Roadies, No Rock n Roll Magnets Tour Supply GoFundMe Tour Health Research Initiative, ROADIE: My Documentary (TJ Hoffman film) Loud: A Life In Rock ‘N Roll by the World’s First Female Roadie. By Tana Douglas, The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound, The Power of Podcasting Panel at NAMM, Roswell Pro Audio Mini K87 Roadie Short Film Roadie: A True Story (at least the parts I remember)
Music Journalist Jeff Slate discusses the Beatles first trip to America on this brand new Fake Show with host Jim Tofte...enjoy!!!
The KQ Morning Show - Originally aired on February 8, 2021: Part 3 (Guests: Doug Zanger, Jeff Slate, Laura Corn) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Rock n Roll Archaeologist does some actual digging with the help of two veteran journalists, Bryan Reesman and Jeff Slate, as they discuss two recent re-releases from the rock n roll golden age, 1965's POP GEAR and 1973's That'll Be the Day.Without a doubt one of the most ambitious pop group films ever produced, POP GEAR features Britain's top 16 groups and solo acts of the day, from The Beatles to The Animals to Herman's Hermits. Directed by Frederic GoodeThat'll Be the Day. Jim MacLaine is 18-years old and studying for his advanced level exams, beginning to find his work increasingly irksome. He packs a suitcase, hitches a lift to the coast, and starts a new life with a new job. While working at a fairground, he's invited to a university dance by his old friend Terry, where he meets Terry's sister, Jeanette. They fall in love, marry, and when their first child is born, Jim seems content. But it is not long before he once again walks out in search of freedom and irresponsibility. Directed by Claude Whatham.Jeff Slate's music has appeared on the BBC and in shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Jeff writes about music for the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, NBC News, and many other publications, contributed liner notes to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author of The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography of the legend, with Orbison's sons. In 2018, Jeff wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series, Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks.Jeff is a regular visitor to SiriusXMs Volume, has appeared on Jonesy's Jukebox, and numerous podcasts -- such as Roadie Free Radio and the Rockonomics Podcast, as well as numerous Bob Dylan- and Beatles-themed shows -- and local TV and radio shows. He has been profiled in publications around the world.Veteran entertainment journalist BRYAN REESMAN has interviewed countless pop culture luminaries from around the world. He has test driven a Corvette with Rob Halford, visited Lemmy's apartment, and been an on-camera interviewer of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman. He has contributed to the New York Times, Playboy, Grammy, American Way, MSN Movies, and over 100 other media outlets and written extensive liner notes for rock icons including Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC.A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Bryan is the author of the biography "Bon Jovi: The Story" (Sterling). And of course he is the host of Pantheon Podcast's own “Side Jam”!https://jeffslatehq.comhttp://www.bryanreesman.comhttps://www.kinolorber.comThis show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.
The Rock n Roll Archaeologist does some actual digging with the help of two veteran journalists, Bryan Reesman and Jeff Slate, as they discuss two recent re-releases from the rock n roll golden age, 1965's POP GEAR and 1973's That'll Be the Day.Without a doubt one of the most ambitious pop group films ever produced, POP GEAR features Britain's top 16 groups and solo acts of the day, from The Beatles to The Animals to Herman's Hermits. Directed by Frederic GoodeThat'll Be the Day. Jim MacLaine is 18-years old and studying for his advanced level exams, beginning to find his work increasingly irksome. He packs a suitcase, hitches a lift to the coast, and starts a new life with a new job. While working at a fairground, he's invited to a university dance by his old friend Terry, where he meets Terry's sister, Jeanette. They fall in love, marry, and when their first child is born, Jim seems content. But it is not long before he once again walks out in search of freedom and irresponsibility. Directed by Claude Whatham.Jeff Slate's music has appeared on the BBC and in shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Jeff writes about music for the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, NBC News, and many other publications, contributed liner notes to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author of The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography of the legend, with Orbison's sons. In 2018, Jeff wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series, Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks.Jeff is a regular visitor to SiriusXMs Volume, has appeared on Jonesy's Jukebox, and numerous podcasts -- such as Roadie Free Radio and the Rockonomics Podcast, as well as numerous Bob Dylan- and Beatles-themed shows -- and local TV and radio shows. He has been profiled in publications around the world.Veteran entertainment journalist BRYAN REESMAN has interviewed countless pop culture luminaries from around the world. He has test driven a Corvette with Rob Halford, visited Lemmy's apartment, and been an on-camera interviewer of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman. He has contributed to the New York Times, Playboy, Grammy, American Way, MSN Movies, and over 100 other media outlets and written extensive liner notes for rock icons including Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC.A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Bryan is the author of the biography "Bon Jovi: The Story" (Sterling). And of course he is the host of Pantheon Podcast's own “Side Jam”!https://jeffslatehq.comhttp://www.bryanreesman.comhttps://www.kinolorber.comThis show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.
The Rock n Roll Archaeologist does some actual digging with the help of two veteran journalists, Bryan Reesman and Jeff Slate, as they discuss two recent re-releases from the rock n roll golden age, 1965’s POP GEAR and 1973’s That’ll Be the Day. Without a doubt one of the most ambitious pop group films ever produced, POP GEAR features Britain's top 16 groups and solo acts of the day, from The Beatles to The Animals to Herman's Hermits. Directed by Frederic Goode That’ll Be the Day. Jim MacLaine is 18-years old and studying for his advanced level exams, beginning to find his work increasingly irksome. He packs a suitcase, hitches a lift to the coast, and starts a new life with a new job. While working at a fairground, he's invited to a university dance by his old friend Terry, where he meets Terry's sister, Jeanette. They fall in love, marry, and when their first child is born, Jim seems content. But it is not long before he once again walks out in search of freedom and irresponsibility. Directed by Claude Whatham. Jeff Slate's music has appeared on the BBC and in shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Jeff writes about music for the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, NBC News, and many other publications, contributed liner notes to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author of The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography of the legend, with Orbison's sons. In 2018, Jeff wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series, Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks. Jeff is a regular visitor to SiriusXMs Volume, has appeared on Jonesy's Jukebox, and numerous podcasts -- such as Roadie Free Radio and the Rockonomics Podcast, as well as numerous Bob Dylan- and Beatles-themed shows -- and local TV and radio shows. He has been profiled in publications around the world. Veteran entertainment journalist BRYAN REESMAN has interviewed countless pop culture luminaries from around the world. He has test driven a Corvette with Rob Halford, visited Lemmy’s apartment, and been an on-camera interviewer of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman. He has contributed to the New York Times, Playboy, Grammy, American Way, MSN Movies, and over 100 other media outlets and written extensive liner notes for rock icons including Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Bryan is the author of the biography "Bon Jovi: The Story" (Sterling). And of course he is the host of Pantheon Podcast’s own “Side Jam”! https://jeffslatehq.com http://www.bryanreesman.com https://www.kinolorber.com This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.
The Rock n Roll Archaeologist does some actual digging with the help of two veteran journalists, Bryan Reesman and Jeff Slate, as they discuss two recent re-releases from the rock n roll golden age, 1965’s POP GEAR and 1973’s That’ll Be the Day. Without a doubt one of the most ambitious pop group films ever produced, POP GEAR features Britain's top 16 groups and solo acts of the day, from The Beatles to The Animals to Herman's Hermits. Directed by Frederic Goode That’ll Be the Day. Jim MacLaine is 18-years old and studying for his advanced level exams, beginning to find his work increasingly irksome. He packs a suitcase, hitches a lift to the coast, and starts a new life with a new job. While working at a fairground, he's invited to a university dance by his old friend Terry, where he meets Terry's sister, Jeanette. They fall in love, marry, and when their first child is born, Jim seems content. But it is not long before he once again walks out in search of freedom and irresponsibility. Directed by Claude Whatham. Jeff Slate's music has appeared on the BBC and in shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Jeff writes about music for the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Rolling Stone, NBC News, and many other publications, contributed liner notes to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author of The Authorized Roy Orbison, a biography of the legend, with Orbison's sons. In 2018, Jeff wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series, Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks. Jeff is a regular visitor to SiriusXMs Volume, has appeared on Jonesy's Jukebox, and numerous podcasts -- such as Roadie Free Radio and the Rockonomics Podcast, as well as numerous Bob Dylan- and Beatles-themed shows -- and local TV and radio shows. He has been profiled in publications around the world. Veteran entertainment journalist BRYAN REESMAN has interviewed countless pop culture luminaries from around the world. He has test driven a Corvette with Rob Halford, visited Lemmy’s apartment, and been an on-camera interviewer of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman. He has contributed to the New York Times, Playboy, Grammy, American Way, MSN Movies, and over 100 other media outlets and written extensive liner notes for rock icons including Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Bryan is the author of the biography "Bon Jovi: The Story" (Sterling). And of course he is the host of Pantheon Podcast’s own “Side Jam”! https://jeffslatehq.com http://www.bryanreesman.com https://www.kinolorber.com This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.
DC is joined by Jeff Slate to talk about his new live album coming out August 14th and much more. New York City singer-songwriter Jeff Slate has announced the August 14th release of Lockdown Live on CD and download, plus related merchandise, with profits to benefit social justice causes. Recorded live during Slate's #StayHome online concert series during the COVID-19 enforced Lockdown this year, the 2 CD set features one disc of originals and fan favorite cover songs, plus a second disc consisting of covers of Bob Dylan songs. https://jeffslatehq.com/home
Episode eighty-three of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Only the Lonely” by Roy Orbison, and how Orbison finally found success by ignoring conventional pop song structure. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have two bonus podcasts — part one of a two-part Q&A and a ten-minute bonus on “Walk Don’t Run” by the Ventures. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ —-more—- Resources Apologies for the delay this week — I’m still trying to catch up after last week. As usual, I have put together a Mixcloud mix with every song excerpted in this podcast. I have relied for biographical information mostly on two books — The Authorised Roy Orbison written by Jeff Slate and three of Orbison’s children, and Rhapsody in Black by John Kruth. For the musicological analysis, I referred a lot to the essay “Only the Lonely: Roy Orbison’s Sweet West Texas Style,” by Albin Zak, in Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. There are many Orbison collections available, but many have rerecordings rather than the original versions of his hits. The Monument Singles Collection is the originals. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript It’s been nearly a year since we last looked at Roy Orbison, so it’s probably a good idea to quickly catch up with where we were up to. Roy Orbison had started out as a rockabilly singer, with a group called the Wink Westerners who changed their name to the Teen Kings and were signed to Sun Records. Orbison had thought that he would like to be a ballad singer, but everyone at Sun was convinced that he would never make it as anything other than a rocker. He had one minor hit on Sun, “Ooby Dooby”, but eventually got dissatisfied with the label and asked to be allowed to go to another label — Sam Phillips agreed to free him from his contract, in return for all the songwriting royalties and credits for everything he’d recorded for Sun. Newly free, Orbison signed to a major publisher and a major record label, recording for RCA with the same Nashville A-Team that were recording with Elvis and Brenda Lee. He had some success as a songwriter, writing “Claudette”, which became a hit for the Everly Brothers, but he did no better recording for RCA than he had recording for Sun, and soon he was dropped by his new label, and the money from “Claudette” ran out. By the middle of 1959, Roy Orbison was an absolute failure. But this episode, we’re going to talk about what happened next, and the startling way in which someone who had been a failure when produced by both Sam Phillips and Chet Atkins managed to become one of the most important artists in the world on a tiny label with no track record. Today, we’re going to look at “Only the Lonely”, and the records that turned Roy Orbison into a star: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely”] It seems odd that Roy Orbison could thank Wesley Rose for introducing him to Monument Records. Rose was the co-owner of Acuff-Rose publishing, the biggest country music publishing company in the world, and the company to which Orbison had signed as a songwriter. Fred Foster, the owner of Monument, describes being called to a meeting of various Nashville music industry professionals, at which Rose asked him in front of everyone “Why are you trying to destroy Nashville by making these…” and then used an expletive I can’t use here and a racial slur I *won’t* use here, to describe the slightly R&B-infused music Foster was making. Foster was part of the new wave of Nashville record makers that also included Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins, though at this time he was far less successful than either of them. Foster had started out as a songwriter, writing the words for the McGuire Sisters’ hit “Picking Sweethearts”: [Excerpt: The McGuire Sisters, “Picking Sweethearts”] He had moved from there into record production, despite having little musical or technical ability. He did, though, have a good ear for artists, and he made his career in the business by picking good people and letting them do the music they wanted. He started out at 4 Star Records, a small country label. From there he moved to Mercury Records, but he only spent a brief time there — he was in favour of moving into the rockabilly market, while his superiors in the company weren’t. He quickly found another role at ABC/Paramount, where he produced hits for a number of people, including one track we’ve already covered in this podcast, Lloyd Price’s version of “Stagger Lee”. He then put his entire life savings into starting up his own company, Monument, which he initially co-owned with a DJ named Buddy Deane. As Foster and Deane were based in Washington at this time, they used an image of the Washington Monument as the label’s logo, and that also inspired the name. The first single they put out on the label caused them some problems. Billy Grammer, their first signing, recorded a song that they believed to be in the public domain, “Done Laid Around”, which had recently been recorded by the Weavers under the name “Gotta Travel On”: [Excerpt: The Weavers, “Gotta Travel On”] However, after putting out Grammer’s version, Foster discovered that the song was actually in copyright, with a credit to the folk singer and folklorist Paul Clayton. I don’t know if Clayton actually wrote the song or not — it was common practice at that time for folk songs to be copyrighted in the name of an artist. But whether Clayton wrote the song or not, “Done Laid Around” had to be withdrawn from sale, and reissued under the name “Gotta Travel On”, with Clayton credited as the composer — something which cost the new label a substantial amount of money. But it worked out well for everyone, with Grammer’s record eventually reaching number four on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Billy Grammer, “Gotta Travel On”] After that success, Foster bought out Buddy Deane and moved the label down to Nashville. They put out a few more singles over the next year, mostly by Grammer, but nothing recaptured that initial success. But it did mean that Foster started working with the Nashville A-Team of session musicians — people like Bob Moore, the bass player who played on almost every important record to come out of Nashville at that time, including the Elvis records we looked at last week. Moore had also played on Roy Orbison’s last sessions for RCA, where he’d seen how downcast Orbison was. Orbison had explained to Moore about how this was going to be his last session for RCA — his contract was about to expire, and it was clear that Chet Atkins had no more idea than Sam Phillips how to make a successful Roy Orbison record. Moore told him not to worry — he very obviously had talent, and Moore would speak to Wesley Rose about him. As well as being Orbison’s music publisher, Rose was also Orbison’s manager, something that would nowadays be considered a conflict of interest, but was par for the course at the time — he was also the Everly Brothers’ manager and publisher, which is how Orbison had managed to place “Claudette” with them. There were a lot of such backroom deals in the industry at the time, and few people knew about them — for example, none of Bob Moore’s fellow session players on the A-Team knew that he secretly owned thirty-seven percent of Monument Records. While Fred Foster is credited as the producer on most of Orbison’s sessions from this point on, it’s probably reasonable to think of Bob Moore as at the very least an uncredited co-producer — he was the arranger on all of the records, and he was also the person who booked the other musicians on the sessions. Orbison was by this point so depressed about his own chances in the music industry that he couldn’t believe that anyone wanted to sign him at all — he was convinced even after signing that Fred Foster was confusing his own “Ooby Dooby” with another Sun single, Warren Smith’s similar sounding “Rock and Roll Ruby”: [Excerpt: Warren Smith, “Rock and Roll Ruby”] Wesley Rose had very clear ideas as to what Orbison’s first single for Monument should be — that last session at RCA had included two songs, “Paper Boy”, and “With the Bug”, that RCA had not bothered to release, and so Orbison went into the studio with much the same set of musicians he’d been working with at RCA, and cut the same songs he’d recorded there. The single was released, and made absolutely no impact — unsurprising for a record that was really the end of Orbison’s period as a failure, rather than the beginning of his golden period. That golden period came when he started collaborating with Joe Melson. The two men had known each other for a while, but the legend has it that they started writing songs together after Melson was walking along and saw Orbison sat in his car playing the guitar — Orbison and his wife Claudette had recently had a son, Roy DeWayne Orbison (his middle name was after Orbison’s friend Duane Eddy, though spelled differently), and the flat they were living in was so small that the only way Orbison could write any songs without disturbing the baby was to go and write them in the car. Melson apparently tapped on the car window, and asked what Roy was doing, and when Roy explained, he suggested that the two of them start working together. Both men were more than capable songwriters on their own, but they brought out the best in one another, and soon they were writing material that was unlike anything else in popular music at the time. Their first collaboration to be released was Orbison’s second Monument single, “Uptown”, a bluesy rock and roll track which saw the first big change in Orbison’s style — the introduction of a string section along with the Nashville A-Team. This was something that was only just starting to be done in Nashville, and it made little sense to most people involved that Orbison would want strings on what would otherwise be a rockabilly track, but they went ahead: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Uptown”] The string arrangement was written by Anita Kerr, of the Anita Kerr Singers, the female vocal group that would be called into any Nashville session that required women’s voices (the male equivalent was the Jordanaires). Kerr would write a lot of the string arrangements for Orbison’s records, and her vocal group — with Joe Melson adding a single male voice — would provide the backing vocals on them for the next few years. Wesley Rose was still unsure that Orbison could ever be a star, mostly because he thought he was so odd-looking, but “Uptown” started to prove him wrong. It made number seventy-two on the pop charts — still not a massive hit, but the best he’d done since “Ooby Dooby” three years and two record labels earlier. But it was the next single, another Orbison/Melson collaboration, that would make him into one of the biggest stars in music. “Only the Lonely” had its roots in two other songs. Melson had written a song called “Cry” before ever meeting Orbison, and the two of them had reworked it into one called “Only the Lonely”, but they were also working on another song at the same time. They had still not had a hit, and were trying to write something in the style of a current popular record. At the time, Mark Dinning was having huge success with a ballad called “Teen Angel”, about a girl who gets run over by a train: [Excerpt: Mark Dinning, “Teen Angel”] Orbison and Melson were writing their own knock-off of that, called “Come Back to Me My Love”. But when they played it for Fred Foster, he told them it was awful, and they should scrap the whole thing — apart from the backing vocal hook Joe was singing. That was worth doing something with: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely”, vocal intro] They took that vocal part and put it together with “Only the Lonely” to make a finished song. According to most reports, rather than have Orbison record it, they initially tried to get Elvis to do it — if they did, they must have known that they had no chance of it getting recorded, because Elvis was only recording songs published by Hill and Range, and Orbison and Melson were Acuff-Rose songwriters. They also, though, tried to get it recorded by the Everly Brothers, who were friends of Orbison, were also signed with Acuff-Rose, and were also managed by Wesley Rose, and even they turned it down. This is understandable, because the finished “Only the Lonely” is one of the most bizarrely structured songs ever to be a hit. Now, I’ve known this song for more than thirty years, I have a fair understanding of music, *and* I am explaining this with the help of a musicological essay on the song I’ve read, analysing it bar by bar. I am *still* not sure that my explanation of what’s going on with this song is right. *That’s* how oddly structured this song is. The intro is straightforward enough, the kind of thing that every song has. But then the lead vocal comes in, and rather than continue under the lead, like you would normally expect, the lead and backing vocals alternate, and push each other out of phase as a result. Where in the intro, the first “dum dum dum” starts on the first bar of the phrase, here it starts on the *second* bar of the phrase and extends past the end of Orbison’s line, meaning the first line of the verse is actually five bars (from where the instruments come in after the a capella “Only the”), and not only that, the backing vocals are stressing different beats to the ones the lead vocal is stressing: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely”, first line of verse] This is quite astonishingly jarring. Pop songs, of whatever genre — country, or blues, or rock and roll, or doo-wop, or whatever — almost all work in fours. You have four-bar phrases that build up into eight- or twelve-bar verses, choruses, and bridges. Here, by overlaying two four-bar phrases out of synch with each other, Orbison and Melson have created a five-bar phrase — although please note if you try to count bars along with these excerpts, you may come out with a different number, because phrases cross bar lines and I’m splitting these excerpts up by the vocal phrase rather than by the bar line. The lead vocal then comes back, on a different beat than expected — the stresses in the melody have moved all over the place. Because the lead vocal starts on a different beat for the second phrase, even though it’s the same length as the first phrase, it crosses more bar lines, meaning two five-bar phrases total eleven bars. Not only that, but the bass doesn’t move to a new chord where you expect, but it stays on its original chord for an extra two beats, giving the impression of a six-beat bar, even though the drums are staying in four-four. So the first half of the verse is eleven bars long, if you don’t get thrown by thinking one of the bars is six beats rather than four. Structurally, harmonically, and rhythmically, it feels like someone has tried to compromise between a twelve-bar blues and an eight-bar doo-wop song: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely”, second line] There’s then another section, which in itself is perfectly straightforward — an eight-bar stop-time section, whose lyric is possibly inspired by the Drifters song that had used strings and rhythmic disorientation in a similar way a few months earlier: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely”, “There goes my baby…”] The only incongruity there is a very minor one — a brief move to the fifth-of-fifth chord, which is the kind of extremely minor deviation from the key that’s par for the course in pop music. That section by itself is nothing unusual. But then after that straightforward eight-bar section, which seems like a return to normality, we then get a five-bar section which takes us to the end of the verse: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Only the Lonely”, “But only the lonely know why…”] The song then basically repeats all its musical material from the start, with a few changes – the second time, the verse starts on the third of the scale rather than the first, and the melody goes up more, but it’s structured similarly, and finishes in under two and a half minutes. So the musical material of the song covers twenty-four bars, not counting the intro. Twenty-four bars is actually a perfectly normal number of bars for a song to cover, but it would normally be broken down into three lots of eight or two lots of twelve — instead it’s a five, a six, an eight, and a five. I think. Honestly, I’ve gone back and forth several times about how best to break this up. The song is so familiar to most of us now that this doesn’t sound strange any more, but I distinctly remember my own first time listening to it, when I was about eight, and wondering if the backing vocalists just hadn’t known when to come in, if the people making the record just hadn’t known how to make one properly, because this just sounded *wrong* to me. But it’s that wrongness, that strangeness, of course — along with Orbison’s magnificent voice — that made the record a hit, expressing perfectly the confusion and disorientation felt by the song’s protagonist. It went to number two in the US, and number one in the UK, and instantly made Roy Orbison a star. A couple of slightly more conventional singles followed — “Blue Angel” and “I’m Hurtin'” — and they were both hits, but nowhere near as big as “Only the Lonely”, and this seems to have convinced Orbison and Melson that they needed to follow their instincts and go for different structures than the norm. They started to make their songs, as far as possible, through-composed pieces. While most songs of the time break down into neat little sections — verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, instrumental solo, chorus to fade, or a similar structure, Orbison and Melson’s songs rarely have sections that repeat without any changes. Instead a single melody develops and takes twists and turns over the course of a couple of minutes, with Orbison usually singing throughout. This also had another advantage, as far as Orbison was concerned — their songs hardly ever had space for an instrumental break, and so he never had to do the rock and roll star thing of moving around the stage and dancing while the instrumentalists soloed, which was something he felt uncomfortable doing. Instead he could just stand perfectly still at the microphone and sing. The first single they released that fit this new style was inspired by a piece of music Fred Foster introduced Orbison to — Ravel’s “Bolero”: [Excerpt: Ravel, “Bolero” (West-Eastern Divan Orchestra)] Orbison and Melson took that basic feel and changed it into what would become Orbison’s first number one in the US, “Running Scared”: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Running Scared”] That song was apparently one that met some resistance from the Nashville A-Team. A chunk of the song is in rubato, or “free time”, where the musicians speed up or slow down slightly to make the music more expressive. This was not something that Bob Moore, in particular, was comfortable with — they were making pop music, weren’t they? Pop music was for kids to dance to, and if kids were going to dance to it, it had to have a steady beat. Orbison wasn’t very good at all at dealing with conflict, and wherever possible he would try to take the most positive attitude possible, and in this case he just went into the control room and waited, while the musicians tried to figure out a way of playing the song in strict tempo, and found it just didn’t work. After a while, Orbison walked back into the studio and said “I think we should play it the way it was written”, and the musicians finally went along with him. It may also have been on “Running Scared” that they pioneered a new recording technique, or at least new for Nashville, which was surprisingly conservative about recording technology for a town so rooted in the music industry. I’ve seen this story written about three different early Orbison songs, and it could have been any of them, but the descriptions of the “Running Scared” session are the most detailed. While Orbison had a great voice, at this point it wasn’t especially powerful, and with the addition of strings, the band were overpowering his voice. At this time, it was customary for singers to record with the band, all performing together in one room, but the sound of the instruments was getting into Orbison’s mic louder than his voice, making it impossible to get a good mix. Eventually, they brought a coatrack covered with coats into the studio, and used it to partition the space — Orbison would stand on one side of it with his mic, and the band and their mics would be on the other side. The coats would deaden the sound of the musicians enough that Orbison’s voice would be the main sound on his vocal mic. In this case, the reason his voice was being overpowered was that right at the end of the song he had to hit a high A in full voice — something that’s very difficult for a baritone like Orbison to do without going into falsetto. It may also be that he was nervous about trying this when the musicians could see him, and the coats in the way helped him feel more secure. Either way, he does a magnificent job on that note: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Running Scared”, tag] Apparently when Chet Atkins popped into the studio for a visit, he was utterly bemused by what he saw — but then he was impressed enough by the idea that he got RCA to build a proper vocal isolation booth at their studios to get the same effect. “Running Scared” also came along just after Orbison made one big change to his image. He’d been on tour with Patsy Cline, promoting “Blue Angel”, and had left his glasses on the plane. As he couldn’t see well without them, he had to resort to using his prescription sunglasses on stage, and was astonished to find that instead of looking gawky and rather odd-looking, the audience now seemed to think he looked cool and brooding. From that point on, he wore them constantly. For the next three years, Orbison and Melson continued working together and producing hits — although Orbison also wrote several hits solo during this time, including “In Dreams”, which many consider his greatest record. But Melson was becoming increasingly convinced that he was the real talent in the partnership. Melson was also putting out singles on his own at this time, and you can judge for yourself whether his most successful solo track, “Hey Mr. Cupid” is better or worse than the tracks Orbison did without him. [Excerpt: Joe Melson, “Hey Mr. Cupid”] Eventually Melson stopped working with Orbison altogether, after their last major collaboration, “Blue Bayou”. This turned out to be the beginning of the collapse of Orbison’s entire life, though it didn’t seem like it at the time. It was the first crack in the team that produced his biggest hits, but for now he was on a roll. He started collaborating with another writer, Bill Dees, and even though Beatlemania was raging in the UK, and later in the US, he was one of a tiny number of American artists who continued to have hits. Indeed, two of the early collaborations by Orbison and Dees were the *only* two records by an American artist to go to number one in the UK between August 1963 and February 1965. The second of those, “Oh, Pretty Woman”, also went to number one in the US, and became one of his most well-known songs: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Oh, Pretty Woman”] That song again caused problems with his new collaborator, as Bill Dees sang the harmony vocals on it, and felt he wasn’t getting enough credit for that. But that was the high point for Orbison. Wesley Rose and Fred Foster had never got on, and Rose decided that he was going to move Orbison over to MGM Records, who gave him an advance of a million dollars, but immediately the hits dried up. And the events of the next few years were the kind of thing that would would break almost anyone. He had divorced his wife Claudette, who had inspired “Oh, Pretty Woman”, in November 1964, just before signing to MGM, because he’d discovered she was cheating on him. But the two of them had been so in love they’d ended up reconciling and remarrying in December 1965. But then six months later, they were out riding motorbikes together, Claudette crashed hers, and she died. And then a little over two years later, while he was on tour in the UK, his house burned down, killing two of his three children. Orbison continued to work, putting out records that no-one was buying, and playing the chicken-in-a-basket circuit in the UK. He even remarried in 1969, and found happiness and a new family with his second wife. But for about twenty years, from 1965 through to 1985, he was in a wilderness period. Between personal tragedy, changing fashions in music, and the heart condition he developed in the 70s, he was no longer capable of making records that resonated with the public, even though his voice was as strong as ever, and he could still get an audience when singing those old hits. And even the old hits were hard to get hold of — Monument Records went bankrupt in the seventies, and reissues of his old songs were tied up in legal battles over their ownership. But then things started to change for him in the mid-eighties. A few modern artists had had hits with cover versions of his hits, but the big change came in 1985, when he collaborated with his fellow ex-Sun performers Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, on an album called Class of 55: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Class of 55, “Coming Home”] That came out in 1986, and made the top twenty on the country charts — the first time he’d had an album make any chart at all since 1966. Also in 1986, David Lynch used Orbison’s “In Dreams” in his film Blue Velvet, which brought the record to a very different audience. He collaborated with k.d. lang, who was then one of the hottest new singers in country music, on a new version of his hit “Crying”: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and k.d. lang, “Crying”] That later won a Grammy. He recorded a new album of rerecordings of his greatest hits, which made the lower reaches of the charts. He got inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame, and recorded a live TV special, A Black and White Night, where he was joined by Elvis’ seventies backing band, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Tom Waits, among others, all just acting as backing singers and musicians for a man they admired. He also joined with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan in a supergroup called The Travelling Wilburys, whose first album made the top five: [Excerpt: The Travelling Wilburys, “Handle With Care”] And he recorded an album of new material, his best in decades, Mystery Girl, produced by Lynne and with songs written by Orbison, Lynne, and Petty — along with a couple of songs contributed by famous admirers like Bono and the Edge of U2. But by the time that came out, Orbison was dead — after a day flying model aeroplanes with his sons, he had a heart attack and died, aged only fifty-two. When Mystery Girl came out a couple of months later, it rose to the top five or better almost everywhere — and in the UK and US, he had two albums in the top five at the same time, as in the UK a hits compilation was also up there, while in the US the Wilburys album was still near the top of the charts. Orbison’s is one of the saddest stories in rock music, with one of the greatest talents in history getting derailed for decades by heartbreaking tragedies unimaginable to most of us, and then dying right at the point he was finally starting to get the recognition he deserved. But the work he did, both as a songwriter and as a singer, would inspire people long after his death.
Episode eighty-three of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Only the Lonely" by Roy Orbison, and how Orbison finally found success by ignoring conventional pop song structure. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have two bonus podcasts -- part one of a two-part Q&A and a ten-minute bonus on "Walk Don't Run" by the Ventures. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ ----more---- Resources Apologies for the delay this week -- I'm still trying to catch up after last week. As usual, I have put together a Mixcloud mix with every song excerpted in this podcast. I have relied for biographical information mostly on two books -- The Authorised Roy Orbison written by Jeff Slate and three of Orbison's children, and Rhapsody in Black by John Kruth. For the musicological analysis, I referred a lot to the essay “Only the Lonely: Roy Orbison’s Sweet West Texas Style,” by Albin Zak, in Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. There are many Orbison collections available, but many have rerecordings rather than the original versions of his hits. The Monument Singles Collection is the originals. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript It's been nearly a year since we last looked at Roy Orbison, so it's probably a good idea to quickly catch up with where we were up to. Roy Orbison had started out as a rockabilly singer, with a group called the Wink Westerners who changed their name to the Teen Kings and were signed to Sun Records. Orbison had thought that he would like to be a ballad singer, but everyone at Sun was convinced that he would never make it as anything other than a rocker. He had one minor hit on Sun, "Ooby Dooby", but eventually got dissatisfied with the label and asked to be allowed to go to another label -- Sam Phillips agreed to free him from his contract, in return for all the songwriting royalties and credits for everything he'd recorded for Sun. Newly free, Orbison signed to a major publisher and a major record label, recording for RCA with the same Nashville A-Team that were recording with Elvis and Brenda Lee. He had some success as a songwriter, writing "Claudette", which became a hit for the Everly Brothers, but he did no better recording for RCA than he had recording for Sun, and soon he was dropped by his new label, and the money from "Claudette" ran out. By the middle of 1959, Roy Orbison was an absolute failure. But this episode, we're going to talk about what happened next, and the startling way in which someone who had been a failure when produced by both Sam Phillips and Chet Atkins managed to become one of the most important artists in the world on a tiny label with no track record. Today, we're going to look at "Only the Lonely", and the records that turned Roy Orbison into a star: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely"] It seems odd that Roy Orbison could thank Wesley Rose for introducing him to Monument Records. Rose was the co-owner of Acuff-Rose publishing, the biggest country music publishing company in the world, and the company to which Orbison had signed as a songwriter. Fred Foster, the owner of Monument, describes being called to a meeting of various Nashville music industry professionals, at which Rose asked him in front of everyone "Why are you trying to destroy Nashville by making these..." and then used an expletive I can't use here and a racial slur I *won't* use here, to describe the slightly R&B-infused music Foster was making. Foster was part of the new wave of Nashville record makers that also included Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins, though at this time he was far less successful than either of them. Foster had started out as a songwriter, writing the words for the McGuire Sisters' hit "Picking Sweethearts": [Excerpt: The McGuire Sisters, "Picking Sweethearts"] He had moved from there into record production, despite having little musical or technical ability. He did, though, have a good ear for artists, and he made his career in the business by picking good people and letting them do the music they wanted. He started out at 4 Star Records, a small country label. From there he moved to Mercury Records, but he only spent a brief time there -- he was in favour of moving into the rockabilly market, while his superiors in the company weren't. He quickly found another role at ABC/Paramount, where he produced hits for a number of people, including one track we've already covered in this podcast, Lloyd Price's version of "Stagger Lee". He then put his entire life savings into starting up his own company, Monument, which he initially co-owned with a DJ named Buddy Deane. As Foster and Deane were based in Washington at this time, they used an image of the Washington Monument as the label's logo, and that also inspired the name. The first single they put out on the label caused them some problems. Billy Grammer, their first signing, recorded a song that they believed to be in the public domain, "Done Laid Around", which had recently been recorded by the Weavers under the name "Gotta Travel On": [Excerpt: The Weavers, "Gotta Travel On"] However, after putting out Grammer's version, Foster discovered that the song was actually in copyright, with a credit to the folk singer and folklorist Paul Clayton. I don't know if Clayton actually wrote the song or not -- it was common practice at that time for folk songs to be copyrighted in the name of an artist. But whether Clayton wrote the song or not, "Done Laid Around" had to be withdrawn from sale, and reissued under the name "Gotta Travel On", with Clayton credited as the composer -- something which cost the new label a substantial amount of money. But it worked out well for everyone, with Grammer's record eventually reaching number four on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Billy Grammer, "Gotta Travel On"] After that success, Foster bought out Buddy Deane and moved the label down to Nashville. They put out a few more singles over the next year, mostly by Grammer, but nothing recaptured that initial success. But it did mean that Foster started working with the Nashville A-Team of session musicians -- people like Bob Moore, the bass player who played on almost every important record to come out of Nashville at that time, including the Elvis records we looked at last week. Moore had also played on Roy Orbison's last sessions for RCA, where he'd seen how downcast Orbison was. Orbison had explained to Moore about how this was going to be his last session for RCA -- his contract was about to expire, and it was clear that Chet Atkins had no more idea than Sam Phillips how to make a successful Roy Orbison record. Moore told him not to worry -- he very obviously had talent, and Moore would speak to Wesley Rose about him. As well as being Orbison's music publisher, Rose was also Orbison's manager, something that would nowadays be considered a conflict of interest, but was par for the course at the time -- he was also the Everly Brothers' manager and publisher, which is how Orbison had managed to place "Claudette" with them. There were a lot of such backroom deals in the industry at the time, and few people knew about them -- for example, none of Bob Moore's fellow session players on the A-Team knew that he secretly owned thirty-seven percent of Monument Records. While Fred Foster is credited as the producer on most of Orbison's sessions from this point on, it's probably reasonable to think of Bob Moore as at the very least an uncredited co-producer -- he was the arranger on all of the records, and he was also the person who booked the other musicians on the sessions. Orbison was by this point so depressed about his own chances in the music industry that he couldn't believe that anyone wanted to sign him at all -- he was convinced even after signing that Fred Foster was confusing his own "Ooby Dooby" with another Sun single, Warren Smith's similar sounding "Rock and Roll Ruby": [Excerpt: Warren Smith, "Rock and Roll Ruby"] Wesley Rose had very clear ideas as to what Orbison's first single for Monument should be -- that last session at RCA had included two songs, "Paper Boy", and "With the Bug", that RCA had not bothered to release, and so Orbison went into the studio with much the same set of musicians he'd been working with at RCA, and cut the same songs he'd recorded there. The single was released, and made absolutely no impact -- unsurprising for a record that was really the end of Orbison's period as a failure, rather than the beginning of his golden period. That golden period came when he started collaborating with Joe Melson. The two men had known each other for a while, but the legend has it that they started writing songs together after Melson was walking along and saw Orbison sat in his car playing the guitar -- Orbison and his wife Claudette had recently had a son, Roy DeWayne Orbison (his middle name was after Orbison's friend Duane Eddy, though spelled differently), and the flat they were living in was so small that the only way Orbison could write any songs without disturbing the baby was to go and write them in the car. Melson apparently tapped on the car window, and asked what Roy was doing, and when Roy explained, he suggested that the two of them start working together. Both men were more than capable songwriters on their own, but they brought out the best in one another, and soon they were writing material that was unlike anything else in popular music at the time. Their first collaboration to be released was Orbison's second Monument single, "Uptown", a bluesy rock and roll track which saw the first big change in Orbison's style -- the introduction of a string section along with the Nashville A-Team. This was something that was only just starting to be done in Nashville, and it made little sense to most people involved that Orbison would want strings on what would otherwise be a rockabilly track, but they went ahead: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Uptown"] The string arrangement was written by Anita Kerr, of the Anita Kerr Singers, the female vocal group that would be called into any Nashville session that required women's voices (the male equivalent was the Jordanaires). Kerr would write a lot of the string arrangements for Orbison's records, and her vocal group -- with Joe Melson adding a single male voice -- would provide the backing vocals on them for the next few years. Wesley Rose was still unsure that Orbison could ever be a star, mostly because he thought he was so odd-looking, but "Uptown" started to prove him wrong. It made number seventy-two on the pop charts -- still not a massive hit, but the best he'd done since "Ooby Dooby" three years and two record labels earlier. But it was the next single, another Orbison/Melson collaboration, that would make him into one of the biggest stars in music. "Only the Lonely" had its roots in two other songs. Melson had written a song called "Cry" before ever meeting Orbison, and the two of them had reworked it into one called "Only the Lonely", but they were also working on another song at the same time. They had still not had a hit, and were trying to write something in the style of a current popular record. At the time, Mark Dinning was having huge success with a ballad called "Teen Angel", about a girl who gets run over by a train: [Excerpt: Mark Dinning, "Teen Angel"] Orbison and Melson were writing their own knock-off of that, called "Come Back to Me My Love". But when they played it for Fred Foster, he told them it was awful, and they should scrap the whole thing -- apart from the backing vocal hook Joe was singing. That was worth doing something with: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely", vocal intro] They took that vocal part and put it together with "Only the Lonely" to make a finished song. According to most reports, rather than have Orbison record it, they initially tried to get Elvis to do it -- if they did, they must have known that they had no chance of it getting recorded, because Elvis was only recording songs published by Hill and Range, and Orbison and Melson were Acuff-Rose songwriters. They also, though, tried to get it recorded by the Everly Brothers, who were friends of Orbison, were also signed with Acuff-Rose, and were also managed by Wesley Rose, and even they turned it down. This is understandable, because the finished "Only the Lonely" is one of the most bizarrely structured songs ever to be a hit. Now, I've known this song for more than thirty years, I have a fair understanding of music, *and* I am explaining this with the help of a musicological essay on the song I've read, analysing it bar by bar. I am *still* not sure that my explanation of what's going on with this song is right. *That's* how oddly structured this song is. The intro is straightforward enough, the kind of thing that every song has. But then the lead vocal comes in, and rather than continue under the lead, like you would normally expect, the lead and backing vocals alternate, and push each other out of phase as a result. Where in the intro, the first "dum dum dum" starts on the first bar of the phrase, here it starts on the *second* bar of the phrase and extends past the end of Orbison's line, meaning the first line of the verse is actually five bars (from where the instruments come in after the a capella "Only the"), and not only that, the backing vocals are stressing different beats to the ones the lead vocal is stressing: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely", first line of verse] This is quite astonishingly jarring. Pop songs, of whatever genre -- country, or blues, or rock and roll, or doo-wop, or whatever -- almost all work in fours. You have four-bar phrases that build up into eight- or twelve-bar verses, choruses, and bridges. Here, by overlaying two four-bar phrases out of synch with each other, Orbison and Melson have created a five-bar phrase -- although please note if you try to count bars along with these excerpts, you may come out with a different number, because phrases cross bar lines and I'm splitting these excerpts up by the vocal phrase rather than by the bar line. The lead vocal then comes back, on a different beat than expected -- the stresses in the melody have moved all over the place. Because the lead vocal starts on a different beat for the second phrase, even though it's the same length as the first phrase, it crosses more bar lines, meaning two five-bar phrases total eleven bars. Not only that, but the bass doesn't move to a new chord where you expect, but it stays on its original chord for an extra two beats, giving the impression of a six-beat bar, even though the drums are staying in four-four. So the first half of the verse is eleven bars long, if you don't get thrown by thinking one of the bars is six beats rather than four. Structurally, harmonically, and rhythmically, it feels like someone has tried to compromise between a twelve-bar blues and an eight-bar doo-wop song: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely", second line] There's then another section, which in itself is perfectly straightforward -- an eight-bar stop-time section, whose lyric is possibly inspired by the Drifters song that had used strings and rhythmic disorientation in a similar way a few months earlier: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely", "There goes my baby..."] The only incongruity there is a very minor one -- a brief move to the fifth-of-fifth chord, which is the kind of extremely minor deviation from the key that's par for the course in pop music. That section by itself is nothing unusual. But then after that straightforward eight-bar section, which seems like a return to normality, we then get a five-bar section which takes us to the end of the verse: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely", "But only the lonely know why..."] The song then basically repeats all its musical material from the start, with a few changes – the second time, the verse starts on the third of the scale rather than the first, and the melody goes up more, but it's structured similarly, and finishes in under two and a half minutes. So the musical material of the song covers twenty-four bars, not counting the intro. Twenty-four bars is actually a perfectly normal number of bars for a song to cover, but it would normally be broken down into three lots of eight or two lots of twelve -- instead it's a five, a six, an eight, and a five. I think. Honestly, I've gone back and forth several times about how best to break this up. The song is so familiar to most of us now that this doesn't sound strange any more, but I distinctly remember my own first time listening to it, when I was about eight, and wondering if the backing vocalists just hadn't known when to come in, if the people making the record just hadn't known how to make one properly, because this just sounded *wrong* to me. But it's that wrongness, that strangeness, of course -- along with Orbison's magnificent voice -- that made the record a hit, expressing perfectly the confusion and disorientation felt by the song's protagonist. It went to number two in the US, and number one in the UK, and instantly made Roy Orbison a star. A couple of slightly more conventional singles followed -- "Blue Angel" and "I'm Hurtin'" -- and they were both hits, but nowhere near as big as "Only the Lonely", and this seems to have convinced Orbison and Melson that they needed to follow their instincts and go for different structures than the norm. They started to make their songs, as far as possible, through-composed pieces. While most songs of the time break down into neat little sections -- verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, instrumental solo, chorus to fade, or a similar structure, Orbison and Melson's songs rarely have sections that repeat without any changes. Instead a single melody develops and takes twists and turns over the course of a couple of minutes, with Orbison usually singing throughout. This also had another advantage, as far as Orbison was concerned -- their songs hardly ever had space for an instrumental break, and so he never had to do the rock and roll star thing of moving around the stage and dancing while the instrumentalists soloed, which was something he felt uncomfortable doing. Instead he could just stand perfectly still at the microphone and sing. The first single they released that fit this new style was inspired by a piece of music Fred Foster introduced Orbison to -- Ravel's "Bolero": [Excerpt: Ravel, "Bolero" (West-Eastern Divan Orchestra)] Orbison and Melson took that basic feel and changed it into what would become Orbison's first number one in the US, "Running Scared": [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Running Scared"] That song was apparently one that met some resistance from the Nashville A-Team. A chunk of the song is in rubato, or "free time", where the musicians speed up or slow down slightly to make the music more expressive. This was not something that Bob Moore, in particular, was comfortable with -- they were making pop music, weren't they? Pop music was for kids to dance to, and if kids were going to dance to it, it had to have a steady beat. Orbison wasn't very good at all at dealing with conflict, and wherever possible he would try to take the most positive attitude possible, and in this case he just went into the control room and waited, while the musicians tried to figure out a way of playing the song in strict tempo, and found it just didn't work. After a while, Orbison walked back into the studio and said "I think we should play it the way it was written", and the musicians finally went along with him. It may also have been on "Running Scared" that they pioneered a new recording technique, or at least new for Nashville, which was surprisingly conservative about recording technology for a town so rooted in the music industry. I've seen this story written about three different early Orbison songs, and it could have been any of them, but the descriptions of the "Running Scared" session are the most detailed. While Orbison had a great voice, at this point it wasn't especially powerful, and with the addition of strings, the band were overpowering his voice. At this time, it was customary for singers to record with the band, all performing together in one room, but the sound of the instruments was getting into Orbison's mic louder than his voice, making it impossible to get a good mix. Eventually, they brought a coatrack covered with coats into the studio, and used it to partition the space -- Orbison would stand on one side of it with his mic, and the band and their mics would be on the other side. The coats would deaden the sound of the musicians enough that Orbison's voice would be the main sound on his vocal mic. In this case, the reason his voice was being overpowered was that right at the end of the song he had to hit a high A in full voice -- something that's very difficult for a baritone like Orbison to do without going into falsetto. It may also be that he was nervous about trying this when the musicians could see him, and the coats in the way helped him feel more secure. Either way, he does a magnificent job on that note: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Running Scared", tag] Apparently when Chet Atkins popped into the studio for a visit, he was utterly bemused by what he saw -- but then he was impressed enough by the idea that he got RCA to build a proper vocal isolation booth at their studios to get the same effect. "Running Scared" also came along just after Orbison made one big change to his image. He'd been on tour with Patsy Cline, promoting "Blue Angel", and had left his glasses on the plane. As he couldn't see well without them, he had to resort to using his prescription sunglasses on stage, and was astonished to find that instead of looking gawky and rather odd-looking, the audience now seemed to think he looked cool and brooding. From that point on, he wore them constantly. For the next three years, Orbison and Melson continued working together and producing hits -- although Orbison also wrote several hits solo during this time, including "In Dreams", which many consider his greatest record. But Melson was becoming increasingly convinced that he was the real talent in the partnership. Melson was also putting out singles on his own at this time, and you can judge for yourself whether his most successful solo track, "Hey Mr. Cupid" is better or worse than the tracks Orbison did without him. [Excerpt: Joe Melson, "Hey Mr. Cupid"] Eventually Melson stopped working with Orbison altogether, after their last major collaboration, "Blue Bayou". This turned out to be the beginning of the collapse of Orbison's entire life, though it didn't seem like it at the time. It was the first crack in the team that produced his biggest hits, but for now he was on a roll. He started collaborating with another writer, Bill Dees, and even though Beatlemania was raging in the UK, and later in the US, he was one of a tiny number of American artists who continued to have hits. Indeed, two of the early collaborations by Orbison and Dees were the *only* two records by an American artist to go to number one in the UK between August 1963 and February 1965. The second of those, "Oh, Pretty Woman", also went to number one in the US, and became one of his most well-known songs: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Oh, Pretty Woman"] That song again caused problems with his new collaborator, as Bill Dees sang the harmony vocals on it, and felt he wasn't getting enough credit for that. But that was the high point for Orbison. Wesley Rose and Fred Foster had never got on, and Rose decided that he was going to move Orbison over to MGM Records, who gave him an advance of a million dollars, but immediately the hits dried up. And the events of the next few years were the kind of thing that would would break almost anyone. He had divorced his wife Claudette, who had inspired "Oh, Pretty Woman", in November 1964, just before signing to MGM, because he'd discovered she was cheating on him. But the two of them had been so in love they'd ended up reconciling and remarrying in December 1965. But then six months later, they were out riding motorbikes together, Claudette crashed hers, and she died. And then a little over two years later, while he was on tour in the UK, his house burned down, killing two of his three children. Orbison continued to work, putting out records that no-one was buying, and playing the chicken-in-a-basket circuit in the UK. He even remarried in 1969, and found happiness and a new family with his second wife. But for about twenty years, from 1965 through to 1985, he was in a wilderness period. Between personal tragedy, changing fashions in music, and the heart condition he developed in the 70s, he was no longer capable of making records that resonated with the public, even though his voice was as strong as ever, and he could still get an audience when singing those old hits. And even the old hits were hard to get hold of -- Monument Records went bankrupt in the seventies, and reissues of his old songs were tied up in legal battles over their ownership. But then things started to change for him in the mid-eighties. A few modern artists had had hits with cover versions of his hits, but the big change came in 1985, when he collaborated with his fellow ex-Sun performers Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, on an album called Class of 55: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Class of 55, "Coming Home"] That came out in 1986, and made the top twenty on the country charts -- the first time he'd had an album make any chart at all since 1966. Also in 1986, David Lynch used Orbison's "In Dreams" in his film Blue Velvet, which brought the record to a very different audience. He collaborated with k.d. lang, who was then one of the hottest new singers in country music, on a new version of his hit "Crying": [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and k.d. lang, "Crying"] That later won a Grammy. He recorded a new album of rerecordings of his greatest hits, which made the lower reaches of the charts. He got inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame, and recorded a live TV special, A Black and White Night, where he was joined by Elvis' seventies backing band, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Tom Waits, among others, all just acting as backing singers and musicians for a man they admired. He also joined with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan in a supergroup called The Travelling Wilburys, whose first album made the top five: [Excerpt: The Travelling Wilburys, "Handle With Care"] And he recorded an album of new material, his best in decades, Mystery Girl, produced by Lynne and with songs written by Orbison, Lynne, and Petty -- along with a couple of songs contributed by famous admirers like Bono and the Edge of U2. But by the time that came out, Orbison was dead -- after a day flying model aeroplanes with his sons, he had a heart attack and died, aged only fifty-two. When Mystery Girl came out a couple of months later, it rose to the top five or better almost everywhere -- and in the UK and US, he had two albums in the top five at the same time, as in the UK a hits compilation was also up there, while in the US the Wilburys album was still near the top of the charts. Orbison's is one of the saddest stories in rock music, with one of the greatest talents in history getting derailed for decades by heartbreaking tragedies unimaginable to most of us, and then dying right at the point he was finally starting to get the recognition he deserved. But the work he did, both as a songwriter and as a singer, would inspire people long after his death.
Welcome back to the Oasis Podcast Support at patreon.com/oasispod Follow on Twitter and Facebook @oasispodcast and Instagram @OasisPod Buy Some Might Say - The Definitive Story of Oasis - https://thisdayinmusicbooks.com/books/some-might-say-the-definitive-history-of-oasis/ Email oasispod@gmail.com Today's guest is Jeff Slate @jeffslate jeffslatehq.com 0:00 Artist Unknown - Sexy Eyes 0:30 Liam intro plus Vision - Shine On 0:54 Noel on the recording of WTSMG 2:21 Oasis - Hello (alternate mix) 3:01 JC intro + news 16:11 Oasis - Untitled 2 16:57 Jeff Slate interview 18:48 Liam recording Champagne Supernova 28:18 Oasis - Acquiesce (Maine Road) 33:52 Oasis - Cast No Shadow (Isolated Guitar) 39:56 Fan edit by One Man Garage Band on Youtube - Liam and Noel duet on Don't Look Back In anger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COyNmQXPwg 45:33 Oasis - Wonderwall (isolated rums and vocals) 45:33 Oasis - Some Might Say (alternate mix) 56:59 Oasis - Acquiesce (intro) 59:30 Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody to Love 59:44 Oasis - Round Are Way 1:03 Oasis - Roll With It (Maine Rd) 1:09:22 Oasis - Talk Tonight (White Room with Paul Weller) 1:21:32 Oasis - Some Might Say (speeded up 20%) 1:29:12 Oasis - The Masterplan 1:47:52 Oasis - The Masterplan 1:48:40 JC ending and Patreon thanks 1:50:09 Oasis - Stay Young
DC reflects on the legacy of John Prine and Bill Withers who both passed away over the past week or so. We're down to the Elite 8 on the Music Vibes Greatest Album of All-Time Bracket. Jeff Slate from Rock Cellar Magazine joins to reflect on Prine/Withers and talks about his greatest albums of all-time, plus much more. Music Vibes Podcast is sponsored by The Clyde Theatre. Located at 1808 Bluffton Rd. Fort Wayne, Indiana 46809. It is a venue that is now a state-of-the-art mixed-use concert hall and event center. Powered by Sweetwater and featuring cutting-edge sound and lighting, world-class acoustics, and impeccable customer service, The Clyde delivers a live music experience unlike any other. From free convenient parking, to fast and friendly bar service, absolutely no detail has been overlooked. With national touring artists from a wide variety of genres, The Clyde truly does have something for everyone.
Hey Dude, my old friend Nicky reminded me that she shares a birthday with Elvis and David Bowie, so I recall my abstract connections to all three rockers. CHARACTERS: Zane Grey, Orson Welles, Jeff Slate, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Debbie Harry, Alex Trebek, The Gluey BrothersLOCATIONS: New York City, Burbank, Notre Dame High School, Corvallis High School, Laurel CanyonMUSIC: Rock 'n' Roll, Rockabilly, "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", omnichord , "America", "Heroes", "The Hash House Line"TV/MOVIES: The Ed Sullivan Show, Saturday Night Live, Concert for New York City, Jeopardy!STUFF: January 8, jumpsuit, record player, mime, 1977, "going postal", 9/11, lotus position, OP shirt, corduroy, feathered hairSOUNDS: garbage truck, windGENRE: storytelling, personal narrative, personal journalPHOTO: "Nicky's Birthday Boys" shot on my "new" iPhone6 RECORDED: January 8, 2020 on the observation deck at the Zane Grey Estate in Altadena, California GEAR: Marantz Solid State Recorder PMD670, Sennheiser MD 46 microphoneDISCLAIMER/WARNING: Proudly presented rough, raw and ragged. Seasoned with salty language and ideas. Not for most people's taste. Please be advised.HYPE/SWIPE: "Don't call me dude." - John Lurie
Hey Dude, my old friend Nicky reminded me that she shares a birthday with Elvis and David Bowie, so I recall my abstract connections to all three rockers. CHARACTERS: Zane Grey, Orson Welles, Jeff Slate, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Debbie Harry, Alex Trebek, The Gluey Brothers LOCATIONS: New York City, Burbank, Notre Dame High School, Corvallis High School, Laurel Canyon MUSIC: Rock 'n' Roll, Rockabilly, "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", omnichord , "America", "Heroes", "The Hash House Line" TV/MOVIES: The Ed Sullivan Show, Saturday Night Live, Concert for New York City, Jeopardy! STUFF: January 8, jumpsuit, record player, mime, 1977, "going postal", 9/11, lotus position, OP shirt, corduroy, feathered hair SOUNDS: garbage truck, wind GENRE: storytelling, personal narrative, personal journal PHOTO: "Nicky's Birthday Boys" shot on my "new" iPhone6 RECORDED: January 8, 2020 on the observation deck at the Zane Grey Estate in Altadena, California GEAR: Marantz Solid State Recorder PMD670, Sennheiser MD 46 microphone DISCLAIMER/WARNING: Proudly presented rough, raw and ragged. Seasoned with salty language and ideas. Not for most people's taste. Please be advised. HYPE/SWIPE: "Don't call me dude." - John Lurie
 Episode forty-two of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Ooby Dooby” by Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, and the time when Sam Phillips got things badly wrong.. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Blue Yodel #9” by Jimmie Rodgers. —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. There are several books available on Orbison. The one I have used for much of this is The Authorised Roy Orbison written by Jeff Slate and three of Orbison’s children. I’m relying heavily on Sam Phillips: the Man Who Invented Rock and Roll by Peter Guralnick for all the episodes dealing with Phillips and Sun Records. This compilation features every track Orbison released up til 1962. His early Sun singles are also on this ten-disc set, which charts the history of Sun Records, with the A- and B-sides of ninety of the first Sun singles in chronological order for an absurdly low price. This will help give you the full context for Orbison’s work, in a way hearing it in isolation wouldn’t. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today we’re once again going to look at a star who was discovered by Sun Records. But for once, the star we’re looking at did not do his most interesting or vital work at Sun, and nor did he do the work that defined his persona there. Indeed, today we’re going to talk about one of the very few times that Sam Phillips and Sun Records took on someone who would become a massive, massive, star, and completely mismanaged him, misjudged his abilities totally, and did everything completely wrong, to the point where he almost destroyed his career before it began. Roy Orbison was someone who made an unlikely rock and roll star. A quiet, unassuming, man, who rarely used an oath stronger than “Mercy”, and wore dark glasses in later years to hide as much of his face as possible, he was the last person one would expect to be making music that was regarded as rebellious or exciting. And indeed, in his later years, the music he chose to make was very far from rebellious, though always rooted in rock and roll. Orbison had grown up knowing he was going to be a singer. When he was six years old, his father had bought him a guitar and taught him the chords to “You Are My Sunshine”, and by the age of ten he was already winning talent contests. But it was seeing the famous country singer Lefty Frizzell live that really convinced him. [Excerpt: Lefty Frizzell, “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time”] It wasn’t so much that Frizzell was a great performer — though he was pretty good, and he hugely influenced Orbison’s vocal style. What really impressed young Roy Orbison, though, was seeing Frizzell, after the show, getting into a Cadillac. Orbison realised you could make real money just from singing, and started to make plans. In his teens, he and a group of his friends formed a country and western band, the Wink Westerners (named after the small town they lived in). That band had various lineups, but it eventually settled into a two-guitar, bass, drums, and electric mandolin lineup of Orbison, Billy Pat Ellis, Jack Kenneally, Johnny Wilson, and James Morrow. While Orbison was still in school, the band got their own radio show, one day a week, and became big enough that when the country star Slim Whitman came to town they were chosen as his backing group: [Excerpt: Slim Whitman, “Indian Love Call”] The band were primarily a country band, but like most bands of the time they would play whatever music the customers wanted to hear. In later years, Orbison would be able to pinpoint the exact moment he became a rock and roller — on New Year’s Eve 1954. The band started playing “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, expecting it to finish dead on the stroke of midnight, but then Orbison looked at the clock and realised they’d started far too soon. That version of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, which lasted for eight minutes, converted Roy Orbison. When he started playing it, rock and roll was just another form of music, but by the end he knew he wanted to play that kind of music forever. The Wink Westerners were quickly renamed the Teen Kings. Orbison went off to university, where he heard a song called “Ooby Dooby” which was written by two classmates of his, Dick Penner and Wade Moore. They allegedly wrote it in a fifteen minute period, while on the roof of their frat house, and to be honest it sounds like fifteen minutes is about as long as it would take to write. It soon entered the set of the newly-named Teen Kings and became one of their most successful songs. The Teen Kings soon got their own local TV series, to go with the local radio shows they already had. When the new country star Johnny Cash passed through town, he appeared on the Teen Kings’ TV show, and Orbison asked him how to get signed to Sun Records. Cash gave Orbison the phone number for Sam Phillips, and told him to tell Phillips that Cash had sent him. He also advised Orbison that if he wanted to have any success as a musician, he should probably start singing in a lower register, and maybe change his name. Orbison never took that advice, and in later years he would joke with Cash about how terrible his advice was. His advice about getting signed to Sun wasn’t much better either — Orbison did indeed phone Sam Phillips and tell him Johnny Cash had said to call Phillips. Phillips responded by saying “Tell Johnny Cash he doesn’t run Sun Records, I do” and slamming the phone down. So Sun Records seemed like a dead end. The Teen Kings were going to have to look elsewhere for a record contract. So instead the Teen Kings went into the studio to audition for Columbia Records. They recorded two tracks at that initial session. One was “Ooby Dooby”; the other was a cover version of a song by the Clovers, “Hey, Miss Fannie”: [Excerpt: The Clovers, “Hey, Miss Fannie”] At the time, the Teen Kings thought that they’d almost certainly get a contract with Columbia, but Columbia ended up turning them down. They did, however, like “Ooby Dooby”, enough to give it to another group, Sid King and the Five Strings, who released it unsuccessfully as a single. [Excerpt: Sid King and the Five Strings, “Ooby Dooby”] As they had been turned down now by both the major label Columbia and the large indie Sun, Roy and the band went into the studio with Norman Petty, a local Texas record producer, to record “Ooby Dooby” again, to be released as a single on the tiny indie label Je-Wel. It came out at almost exactly the same time as Sid King’s version. [Excerpt: The Teen Kings, “Ooby Dooby”, Je-Wel version] But then Sam Phillips had a change of heart. Roy still wanted to be on Sun, and pestered a local record shop owner who knew Phillips to play “Ooby Dooby” for him. Phillips eventually listened to the single and liked it, but thought that he could do a better job of it. He discovered that Orbison wasn’t yet twenty-one, and so the contract he’d signed with Je-Wel was void. Phillips signed Orbison, got an injunction taken out against Je-Wel, preventing them from putting out any more copies of the single — only a few hundred ever got released — and quickly went into the studio to record a new version of the song. And this sort of sums up the difference between Orbison’s relationship with Sam Phillips and everyone else’s. Every other successful musician who recorded for Sun Records recorded for them first, and owed their careers to Phillips. He’d given them the shot that no-one else would, and he’d moulded them into the artists that they would become. Even the ones who later fell out with Phillips always credited him with being the reason they’d had any success in the business. Roy Orbison, on the other hand, had been discovered before Phillips. Phillips had turned him down, and he’d made a record somewhere else. That record was even with a producer who, in a little while, would be putting out rockabilly hits every bit as big as Phillips was. That meant that Roy Orbison would never feel, as Elvis or Johnny Cash or Carl Perkins did, that he owed his career to Sam Phillips. The rerecorded version was, as far as Orbison’s performance goes, almost identical to the original. Orbison was not a wild improviser like many of the artists with whom Phillips worked — he would work out his parts exactly, and stick to them. While Phillips would always claim in later life that his version of “Ooby Dooby” was vastly superior to the earlier one, most listeners would struggle to tell the difference: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, “Ooby Dooby”, Sun version] Rather oddly, given Orbison’s later career, it wasn’t primarily his singing that impressed Phillips, but rather his guitar playing. Phillips would talk for the rest of his life about what a great guitarist Orbison was. Phillips would often get Orbison to play on records by other artists, and would later say that the only musician he knew who had a better sense of rhythm was Jerry Lee Lewis. And Orbison *was* a great guitarist. He was similar to Chuck Berry in that he would play both rhythm and lead simultaneously — if you listen to the records he made where his guitar playing is prominent, you can hear him using the bass strings to keep a riff down, and then playing fills between his vocal lines. But still, it would be several years before anyone in the record industry seemed to notice that Roy Orbison was, well, Roy Orbison. The B-side was recorded in a single take, and itself became a rockabilly classic. It was co-written by Orbison and the band’s drummer, Billy Pat Ellis, but it caused problems: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, “Go Go Go”] That would later be recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, among others, and would be one of the few rockabilly songs that Orbison would keep in his setlists in future years. While Ellis had cowritten the song, he wasn’t credited on the label, which understandably caused him to get angry — it seemed like Roy was cheating him out of his royalties. And while the record had been made by Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings as a group, it seemed that all anyone was talking about was Roy Orbison, not the Teen Kings. The group went out on tour, on a package with other Sun artists, and “Ooby Dooby” went to number fifty-nine in the pop charts and sold around two hundred thousand copies. This wasn’t an amazing, ground-breaking level of success like some other Sun artists had had, but it was perfectly respectable, and was enough to see them go into the studio to record a follow-up, “Rockhouse”. [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Rockhouse”] That song was originally written by a young singer called Harold Jenkins, who was making recordings for Sun at the time, though the recordings didn’t get released until after Jenkins became a country star under the name Conway Twitty. Orbison took Jenkins’ demo and substantially reworked it, earning himself a co-writing credit. The B-side was a song that Johnny Cash had written, called “Little Woolly Booger”: [Excerpt: Johnny Cash, “Little Woolly Booger”] 10) That was renamed to the rather more radio-friendly “You’re My Baby” for Orbison’s version: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, “You’re My Baby”] “Rockhouse” didn’t do very well, and the band were getting disgruntled. They felt that Sam Phillips didn’t care about any of them, and they were also getting a bit sick of Roy himself, who they thought was taking too much of the spotlight. So they secretly made an agreement. At the start of a scheduled recording session, Orbison and Phillips went to the cafe next door to take a break. When they got back, they found that the Teen Kings had packed up all their gear and driven away. Roy no longer had a band. He was absolutely devastated — the people he’d come up with as a teenager, the people he’d thought were his friends, had all deserted him. He’d been playing with these people for years, and now, just as they were starting to achieve some success, they’d decided to leave him. The session was cancelled, and Sam Phillips was so worried about Orbison that he invited the young man to stay in his house for what turned into a several-month-long stay. Phillips, who had himself suffered from severe depression, was worried about the young singer, and tried to give him life advice. The advice that Phillips was giving Orbison had a profound effect on both Orbison and on Phillips’ son Knox, who later said “It was the first time I actually could see Sam giving someone he really cared about like Roy some hard advice — I mean, I was real young, but I thought, ‘You know what? It’s a different way he’s saying it but it’s the same advice he’s been giving me. It’s the same thing.’ That was the first time I actually knew that Sam was just trying to make people better. I mean, he wasn’t in the studio trying to inspire or record them. He could say the same thing that would teach you the same lesson if you were talking to him about charcoal or motorcycles. It was the same lesson.” For much of the next year, Orbison was essentially homeless. He spent most of his time on tour, but considered Memphis his home base, and stayed with either Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, or Carl Perkins when he was “at home”. But he was starting to get bigger plans. He had already co-written a handful of songs, but he hadn’t put serious thought into his songwriting. That changed when he went on a tour with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. He realised that they — and the other people on the bill — had one hit each. Cochran would later have more, but still, Orbison wondered where those people’s other hits were going to come from. Where were they going to find their material? He didn’t want to get into a position where he had to just keep playing the same hit every day for the rest of his life, and realised that the only way to ensure he would have a ready supply of new material was to write it himself, and so he started to take his songwriting seriously as his principal art. Given that the hits on Sun had dried up, in fact, he basically became a songwriter who happened to sing, rather than a singer who wrote some of his own songs. While he continued making recordings for Sun, none of them did anything, and he later referred to some of them as among the worst records ever made. As Orbison was becoming less successful, Phillips increasingly palmed him off on his new assistant, Jack Clement, and Clement insisted on Orbison performing material for which he had no feeling. Orbison was starting to push to record ballads, but Clement knew that Roy Orbison just didn’t have the voice for them. But his songwriting was another matter. Sun artists started recording his stuff. Jerry Lee Lewis put out “Go Go Go” as the B-side to his big hit “Breathless”, and the minor Sun artist Warren Smith recorded Roy’s “So Long, I’m Gone”: [Excerpt: Warren Smith, “So Long, I’m Gone”]That reached the lower reaches of the Hot 100, and so became the first thing that earned Roy some serious money since “Ooby Dooby” a year earlier. Songwriting was clearly the way forward, and he decided to write a song about his new wife, Claudette, which he pitched to the Everly Brothers when they were on a bill together, and which they decided to record. [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, “Claudette”] We’ll be talking about the Everly Brothers in future episodes, but the important thing to note right now is that they were a much bigger act than Roy Orbison was. Them performing one of Orbison’s songs would be a massive break for him, but there was a catch. They had a deal with the publishing company Acuff-Rose that they would only perform songs that were published by that company, and Orbison had a contract with Sam Phillips that meant that Orbison’s songs were all published by Phillips. Orbison went to Phillips and explained the situation. He didn’t want to record for Sun any more anyway — they weren’t releasing most of what he was recording, he wasn’t having any hits, and they didn’t have the same ideas about what material he should be recording as he did. He wanted to assign the song to Acuff-Rose and give himself a chance at doing better than he had been. Phillips was not happy about this. This was at almost exactly the same time that both Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins left Sun Records, and he suspected a degree of collusion between the three men — and he wasn’t wrong in his suspicion. The three of them all thought that Phillips was not paying them enough royalties, was not telling them important business information, and was more interested in the latest new thing than in building the careers of people he’d already signed. Sam Phillips eventually made a suggestion which Orbison took up, though he later said that he didn’t realise what the consequences would be. The deal he made was that Orbison could quit his contract, and sign with Acuff-Rose, but only by signing all the songwriting royalties for the songs he’d already recorded over to Phillips. So Sam Phillips is now the credited songwriter for all the songs Orbison wrote and recorded during his time at Sun, and unsurprisingly Orbison resented this for the rest of his life. Most Sun artists came to believe that they had been treated badly in business dealings by Phillips, and that he hadn’t properly recognised their talent. Roy Orbison, more than any of the others, actually had a case to answer here. Sam Phillips never understood what he had in Roy Orbison until much later. With every other artist he had, he took someone raw and unsure of his own direction and moulded him into what Sam saw in him. With Orbison, he took an artist who was already a moderate success, and who had firm ideas, and kept him from doing the material that was good for him. He later said “I really have to take the blame for not bringing Roy to fruition.” As soon as the Everlys’ version of “Claudette” came out, Orbison saw an immediate upswing in his fortunes. Two weeks after it came out, he called Wesley Rose at Acuff Rose. “How’s the record doing?” “Oh, it sold half a million already.” “Have I made any money?” “Why, yes you have”. Roy bought a Cadillac, moved to Nashville, and quickly signed with RCA Records, who saw in him the potential to be the next Elvis. And it seemed he was following the same career path exactly, as his first recordings for RCA were with largely the same group of musicians who played on Elvis’ big hits. There was no Scotty, Bill, or DJ, as they were all exclusive to Elvis, but Chet Atkins was on guitar, Floyd Cramer was on piano, and the Jordanaires were on backing vocals. But even though Roy had largely been signed on the basis of his songwriting ability, the songs they chose to record for him were once again not written by him and not his choice of material. This time they were all picked by Wesley Rose: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Seems to Me”] He was now being allowed to sing ballads, but they weren’t the ballads that he wanted to be singing — they were the kind of song that anyone in the pop-country market could be singing. And still the producers didn’t know how to deal with his voice. His RCA singles did even worse than his records on Sun, despite having the push of a major label behind him. Eventually the money from “Claudette” ran out, and he was dropped by RCA. Chet Atkins, like Sam Phillips, just didn’t get Roy Orbison. He would later say “We did some pretty good records, but they were typical Nashville at that time, and we didn’t reach out and try to do something different. I blame myself for that. I should have seen the greatness in him and the quality of his voice.” Orbison sold his Cadillac, and moved out of Nashville, and back to West Texas. It looked like his career was over, and he would spend his life exactly as he’d hoped he wouldn’t, as a musician who’d had one minor hit and never did anything else. But then he met a couple of people who would change the course of his life forever. But that’s a story for a future episode.
 Episode forty-two of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Ooby Dooby” by Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, and the time when Sam Phillips got things badly wrong.. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Blue Yodel #9” by Jimmie Rodgers. —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. There are several books available on Orbison. The one I have used for much of this is The Authorised Roy Orbison written by Jeff Slate and three of Orbison’s children. I’m relying heavily on Sam Phillips: the Man Who Invented Rock and Roll by Peter Guralnick for all the episodes dealing with Phillips and Sun Records. This compilation features every track Orbison released up til 1962. His early Sun singles are also on this ten-disc set, which charts the history of Sun Records, with the A- and B-sides of ninety of the first Sun singles in chronological order for an absurdly low price. This will help give you the full context for Orbison’s work, in a way hearing it in isolation wouldn’t. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today we’re once again going to look at a star who was discovered by Sun Records. But for once, the star we’re looking at did not do his most interesting or vital work at Sun, and nor did he do the work that defined his persona there. Indeed, today we’re going to talk about one of the very few times that Sam Phillips and Sun Records took on someone who would become a massive, massive, star, and completely mismanaged him, misjudged his abilities totally, and did everything completely wrong, to the point where he almost destroyed his career before it began. Roy Orbison was someone who made an unlikely rock and roll star. A quiet, unassuming, man, who rarely used an oath stronger than “Mercy”, and wore dark glasses in later years to hide as much of his face as possible, he was the last person one would expect to be making music that was regarded as rebellious or exciting. And indeed, in his later years, the music he chose to make was very far from rebellious, though always rooted in rock and roll. Orbison had grown up knowing he was going to be a singer. When he was six years old, his father had bought him a guitar and taught him the chords to “You Are My Sunshine”, and by the age of ten he was already winning talent contests. But it was seeing the famous country singer Lefty Frizzell live that really convinced him. [Excerpt: Lefty Frizzell, “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time”] It wasn’t so much that Frizzell was a great performer — though he was pretty good, and he hugely influenced Orbison’s vocal style. What really impressed young Roy Orbison, though, was seeing Frizzell, after the show, getting into a Cadillac. Orbison realised you could make real money just from singing, and started to make plans. In his teens, he and a group of his friends formed a country and western band, the Wink Westerners (named after the small town they lived in). That band had various lineups, but it eventually settled into a two-guitar, bass, drums, and electric mandolin lineup of Orbison, Billy Pat Ellis, Jack Kenneally, Johnny Wilson, and James Morrow. While Orbison was still in school, the band got their own radio show, one day a week, and became big enough that when the country star Slim Whitman came to town they were chosen as his backing group: [Excerpt: Slim Whitman, “Indian Love Call”] The band were primarily a country band, but like most bands of the time they would play whatever music the customers wanted to hear. In later years, Orbison would be able to pinpoint the exact moment he became a rock and roller — on New Year’s Eve 1954. The band started playing “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, expecting it to finish dead on the stroke of midnight, but then Orbison looked at the clock and realised they’d started far too soon. That version of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”, which lasted for eight minutes, converted Roy Orbison. When he started playing it, rock and roll was just another form of music, but by the end he knew he wanted to play that kind of music forever. The Wink Westerners were quickly renamed the Teen Kings. Orbison went off to university, where he heard a song called “Ooby Dooby” which was written by two classmates of his, Dick Penner and Wade Moore. They allegedly wrote it in a fifteen minute period, while on the roof of their frat house, and to be honest it sounds like fifteen minutes is about as long as it would take to write. It soon entered the set of the newly-named Teen Kings and became one of their most successful songs. The Teen Kings soon got their own local TV series, to go with the local radio shows they already had. When the new country star Johnny Cash passed through town, he appeared on the Teen Kings’ TV show, and Orbison asked him how to get signed to Sun Records. Cash gave Orbison the phone number for Sam Phillips, and told him to tell Phillips that Cash had sent him. He also advised Orbison that if he wanted to have any success as a musician, he should probably start singing in a lower register, and maybe change his name. Orbison never took that advice, and in later years he would joke with Cash about how terrible his advice was. His advice about getting signed to Sun wasn’t much better either — Orbison did indeed phone Sam Phillips and tell him Johnny Cash had said to call Phillips. Phillips responded by saying “Tell Johnny Cash he doesn’t run Sun Records, I do” and slamming the phone down. So Sun Records seemed like a dead end. The Teen Kings were going to have to look elsewhere for a record contract. So instead the Teen Kings went into the studio to audition for Columbia Records. They recorded two tracks at that initial session. One was “Ooby Dooby”; the other was a cover version of a song by the Clovers, “Hey, Miss Fannie”: [Excerpt: The Clovers, “Hey, Miss Fannie”] At the time, the Teen Kings thought that they’d almost certainly get a contract with Columbia, but Columbia ended up turning them down. They did, however, like “Ooby Dooby”, enough to give it to another group, Sid King and the Five Strings, who released it unsuccessfully as a single. [Excerpt: Sid King and the Five Strings, “Ooby Dooby”] As they had been turned down now by both the major label Columbia and the large indie Sun, Roy and the band went into the studio with Norman Petty, a local Texas record producer, to record “Ooby Dooby” again, to be released as a single on the tiny indie label Je-Wel. It came out at almost exactly the same time as Sid King’s version. [Excerpt: The Teen Kings, “Ooby Dooby”, Je-Wel version] But then Sam Phillips had a change of heart. Roy still wanted to be on Sun, and pestered a local record shop owner who knew Phillips to play “Ooby Dooby” for him. Phillips eventually listened to the single and liked it, but thought that he could do a better job of it. He discovered that Orbison wasn’t yet twenty-one, and so the contract he’d signed with Je-Wel was void. Phillips signed Orbison, got an injunction taken out against Je-Wel, preventing them from putting out any more copies of the single — only a few hundred ever got released — and quickly went into the studio to record a new version of the song. And this sort of sums up the difference between Orbison’s relationship with Sam Phillips and everyone else’s. Every other successful musician who recorded for Sun Records recorded for them first, and owed their careers to Phillips. He’d given them the shot that no-one else would, and he’d moulded them into the artists that they would become. Even the ones who later fell out with Phillips always credited him with being the reason they’d had any success in the business. Roy Orbison, on the other hand, had been discovered before Phillips. Phillips had turned him down, and he’d made a record somewhere else. That record was even with a producer who, in a little while, would be putting out rockabilly hits every bit as big as Phillips was. That meant that Roy Orbison would never feel, as Elvis or Johnny Cash or Carl Perkins did, that he owed his career to Sam Phillips. The rerecorded version was, as far as Orbison’s performance goes, almost identical to the original. Orbison was not a wild improviser like many of the artists with whom Phillips worked — he would work out his parts exactly, and stick to them. While Phillips would always claim in later life that his version of “Ooby Dooby” was vastly superior to the earlier one, most listeners would struggle to tell the difference: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, “Ooby Dooby”, Sun version] Rather oddly, given Orbison’s later career, it wasn’t primarily his singing that impressed Phillips, but rather his guitar playing. Phillips would talk for the rest of his life about what a great guitarist Orbison was. Phillips would often get Orbison to play on records by other artists, and would later say that the only musician he knew who had a better sense of rhythm was Jerry Lee Lewis. And Orbison *was* a great guitarist. He was similar to Chuck Berry in that he would play both rhythm and lead simultaneously — if you listen to the records he made where his guitar playing is prominent, you can hear him using the bass strings to keep a riff down, and then playing fills between his vocal lines. But still, it would be several years before anyone in the record industry seemed to notice that Roy Orbison was, well, Roy Orbison. The B-side was recorded in a single take, and itself became a rockabilly classic. It was co-written by Orbison and the band’s drummer, Billy Pat Ellis, but it caused problems: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, “Go Go Go”] That would later be recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, among others, and would be one of the few rockabilly songs that Orbison would keep in his setlists in future years. While Ellis had cowritten the song, he wasn’t credited on the label, which understandably caused him to get angry — it seemed like Roy was cheating him out of his royalties. And while the record had been made by Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings as a group, it seemed that all anyone was talking about was Roy Orbison, not the Teen Kings. The group went out on tour, on a package with other Sun artists, and “Ooby Dooby” went to number fifty-nine in the pop charts and sold around two hundred thousand copies. This wasn’t an amazing, ground-breaking level of success like some other Sun artists had had, but it was perfectly respectable, and was enough to see them go into the studio to record a follow-up, “Rockhouse”. [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Rockhouse”] That song was originally written by a young singer called Harold Jenkins, who was making recordings for Sun at the time, though the recordings didn’t get released until after Jenkins became a country star under the name Conway Twitty. Orbison took Jenkins’ demo and substantially reworked it, earning himself a co-writing credit. The B-side was a song that Johnny Cash had written, called “Little Woolly Booger”: [Excerpt: Johnny Cash, “Little Woolly Booger”] 10) That was renamed to the rather more radio-friendly “You’re My Baby” for Orbison’s version: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, “You’re My Baby”] “Rockhouse” didn’t do very well, and the band were getting disgruntled. They felt that Sam Phillips didn’t care about any of them, and they were also getting a bit sick of Roy himself, who they thought was taking too much of the spotlight. So they secretly made an agreement. At the start of a scheduled recording session, Orbison and Phillips went to the cafe next door to take a break. When they got back, they found that the Teen Kings had packed up all their gear and driven away. Roy no longer had a band. He was absolutely devastated — the people he’d come up with as a teenager, the people he’d thought were his friends, had all deserted him. He’d been playing with these people for years, and now, just as they were starting to achieve some success, they’d decided to leave him. The session was cancelled, and Sam Phillips was so worried about Orbison that he invited the young man to stay in his house for what turned into a several-month-long stay. Phillips, who had himself suffered from severe depression, was worried about the young singer, and tried to give him life advice. The advice that Phillips was giving Orbison had a profound effect on both Orbison and on Phillips’ son Knox, who later said “It was the first time I actually could see Sam giving someone he really cared about like Roy some hard advice — I mean, I was real young, but I thought, ‘You know what? It’s a different way he’s saying it but it’s the same advice he’s been giving me. It’s the same thing.’ That was the first time I actually knew that Sam was just trying to make people better. I mean, he wasn’t in the studio trying to inspire or record them. He could say the same thing that would teach you the same lesson if you were talking to him about charcoal or motorcycles. It was the same lesson.” For much of the next year, Orbison was essentially homeless. He spent most of his time on tour, but considered Memphis his home base, and stayed with either Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, or Carl Perkins when he was “at home”. But he was starting to get bigger plans. He had already co-written a handful of songs, but he hadn’t put serious thought into his songwriting. That changed when he went on a tour with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. He realised that they — and the other people on the bill — had one hit each. Cochran would later have more, but still, Orbison wondered where those people’s other hits were going to come from. Where were they going to find their material? He didn’t want to get into a position where he had to just keep playing the same hit every day for the rest of his life, and realised that the only way to ensure he would have a ready supply of new material was to write it himself, and so he started to take his songwriting seriously as his principal art. Given that the hits on Sun had dried up, in fact, he basically became a songwriter who happened to sing, rather than a singer who wrote some of his own songs. While he continued making recordings for Sun, none of them did anything, and he later referred to some of them as among the worst records ever made. As Orbison was becoming less successful, Phillips increasingly palmed him off on his new assistant, Jack Clement, and Clement insisted on Orbison performing material for which he had no feeling. Orbison was starting to push to record ballads, but Clement knew that Roy Orbison just didn’t have the voice for them. But his songwriting was another matter. Sun artists started recording his stuff. Jerry Lee Lewis put out “Go Go Go” as the B-side to his big hit “Breathless”, and the minor Sun artist Warren Smith recorded Roy’s “So Long, I’m Gone”: [Excerpt: Warren Smith, “So Long, I’m Gone”]That reached the lower reaches of the Hot 100, and so became the first thing that earned Roy some serious money since “Ooby Dooby” a year earlier. Songwriting was clearly the way forward, and he decided to write a song about his new wife, Claudette, which he pitched to the Everly Brothers when they were on a bill together, and which they decided to record. [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, “Claudette”] We’ll be talking about the Everly Brothers in future episodes, but the important thing to note right now is that they were a much bigger act than Roy Orbison was. Them performing one of Orbison’s songs would be a massive break for him, but there was a catch. They had a deal with the publishing company Acuff-Rose that they would only perform songs that were published by that company, and Orbison had a contract with Sam Phillips that meant that Orbison’s songs were all published by Phillips. Orbison went to Phillips and explained the situation. He didn’t want to record for Sun any more anyway — they weren’t releasing most of what he was recording, he wasn’t having any hits, and they didn’t have the same ideas about what material he should be recording as he did. He wanted to assign the song to Acuff-Rose and give himself a chance at doing better than he had been. Phillips was not happy about this. This was at almost exactly the same time that both Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins left Sun Records, and he suspected a degree of collusion between the three men — and he wasn’t wrong in his suspicion. The three of them all thought that Phillips was not paying them enough royalties, was not telling them important business information, and was more interested in the latest new thing than in building the careers of people he’d already signed. Sam Phillips eventually made a suggestion which Orbison took up, though he later said that he didn’t realise what the consequences would be. The deal he made was that Orbison could quit his contract, and sign with Acuff-Rose, but only by signing all the songwriting royalties for the songs he’d already recorded over to Phillips. So Sam Phillips is now the credited songwriter for all the songs Orbison wrote and recorded during his time at Sun, and unsurprisingly Orbison resented this for the rest of his life. Most Sun artists came to believe that they had been treated badly in business dealings by Phillips, and that he hadn’t properly recognised their talent. Roy Orbison, more than any of the others, actually had a case to answer here. Sam Phillips never understood what he had in Roy Orbison until much later. With every other artist he had, he took someone raw and unsure of his own direction and moulded him into what Sam saw in him. With Orbison, he took an artist who was already a moderate success, and who had firm ideas, and kept him from doing the material that was good for him. He later said “I really have to take the blame for not bringing Roy to fruition.” As soon as the Everlys’ version of “Claudette” came out, Orbison saw an immediate upswing in his fortunes. Two weeks after it came out, he called Wesley Rose at Acuff Rose. “How’s the record doing?” “Oh, it sold half a million already.” “Have I made any money?” “Why, yes you have”. Roy bought a Cadillac, moved to Nashville, and quickly signed with RCA Records, who saw in him the potential to be the next Elvis. And it seemed he was following the same career path exactly, as his first recordings for RCA were with largely the same group of musicians who played on Elvis’ big hits. There was no Scotty, Bill, or DJ, as they were all exclusive to Elvis, but Chet Atkins was on guitar, Floyd Cramer was on piano, and the Jordanaires were on backing vocals. But even though Roy had largely been signed on the basis of his songwriting ability, the songs they chose to record for him were once again not written by him and not his choice of material. This time they were all picked by Wesley Rose: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Seems to Me”] He was now being allowed to sing ballads, but they weren’t the ballads that he wanted to be singing — they were the kind of song that anyone in the pop-country market could be singing. And still the producers didn’t know how to deal with his voice. His RCA singles did even worse than his records on Sun, despite having the push of a major label behind him. Eventually the money from “Claudette” ran out, and he was dropped by RCA. Chet Atkins, like Sam Phillips, just didn’t get Roy Orbison. He would later say “We did some pretty good records, but they were typical Nashville at that time, and we didn’t reach out and try to do something different. I blame myself for that. I should have seen the greatness in him and the quality of his voice.” Orbison sold his Cadillac, and moved out of Nashville, and back to West Texas. It looked like his career was over, and he would spend his life exactly as he’d hoped he wouldn’t, as a musician who’d had one minor hit and never did anything else. But then he met a couple of people who would change the course of his life forever. But that’s a story for a future episode.
 Episode forty-two of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Ooby Dooby" by Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, and the time when Sam Phillips got things badly wrong.. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Blue Yodel #9" by Jimmie Rodgers. ----more---- Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. There are several books available on Orbison. The one I have used for much of this is The Authorised Roy Orbison written by Jeff Slate and three of Orbison's children. I'm relying heavily on Sam Phillips: the Man Who Invented Rock and Roll by Peter Guralnick for all the episodes dealing with Phillips and Sun Records. This compilation features every track Orbison released up til 1962. His early Sun singles are also on this ten-disc set, which charts the history of Sun Records, with the A- and B-sides of ninety of the first Sun singles in chronological order for an absurdly low price. This will help give you the full context for Orbison's work, in a way hearing it in isolation wouldn't. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today we're once again going to look at a star who was discovered by Sun Records. But for once, the star we're looking at did not do his most interesting or vital work at Sun, and nor did he do the work that defined his persona there. Indeed, today we're going to talk about one of the very few times that Sam Phillips and Sun Records took on someone who would become a massive, massive, star, and completely mismanaged him, misjudged his abilities totally, and did everything completely wrong, to the point where he almost destroyed his career before it began. Roy Orbison was someone who made an unlikely rock and roll star. A quiet, unassuming, man, who rarely used an oath stronger than "Mercy", and wore dark glasses in later years to hide as much of his face as possible, he was the last person one would expect to be making music that was regarded as rebellious or exciting. And indeed, in his later years, the music he chose to make was very far from rebellious, though always rooted in rock and roll. Orbison had grown up knowing he was going to be a singer. When he was six years old, his father had bought him a guitar and taught him the chords to "You Are My Sunshine", and by the age of ten he was already winning talent contests. But it was seeing the famous country singer Lefty Frizzell live that really convinced him. [Excerpt: Lefty Frizzell, "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time"] It wasn't so much that Frizzell was a great performer -- though he was pretty good, and he hugely influenced Orbison's vocal style. What really impressed young Roy Orbison, though, was seeing Frizzell, after the show, getting into a Cadillac. Orbison realised you could make real money just from singing, and started to make plans. In his teens, he and a group of his friends formed a country and western band, the Wink Westerners (named after the small town they lived in). That band had various lineups, but it eventually settled into a two-guitar, bass, drums, and electric mandolin lineup of Orbison, Billy Pat Ellis, Jack Kenneally, Johnny Wilson, and James Morrow. While Orbison was still in school, the band got their own radio show, one day a week, and became big enough that when the country star Slim Whitman came to town they were chosen as his backing group: [Excerpt: Slim Whitman, "Indian Love Call"] The band were primarily a country band, but like most bands of the time they would play whatever music the customers wanted to hear. In later years, Orbison would be able to pinpoint the exact moment he became a rock and roller -- on New Year's Eve 1954. The band started playing "Shake, Rattle, and Roll", expecting it to finish dead on the stroke of midnight, but then Orbison looked at the clock and realised they'd started far too soon. That version of "Shake, Rattle, and Roll", which lasted for eight minutes, converted Roy Orbison. When he started playing it, rock and roll was just another form of music, but by the end he knew he wanted to play that kind of music forever. The Wink Westerners were quickly renamed the Teen Kings. Orbison went off to university, where he heard a song called "Ooby Dooby" which was written by two classmates of his, Dick Penner and Wade Moore. They allegedly wrote it in a fifteen minute period, while on the roof of their frat house, and to be honest it sounds like fifteen minutes is about as long as it would take to write. It soon entered the set of the newly-named Teen Kings and became one of their most successful songs. The Teen Kings soon got their own local TV series, to go with the local radio shows they already had. When the new country star Johnny Cash passed through town, he appeared on the Teen Kings' TV show, and Orbison asked him how to get signed to Sun Records. Cash gave Orbison the phone number for Sam Phillips, and told him to tell Phillips that Cash had sent him. He also advised Orbison that if he wanted to have any success as a musician, he should probably start singing in a lower register, and maybe change his name. Orbison never took that advice, and in later years he would joke with Cash about how terrible his advice was. His advice about getting signed to Sun wasn't much better either -- Orbison did indeed phone Sam Phillips and tell him Johnny Cash had said to call Phillips. Phillips responded by saying "Tell Johnny Cash he doesn't run Sun Records, I do" and slamming the phone down. So Sun Records seemed like a dead end. The Teen Kings were going to have to look elsewhere for a record contract. So instead the Teen Kings went into the studio to audition for Columbia Records. They recorded two tracks at that initial session. One was "Ooby Dooby"; the other was a cover version of a song by the Clovers, "Hey, Miss Fannie": [Excerpt: The Clovers, "Hey, Miss Fannie"] At the time, the Teen Kings thought that they'd almost certainly get a contract with Columbia, but Columbia ended up turning them down. They did, however, like "Ooby Dooby", enough to give it to another group, Sid King and the Five Strings, who released it unsuccessfully as a single. [Excerpt: Sid King and the Five Strings, "Ooby Dooby"] As they had been turned down now by both the major label Columbia and the large indie Sun, Roy and the band went into the studio with Norman Petty, a local Texas record producer, to record "Ooby Dooby" again, to be released as a single on the tiny indie label Je-Wel. It came out at almost exactly the same time as Sid King's version. [Excerpt: The Teen Kings, "Ooby Dooby", Je-Wel version] But then Sam Phillips had a change of heart. Roy still wanted to be on Sun, and pestered a local record shop owner who knew Phillips to play "Ooby Dooby" for him. Phillips eventually listened to the single and liked it, but thought that he could do a better job of it. He discovered that Orbison wasn't yet twenty-one, and so the contract he'd signed with Je-Wel was void. Phillips signed Orbison, got an injunction taken out against Je-Wel, preventing them from putting out any more copies of the single -- only a few hundred ever got released -- and quickly went into the studio to record a new version of the song. And this sort of sums up the difference between Orbison's relationship with Sam Phillips and everyone else's. Every other successful musician who recorded for Sun Records recorded for them first, and owed their careers to Phillips. He'd given them the shot that no-one else would, and he'd moulded them into the artists that they would become. Even the ones who later fell out with Phillips always credited him with being the reason they'd had any success in the business. Roy Orbison, on the other hand, had been discovered before Phillips. Phillips had turned him down, and he'd made a record somewhere else. That record was even with a producer who, in a little while, would be putting out rockabilly hits every bit as big as Phillips was. That meant that Roy Orbison would never feel, as Elvis or Johnny Cash or Carl Perkins did, that he owed his career to Sam Phillips. The rerecorded version was, as far as Orbison's performance goes, almost identical to the original. Orbison was not a wild improviser like many of the artists with whom Phillips worked -- he would work out his parts exactly, and stick to them. While Phillips would always claim in later life that his version of "Ooby Dooby" was vastly superior to the earlier one, most listeners would struggle to tell the difference: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, "Ooby Dooby", Sun version] Rather oddly, given Orbison's later career, it wasn't primarily his singing that impressed Phillips, but rather his guitar playing. Phillips would talk for the rest of his life about what a great guitarist Orbison was. Phillips would often get Orbison to play on records by other artists, and would later say that the only musician he knew who had a better sense of rhythm was Jerry Lee Lewis. And Orbison *was* a great guitarist. He was similar to Chuck Berry in that he would play both rhythm and lead simultaneously -- if you listen to the records he made where his guitar playing is prominent, you can hear him using the bass strings to keep a riff down, and then playing fills between his vocal lines. But still, it would be several years before anyone in the record industry seemed to notice that Roy Orbison was, well, Roy Orbison. The B-side was recorded in a single take, and itself became a rockabilly classic. It was co-written by Orbison and the band's drummer, Billy Pat Ellis, but it caused problems: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, "Go Go Go"] That would later be recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, among others, and would be one of the few rockabilly songs that Orbison would keep in his setlists in future years. While Ellis had cowritten the song, he wasn't credited on the label, which understandably caused him to get angry -- it seemed like Roy was cheating him out of his royalties. And while the record had been made by Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings as a group, it seemed that all anyone was talking about was Roy Orbison, not the Teen Kings. The group went out on tour, on a package with other Sun artists, and "Ooby Dooby" went to number fifty-nine in the pop charts and sold around two hundred thousand copies. This wasn't an amazing, ground-breaking level of success like some other Sun artists had had, but it was perfectly respectable, and was enough to see them go into the studio to record a follow-up, "Rockhouse". [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Rockhouse"] That song was originally written by a young singer called Harold Jenkins, who was making recordings for Sun at the time, though the recordings didn't get released until after Jenkins became a country star under the name Conway Twitty. Orbison took Jenkins' demo and substantially reworked it, earning himself a co-writing credit. The B-side was a song that Johnny Cash had written, called "Little Woolly Booger": [Excerpt: Johnny Cash, "Little Woolly Booger"] 10) That was renamed to the rather more radio-friendly "You're My Baby" for Orbison's version: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings, "You're My Baby"] "Rockhouse" didn't do very well, and the band were getting disgruntled. They felt that Sam Phillips didn't care about any of them, and they were also getting a bit sick of Roy himself, who they thought was taking too much of the spotlight. So they secretly made an agreement. At the start of a scheduled recording session, Orbison and Phillips went to the cafe next door to take a break. When they got back, they found that the Teen Kings had packed up all their gear and driven away. Roy no longer had a band. He was absolutely devastated -- the people he'd come up with as a teenager, the people he'd thought were his friends, had all deserted him. He'd been playing with these people for years, and now, just as they were starting to achieve some success, they'd decided to leave him. The session was cancelled, and Sam Phillips was so worried about Orbison that he invited the young man to stay in his house for what turned into a several-month-long stay. Phillips, who had himself suffered from severe depression, was worried about the young singer, and tried to give him life advice. The advice that Phillips was giving Orbison had a profound effect on both Orbison and on Phillips' son Knox, who later said “It was the first time I actually could see Sam giving someone he really cared about like Roy some hard advice — I mean, I was real young, but I thought, ‘You know what? It’s a different way he’s saying it but it’s the same advice he’s been giving me. It’s the same thing.’ That was the first time I actually knew that Sam was just trying to make people better. I mean, he wasn’t in the studio trying to inspire or record them. He could say the same thing that would teach you the same lesson if you were talking to him about charcoal or motorcycles. It was the same lesson." For much of the next year, Orbison was essentially homeless. He spent most of his time on tour, but considered Memphis his home base, and stayed with either Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, or Carl Perkins when he was "at home". But he was starting to get bigger plans. He had already co-written a handful of songs, but he hadn't put serious thought into his songwriting. That changed when he went on a tour with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. He realised that they -- and the other people on the bill -- had one hit each. Cochran would later have more, but still, Orbison wondered where those people's other hits were going to come from. Where were they going to find their material? He didn't want to get into a position where he had to just keep playing the same hit every day for the rest of his life, and realised that the only way to ensure he would have a ready supply of new material was to write it himself, and so he started to take his songwriting seriously as his principal art. Given that the hits on Sun had dried up, in fact, he basically became a songwriter who happened to sing, rather than a singer who wrote some of his own songs. While he continued making recordings for Sun, none of them did anything, and he later referred to some of them as among the worst records ever made. As Orbison was becoming less successful, Phillips increasingly palmed him off on his new assistant, Jack Clement, and Clement insisted on Orbison performing material for which he had no feeling. Orbison was starting to push to record ballads, but Clement knew that Roy Orbison just didn't have the voice for them. But his songwriting was another matter. Sun artists started recording his stuff. Jerry Lee Lewis put out "Go Go Go" as the B-side to his big hit "Breathless", and the minor Sun artist Warren Smith recorded Roy's "So Long, I'm Gone": [Excerpt: Warren Smith, "So Long, I'm Gone"]That reached the lower reaches of the Hot 100, and so became the first thing that earned Roy some serious money since "Ooby Dooby" a year earlier. Songwriting was clearly the way forward, and he decided to write a song about his new wife, Claudette, which he pitched to the Everly Brothers when they were on a bill together, and which they decided to record. [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Claudette"] We'll be talking about the Everly Brothers in future episodes, but the important thing to note right now is that they were a much bigger act than Roy Orbison was. Them performing one of Orbison's songs would be a massive break for him, but there was a catch. They had a deal with the publishing company Acuff-Rose that they would only perform songs that were published by that company, and Orbison had a contract with Sam Phillips that meant that Orbison's songs were all published by Phillips. Orbison went to Phillips and explained the situation. He didn't want to record for Sun any more anyway -- they weren't releasing most of what he was recording, he wasn't having any hits, and they didn't have the same ideas about what material he should be recording as he did. He wanted to assign the song to Acuff-Rose and give himself a chance at doing better than he had been. Phillips was not happy about this. This was at almost exactly the same time that both Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins left Sun Records, and he suspected a degree of collusion between the three men -- and he wasn't wrong in his suspicion. The three of them all thought that Phillips was not paying them enough royalties, was not telling them important business information, and was more interested in the latest new thing than in building the careers of people he'd already signed. Sam Phillips eventually made a suggestion which Orbison took up, though he later said that he didn't realise what the consequences would be. The deal he made was that Orbison could quit his contract, and sign with Acuff-Rose, but only by signing all the songwriting royalties for the songs he'd already recorded over to Phillips. So Sam Phillips is now the credited songwriter for all the songs Orbison wrote and recorded during his time at Sun, and unsurprisingly Orbison resented this for the rest of his life. Most Sun artists came to believe that they had been treated badly in business dealings by Phillips, and that he hadn't properly recognised their talent. Roy Orbison, more than any of the others, actually had a case to answer here. Sam Phillips never understood what he had in Roy Orbison until much later. With every other artist he had, he took someone raw and unsure of his own direction and moulded him into what Sam saw in him. With Orbison, he took an artist who was already a moderate success, and who had firm ideas, and kept him from doing the material that was good for him. He later said “I really have to take the blame for not bringing Roy to fruition." As soon as the Everlys' version of "Claudette" came out, Orbison saw an immediate upswing in his fortunes. Two weeks after it came out, he called Wesley Rose at Acuff Rose. "How's the record doing?" "Oh, it sold half a million already." "Have I made any money?" "Why, yes you have". Roy bought a Cadillac, moved to Nashville, and quickly signed with RCA Records, who saw in him the potential to be the next Elvis. And it seemed he was following the same career path exactly, as his first recordings for RCA were with largely the same group of musicians who played on Elvis' big hits. There was no Scotty, Bill, or DJ, as they were all exclusive to Elvis, but Chet Atkins was on guitar, Floyd Cramer was on piano, and the Jordanaires were on backing vocals. But even though Roy had largely been signed on the basis of his songwriting ability, the songs they chose to record for him were once again not written by him and not his choice of material. This time they were all picked by Wesley Rose: [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, "Seems to Me"] He was now being allowed to sing ballads, but they weren't the ballads that he wanted to be singing -- they were the kind of song that anyone in the pop-country market could be singing. And still the producers didn't know how to deal with his voice. His RCA singles did even worse than his records on Sun, despite having the push of a major label behind him. Eventually the money from "Claudette" ran out, and he was dropped by RCA. Chet Atkins, like Sam Phillips, just didn't get Roy Orbison. He would later say “We did some pretty good records, but they were typical Nashville at that time, and we didn’t reach out and try to do something different. I blame myself for that. I should have seen the greatness in him and the quality of his voice.” Orbison sold his Cadillac, and moved out of Nashville, and back to West Texas. It looked like his career was over, and he would spend his life exactly as he'd hoped he wouldn't, as a musician who'd had one minor hit and never did anything else. But then he met a couple of people who would change the course of his life forever. But that's a story for a future episode.
The key to a successful investor relationship? Say "no" ALOT. You may find the person that has the money to invest, but their vision doesn't align with yours. When the right people are involved, they bring more to the table than just money. Jeff Slate, owner of @Asbury Park Brewery, shares his investor insight on Breaking Barriers, "Don't Get Into Bed with just ANY Investor"!
DC is joined by Jeff Slate from Rock Cellar Magazine to dig inside the recently released album "You're The Man" by Marvin Gaye. This album was scheduled to be released back in 1972 after the release of "What's Going On," but was never released. Jeff did an interview with Gaye's biographer David Ritz so he brings some background information for this new release, plus much more. Jeff's article: https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/marvin-gaye-youre-the-man-album-legacy-birthday-honor-david-ritz/ Music Vibes Podcast is sponsored by Neat Neat Neat Records and Music located at 1836 South Calhoun Street in downtown Fort Wayne. Neat Neat Neat stocks LPs and CDs across all genres and is an authorized dealer for Ortofon, Audio Technica, Emotiva, Wharfdale, Project and more. Please visit neatneatneatrecords.com for more information.
Direct from New York City, our first transatlantic podcast features singer, songwriter and journalist Jeff Slate, who went from life in a small town in suburban Connecticut to gigging with his own band to being invited into the Dylan office “for coffee” to writing the liner notes for More Blood, More Tracks. Jeff spills the beans on future Bootleg Series releases and the music business in general: “physical product, sadly, is dead”. On hearing a preview of Shadows In The Night, he says “I was sitting there with my mouth open … at the passion, power and energy. Bob was singing his ass off!” Jeff also wrote the liner notes for the reissue of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the co-author of The Authorized Roy Orbison. He has appeared on radio and TV around the world as performer and music expert. He has an unrivalled knowledge of all things Dylan, Beatles and Monty Python. Twitter @jeffslate Listeners: please subscribe and/or leave a review and a rating. Twitter @isitrollingpod Spotify playlist Recorded 15th February 2019
Welcome back to the Oasis Podcast! Tickets for the Tony MacCarroll live event, 17th May, Water Rats are selling fast head here to get tickets - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oasis-podcast-live-with-tony-maccarroll-definitely-maybe-25th-anniversary-tickets-55302185325 Support at patreon.com/oasispod Follow on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @oasispodcast Email oasispod@gmail.com Today's guest Jeff Slate is at jeffslatehq.com, @jeffslate on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Photo is by Rachel Naomi 0:00 Liam clip and Vision - Shine On 0:30 Oasis interview with Noel and Bonehead talking about Boneheads Bank Holiday (Mtv 120 minutes 1995) 0:50 Oasis - Bonehead's Bank Holiday 1:20 JC intro/ Oasis news 4:06 Message from Dave Dougan @Dougs000 - Noel suing Liam 6:30 Liam Gallagher on twitter, choosing which Oasis songs to cover 7:39 - Oasis - The Turning 8:40 - Danny Hignett @castnoshadowofficial on Instagram 10:49 Oasis - Rockin' Chair (Live Bournemouth 1995) 12:35 Oasis - Shock Of The Lightning (Live Cardiff 2009) 15:09 #OasisA2Z - Bonehead's Bank Holiday with @KhanMightSay; Oasis - Some Might Say 16:52 @KhanMightSay Supersonic solo tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnWcNgS_lFQ 23:02 The Beatles - Two Of Us 30:49 Oasis - Bonehead's Bank Holiday (Demo) 34:25 Oasis - Coming On Strong (Demo), Noel Gallagher - Coming On Strong (Demo), Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun 39:33 Blur - Bank Holiday 41:24 Bread TV Theme 45:44 Blur - Country House 46:17 Your twitter responses 52:40 Discussion of Cum On Feel The Noize - no conclusive proof but it sounds like it was likely Robbie Williams was there, and it's not confirmed who the woman was but it could have been Patsy Kensit 1:05:35 Steve Mahoney & The Milkshakes - Lorraine's Pain (Is On The Wane) 1:06:29 Message from Steve Mahoney - @mahoneyreturns 1:11:54 The Faces - Whole Lotta Woman 1:15:35 Outro, Patreon thanks - all the episodes are going up on Patreon to get them without adverts 1:17:43 Oasis - Stay Young 1:18:26 Oasis - Bonehead's Bank Holiday (OOPS mix so you can hear a bit more of the chat)
From The Basement Tapes to the mythical sessions that would become the just released More Blood, More Tracks collection - bootlegs of Bob Dylan's music are central to not just his story, but the music industry at large. Host Paula Mejia is joined by three critics, record collectors, and Dylan fans: Jesse Jarnow, Alison Fensterstock, and More Blood, More Tracks liner notes author, Jeff Slate to distinctive bootleg culture that’s thrived alongside Dylan’s studio recordings, shed some light on the myths surrounding this record, and exploring how Dylan keeps reinventing these songs in the present.
Welcome back to the Oasis Podcast! Support at patreon.com/oasispod Follow on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @oasispodcast Email oasispod@gmail.com Today's guest Jeff Slate is at jeffslatehq.com, @jeffslate on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Photo credit Rachel Naomi 0:00 Liam clip and Vision - Shine On 0:30 JC intro 1:25 Sponsor - mygalaxybombs.com 2:17 Oasis - Champagne Supernova 2:41 News 3:26 Clips of Noel on BBC Four - Primal Scream: The Lost Memphis Tapes - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0brzps8 6:38 Cary Brothers - Don't Look Back In Anger (Live at Champagne Superanalysis) 7:30 Check out Bonehead on Humans of Manchester http://www.xsmanchester.co.uk/humans-xs-manchester/podcast/ 11:46 Jeff Slate - Rolling Down the Avenue 12:42 Jeff Slate interview 22:38 NGHFB - Little By Little (Live Radio City New York) 33:41 Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger (Manchester G-Mex)/ NGHFB - Don't Look Back In Anger (Rock Werchter) 46:38 Jeff Slate - Babylon 48:59 Oasis - Rock n Roll Star (Wetlands, New York) 52:33 Oasis - Headshrinker (Lupos Heartbreak Hotel, Providence, Rhode Island) 54:34 Oasis - Stay Young (New York, Hammerstein Ballroom) 1:01:00 Noel Gallagher - Press Conference 6th July 2011 1:12:33 Noel Gallagher on Don't Look Back In Anger 1:22:26 Tripod - Oasnis Yea 1:34:25 Ice Cream Band - Chewing Gum Kid 1:38:14 Oasis - D'You Know What I Mean (Hazed Mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvdYzT2uYYE 1:42:27 Death In Vegas feat. Liam Gallagher - Scorpio Rising 1:50:53 Noel Gallagher on Oasis reunion 1:56:55 The Kondoors - IOU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQ5TfNqeC4 2:06:17 Oasis (As Long As They've Got) Cigarettes In Hell 2:06:56 iTunes review from Matthaus FC 2:07:27 Message from Sam Cooper/ White Canvas - Keeping The Faith @bandwhitecanvas 2:10:18 Outro 2:11:55 Oasis - Stay Young 2:12:34 Every Oasis music video but its just the song titles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBvvpJrLLIg
Musician and journalist Jeff Slate wrote the liner notes for the latest Bob Dylan Bootleg Series release, More Blood, More Tracks, covering the Blood on the Tracks sessions. Guest: - Jeff Slate (http://www.jeffslatehq.com) - Jeff Slate's articles about music (http://www.jeffslatehq.com/articles_by_jeff/) Show notes: More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 Deluxe Edition (https://amzn.to/2qHGRH0) When Bob Dylan Saw God (Esquire) (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a13119247/bob-dylan-trouble-no-more-bootleg-series-volume-13-review/) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Deluxe Edition (https://amzn.to/2DhCFoV) A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of Blood on the Tracks (https://amzn.to/2DjjgUx) Bob Dylan's First Day with “Tangled Up in Blue” (New Yorker) (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/bob-dylans-first-day-with-tangled-up-in-blue) Mondo Scripto (https://www.halcyongallery.com/exhibitions/bob-dylan-mondo-scripto) Blind Willie McTell (Apple Music) (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/blind-willie-mctell/157471642?i=157472464) Our next tracks: More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 Deluxe Edition (https://amzn.to/2qHGRH0) Billy F. Gibbons: The Big Bad Blues (https://amzn.to/2PpSPDU) If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-next-track/id1116242606) or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. Special Guest: Jeff Slate.
DC is joined by Esquire's Jeff Slate to take a deep dive into the new installment of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series "More Blood, More Tracks Vol.14.) Slate wrote the liner notes and helped dissect what to expect from the new set coming out on November 2nd and much more.
Black-Eyed & Blues Show 343 Air Date October 17, 2018 Playlist: Eliza Neals, 10,000 Feet Below, Mike Zito, I Wouldn’t Treat A Dog (The Way You Treat Me), Bernard Allison, Backdoor Man, Ally Venable Band, Devil’s Son (feat Gary Hoey), Karen Lawrence, It’s All About You (Live), Brooks Forsyth, Anna Lee, Eric McFadden, Love Come Rescue Me, Tomislav Goluban, Locked Heart, Grip Weeds, Mr. Nervous, Gaetano Letizia, You Can’t Do That, Peter V Blues Band, Blue Monday, The Smoking Flowers, Here For You Now, Ron Spencer Band, Fine Fine Woman, Sandy Carroll, Movin’ On, Dave Keller, Old Tricks, JP Williams Blues Band, Bluesman Tonight, David Lumsden And Friends, Raised Me Right feat Mary Jo Curry, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Church Clothes, Diane Durrett & Soul Suga, Butters In The Skillet, Sean Chambers, Black Eyed Susie, David Julia, Somethin Ain’t Right, Bob Margolin, Dallas, Lindsay Beaver, What A Fool You’ve Been, Paula Harris, I Play Dirty, Miss Lily Moe, Sammy The Rabbit, Jeff Slate, Babylon, Mick Kolassa & The Taylor Made Blues Band, Whiskey In The Morning, Travelin’ Blue Kings, I Don’t Wanna Stop, Detonics, The Rat, Kirk Fletcher, Hold On, Jim Allchin, Enough Is Enough, Chris Bergson Band, Pedal Tones, Mojomatics, Soy Baby Many Thanks To: We here at the Black-Eyed & Blues Show would like to thank all the PR and radio people that get us music including Frank Roszak, Rick Lusher ,Doug Deutsch Publicity Services,American Showplace Music, Alive Natural Sounds, Ruf Records, Vizztone Records,Blind Pig Records,Delta Groove Records, Electro-Groove Records,Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon Records, BratGirl Media, Mark Pucci Media and all of the Blues Societies both in the U.S. and abroad. All of you help make this show as good as it is weekly. We are proud to play your artists.Thank you all very much! Blues In The Area: BLUES SCHEDULE WEEKLY REPORT 10/19 thru 10/25 BAND VENUE LOCATION FRIDAY 10/19 VITAMIN B-3 THE HIDEAWAY RIDGEFIELD THE COLBY'S MAPLE TREE CAFÉ SIMSBURY ED TRAIN UNDERGROUND JAM BLACK DUCK (11 PM) WESTPORT TONY FERRIGNO OLD POST TAVERN FAIRFIELD SCREAMING EAGLE BAND/COBALT EXP OLD WELL TAVERN SIMSBURY MICHAEL CLEARY BAND TIPPING CHAIR TAVERN MILLDALE ORB MELLON KINSMEN BREWING CO MILLDALE JEFF PITCHELL & TEXAS FLOOD HUNGRY TIGER MANCHESTER BALKUN BROTHERS MAIN PUB MANCHESTER SUE FOLEY THE COLONY WOODSTOCK BLUES ON THE ROCKS CLINTON COUNTRY CLUB CLINTON ERAN TROY DANNER (SOLO) PARADISE HILLS VINEYARD (5 PM) WALLINGFORD SHINY LAPEL TRIO HARBOUR HOUSE MYSTIC ERAN TROY DANNER THE ROCK GARDEN WATERTOWN CARL RICCI & 706 UNION AVE 350 GRILL SPRINGFIELD MA SARA ASHLEIGH BAND SKYBOX SOUTHWICK MA RAMBLIN DAN STEVENS PERKS AND CORKS WESTERLY RI 2JAM NOTE KITCHEN BETHEL COLE MORSON BAND THEODORE'S SPRINGFIELD MA DELTA GENERATORS CHAN'S WOONSOCKET RI ROBERTO MORBIOLI BAND W LIVIU CANOE CLUB MIDDLETOWN SATURDAY 10/20 CHRIS BERGSON BLACK EYED SALLY'S HARTFORD JAKE KULAK & LOW DOWN MAPLE TREE CAFÉ SIMSBURY JJ GREY FTC WAREHOUSE FAIRFIELD LIVIU POP & FRIENDS CAMBRIDGE BREW PUB GRANBY FAT CITY ROCKERS THE BLACK DUCK WESTPORT ELLE SERA VERACIOUS BREWERY TAP ROOM MONROE STOMP BOX RELICS JUDY'S STAMFORD JAY WILLIE BAND MURPHY'S PUB NEWTOWN SACRED FIRE/MURRAY THE WHEEL CRYSTAL BEES SOUTHINGTON JEFF PITCHELL & TEXAS FLOOD WHS REMEMBERANCE WETHERSFIELD THE COFFEE GRINDERS WINDING TRAILS FARMINGTON ORB MELLON WITCHDOCTOR BREWING CO (6:30) SOUTHINGTON FRONT ROW BAND (UNPLUGGED) BAR LOUIE WEST HARTFORD STEVE POLEZONIS TRIO MYSTIC MARRIOTT GROTON RAMBLIN DAN STEVENS DANIEL PACKER INN MYSTIC PROF HARP STOMPING GROUND PUTNAM CHRIS LEIGH BAND CC OBRIEN'S PAWCATUCK CROSSEYED CAT (SRV TRIBUTE) SHAMROCK PUB WATERBURY ERAN TROY DANNER (ACOUSTIC) HOWARD'S CAFÉ WATERBURY DYLAN DOYLE BAND THE FALCON (MAIN STAGE) MARLBORO NY RYAN HARTT & THE BLUE HEARTS THEODORE'S SPRINGFIELD MA BLUE DEVIL BLUEZ THE SOUTHWICK INN SOUTHWICK MA ARLO GUTHRIE COLLEGE ST MUSIC HALL NEW HAVEN NEAL VITULLO & THE VIPERS CHAN'S WOONSOCKET RI WEST END GROOVE PARROTT DELANEY TAVERN NEW HARTFORD SIX PACK OF BLUES CITY SPORTS GRILLE VERNON TERRI AND ROB DUO HIGHER GROUND (11 AM) EAST HADDAM ACOUSTIC OPEN MIC THE PARISH HALL BRISTOL BEYOND PURPLE WITH JIMI BELL HUNGRY TIGER MANCHESTER SUNDAY 10/21 CTBS SOLO DUO CHALLENGE PINE LOFT BERLIN SUE FOLEY BRIDGE STREET LIVE COLLINSVILLE MARTIN BARRE BAND INFINITY MUSIC HALL HARTFORD TSC (ACOUSTIC) KINSMEN BREWING CO (2 PM) MILLDALE ERIN HARPE & THE DELTA SWINGERS STOMPING GROUND PUTNAM JOHNNY AND THE EAST COAST ROCKERS DONAHUE'S BEACH BAR MADISON ERAN TROY DANNER (ACOUSTIC) BRASS WORKS BREWING (1:30 PM) WATERBURY CEE CEE & THE RIDERS RATHSKELLER (3 PM) CHARLESTOWN RI DAVID STOLTZ FLYING MONKEY (4 TO 7 PM) HARTFORD CHERYL TRACY ACOUSTIC BRUNCH CANOE CLUB MIDDLETOWN ROCKY LAWRENCE HOME RESTAURANT (5 TO 8 PM) BRANFORD FRONT ROW BAND LOS MARIACHIS (4 PM) SOUTHINGTON WHAMMER JAMMER OPEN MIC VFW PRESTON BLUES JAM STONEHOUSE BAR BALTIC RICK HARRINGTON JAM CADY'S TAVERN CHEPACHET RI BLUES AND BEYOND OPEN MIC THE STILL BAR AGAWAM MA JIM'S BLUES JAM GREENDALE'S PUB WORCESTER MA PURE AMERICANA THE MAIN PUB MANCHESTER BLUES JAM BOUNDARY BREWHOUSE PAWTUCKET RI OPEN MIX STOMPING GROUND (7 PM) PUTNAM MONDAY 10/22 GREG PICCOLO STEAK LOFT (7 PM) MYSTIC TUXEDO JUNCTION BILL'S SEAFOOD (7 PM) WESTBROOK GEOFF WILLARD OPEN MIC HUNGRY TIGER MANCHESTER TERRI AND ROB DUO PARADE GROUNDS (6:30 PM) WALLINGFORD OPEN MIC JAM NOTE KITCHEN BETHEL JONATHAN CHAPMAN OPEN MIC O BRIEN'S SPORTS BAR DANBURY BILL'S ALL STAR GARAGE JAM STRANGE BREW PUB NORWICH PERKS AND CORKS OPEN MIC PERKS AND CORKS WESTERLY RI TUESDAY 10/23 TOMMY WHALEN AND RAGGED EDGE WATERFRONT HOLYOKE SUE FOLEY WITH BOB CRELIN CAFÉ NINE NEW HAVEN SONNY LANDRETH KATY OLD SABROOK BRANDT TAYLOR BAND LENNY'S BRANFORD RAMBLIN DAN STEVENS NIGHTINGALES CAFÉ (PICKIN PARTY) OLD LYME GEORGE BAKER & WILLIE MOORE WATERS EDGE SUNSET BAR WESTBROOK CHERYL TRACY OPEN MIC WAXY O'CONNOR PLAINVILLE WEDNESDAY 10/24 COMMUNITY BLUES JAM BLACK EYED SALLY'S HARTFORD FRIENDS DAY THEODORE'S SPRINGFIELD MA RAMBLIN DAN STEVENS BEE & THISTLE (5 PM) OLD LYME SUE FOLEY KNICKERBOCKER MUSIC CENTER WESTERLY RI OPEN MIC CANOE CLUB MIDDLETOWN DAVE STOLTZ (ACOUSTIC) AVON OLD FARMS HOTEL AVON CHERYL TRACY OPEN MIC VERO CUCINO MIDDLETOWN THURSDAY 10/25 FELIX CAVALIERE & GENE CORNISH RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE RIDGEFIELD LIVIU POP INVITATIONAL BLACK EYED SALLY'S HARTFORD ROCKY LAWRENCE THE CRAVE (6:30 PM) ANSONIA DAVE STOLTZ OLD FARMS HOTEL AVON LEO BOOGIE (SOLO) WAVERLY CHESHIRE KEN SAFETY OPEN MIC CJ SPARROW CHESHIRE JIMI PHOTON JAM HUNGRY TIGER MANCHESTER OPEN MIC FAST EDDIE'S BILLARD'S NEW MILFORD DAVE COSTA'S OPEN MIC CAMBRIDGE BREW PUB GRANBY WENDY MAY OPEN MIC THE BLACK DUCK WESTPORT GREG SHERROD OPEN MIC THE BLACK SHEEP NIANTIC DEE BROWN OPEN MIC O'NEIL'S BAR BRIDGEPORT TAMARACK OPEN MIC TAMARACK LODGE (6"30 TO 10 PM) VOLUNTOWN PINE LOFT OPEN MIC PINE LOFT PIZZARIA BERLIN https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id502316055
Jeff Slate is a journalist and a musician in his own right who writes about music, TV and film for Esquire magazine and has interviewed a who's who in popular culture including Tom Petty, Jimmy Page, Roger Waters and Willie Nelson to name a few. He also actively leads the band Jeff Slate and Friends in which the friends happen to be some legendary musicians. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The unexpected loss of The Heartbreakers’ leader (and “Charlie T./Muddy Wilbury”) presents an opportunity to look back on the career of the accidental supergroup: the Traveling Wilburys, whose debut album issued almost thirty years ago represented an unimaginable musical collaboration among some of rocks’s giants. Presenting their back story is rock journalist Jeff Slate (http://jeffslatehq.com/index/), whose newly-published Roy Orbison: The Authorized Biography traces the career of a singular artist who, truth be known, served as an unwitting catalyst in the group’s formation. His ties to The Beatles as an artist and a friend are likewise traced. Check out http://royorbison.com/ for more on the book. “Please Please Me” by “Roy Orbison” recorded by Jared Lekites: jaredlekites.bandcamp.comJared’s band, The Lunar Laugh: thelunarlaugh.bandcamp.com The post 125: Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and the Traveling Wilburys appeared first on Something About The Beatles.
The unexpected loss of The Heartbreakers’ leader (and “Charlie T./Muddy Wilbury”) presents an opportunity to look back on the career of the accidental supergroup: the Traveling Wilburys, whose debut album issued almost thirty years ago represented an unimaginable musical collaboration among some of rocks’s giants. Presenting their back story is rock journalist Jeff Slate (http://jeffslatehq.com/index/), whose newly-published Roy Orbison: The Authorized Biography traces the career of a singular artist who, truth be known, served as an unwitting catalyst in the group’s formation. His ties to The Beatles as an artist and a friend are likewise traced. Check out http://royorbison.com/ for more on the book. “Please Please Me” by “Roy Orbison” recorded by Jared Lekites: jaredlekites.bandcamp.comJared’s band, The Lunar Laugh: thelunarlaugh.bandcamp.com The post 125: Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and the Traveling Wilburys appeared first on Something About The Beatles.
Singer-songwriter Jeff Slate is an internationally recognized recording artist and music journalist. He co-founded the band the Mindless Thinkers, founded The Badge and has performed and worked with countless other rock luminaries, including Pete Townshend of The Who, Sheryl Crow and others. His band with David Bowie sideman Earl Slick, and his current band Jeff Slate & Friends, are both mainstays of the Northeast music scene. I met Jeff in Forrest Hills, NY this past Summer at a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers show, while I was grabbing my interviews with Greg Looper and Chris Adamson. When I found out he was both a music journalist and a performer in his own right, I knew I wanted to have him on the show. Not only does Jeff write about music for Esquire, he recently contributed liner notes to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is the author of the authorized Roy Orbison biography which comes out on October 17th, 2017.
It was our privilege to speak (at some length!) with Jeff Slate: Friend of the Project, Rock N Roller from Way Back, and Music and Culture Writer for Esquire Magazine.
It was our privilege to speak (at some length!) with Jeff Slate: Friend of the Project, Rock N Roller from Way Back, and Music and Culture Writer for Esquire Magazine.
Episode #17: As the music industry continues to shrink, investors have begun to circle around record labels and holders of large back catalogs, likely in the hopes of acquiring large amounts of publishing and master rights for an artificially low price. What do these investors know? In this episode, we explore this topic at length, and try to figure out why investors are spending a lot of money on a "failing" industry, when artists' core audiences aren't. GUESTS Jeff Slate (Writer/Journalist) Mark Mulligan (Writer/Journalist) Matt Daniels (Poly-Graph) Jim Selby (AdShare) MUSIC Nick Drake "Pink Moon" Delta 5 "Mind Your Own Business"
Founder of indie band The Badge recently released solo album BIRDS OF PARADOX featuring performances by members of Wings, The Byrds, The Who, the Plastic Ono Elephant's Memory Band and more ! Jeff Slate is a singer/songwriter from New York City. He co-founded the 1980's mod/punk band the Mindless Thinkers, who were mainstays on the Northeastcollege circuit. In the mid-90's he released “The Townshend Tapes”, on which The Who's Pete Townshend acted as Executive Producer, & opened for Sheryl Crow on her “Tuesday Night Music Club” tour. In 1997 he founded the band The Badge, who released four albums and countless singles EPs and live “bootleg” sets and went on to become darlings of the UK/European “mod” scene in the 2000's. In 2010 Jeff released the single “Dreamtime”, which featured Earl Slick & Carlos Alomar “Birds of Paradox” is his first solo album of original material. Jeff has appeared on television & radio numerous times & his songs have appeared in network television shows & major motion pictures.“It began with an act of charity,” Jeff Slate says I was the musical director for a charity event and Steve Holley who used to be the drummer in Wings, was one of the guest performers. We hit it off and I asked him to drum on somesongs of mine in the studio a few weeks later. When we got in there it was exciting.The songs sounded better than I could have ever dreamed. After 15 years making records and playing live with The Badge a new door had opened and I was excited again about making music.”Those initial sessions led to an album's worth of songs with an all-star cast of players,including Holley & former Wings bandmate Laurence Juber, Gary Van Scyoc & Adam Ippolito , Jimmy “Mack ”McEggliott Gene Parsons Simon Townshend Josh Phillips Susie Collins Wayne Cobham &Alex Alexander
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