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35 episodes with The Jordanaires
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4 episodes with The Jordanaires
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5 episodes with The Jordanaires
2 episodes with The Jordanaires
2 episodes with The Jordanaires
2 episodes with The Jordanaires
2 episodes with The Jordanaires
The musician and actor Daryl Davis probably knows more about the Klu Klux Klan than any other living African-American. As the author of Klan-Destine Relationships and his latest The Klan Whisperer, Davis has written about not only his infiltration of the Klan but his befriending of regretful Klansmen like Scott Shepherd (My wife, Cassandra Knight, also wrote about her dinner with Shepherd). Davis' new book should probably be entitled My Life with the Klan. But as the ideas of the Klan have become more mainstream in the last few years, so the traditional KKK itself seems like a quaint relic of a more innocent past. In the old days, you had to hide under a white sheet to say dumb things about people of other colors or faiths. Now these same dumb assumptions are being openly peddled by powerful media figures and elected politicians. Here are the five KEEN ON AMERICA take-aways from our conversation with Davis:* The power of conversation as a tool against hatred: Davis emphasizes that conversation is "the greatest tool or weapon to dismantle conflict" despite being "the least expensive" and "the most underused." His approach involves engaging directly with KKK members to challenge their beliefs through dialogue rather than confrontation.* People can change their racist beliefs: Davis firmly believes that racist ideologies are learned behaviors that can be unlearned. He makes a distinction between inherent traits (like a leopard's spots) and acquired beliefs, arguing that "what can be learned can be unlearned." He provides concrete examples like Scott Shepard, a former Klansman who completely transformed his worldview.* Understanding racism through personal experience: Davis's background as a diplomat's son who traveled extensively gave him a unique perspective on racism. Having been exposed to diversity from an early age, he was shocked when he first experienced racism at age 10, which led to his lifelong quest to understand and combat prejudice.* Core human values transcend differences: Davis believes that regardless of background, all humans share five core values: wanting to be loved, respected, heard, treated fairly and truthfully, and wanting the same things for their families as others want for theirs. He uses this understanding as a foundation for connecting with people across ideological divides.* The importance of distinguishing between ignorance and stupidity: Davis makes a crucial distinction between people who are ignorant (lacking information) versus stupid (having information but ignoring it). He believes education and exposure can cure ignorance, which is why he focuses on providing information and personal connection to those with racist beliefs.Dr. Daryl Davis is an international recording artist who has performed and toured all 50 States and around the world. He has performed extensively with Chuck Berry, The Legendary Blues Band (formerly The Muddy Waters Blues Band), Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, and many others. As an actor Daryl received rave reviews for his stage role in The Time Of Your Life, and has done film and television roles including HBO's acclaimed series The Wire. As a race relations expert Dr. Daryl Davis has received numerous awards and high acclaim for his book Klan-Destine Relationships and his award-winning film documentary Accidental Courtesy. He is the first Black author to write a book on the Ku Klux Klan based upon in-person interviews and personal encounters. His ability to get racists to renounce their ideology has sent Daryl to travel all over the United States and the world to share his methodology.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Honky Tonk Queen – Garrett Glover Playing the Odds – Cody Cooke & The Bayou Outlaws Your Cheatin’ Heart (feat. The Jordanaires) – Patsy Cline Alabam – Cowboy Copas Lonesome 7-7203 – Hawkshaw Hawkins Coffee Days and Whiskey Nights – Robynn Shayne Heaven Is a Honky Tonk – The Highwomen Theme From Rawhide – The Blues Brothers It’s Four In the Morning – Faron Young Guitar Town – Steve Earle Garden of Fools – John R. Miller
I Fought the Law – Steve Earle Sitting in a Cell – South Hill Banks Great Speckle Bird – Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans Just Can’t Wait – Lee Fayssoux Your Cheatin’ Heart (feat. The Jordanaires) – Patsy Cline Touch of Grey – The Infamous Stringdusters Whiskey O’Clock – Donny Van Slee Jitters – Buddy DeVore and the Faded Cowboys Put Your Twang In To It – Luke Deuce
In March of this year, Kimmi Bitter came out of nowhere to land on top of the Alt Country music charts with her first full-length album Old School, a collection of songs that if you didn't know better, you'd swear were from Patsy Cline and the Jordanaires. That record spent four weeks at No. 1 and vaulted Bitter into the conversations for Americana newcomer of the year. Bitter joined Roots Music Rambler to talk about the explosion of her record, the opportunities it has opened up and what the future of her music and sound might be. We also dug into where her love of 60s country comes from and how she's crafted a strong brand to go with the great music. Also on the show, Frank and Falls talk about recent music experiences at the American Music Festival at Fitzgerald's in Chicago (Frank) and Roostertail Music Festival (Falls), and debate whether or not audio books qualify as reading. They also share their Pickin' & Grinnin' picks of the week as recommendations of new music for you to enjoy. Don't forget you can now show your support of the show with Roots Music Rambler's new merch, now available at rootsmusicrambler.com/store. Authentic t-shirts, hats and stickers are now available. Buckle up for The Hoe-Down and the Throw-Down! It's a new episode of Roots Music Rambler. Notes and links: American Music Festival at Fitzgerald's Margo Cilker on Spotify Roostertail Music Festival Silverada on Spotify Marcus King online Kimmi Bitter online Kimmi Bitter on Spotify Old School on Kimmi Bitter's website The Roots Music Rambler Store Roots Music Rambler on Instagram Roots Music Rambler on TikTok Roots Music Rambler on Facebook Jason Falls on Instagram Francesca Folinazzo on Instagram Pickin' the Grinnin' Recommendations Nat Myers on Spotify Annie Mack on Spotify And be sure to get your MuskOx premium flannel shirts just in time for fall. Use the code RAMBLER on checkout for a discount! - https://gomuskox.com/rambler Subscribe to Roots Music Rambler on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, GoodPods or wherever you get your podcasts. Theme Music: Sheepskin & Beeswax by Genticorum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Segunda entrega de canciones que alcanzaron su puesto más alto en el Billboard Hot 100 de EEUU en el mes de agosto de hace 60 años. Voces del Deep soul procedentes de Memphis, Nueva Orleans o Muscle Shoals, bandas de frat rock, pioneros de los años 50, country o los últimos coletazos del surf conviven en las listas de éxitos.(Foto del podcast; Irma Thomas)Playlist;(sintonía) BOOKER T. and THE MG’S “Soul dressing” (top 95)CARLA THOMAS “I’ve got no time to lose” (top 67)IRMA THOMAS “Anyone who knows what love is (will understand)” (top 52)JIMMY HUGHES “Steal away” (top 17)SOLOMON BURKE “Everybody needs somebody to love” (top 58)JAN and DEAN “Little old lady (from Passadena)” (top 3)BRUCE and TERRY “Summer means fun” (top 72)BOBBY FREEMAN “C’mon and swim” (top 5)THE PREMIERS “Farmer John” (top 19)THE KINGSMEN “Little latin Lupe Lu” (top 46)THE CHARTBUSTERS “She’s the one” (top 33)LULU and THE LUVVERS “Shout” (top 94)LITTLE RICHARD “Bama Lama bama Loo” (top 82)ELVIS PRESLEY with THE JORDANAIRES “Such a night” (top 16)JACKIE WILSON “Squeeze her-tease her (but love her)” (top 89)DEL SHANNON “Handy man” (top 22)AL (HE’S THE KING) HIRT “Sugar lips” (top 30)RUBY and THE ROMANTICS “Baby come home” (top 75)ROGER MILLER “Dang me” (top 7)RAY CHARLES “No one to cry to” (top 55)Escuchar audio
La unión de la política y la religión produce siempre mucha confusión. Te lleva a encrucijadas sin salida, como la cuestión que le plantean a Jesús en el capítulo 20 del Evangelio según Lucas: ¿Dios o el César? Dicen que le admiran como un buen maestro, pero su pregunta es una trampa, para enfrentarle a Roma o ponerle contra los judíos. Su respuesta es como siempre, sorprendente... La sintonía de nuestro programa está hoy a cargo de Denis Solee, un veterano músico de jazz de Nashville, que ha tocado el saxofón para cantantes de la talla de Ray Charles o Mel Torme, Sara Vaughn y Aretha Franklin, e incluso la evangélica Amy Grant. El capítulo comienza con la autoridad cuestionada de Jesús (vv. 1-8) .Jesús es un "Extraño solitario" (Lonely Strange 1980), canta Randy Matthews, el cantautor pionero de la Revolución por Jesús, que viene de una larga familia de pastores y es hijo de uno de los Jordanaires, las voces que acompañaban a Elvis Presley. Jesús responde a sus críticos con el ejemplo de "Juan el Bautista, un verdadero portento" (John The Baptist Was A Real Humdinger 2019), según Jason Ringenberg, que mezcló el country con el punk en los 80 con Jason & The Scorchers. El rechazo del Hijo es considerado la ofensa última en la parábola de los labradores malvados, que cuenta Jesús a continuación (vv. 9-18). El final es terrible. No es cualquier cosa despreciar al "Rey de los judíos" (King of the Jews 1983), cantan David y los Gigantes (Giants), el grupo cristiano que forman en los años 80 los hermanos Huff con el Pequeño Ricky de la serie "Te amo Lucy", rescatada ahora por Javier Bardem y Nicole Kidman como los Ricardos. Hay muchas películas sobre la política estadounidense, pero una de nuestras preferidas es "Primary Colors" (1998). Basada en una novela anónima, adaptada al cine por esos dos grandes creadores de la comedia americana más agridulce, Elaine May y Mike Nichols. No sólo es probablemente el mejor papel que haya hecho John Travolta, sino que muestra a la británica Emma Thompson en un auténtico "estado de gracia", como un trasunto del matrimonio de los Clinton en plena campaña a la presidencia de un gobernador demócrata con su esposa. Lo maravilloso de la historia es que está contada desde la perspectiva de un joven afroamericano, nieto de un pastor militante por los derechos civiles, que deja la Causa Negra de su novia, para ser acogido por el equipo de un político blanco sureño. El matrimonio del candidato fascina a este joven por la manera en que el encanto de ella se une a la candidez de este trasunto de Clinton en sus continuas indiscreciones de empedernido mujeriego, estilo JFK. Su unión, rodeada de estrechos y fieles colaboradores, funciona como una familia para este chico. José de Segovia comenta los diálogos que escuchamos en la versión doblada, sobre el fondo de la música de Ry Cooder. El pasaje acaba con una controversia que nos demuestra que no hay nada nuevo en el escepticismo que muchos tienen sobre la vida después de la muerte. Un sector religioso judío tan influyente como el de los saduceos, se aferraba a la Ley de Moisés, para decir que no había resurrección, ni ángeles (vv- 27-40). Estos como ahora, no pueden imaginar una vida diferente a la presente. Jesús les muestra que cuando "Resucitemos" (We Shall RIse 1987), la vida será diferente, como canta Emmy Lou Harris en su disco de "country" más influenciado por el "gospel" (Angel Band). Lenny Kravitz es hijo de una madre de familia cristiana y un padre de origen judío ucraniano. Ella era una actriz de apariencia afroamericana, aunque de las Bahamas como Obama y él realizador de informativos de televisión. Su educación no es religiosa, pero él tiene una experiencia espiritual que le lleva en la adolescencia a una iglesia evangélica en Nueva York. Escuchamos su canción sobre la "La Resurrección" (The Resurrection 1995).
Please Join us every week as Patty Wilson & Scott Cowarttalk passionately about the ever-changing real estate market!It's House Talk with a Happy Ending!How to get rid of a squatter in Florida!!Why is Biden telling us folks with decent credit are rich??? Why is he taking from the folks with good credit to give to folks without good credit???Top 5 Features Buyers Want! You will be surprised ;)www.jointhebrokerage.com - get your license with the US! Patty has partnered with Moseley Real Estate and offers real estate courses in person! Are you ready for your Florida Brokers license? We offer pre-licensing for Brokers!Executive Producer:Greg Tish Music by: 9-5 - Dolly PartonThey're Playing Our Song - TrinereSpring Love - Stevie B Lookout Weekend - Debbie DebYou Belong to Me - Patsy Cline, The JordanairesWonderful, Wonderful - Johnny MathisAn Affair To Remember - Nat King ColeGood Day - Nappy Roots Get bonus content on Patreon Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/pattysplayhouse https://plus.acast.com/s/pattysplayhouse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Great exchange with the late Gordon Stoker, one of the Jordanaires who tells it like it really was and not as you will read it in books about Elvis and that Sinatra show!
Nueva entrega del coleccionable dedicado a recordar las canciones que alcanzaron su máximo puesto en las listas del Billboard Hot 100 de este mes hace 60 años. En marzo de 1964 The Beatles se convierten ya en una fuerza arrolladora y sus numerosos singles copan toda la zona alta de las listas de ventas. Aquel mes el surf da sus últimos coletazos, los “veteranos” del rock’n’roll intentan aguantar el envite y el soul o el sonido Motown resisten fuertes al invasor.Playlist;(sintonía) THE PYRAMIDS “Penetration” (top 18)THE BEATLES “She loves you” (top 1)THE BEATLES “Please please me” (top 3)THE BEATLES “I saw her standing there” (top 14)THE BEATLES with TONY SHERIDAN “My Bonnie” (top 26)DUSTY SPRINGFIELD “I only want to be with you” (top 12)ELVIS PRESLEY and THE JORDANAIRES “Kissin’ cousins” (top 12)FREDDY CANNON “Abigail Beecher” (top 16)THE BEACH BOYS “Fun fun fun” (top 5)THE TRASHMEN “Bird dance beat” (top 30)JAMES BROWN and THE FAMOUS FLAMES “Oh baby don’t you weep” (top 23)SAM COOKE “Good news” (top 11)RAY CHARLES and HIS ORCHESTRA “Baby don’t you cry (The new swingova rhythm)” (top 39)TOMMY TUCKER “Hi heel sneakers” (top 11)RUFUS THOMAS “Can your monkey do the dog” (top 48)MARTHA and THE VANDELLAS “Live wire” (top 42)NINO TEMPO and APRIL STEVENS “Stardust” (top 32)THE SAPPHIRES “Who do you love” (top 25)DALE and GRACE “Stop and think it over” (top 8)Escuchar audio
East Coast multi-talented singer/songwriter John Krondes talks about his latest release “The End (At the End Of The Rainbow)” with the Jordanaires re-establishing the adored Memphis sound with a new recording of his father's song (Jimmy Krondes) co-written with Sid Jacobsen becoming a big hit for Earl Grant in 1958, and Elvis Presley sang the classic to Priscilla Beaulieu on the piano the night they met in Germany! John also talks about how he started in his amazing career influenced by his legendary father Jimmy, his previous releases “You Only Hear What You Want to Hear”, “Let It Be Me”, “A Dream for Peace” plus how he became connected to Elvis' best friend Joe Esposito bringing all of Elvis' musicians & singers to make nearly 100 of the 1st new recordings with the Elvis Presley Hit Team, plus find out what cartoon theme song he sang in! Check out the amazing John Krondes on all streaming platforms (including his latest!) and www.johnkrondes.com today! #johnkrondes #jimmykrondes #singer #songwriter #theend #attheendoftherainvow #jordanaires #elvispresley #memphissound #sidjacobsen #priscillabeaulieu #earlgrant #elvispresleyhitteam #spreaker #iheartradio #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnerjohnkrondes #themikewagnershowjohnkrondes --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themikewagnershow/support
East Coast multi-talented singer/songwriter John Krondes talks about his latest release “The End (At the End Of The Rainbow)” with the Jordanaires re-establishing the adored Memphis sound with a new recording of his father's song (Jimmy Krondes) co-written with Sid Jacobsen becoming a big hit for Earl Grant in 1958, and Elvis Presley sang the classic to Priscilla Beaulieu on the piano the night they met in Germany! John also talks about how he started in his amazing career influenced by his legendary father Jimmy, his previous releases “You Only Hear What You Want to Hear”, “Let It Be Me”, “A Dream for Peace” plus how he became connected to Elvis' best friend Joe Esposito bringing all of Elvis' musicians & singers to make nearly 100 of the 1st new recordings with the Elvis Presley Hit Team, plus find out what cartoon theme song he sang in! Check out the amazing John Krondes on all streaming platforms (including his latest!) and www.johnkrondes.com today! #johnkrondes #jimmykrondes #singer #songwriter #theend #attheendoftherainvow #jordanaires #elvispresley #memphissound #sidjacobsen #priscillabeaulieu #earlgrant #elvispresleyhitteam #spreaker #iheartradio #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnerjohnkrondes #themikewagnershowjohnkrondes --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themikewagnershow/support
East Coast multi-talented singer/songwriter John Krondes talks about his latest release “The End (At the End Of The Rainbow)” with the Jordanaires re-establishing the adored Memphis sound with a new recording of his father's song (Jimmy Krondes) co-written with Sid Jacobsen becoming a big hit for Earl Grant in 1958, and Elvis Presley sang the classic to Priscilla Beaulieu on the piano the night they met in Germany! John also talks about how he started in his amazing career influenced by his legendary father Jimmy, his previous releases “You Only Hear What You Want to Hear”, “Let It Be Me”, “A Dream for Peace” plus how he became connected to Elvis' best friend Joe Esposito bringing all of Elvis' musicians & singers to make nearly 100 of the 1st new recordings with the Elvis Presley Hit Team, plus find out what cartoon theme song he sang in! Check out the amazing John Krondes on all streaming platforms (including his latest!) and www.johnkrondes.com today! #johnkrondes #jimmykrondes #singer #songwriter #theend #attheendoftherainvow #jordanaires #elvispresley #memphissound #sidjacobsen #priscillabeaulieu #earlgrant #elvispresleyhitteam #spreaker #iheartradio #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnerjohnkrondes #themikewagnershowjohnkrondes
I became a music interviewer to meet and talk with my music heroes. I have always loved the work the Jordanaires did with Elvis ever since I heard the gospel album His Hand In Mine. I'll do a podcast about that. But here, Gordon Stoker tells a little-known story about Blue Christmas and Millie Kirkham, who sang the "high part" and hated it! Happy Christmas to my podcast listeners.
Retrocedemos 60 años en el tiempo para recordar algunas de las canciones que sonaban en las listas de éxitos del Billboard Hot 100 de EEUU en noviembre de 1963. (Fotos podcast; The Village Stompers, Nino Tempo y April Stevens) Playlist; (sintonía) THE VILLAGE STOMPERS “Washington Square” NINO TEMPO and APRIL STEVENS “Deep purple” GARNET MIMMS and THE ENCHANTERS “Cry baby” SAM COOKE “Little red rooster” RUFUS THOMAS “Walkin’ the dog” MARVIN GAYE “Can I get a witness” ELVIS PRESLEY with THE JORDANAIRES “Bossanova baby” RICKY NELSON “Fools rush in” THE DIXIEBELLES “(Down at) Papa’s Joe” BEACH BOYS “Be true to your school” ROBIN WARD “Wonderful summer” JACK NITZSCHE “Rumble” CHUBBY CHECKER “Loddy Lo” DEE DEE SHARP “Wild” LESLEY GORE “She’s a fool” BOBBY BARE “500 miles away from home” PETER PAUL and MARY “Don’t think twice it’s alright” DALE and GRACE “I’m leaving it up to you” Escuchar audio
This week on The Gospel Jubilee Chip and Denny will be sharing their top ten picks of the most popular Southern Gospel songs for the month of October. Here are all of the ways you can listen to the Gospel Jubilee On your Echo device say, Alexa, play the Gospel Jubilee on Apple podcast. For a direct download go to: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/57397421/download.mp3 Ocean Waves Radio ... every Wednesday at 5:00 PM Eastern time., www.OceanWavesRadio.com Thursday afternoons at 4:00 PM and Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM EST on Southern Branch Bluegrass Radio, www.sbbradio.org Saturday evenings at 7:00 and Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 CST on Radio For Life, www.RadioForLife.org Legend Oldies Radio. Our broadcast will be aired every Sunday morning at 9:00 AM CDT. https://www.legendoldies.com Playlist: Artists |Song Title | Album 01. The SteelDrivers - Just a little talk with Jesus - "Tougher Than Nails" 02. Mystery artists of the week - The Jordanaires - Didn't it rain - "Jordanaires" 03. The Whisnants - Been blessed - "Been Blessed" 04. Scotty Inman - Anywhere Jesus is - "Anywhere Jesus Is" 05. Ronnie Milsap - I just feel like something good is about to happen - "Award Winning Artists Honor The Songs Of Bill & Gloria Gaither"- 06. Lauren, Amber, and Kenna - A little bit of Heaven - "A Little Bit Of Heaven - Single" 07. The Guardians - He grew the tree - "Come On In" 08. Joseph Habedank - The basement - "The Basement - Single" 09. Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (Featuring Bill Gaither) - It's beginning to rain - "Something Beautiful" 10. Ronnie Booth - Take my hand, precious Lord - "The Best Hymn Songs Ever" 11. The Down East Boys - Love worth dying for - "There's A Song For That EP" 12. The Mylon Hayes Family - Jesus loves you - "Steady & Sure" 13. Legacy Five - I've seen what He can do - "Something New" 14. The Erwins - Still telling my story - "Still Telling My Story - Single" 15. The Steeles - Braggin' on Jesus - "Be The Reason" 16. Brian Free & Assurance - That's why we pray - "Meet Me At The Cross EP" 17. Glen Payne - Get on the happy side of living - "Classics" 18. Tim Lovelace - The apple of His eye - "Moments That Motivate" 19. The Gaither Vocal Band - How beautiful Heaven mus be - "That's Gospel, Brother" 20. Triumphant Quartet - Evidence - "Hymns & Worship" 21. Tribute Quartet - Cheer the weary traveler - "Tribute Quartet - Quartet Tribute - Volume 3" 22. Karen Peck & New River - Dance - "2_22" 23. The Gospel Plowboys - When I wake to sleep no more - "When The Crops Are Laid By" 24. Jason Crabb - Do it for you - "Good Morning Mercy" Outro – When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder – New Horizons – Old Time Gospel Classics
JOHN KRONDES AND ELVIS PRESLEY HIT TEAM BRING BACK MEMPHIS SOUND WITH 1ST NEW RECORDINGS SINCE 1977. ROCK 'N ROLL HEAVEN HAS SPOKEN AND THE SILENCE IS BROKEN! SHOCKINGLY, THE MEMPHIS ROCK IS BACK ON THE WORLD'S AIRWAVES. JOHN KRONDES UNITES WITH ELVIS PRESLEY AND ROLLS OUT NEW MUSIC WITH THE ORIGINAL ELVIS PRESLEY MUSICIANS AND SINGERS. John Krondes dazzles radio and fans worldwide with new recordings with all the King's music entourage. Fans re-mourning the loss of Elvis Presley after THE END of the movie ELVIS are now celebrating The Return Of The Memphis Sound! A DREAM FOR PEACE medley includes a new recording of "If I Can Dream" the song Elvis Presley sang in the '68 Comeback Special, along with "Classical Dream". REALLY FOLKS, accompanying Singer John Krondes on the record is the American Sound Studio Band that recorded "Suspicious Minds" and other hits with Elvis Presley, together with the Jordanaires, Stamps, Imperials, Sweet Inspirations, Millie Kirkham, Elvis Horns, and more. Singer/Songwriter John Krondes wondrously has near 100 New Recordings with all the original Elvis Presley musicians and singers. The recordings are continuing with even more legends gravitating to Krondes to create this New Memphis Rock Music. Elvis Presley's Best Friend and Road Manager Joe Esposito took control and spearheaded the John Krondes and Elvis Hit Making Team project until his 2016 death. The lost Memphis Sound has been found, and there's a lot more music in the works. Some of Elvis Presley's musicians and vocalists have died in the process making the new John Krondes recordings a gift from Rock 'N Roll Heaven. A Dream For Peace (Medley) consists of the full song "If I Can Dream" together with "Classical Dream", a beautiful instrumental piece written by John Krondes which opens and closes the "If I Can Dream" song. "If I Can Dream" was a big featured song in the New Elvis Movie that came out in June. John mentioned he explained some of the history and detail on the new recording of this song "If I Can Dream". Ironically, this new recording is ready to go thanks to Joe Esposito, and is in the ELVIS Movie. The new recording by John Krondes and the Elvis Hit Making Team has a stellar roster of all of Elvis Presley's original musicians and singers. If promoted correctly to Radio Stations around the world, this song is going to shock the music world. This is the first release with the entire Elvis Presley music entourage together on a new song. The track, along with John Krondes on lead includes: The American Sound Studio Band that recorded "Suspicious Minds" for Elvis, along with The Jordanaires, Stamps, Imperials, Sweet Inspirations, Millie Kirkhim, and Elvis Horns.www.johnkrondes.com
JOHN KRONDES AND ELVIS PRESLEY HIT TEAM BRING BACK MEMPHIS SOUND WITH 1ST NEW RECORDINGS SINCE 1977. ROCK 'N ROLL HEAVEN HAS SPOKEN AND THE SILENCE IS BROKEN! SHOCKINGLY, THE MEMPHIS ROCK IS BACK ON THE WORLD'S AIRWAVES. JOHN KRONDES UNITES WITH ELVIS PRESLEY AND ROLLS OUT NEW MUSIC WITH THE ORIGINAL ELVIS PRESLEY MUSICIANS AND SINGERS. John Krondes dazzles radio and fans worldwide with new recordings with all the King's music entourage. Fans re-mourning the loss of Elvis Presley after THE END of the movie ELVIS are now celebrating The Return Of The Memphis Sound! A DREAM FOR PEACE medley includes a new recording of "If I Can Dream" the song Elvis Presley sang in the '68 Comeback Special, along with "Classical Dream". REALLY FOLKS, accompanying Singer John Krondes on the record is the American Sound Studio Band that recorded "Suspicious Minds" and other hits with Elvis Presley, together with the Jordanaires, Stamps, Imperials, Sweet Inspirations, Millie Kirkham, Elvis Horns, and more. Singer/Songwriter John Krondes wondrously has near 100 New Recordings with all the original Elvis Presley musicians and singers. The recordings are continuing with even more legends gravitating to Krondes to create this New Memphis Rock Music. Elvis Presley's Best Friend and Road Manager Joe Esposito took control and spearheaded the John Krondes and Elvis Hit Making Team project until his 2016 death. The lost Memphis Sound has been found, and there's a lot more music in the works. Some of Elvis Presley's musicians and vocalists have died in the process making the new John Krondes recordings a gift from Rock 'N Roll Heaven. A Dream For Peace (Medley) consists of the full song "If I Can Dream" together with "Classical Dream", a beautiful instrumental piece written by John Krondes which opens and closes the "If I Can Dream" song. "If I Can Dream" was a big featured song in the New Elvis Movie that came out in June. John mentioned he explained some of the history and detail on the new recording of this song "If I Can Dream". Ironically, this new recording is ready to go thanks to Joe Esposito, and is in the ELVIS Movie. The new recording by John Krondes and the Elvis Hit Making Team has a stellar roster of all of Elvis Presley's original musicians and singers. If promoted correctly to Radio Stations around the world, this song is going to shock the music world. This is the first release with the entire Elvis Presley music entourage together on a new song. The track, along with John Krondes on lead includes: The American Sound Studio Band that recorded "Suspicious Minds" for Elvis, along with The Jordanaires, Stamps, Imperials, Sweet Inspirations, Millie Kirkhim, and Elvis Horns.www.johnkrondes.com
We talk to Corey Lee Barker about music for film and much more! About Corey: Corey Lee Barker (AKA Christmas Corey) has had over 1,200 songs cut by artists or placed in tv shows since his 1998 arrival in Nashville. His music has been placed on ABC, CBS, Hallmark, Cinemax, Netflix, Pureflix, Entertainment Tonight, Animal Planet, Hulu, Lifetime, WB Network, CW Network, MLB Tonight, Amazing Race, UpTV, Smallville, The Messengers, Hope for Christmas, Last Chance Highway (Theme Song), FD TV, Tom's Wild Life (Theme Song), Hoge Wild TV, Road to Christmas, Hashtag Blessed, Unperfect Christmas Wish, Sappy Holiday, A Christmas to Treasure, A Model Christmas, Christmas at the Amish Bakery, Christmas on The Ranch, A Perfect Christmas Pairing, The Holiday Exchange, TV Binge, Woman in the Maze, Fortis Femina, Vampire Academy, etc. Artists who have recorded Corey's music include, but aren't limited to William Shatner, Vince Gill, Tracy Lawrence, Darryl Worley, Jamie O'neal, TG Sheppard, Neal McCoy, Claudette King (BB King's daughter), Cledus T Judd, Buddy Jewell, T Graham Brown, Home Free, Daryl Singletary, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Bill Anderson, Jeff Bates, Johnny Lee, Pam Tillis, Jeff Carson, Jesse Keith Whitley, Jeff Cook (of Alabama), Jason Jones (Warner Brothers), Rhonda Vincent, Jeannie Seely, The Jordanaires, Larry Gatlin, Lucas Hoge, etc. His songs have been on Grammy winning albums and #1 Billboard albums collectively in Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Polka. Corey has received nominations or wins for song or Songwriter of the year multiple times by the ICMA, The Josie Music Awards, The Tennessee Songwriters Association International, Texas Country Music Association, The World Songwriter Awards, GMA, KCMA and the NACMAI. Be sure to check out Corey's 3 books: “Hit Happens” , “101 Ways to get your songs recorded” and "Songwriting for Sync”. www.reverbnation.com/christmascorey (Christmas)www.reverbnation.com/coreyleebarker4/songs (TV/Film & Mainstream Country)www.reverbnation.com/coreyleebarker (Inspirational / Gospel) www.reverbnation.com/coreycountry (Traditional / Texas Country)www.reverbnation.com/coreyleebarkermilitarysongs (Military)www.coreyleebarker.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moviemakingpod/support
Part 2 of the Elvis and Country Music saga picks up right where Justin and guest host Garrett Cash left off, with a deconstruction of both sides of Elvis' first Sun single. Elvis's country career is traced through his time at Sun and on the Louisiana Hayride, dedicating time to sidebar the realities of how flawed the way we discuss and understand country music as a genre during this period will always be due to the historical omission of the countless non-white artists who loved performing country music, but were disincentivized from recording in that genre by A&R reps and studio execs, and rarely allowed a welcome presence with country audiences. And to that end, was Chuck Berry just a country music artist hiding in plain sight all along? We also begin to see the beginnings of the development of the Nashville Sound as Elvis joins RCA and single-handedly popularizes the gospel backing group sound in country music by demanding to work with The Jordanaires. Zig-zagging between the "traditional" country songs Elvis dabbled in during the 1950s and the actual charting country hits he had between 1956-1958, like, you know, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock and Hard Headed Woman, we land on the popular notion held in country lore that Elvis simply outgrew country by the late 1950s... but what if the truth was more complicated - and malicious - than how the Nashville establishment, and even more contemporary retrospectives like Ken Burns' Country Music, has told it? You can find more of Garrett on "The Beat! With Garrett Cash" on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/garrett-cash-635212819 As well as on the Let It Roll Podcast miniseries "Holy Roll" at: https://letitrollpodcast.substack.com/p/let-it-roll-with-garrett-cash In late October we will be releasing a YouTube and Spotify playlist with as many songs featured on this series as possible. Stay tuned to our social media pages for details. This series would not be possible without the support of TCBCast Patreon backers, thank you to all of our patrons! This is not remotely comprehensive or in any order whatsoever but among some of the key resources that we found useful for this 2nd episode are: Ken Burns' Country Music - Documentary, Book & Soundtrack The Birth of Rock and Roll: The Illustrated Story of Sun Records by Colin Escott and Peter Guralnick Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music and the True Story of Heartbreak Hotel by Tony Plews Cocaine and Rhinestones by Tyler Mahan Coe The Nashville Sound by Paul Hemphill How Nashville Became Music City, USA by Michael Kosser TheMusicalDivide.com: "Pop Goes the Country" Blog
Okay, up front let's just get this out of the way. We don't know what “sugaree” is, or why you would want to shake it, or what'd happen if you did.And apparently nobody else knows either.Our Story Begins…Let's start our story in the mid-1960s, when folk music legend Elizabeth Cotten recorded her new album, Shake Sugaree.“That's more my grandchildren's song,” Libba Cotten later told Mike Seeger about the title tune. “They made the verses and I played the music. The first verse my oldest grandson, he made that himself, and from that each child would say a word and add to it.”Apparently it was Cotten herself who added that memorable — if enigmatic — chorus (Oh, lordy me / Didn't I shake sugaree? / Everything I got is done and pawned), though “to tell the truth,” she added, “I don't know what got it started. “That's practically how all my songs, I pick up,” she said. “There's somebody'll say something or something done and then... something will come into your mind.” Enter Fred NeilA couple years later, singer/songwriter Fred Neil revisited the song, but in a radically different way. While Cotten's original was a jaunty tune, Fred framed her lyrics with his own slow and positively pensive melody, transforming it from something playful into a poignant meditation on loneliness and loss.The arrangement was so different from Cotten's, in fact, that Capitol Records felt justified in giving Neil co-credit for the composition. Of course, that decision led to further confusion about the song. For instance, when Pat Boone (uh-huh, Pat Boone … !) recorded the song in 1969 on his Departure album, Fred Neil was listed as its only composer, with Cotten nowhere to be found in the credits.But What Is Sugaree?Apparently, nobody bothered to ask Elizabeth Cotten to define “sugaree.” They didn't ask Fred Neil either. Nor Jerry Garcia when he and The Grateful Dead recorded a completely different song with the same name in 1972. (Maybe Pat Boone knows sugaree's secret, but he ain't saying.)All this mystery has led data detectives on a great what-is-sugaree scavenger hunt on the Internet, producing some wildly weird theories. An African-American dance featuring sugar spread on the floor? A variation on a native America word or perhaps an ancient tribe's name? A Gullah term from Cotten's native Carolinas? A corruption of the word shivaree (itself a corruption of the French charivari.)Or Maybe the Question is WHO is Sugaree?Wait. Let's add to the puzzle. What if Sugaree is a person? That's what one prominent early rock ‘n' roll singer/songwriter thought.A decade before Elizabeth Cotten and her grandchildren created their tune, Marty Robbins — yes, Marty (Out in the West Texas town of El Paso) Robbins — wrote a song called “Sugaree” that was released by The Jordanaires.Its lyrics made it clear that for Marty and the boys “Sugaree” was a girl (I got a letter from my baby, Sugaree, wrote me today. / It was the first one that she wrote me, first one since she went away.) And that bit of business prompts an intriguing theory. Could be it be that the Marty Robbins song — which was recorded by several other groups besides The Jordanaires and got wide airplay in the late 1950s on radio and TV — was a favorite of Libba's grandkids? (After all, it was a catchy number … and of course, “sugar” does have famously universal kid appeal.) Maybe that the reason the kids worked it into the song that they were creating with Grandma. If that's the case, it would mean that “sugaree” was simply a cool sound. Cotten and her kids might have just liked the ear tickle they got from the alliteration when they let “shake” shimmy up next to “sugaree.” Our Take on the Tune “Folk progress” is a term that Charles Seeger — folksinger Pete's pop — came up with about a hundred years ago to describe the tendency of melodies and lyrics to change, a little or a lot, as they pass from person to person and generation to generation.It's a process that greatly pleases us in The Flood. From our earliest days, we've done everything we can to carry it on by putting our own stamp on every song we do.This particular number grew out of a recent Flood jam at which a riff Charlie started noodling with on his new resonator guitar had him remembering that old Fred Neil take on the Libba Cotten song. In a flash, Dan and Sam were bringing their own magic to the moment. Here's the result. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com
Klan-Destine Relationships. It began with a question. How can you hate me when you don't even know me? Listen to our powerful Interview with acclaimed musician, author, educator and race reconciliator, Daryl Davis. A chance encounter with members of the Ku Klux Klan led musician Daryl Davis on a quest to determine the source of the hate. His unorthodox, yet simple approach, has wielded surprising results and just might be the solution for all racial discourse. As a pianist, vocalist, and guitarist, he performs nationally and internationally with The Daryl Davis Band. He has also worked with such notables as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, The Legendary Blues Band and many others. In 1983, A chance occurrence after one of his performances led him to befriend a member of the Ku Klux Klan. This eventually led Daryl to become the first black author to travel the country interviewing KKK leaders and members, all detailed in his book, Klan-Destine Relationships. Today, Daryl owns numerous Klan robes and hoods, given to him by active members who became his friends and renounced the organization. Davis has received the Elliott-Black and MLK awards as well as numerous national awards for his work in race relations. He is also an actor appearing in the critically acclaimed HBO's The Wire and most recently, as the subject of the documentary, Accidental Courtesy, which filmed his real life encounters with Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi leaders as he helps to dismantle racism across the United States. All Music, Lyric and Performances by your Hosts, James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin
These Join us every week as Patty Wilson & Scott Cowarttalk passionately about the ever-changing real estate market!It's House Talk with a Happy Ending!How to get rid of a squatter in Florida!! Why is Biden telling us folks with decent credit are rich??? Why is he taking from the folks with good credit to give to folks without good credit??? Top 5 Features Buyers Want! You will be surprised ;) www.jointhebrokerage.com - get your license with the US! Patty has partnered with Moseley Real Estate and offers real estate courses in person! Are you ready for your Florida Brokers license? We offer pre-licensing for Brokers!Executive Producer:Greg Tish Music by: 9-5 - Dolly PartonThey're Playing Our Song - TrinereSpring Love - Stevie B Lookout Weekend - Debbie DebYou Belong to Me - Patsy Cline, The JordanairesWonderful, Wonderful - Johnny MathisAn Affair To Remember - Nat King ColeGood Day - Nappy Roots Get bonus content on Patreon Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/pattysplayhouse https://plus.acast.com/s/pattysplayhouse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Efter en pause på et par måneder, hvor POV Mediano Musics Jan Eriksen bl.a. har skrevet roman og holdt ferie, er vi tilbage med en ny podcast. Denne gang er gæsten rockveteranen Henning Stærk. Også han har holdt en længere pause – en album pause. Faktisk har han ikke udgivet en plade siden 2009. Han har overvundet gigtproblemer, men er nu fit for fight og aktuel med "Big Boss Man", opkaldt efter et af de numre, der var med til at give Elvis Presley et comeback i 1968. Flere numre på den nye plade er inspireret af Cash's "American Recordings"-plader. Bl.a. en flot version af Tina Dickows "Someone You Love". Henning og Jan taler om Stærks sanglærer Elvis Presley, der lærte ham at synge i barndomshjemmet i Holstebro. Om den første koncert, hvor Stærk sang iført en nyindkøbt Stones-trøje (rullekravebluse). Og om drømmen om at undslippe Holstebro, der resulterede i ”flugten” til Aarhus, hvor han til sin overraskelse bestod første år på jurastudiet, indtil der blev fuldt fokus på musikken. De taler om de første pionerdage med pigtrådsmusik, og miljøet i Aarhus, hvor musikere som Lars Hybel, Lars Muhl, Per Frost, Georg Olesen, Lis Sørensen og Hans Erik Lerchenfeldt spillede og jammede sammen på byens scener. Inden Stærk for alvor blev solist i 1982, var der årene med Jackie Boo Flight, Spillemændene og Gnags, der havde brug for en en "anden-trommeslager" model Allman Brothers. Gennem de sidste 40 år har Stærk etableret sig som en af landets bedste fortolkere af den klassiske, autentiske rockmusik, country og soul. Og han har arbejdet sammen med producere som Mike Vernon (som bl.a. producerede en legendariske John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers plade med Eric Clapton i 1966) og Joe Hardy (ZZ Top). Det har ført til hits som signatur americana-sangen, Poul Krebs ”Sweatheart” og Niels Maatofts ”Tender Care – Tender Touch” og fortolkninger af bl.a ”Fire”, ”Switchboard Susan”, ”Hard to Handle” og ”Heart of Gold”. Der er nørdesnak om bl.a. Johnny Cash (som Stærk har mødt en enkelt gang), Hank Williams, Maetoft, Micky Jupp, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine og Elvis gamle samarbejdspartnere, gospelkoret The Jordanaires, som medvirker på flere Stærk-numre på "Dreams to Remember", der blev en kæmpe kommerciel succes. ”Det var en overraskelse, at det blev et gennembrud. Det var et resultat af mange tilfældigheder, en af dem, at The Jordanaires kom til at synge kor, som var et stort historisk vingesus for mig. Fordi jeg er gammel Elvis-fan. Da vi hørte det kor, de lagde på, kunne vi bare høre, hold kæft hvor lyder det svinefedt, det her,” siger Henning Stærk blandt meget andet.
Efter en pause på et par måneder, hvor POV Mediano Musics Jan Eriksen bl.a. har skrevet roman og holdt ferie, er vi tilbage med en ny podcast. Denne gang er gæsten rockveteranen Henning Stærk. Også han har holdt en længere pause – en album pause. Faktisk har han ikke udgivet en plade siden 2009. Han har overvundet gigtproblemer, men er nu fit for fight og aktuel med "Big Boss Man", opkaldt efter et af de numre, der var med til at give Elvis Presley et comeback i 1968. Flere numre på den nye plade er inspireret af Cash's "American Recordings"-plader. Bl.a. en flot version af Tina Dickows "Someone You Love". Henning og Jan taler om Stærks sanglærer Elvis Presley, der lærte ham at synge i barndomshjemmet i Holstebro. Om den første koncert, hvor Stærk sang iført en nyindkøbt Stones-trøje (rullekravebluse). Og om drømmen om at undslippe Holstebro, der resulterede i ”flugten” til Aarhus, hvor han til sin overraskelse bestod første år på jurastudiet, indtil der blev fuldt fokus på musikken. De taler om de første pionerdage med pigtrådsmusik, og miljøet i Aarhus, hvor musikere som Lars Hybel, Lars Muhl, Per Frost, Georg Olesen, Lis Sørensen og Hans Erik Lerchenfeldt spillede og jammede sammen på byens scener. Inden Stærk for alvor blev solist i 1982, var der årene med Jackie Boo Flight, Spillemændene og Gnags, der havde brug for en en "anden-trommeslager" model Allman Brothers. Gennem de sidste 40 år har Stærk etableret sig som en af landets bedste fortolkere af den klassiske, autentiske rockmusik, country og soul. Og han har arbejdet sammen med producere som Mike Vernon (som bl.a. producerede en legendariske John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers plade med Eric Clapton i 1966) og Joe Hardy (ZZ Top). Det har ført til hits som signatur americana-sangen, Poul Krebs ”Sweatheart” og Niels Maatofts ”Tender Care – Tender Touch” og fortolkninger af bl.a ”Fire”, ”Switchboard Susan”, ”Hard to Handle” og ”Heart of Gold”. Der er nørdesnak om bl.a. Johnny Cash (som Stærk har mødt en enkelt gang), Hank Williams, Maetoft, Micky Jupp, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine og Elvis gamle samarbejdspartnere, gospelkoret The Jordanaires, som medvirker på flere Stærk-numre på "Dreams to Remember", der blev en kæmpe kommerciel succes. ”Det var en overraskelse, at det blev et gennembrud. Det var et resultat af mange tilfældigheder, en af dem, at The Jordanaires kom til at synge kor, som var et stort historisk vingesus for mig. Fordi jeg er gammel Elvis-fan. Da vi hørte det kor, de lagde på, kunne vi bare høre, hold kæft hvor lyder det svinefedt, det her,” siger Henning Stærk blandt meget andet.
Brad and Mark talk with Alan Stoker, son of The Jordanaires' leader Gordon Stoker. Alan is co-author of the new book, " The Jordanaires, The Story of the World's Greatest Backup Vocal Group" as told by Gordon Stoker with Michael Kosser and Alan Stoker. Alan gives us new insight into their work with Elvis and tells great stories involving his father's famous vocal group.
Gurdip's back! This week we're visiting the 1983 overdub project "I Was the One" which paired Elvis' original recordings with new backing by Scotty, DJ, Emery Gordy, Dale Sellers and the Jordanaires, overseen by two of Elvis's own concert pianists, David Briggs and Tony Brown, as well as the medley they oversaw the production of. Is the album a lost classic, or was its flop status merited? Then, for Song of the Week, Gurdip picks "Sound Advice" from the movie "Follow That Dream" and, inspired by Elvis' 1972 recording of the Paul Williams song, Justin ponders the question "Where Do I Go From Here?" If you enjoy TCBCast, please consider supporting us with a donation at Patreon.com/TCBCast. If you are unable to support us via Patreon, but want to support us another way, please make sure to leave a positive review or mention our show to another like-minded music history and movie enthusiast.
Nueva entrega del coleccionable dedicado a rescatar canciones que dieron forma al pop de la primera mitad de los años 60. Playlist; (sintonía) HERB ALPERT and THE TIJUANA BRASS “Lonely bull” BO DIDDLEY “You can’t judge a book by its cover” THE PRETTY THINGS “Honey I need” THE EASYBEATS “She’s so fine” PAUL REVERE and THE RAIDERS “Just like me” DAVIE JONES with THE KING BEES “Louie Louie go home” EDDIE COCHRAN “Three steps to heaven” OTIS REDDING “Pain in my heart” ERNIE K DOE “Mother in law” AL HIRT “Java” ANN MARGRETT “I just don’t understand” ELVIS PRESLEY “C’mon everybody” TIMI YURO “What’s the matter baby (is it hurting you)” JOHNNY KIDD and THE PIRATES “Baby you’ve got what it takes” FABIAN “Kissin’ and twistin’” THE JORDANAIRES “I walk the line” PETER and GORDON “Lucille” BOBBY RYDELL “A world without love” BRENDA LEE “Emotions” Escuchar audio
Episode 163 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay", Stax Records, and the short, tragic, life of Otis Redding. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-three minute bonus episode available, on "Soul Man" by Sam and Dave. 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/ Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Redding, even if I split into multiple parts. The main resource I used for the biographical details of Redding was Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul by Mark Ribowsky. Ribowsky is usually a very good, reliable, writer, but in this case there are a couple of lapses in editing which make it not a book I can wholeheartedly recommend, but the research on the biographical details of Redding seems to be the best. Information about Stax comes primarily from two books: Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax by Rob Bowman, and Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion by Robert Gordon. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. There are two Original Album Series box sets which between them contain all the albums Redding released in his life plus his first few posthumous albums, for a low price. Volume 1, volume 2. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick note before I begin -- this episode ends with a description of a plane crash, which some people may find upsetting. There's also a mention of gun violence. In 2019 the film Summer of Soul came out. If you're unfamiliar with this film, it's a documentary of an event, the Harlem Cultural Festival, which gets called the "Black Woodstock" because it took place in the summer of 1969, overlapping the weekend that Woodstock happened. That event was a series of weekend free concerts in New York, performed by many of the greatest acts in Black music at that time -- people like Stevie Wonder, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, and the Fifth Dimension. One thing that that film did was to throw into sharp relief a lot of the performances we've seen over the years by legends of white rock music of the same time. If you watch the film of Woodstock, or the earlier Monterey Pop festival, it's apparent that a lot of the musicians are quite sloppy. This is easy to dismiss as being a product of the situation -- they're playing outdoor venues, with no opportunity to soundcheck, using primitive PA systems, and often without monitors. Anyone would sound a bit sloppy in that situation, right? That is until you listen to the performances on the Summer of Soul soundtrack. The performers on those shows are playing in the same kind of circumstances, and in the case of Woodstock literally at the same time, so it's a fair comparison, and there really is no comparison. Whatever you think of the quality of the *music* (and some of my very favourite artists played at Monterey and Woodstock), the *musicianship* is orders of magnitude better at the Harlem Cultural Festival [Excerpt: Gladys Knight and the Pips “I Heard it Through the Grapevine (live)”] And of course there's a reason for this. Most of the people who played at those big hippie festivals had not had the same experiences as the Black musicians. The Black players were mostly veterans of the chitlin' circuit, where you had to play multiple shows a day, in front of demanding crowds who wanted their money's worth, and who wanted you to be able to play and also put on a show at the same time. When you're playing for crowds of working people who have spent a significant proportion of their money to go to the show, and on a bill with a dozen other acts who are competing for that audience's attention, you are going to get good or stop working. The guitar bands at Woodstock and Monterey, though, hadn't had the same kind of pressure. Their audiences were much more forgiving, much more willing to go with the musicians, view themselves as part of a community with them. And they had to play far fewer shows than the chitlin' circuit veterans, so they simply didn't develop the same chops before becoming famous (the best of them did after fame, of course). And so it's no surprise that while a lot of bands became more famous as a result of the Monterey Pop Festival, only three really became breakout stars in America as a direct result of it. One of those was the Who, who were already the third or fourth biggest band in the UK by that point, either just behind or just ahead of the Kinks, and so the surprise is more that it took them that long to become big in America. But the other two were themselves veterans of the chitlin' circuit. If you buy the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray of Monterey Pop, you get two extra discs along with the disc with the film of the full festival on it -- the only two performances that were thought worth turning into their own short mini-films. One of them is Jimi Hendrix's performance, and we will talk about that in a future episode. The other is titled Shake! Otis at Monterey: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Shake! (live at Monterey Pop Festival)"] Otis Redding came from Macon, Georgia, the home town of Little Richard, who became one of his biggest early influences, and like Richard he was torn in his early years between religion and secular music -- though in most other ways he was very different from Richard, and in particular he came from a much more supportive family. While his father, Otis senior, was a deacon in the church, and didn't approve much of blues, R&B, or jazz music or listen to it himself, he didn't prevent his son from listening to it, so young Otis grew up listening to records by Richard -- of whom he later said "If it hadn't been for Little Richard I would not be here... Richard has soul too. My present music has a lot of him in it" -- and another favourite, Clyde McPhatter: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Have Mercy Baby"] Indeed, it's unclear exactly how much Otis senior *did* disapprove of those supposedly-sinful kinds of music. The biography I used as a source for this, and which says that Otis senior wouldn't listen to blues or jazz music at all, also quotes his son as saying that when he was a child his mother and father used to play him "a calypso song out then called 'Run Joe'" That will of course be this one: [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, "Run Joe"] I find it hard to reconcile the idea of someone who refused to listen to the blues or jazz listening to Louis Jordan, but then people are complex. Whatever Otis senior's feelings about secular music, he recognised from a very early age that his son had a special talent, and encouraged him to become a gospel singer. And at the same time he was listening to Little Richard, young Otis was also listening to gospel singers. One particular influence was a blind street singer, Reverend Pearly Brown: [Excerpt: Reverend Pearly Brown, "Ninety Nine and a Half Won't Do"] Redding was someone who cared deeply about his father's opinion, and it might well have been that he would eventually have become a gospel performer, because he started his career with a foot in both camps. What seems to have made the difference is that when he was sixteen, his father came down with tuberculosis. Even a few years earlier this would have been a terminal diagnosis, but thankfully by this point antibiotics had been invented, and the deacon eventually recovered. But it did mean that Otis junior had to become the family breadwinner while his father was sick, and so he turned decisively towards the kind of music that could make more money. He'd already started performing secular music. He'd joined a band led by Gladys Williams, who was the first female bandleader in the area. Williams sadly doesn't seem to have recorded anything -- discogs has a listing of a funk single by a Gladys Williams on a tiny label which may or may not be the same person, but in general she avoided recording studios, only wanting to play live -- but she was a very influential figure in Georgia music. According to her former trumpeter Newton Collier, who later went on to play with Redding and others, she trained both Fats Gonder and Lewis Hamlin, who went on to join the lineup of James Brown's band that made Live at the Apollo, and Collier says that Hamlin's arrangements for that album, and the way the band would segue from one track to another, were all things he'd been taught by Miss Gladys. Redding sang with Gladys Williams for a while, and she took him under her wing, trained him, and became his de facto first manager. She got him to perform at local talent shows, where he won fifteen weeks in a row, before he got banned from performing to give everyone else a chance. At all of these shows, the song he performed was one that Miss Gladys had rehearsed with him, Little Richard's "Heeby Jeebies": [Excerpt: Little Richard, "Heeby Jeebies"] At this time, Redding's repertoire was largely made up of songs by the two greats of fifties Georgia R&B -- Little Richard and James Brown -- plus some by his other idol Sam Cooke, and those singers would remain his greatest influences throughout his career. After his stint with Williams, Redding went on to join another band, Pat T Cake and the Mighty Panthers, whose guitarist Johnny Jenkins would be a major presence in his life for several years. The Mighty Panthers were soon giving Redding top billing, and advertising gigs as featuring Otis "Rockin' Robin" Redding -- presumably that was another song in his live repertoire. By this time Redding was sounding enough like Little Richard that when Richard's old backing band, The Upsetters, were looking for a new singer after Richard quit rock and roll for the ministry, they took Redding on as their vocalist for a tour. Once that tour had ended, Redding returned home to find that Johnny Jenkins had quit the Mighty Panthers and formed a new band, the Pinetoppers. Redding joined that band, who were managed by a white teenager named Phil Walden, who soon became Redding's personal manager as well. Walden and Redding developed a very strong bond, to the extent that Walden, who was studying at university, spent all his tuition money promoting Redding and almost got kicked out. When Redding found this out, he actually went round to everyone he knew and got loans from everyone until he had enough to pay for Walden's tuition -- much of it paid in coins. They had a strong enough bond that Walden would remain his manager for the rest of Redding's life, and even when Walden had to do two years in the Army in Germany, he managed Redding long-distance, with his brother looking after things at home. But of course, there wasn't much of a music industry in Georgia, and so with Walden's blessing and support, he moved to LA in 1960 to try to become a star. Just before he left, his girlfriend Zelma told him she was pregnant. He assured her that he was only going to be away for a few months, and that he would be back in time for the birth, and that he intended to come back to Georgia rich and marry her. Her response was "Sure you is". In LA, Redding met up with a local record producer, James "Jimmy Mack" McEachin, who would later go on to become an actor, appearing in several films with Clint Eastwood. McEachin produced a session for Redding at Gold Star studios, with arrangements by Rene Hall and using several of the musicians who later became the Wrecking Crew. "She's All Right", the first single that came from that session, was intended to sound as much like Jackie Wilson as possible, and was released under the name of The Shooters, the vocal group who provided the backing vocals: [Excerpt: The Shooters, "She's All Right"] "She's All Right" was released on Trans World, a small label owned by Morris Bernstein, who also owned Finer Arts records (and "She's All Right" seems to have been released on both labels). Neither of Bernstein's labels had any great success -- the biggest record they put out was a single by the Hollywood Argyles that came out after they'd stopped having hits -- and they didn't have any connection to the R&B market. Redding and McEachin couldn't find any R&B labels that wanted to pick up their recordings, and so Redding did return to Georgia and marry Zelma a few days before the birth of their son Dexter. Back in Georgia, he hooked up again with the Pinetoppers, and he and Jenkins started trying local record labels, attempting to get records put out by either of them. Redding was the first, and Otis Redding and the Pinetoppers put out a single, "Shout Bamalama", a slight reworking of a song that he'd recorded as "Gamma Lamma" for McEachin, which was obviously heavily influenced by Little Richard: [Excerpt: Otis Redding and the Pinetoppers, "Shout Bamalama"] That single was produced by a local record company owner, Bobby Smith, who signed Redding to a contract which Redding didn't read, but which turned out to be a management contract as well as a record contract. This would later be a problem, as Redding didn't have an actual contract with Phil Walden -- one thing that comes up time and again in stories about music in the Deep South at this time is people operating on handshake deals and presuming good faith on the part of each other. There was a problem with the record which nobody had foreseen though -- Redding was the first Black artist signed to Smith's label, which was called Confederate Records, and its logo was the Southern Cross. Now Smith, by all accounts, was less personally racist than most white men in Georgia at the time, and hadn't intended that as any kind of statement of white supremacy -- he'd just used a popular local symbol, without thinking through the implications. But as the phrase goes, intent isn't magic, and while Smith didn't intend it as racist, rather unsurprisingly Black DJs and record shops didn't see things in the same light. Smith was told by several DJs that they wouldn't play the record while it was on that label, and he started up a new subsidiary label, Orbit, and put the record out on that label. Redding and Smith continued collaborating, and there were plans for Redding to put out a second single on Orbit. That single was going to be "These Arms of Mine", a song Redding had originally given to another Confederate artist, a rockabilly performer called Buddy Leach (who doesn't seem to be the same Buddy Leach as the Democratic politician from Louisiana, or the saxophone player with George Thorogood and the Destroyers). Leach had recorded it as a B-side, with the slightly altered title "These Arms Are Mine". Sadly I can't provide an excerpt of that, as the record is so rare that even websites I've found by rockabilly collectors who are trying to get everything on Confederate Records haven't managed to get hold of copies. Meanwhile, Johnny Jenkins had been recording on another label, Tifco, and had put out a single called "Pinetop": [Excerpt: Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers, "Pinetop"] That record had attracted the attention of Joe Galkin. Galkin was a semi-independent record promoter, who had worked for Atlantic in New York before moving back to his home town of Macon. Galkin had proved himself as a promoter by being responsible for the massive amounts of airplay given to Solomon Burke's "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)": [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)"] After that, Jerry Wexler had given Galkin fifty dollars a week and an expense account, and Galkin would drive to all the Black radio stations in the South and pitch Atlantic's records to them. But Galkin also had his own record label, Gerald Records, and when he went to those stations and heard them playing something from a smaller label, he would quickly negotiate with that smaller label, buy the master and the artist's contract, and put the record out on Gerald Records -- and then he would sell the track and the artist on to Atlantic, taking ten percent of the record's future earnings and a finder's fee. This is what happened with Johnny Jenkins' single, which was reissued on Gerald and then on Atlantic. Galkin signed Jenkins to a contract -- another of those contracts which also made him Jenkins' manager, and indeed the manager of the Pinetops. Jenkins' record ended up selling about twenty-five thousand records, but when Galkin saw the Pinetoppers performing live, he realised that Otis Redding was the real star. Since he had a contract with Jenkins, he came to an agreement with Walden, who was still Jenkins' manager as well as Redding's -- Walden would get fifty percent of Jenkins' publishing and they would be co-managers of Jenkins. But Galkin had plans for Redding, which he didn't tell anyone about, not even Redding himself. The one person he did tell was Jerry Wexler, who he phoned up and asked for two thousand dollars, explaining that he wanted to record Jenkins' follow-up single at Stax, and he also wanted to bring along a singer he'd discovered, who sang with Jenkins' band. Wexler agreed -- Atlantic had recently started distributing Stax's records on a handshake deal of much the same kind that Redding had with Walden. As far as everyone else was concerned, though, the session was just for Johnny Jenkins, the known quantity who'd already released a single for Atlantic. Otis Redding, meanwhile, was having to work a lot of odd jobs to feed his rapidly growing family, and one of those jobs was to work as Johnny Jenkins' driver, as Jenkins didn't have a driving license. So Galkin suggested that, given that Memphis was quite a long drive, Redding should drive Galkin and Jenkins to Stax, and carry the equipment for them. Bobby Smith, who still thought of himself as Redding's manager, was eager to help his friend's bandmate with his big break (and to help Galkin, in the hope that maybe Atlantic would start distributing Confederate too), and so he lent Redding the company station wagon to drive them to the session.The other Pinetoppers wouldn't be going -- Jenkins was going to be backed by Booker T and the MGs, the normal Stax backing band. Phil Walden, though, had told Redding that he should try to take the opportunity to get himself heard by Stax, and he pestered the musicians as they recorded Jenkins' "Spunky": [Excerpt: Johnny Jenkins, "Spunky"] Cropper later remembered “During the session, Al Jackson says to me, ‘The big tall guy that was driving Johnny, he's been bugging me to death, wanting me to hear him sing,' Al said, ‘Would you take some time and get this guy off of my back and listen to him?' And I said, ‘After the session I'll try to do it,' and then I just forgot about it.” What Redding didn't know, though Walden might have, is that Galkin had planned all along to get Redding to record while he was there. Galkin claimed to be Redding's manager, and told Jim Stewart, the co-owner of Stax who acted as main engineer and supervising producer on the sessions at this point, that Wexler had only funded the session on the basis that Redding would also get a shot at recording. Stewart was unimpressed -- Jenkins' session had not gone well, and it had taken them more than two hours to get two tracks down, but Galkin offered Stewart a trade -- Galkin, as Redding's manager, would take half of Stax's mechanical royalties for the records (which wouldn't be much) but in turn would give Stewart half the publishing on Redding's songs. That was enough to make Stewart interested, but by this point Booker T. Jones had already left the studio, so Steve Cropper moved to the piano for the forty minutes that was left of the session, with Jenkins remaining on guitar, and they tried to get two sides of a single cut. The first track they cut was "Hey Hey Baby", which didn't impress Stewart much -- he simply said that the world didn't need another Little Richard -- and so with time running out they cut another track, the ballad Redding had already given to Buddy Leach. He asked Cropper, who didn't play piano well, to play "church chords", by which he meant triplets, and Cropper said "he started singing ‘These Arms of Mine' and I know my hair lifted about three inches and I couldn't believe this guy's voice": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "These Arms of Mine"] That was more impressive, though Stewart carefully feigned disinterest. Stewart and Galkin put together a contract which signed Redding to Stax -- though they put the single out on the less-important Volt subsidiary, as they did for much of Redding's subsequent output -- and gave Galkin and Stewart fifty percent each of the publishing rights to Redding's songs. Redding signed it, not even realising he was signing a proper contract rather than just one for a single record, because he was just used to signing whatever bit of paper was put in front of him at the time. This one was slightly different though, because Redding had had his twenty-first birthday since the last time he'd signed a contract, and so Galkin assumed that that meant all his other contracts were invalid -- not realising that Redding's contract with Bobby Smith had been countersigned by Redding's mother, and so was also legal. Walden also didn't realise that, but *did* realise that Galkin representing himself as Redding's manager to Stax might be a problem, so he quickly got Redding to sign a proper contract, formalising the handshake basis they'd been operating on up to that point. Walden was at this point in the middle of his Army service, but got the signature while he was home on leave. Walden then signed a deal with Galkin, giving Walden half of Galkin's fifty percent cut of Redding's publishing in return for Galkin getting a share of Walden's management proceeds. By this point everyone was on the same page -- Otis Redding was going to be a big star, and he became everyone's prime focus. Johnny Jenkins remained signed to Walden's agency -- which quickly grew to represent almost every big soul star that wasn't signed to Motown -- but he was regarded as a footnote. His record came out eventually on Volt, almost two years later, but he didn't release another record until 1968. Jenkins did, though, go on to have some influence. In 1970 he was given the opportunity to sing lead on an album backed by Duane Allman and the members of the Muscle Shoals studio band, many of whom went on to form the Allman Brothers Band. That record contained a cover of Dr. John's "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" which was later sampled by Beck for "Loser", the Wu-Tang Clan for "Gun Will Go" and Oasis for their hit "Go Let it Out": [Excerpt: Johnny Jenkins, "I Walk on Guilded Splinters"] Jenkins would play guitar on several future Otis Redding sessions, but would hold a grudge against Redding for the rest of his life for taking the stardom he thought was rightfully his, and would be one of the few people to have anything negative to say about Redding after his early death. When Bobby Smith heard about the release of "These Arms of Mine", he was furious, as his contract with Redding *was* in fact legally valid, and he'd been intending to get Redding to record the song himself. However, he realised that Stax could call on the resources of Atlantic Records, and Joe Galkin also hinted that if he played nice Atlantic might start distributing Confederate, too. Smith signed away all his rights to Redding -- again, thinking that he was only signing away the rights to a single record and song, and not reading the contract closely enough. In this case, Smith only had one working eye, and that wasn't good enough to see clearly -- he had to hold paper right up to his face to read anything on it -- and he simply couldn't read the small print on the contract, and so signed over Otis Redding's management, record contract, and publishing, for a flat seven hundred dollars. Now everything was legally -- if perhaps not ethically -- in the clear. Phil Walden was Otis Redding's manager, Stax was his record label, Joe Galkin got a cut off the top, and Walden, Galkin, and Jim Stewart all shared Redding's publishing. Although, to make it a hit, one more thing had to happen, and one more person had to get a cut of the song: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "These Arms of Mine"] That sound was becoming out of fashion among Black listeners at the time. It was considered passe, and even though the Stax musicians loved the record, Jim Stewart didn't, and put it out not because he believed in Otis Redding, but because he believed in Joe Galkin. As Stewart later said “The Black radio stations were getting out of that Black country sound, we put it out to appease and please Joe.” For the most part DJs ignored the record, despite Galkin pushing it -- it was released in October 1962, that month which we have already pinpointed as the start of the sixties, and came out at the same time as a couple of other Stax releases, and the one they were really pushing was Carla Thomas' "I'll Bring it Home to You", an answer record to Sam Cooke's "Bring it On Home to Me": [Excerpt: Carla Thomas, "I'll Bring it Home to You"] "These Arms of Mine" wasn't even released as the A-side -- that was "Hey Hey Baby" -- until John R came along. John R was a Nashville DJ, and in fact he was the reason that Bobby Smith even knew that Redding had signed to Stax. R had heard Buddy Leach's version of the song, and called Smith, who was a friend of his, to tell him that his record had been covered, and that was the first Smith had heard of the matter. But R also called Jim Stewart at Stax, and told him that he was promoting the wrong side, and that if they started promoting "These Arms of Mine", R would play the record on his radio show, which could be heard in twenty-eight states. And, as a gesture of thanks for this suggestion -- and definitely not as payola, which would be very illegal -- Stewart gave R his share of the publishing rights to the song, which eventually made the top twenty on the R&B charts, and slipped into the lower end of the Hot One Hundred. "These Arms of Mine" was actually recorded at a turning point for Stax as an organisation. By the time it was released, Booker T Jones had left Memphis to go to university in Indiana to study music, with his tuition being paid for by his share of the royalties for "Green Onions", which hit the charts around the same time as Redding's first session: [Excerpt: Booker T. and the MGs, "Green Onions"] Most of Stax's most important sessions were recorded at weekends -- Jim Stewart still had a day job as a bank manager at this point, and he supervised the records that were likely to be hits -- so Jones could often commute back to the studio for session work, and could play sessions during his holidays. The rest of the time, other people would cover the piano parts, often Cropper, who played piano on Redding's next sessions, with Jenkins once again on guitar. As "These Arms of Mine" didn't start to become a hit until March, Redding didn't go into the studio again until June, when he cut the follow-up, "That's What My Heart Needs", with the MGs, Jenkins, and the horn section of the Mar-Keys. That made number twenty-seven on the Cashbox R&B chart -- this was in the period when Billboard had stopped having one. The follow-up, "Pain in My Heart", was cut in September and did even better, making number eleven on the Cashbox R&B chart: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Pain in My Heart"] It did well enough in fact that the Rolling Stones cut a cover version of the track: [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "Pain in My Heart"] Though Redding didn't get the songwriting royalties -- by that point Allen Toussaint had noticed how closely it resembled a song he'd written for Irma Thomas, "Ruler of My Heart": [Excerpt: Irma Thomas, "Ruler of My Heart"] And so the writing credit was changed to be Naomi Neville, one of the pseudonyms Toussaint used. By this point Redding was getting steady work, and becoming a popular live act. He'd put together his own band, and had asked Jenkins to join, but Jenkins didn't want to play second fiddle to him, and refused, and soon stopped being invited to the recording sessions as well. Indeed, Redding was *eager* to get as many of his old friends working with him as he could. For his second and third sessions, as well as bringing Jenkins, he'd brought along a whole gang of musicians from his touring show, and persuaded Stax to put out records by them, too. At those sessions, as well as Redding's singles, they also cut records by his valet (which was the term R&B performers in those years used for what we'd now call a gofer or roadie) Oscar Mack: [Excerpt: Oscar Mack, "Don't Be Afraid of Love"] For Eddie Kirkland, the guitarist in his touring band, who had previously played with John Lee Hooker and whose single was released under the name "Eddie Kirk": [Excerpt: Eddie Kirk, "The Hawg, Part 1"] And Bobby Marchan, a singer and female impersonator from New Orleans who had had some massive hits a few years earlier both on his own and as the singer with Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns, but had ended up in Macon without a record deal and been taken under Redding's wing: [Excerpt: Bobby Marchan, "What Can I Do?"] Redding would continue, throughout his life, to be someone who tried to build musical careers for his friends, though none of those singles was successful. The changes in Stax continued. In late autumn 1963, Atlantic got worried by the lack of new product coming from Stax. Carla Thomas had had a couple of R&B hits, and they were expecting a new single, but every time Jerry Wexler phoned Stax asking where the new single was, he was told it would be coming soon but the equipment was broken. After a couple of weeks of this, Wexler decided something fishy was going on, and sent Tom Dowd, his genius engineer, down to Stax to investigate. Dowd found when he got there that the equipment *was* broken, and had been for weeks, and was a simple fix. When Dowd spoke to Stewart, though, he discovered that they didn't know where to source replacement parts from. Dowd phoned his assistant in New York, and told him to go to the electronics shop and get the parts he needed. Then, as there were no next-day courier services at that time, Dowd's assistant went to the airport, found a flight attendant who was flying to Memphis, and gave her the parts and twenty-five dollars, with a promise of twenty-five more if she gave them to Dowd at the other end. The next morning, Dowd had the equipment fixed, and everyone involved became convinced that Dowd was a miracle worker, especially after he showed Steve Cropper some rudimentary tape-manipulation techniques that Cropper had never encountered before. Dowd had to wait around in Memphis for his flight, so he went to play golf with the musicians for a bit, and then they thought they might as well pop back to the studio and test the equipment out. When they did, Rufus Thomas -- Carla Thomas' father, who had also had a number of hits himself on Stax and Sun -- popped his head round the door to see if the equipment was working now. They told him it was, and he said he had a song if they were up for a spot of recording. They were, and so when Dowd flew back that night, he was able to tell Wexler not only that the next Carla Thomas single would soon be on its way, but that he had the tapes of a big hit single with him right there: [Excerpt: Rufus Thomas, "Walking the Dog"] "Walking the Dog" was a sensation. Jim Stewart later said “I remember our first order out of Chicago. I was in New York in Jerry Wexler's office at the time and Paul Glass, who was our distributor in Chicago, called in an order for sixty-five thousand records. I said to Jerry, ‘Do you mean sixty-five hundred?' And he said, ‘Hell no, he wants sixty-five thousand.' That was the first order! He believed in the record so much that we ended up selling about two hundred thousand in Chicago alone.” The record made the top ten on the pop charts, but that wasn't the biggest thing that Dowd had taken away from the session. He came back raving to Wexler about the way they made records in Memphis, and how different it was from the New York way. In New York, there was a strict separation between the people in the control room and the musicians in the studio, the musicians were playing from written charts, and everyone had a job and did just that job. In Memphis, the musicians were making up the arrangements as they went, and everyone was producing or engineering all at the same time. Dowd, as someone with more technical ability than anyone at Stax, and who was also a trained musician who could make musical suggestions, was soon regularly commuting down to Memphis to be part of the production team, and Jerry Wexler was soon going down to record with other Atlantic artists there, as we heard about in the episode on "Midnight Hour". Shortly after Dowd's first visit to Memphis, another key member of the Stax team entered the picture. Right at the end of 1963, Floyd Newman recorded a track called "Frog Stomp", on which he used his own band rather than the MGs and Mar-Keys: [Excerpt: Floyd Newman, "Frog Stomp"] The piano player and co-writer on that track was a young man named Isaac Hayes, who had been trying to get work at Stax for some time. He'd started out as a singer, and had made a record, "Laura, We're On Our Last Go-Round", at American Sound, the studio run by the former Stax engineer and musician Chips Moman: [Excerpt: Isaac Hayes, "Laura, We're On Our Last Go-Round"] But that hadn't been a success, and Hayes had continued working a day job at a slaughterhouse -- and would continue doing so for much of the next few years, even after he started working at Stax (it's truly amazing how many of the people involved in Stax were making music as what we would now call a side-hustle). Hayes had become a piano player as a way of getting a little extra money -- he'd been offered a job as a fill-in when someone else had pulled out at the last minute on a gig on New Year's Eve, and took it even though he couldn't actually play piano, and spent his first show desperately vamping with two fingers, and was just lucky the audience was too drunk to care. But he had a remarkable facility for the instrument, and while unlike Booker T Jones he would never gain a great deal of technical knowledge, and was embarrassed for the rest of his life by both his playing ability and his lack of theory knowledge, he was as great as they come at soul, at playing with feel, and at inventing new harmonies on the fly. They still didn't have a musician at Stax that could replace Booker T, who was still off at university, so Isaac Hayes was taken on as a second session keyboard player, to cover for Jones when Jones was in Indiana -- though Hayes himself also had to work his own sessions around his dayjob, so didn't end up playing on "In the Midnight Hour", for example, because he was at the slaughterhouse. The first recording session that Hayes played on as a session player was an Otis Redding single, either his fourth single for Stax, "Come to Me", or his fifth, "Security": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Security"] "Security" is usually pointed to by fans as the point at which Redding really comes into his own, and started directing the musicians more. There's a distinct difference, in particular, in the interplay between Cropper's guitar, the Mar-Keys' horns, and Redding's voice. Where previously the horns had tended to play mostly pads, just holding chords under Redding's voice, now they were starting to do answering phrases. Jim Stewart always said that the only reason Stax used a horn section at all was because he'd been unable to find a decent group of backing vocalists, and the function the horns played on most of the early Stax recordings was somewhat similar to the one that the Jordanaires had played for Elvis, or the Picks for Buddy Holly, basically doing "oooh" sounds to fatten out the sound, plus the odd sax solo or simple riff. The way Redding used the horns, though, was more like the way Ray Charles used the Raelettes, or the interplay of a doo-wop vocal group, with call and response, interjections, and asides. He also did something in "Security" that would become a hallmark of records made at Stax -- instead of a solo, the instrumental break is played by the horns as an ensemble: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Security"] According to Wayne Jackson, the Mar-Keys' trumpeter, Redding was the one who had the idea of doing these horn ensemble sections, and the musicians liked them enough that they continued doing them on all the future sessions, no matter who with. The last Stax single of 1964 took the "Security" sound and refined it, and became the template for every big Stax hit to follow. "Mr. Pitiful" was the first collaboration between Redding and Steve Cropper, and was primarily Cropper's idea. Cropper later remembered “There was a disc jockey here named Moohah. He started calling Otis ‘Mr. Pitiful' 'cause he sounded so pitiful singing his ballads. So I said, ‘Great idea for a song!' I got the idea for writing about it in the shower. I was on my way down to pick up Otis. I got down there and I was humming it in the car. I said, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?' We just wrote the song on the way to the studio, just slapping our hands on our legs. We wrote it in about ten minutes, went in, showed it to the guys, he hummed a horn line, boom—we had it. When Jim Stewart walked in we had it all worked up. Two or three cuts later, there it was.” [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Mr. Pitiful"] Cropper would often note later that Redding would never write about himself, but that Cropper would put details of Redding's life and persona into the songs, from "Mr. Pitiful" right up to their final collaboration, in which Cropper came up with lines about leaving home in Georgia. "Mr Pitiful" went to number ten on the R&B chart and peaked at number forty-one on the hot one hundred, and its B-side, "That's How Strong My Love Is", also made the R&B top twenty. Cropper and Redding soon settled into a fruitful writing partnership, to the extent that Cropper even kept a guitar permanently tuned to an open chord so that Redding could use it. Redding couldn't play the guitar, but liked to use one as a songwriting tool. When a guitar is tuned in standard tuning, you have to be able to make chord shapes to play it, because the sound of the open strings is a discord: [demonstrates] But you can tune a guitar so all the strings are the notes of a single chord, so they sound good together even when you don't make a chord shape: [demonstrates open-E tuning] With one of these open tunings, you can play chords with just a single finger barring a fret, and so they're very popular with, for example, slide guitarists who use a metal slide to play, or someone like Dolly Parton who has such long fingernails it's difficult to form chord shapes. Someone like Parton is of course an accomplished player, but open tunings also mean that someone who can't play well can just put their finger down on a fret and have it be a chord, so you can write songs just by running one finger up and down the fretboard: [demonstrates] So Redding could write, and even play acoustic rhythm guitar on some songs, which he did quite a lot in later years, without ever learning how to make chords. Now, there's a downside to this -- which is why standard tuning is still standard. If you tune to an open major chord, you can play major chords easily but minor chords become far more difficult. Handily, that wasn't a problem at Stax, because according to Isaac Hayes, Jim Stewart banned minor chords from being played at Stax. Hayes said “We'd play a chord in a session, and Jim would say, ‘I don't want to hear that chord.' Jim's ears were just tuned into one, four, and five. I mean, just simple changes. He said they were the breadwinners. He didn't like minor chords. Marvell and I always would try to put that pretty stuff in there. Jim didn't like that. We'd bump heads about that stuff. Me and Marvell fought all the time that. Booker wanted change as well. As time progressed, I was able to sneak a few in.” Of course, minor chords weren't *completely* banned from Stax, and some did sneak through, but even ballads would often have only major chords -- like Redding's next single, "I've Been Loving You Too Long". That track had its origins with Jerry Butler, the singer who had been lead vocalist of the Impressions before starting a solo career and having success with tracks like "For Your Precious Love": [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, "For Your Precious Love"] Redding liked that song, and covered it himself on his second album, and he had become friendly with Butler. Butler had half-written a song, and played it for Redding, who told him he'd like to fiddle with it, see what he could do. Butler forgot about the conversation, until he got a phone call from Redding, telling him that he'd recorded the song. Butler was confused, and also a little upset -- he'd been planning to finish the song himself, and record it. But then Redding played him the track, and Butler decided that doing so would be pointless -- it was Redding's song now: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "I've Been Loving You Too Long"] "I've Been Loving You Too Long" became Redding's first really big hit, making number two on the R&B chart and twenty-one on the Hot One Hundred. It was soon being covered by the Rolling Stones and Ike & Tina Turner, and while Redding was still not really known to the white pop market, he was quickly becoming one of the biggest stars on the R&B scene. His record sales were still not matching his live performances -- he would always make far more money from appearances than from records -- but he was by now the performer that every other soul singer wanted to copy. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" came out just after Redding's second album, The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, which happened to be the first album released on Volt Records. Before that, while Stax and Volt had released the singles, they'd licensed all the album tracks to Atlantic's Atco subsidiary, which had released the small number of albums put out by Stax artists. But times were changing and the LP market was becoming bigger. And more importantly, the *stereo* LP market was becoming bigger. Singles were still only released in mono, and would be for the next few years, but the album market had a substantial number of audiophiles, and they wanted stereo. This was a problem for Stax, because they only had a mono tape recorder, and they were scared of changing anything about their setup in case it destroyed their sound. Tom Dowd, who had been recording in eight track for years, was appalled by the technical limitations at the McLemore Ave studio, but eventually managed to get Jim Stewart, who despite -- or possibly because of -- being a white country musician was the most concerned that they keep their Black soul sound, to agree to a compromise. They would keep everything hooked up exactly the same -- the same primitive mixers, the same mono tape recorder -- and Stax would continue doing their mixes for mono, and all their singles would come directly off that mono tape. But at the same time, they would *also* have a two-track tape recorder plugged in to the mixer, with half the channels going on one track and half on the other. So while they were making the mix, they'd *also* be getting a stereo dump of that mix. The limitations of the situation meant that they might end up with drums and vocals in one channel and everything else in the other -- although as the musicians cut everything together in the studio, which had a lot of natural echo, leakage meant there was a *bit* of everything on every track -- but it would still be stereo. Redding's next album, Otis Blue, was recorded on this new equipment, with Dowd travelling down from New York to operate it. Dowd was so keen on making the album stereo that during that session, they rerecorded Redding's two most recent singles, "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and "Respect" (which hadn't yet come out but was in the process of being released) in soundalike versions so there would be stereo versions of the songs on the album -- so the stereo and mono versions of Otis Blue actually have different performances of those songs on them. It shows how intense the work rate was at Stax -- and how good they were at their jobs -- that apart from the opening track "Ole Man Trouble", which had already been recorded as a B-side, all of Otis Blue, which is often considered the greatest soul album in history, was recorded in a twenty-eight hour period, and it would have been shorter but there was a four-hour break in the middle, from 10PM to 2AM, so that the musicians on the session could play their regular local club gigs. And then after the album was finished, Otis left the session to perform a gig that evening. Tom Dowd, in particular, was astonished by the way Redding took charge in the studio, and how even though he had no technical musical knowledge, he would direct the musicians. Dowd called Redding a genius and told Phil Walden that the only two other artists he'd worked with who had as much ability in the studio were Bobby Darin and Ray Charles. Other than those singles and "Ole Man Trouble", Otis Blue was made up entirely of cover versions. There were three versions of songs by Sam Cooke, who had died just a few months earlier, and whose death had hit Redding hard -- for all that he styled himself on Little Richard vocally, he was also in awe of Cooke as a singer and stage presence. There were also covers of songs by The Temptations, William Bell, and B.B. King. And there was also an odd choice -- Steve Cropper suggested that Redding cut a cover of a song by a white band that was in the charts at the time: [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] Redding had never heard the song before -- he was not paying attention to the white pop scene at the time, just to his competition on the R&B charts -- but he was interested in doing it. Cropper sat by the turntable, scribbling down what he thought the lyrics Jagger was singing were, and they cut the track. Redding starts out more or less singing the right words: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] But quickly ends up just ad-libbing random exclamations in the same way that he would in many of his live performances: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] Otis Blue made number one on the R&B album chart, and also made number six on the UK album chart -- Redding, like many soul artists, was far more popular in the UK than in the US. It only made number seventy-five on the pop album charts in the US, but it did a remarkable thing as far as Stax was concerned -- it *stayed* in the lower reaches of the charts, and on the R&B album charts, for a long time. Redding had become what is known as a "catalogue artist", something that was almost unknown in rock and soul music at this time, but which was just starting to appear. Up to 1965, the interlinked genres that we now think of as rock and roll, rock, pop, blues, R&B, and soul, had all operated on the basis that singles were where the money was, and that singles should be treated like periodicals -- they go on the shelves, stay there for a few weeks, get replaced by the new thing, and nobody's interested any more. This had contributed to the explosive rate of change in pop music between about 1954 and 1968. You'd package old singles up into albums, and stick some filler tracks on there as a way of making a tiny bit of money from tracks which weren't good enough to release as singles, but that was just squeezing the last few drops of juice out of the orange, it wasn't really where the money was. The only exceptions were those artists like Ray Charles who crossed over into the jazz and adult pop markets. But in general, your record sales in the first few weeks and months *were* your record sales. But by the mid-sixties, as album sales started to take off more, things started to change. And Otis Redding was one of the first artists to really benefit from that. He wasn't having huge hit singles, and his albums weren't making the pop top forty, but they *kept selling*. Redding wouldn't have an album make the top forty in his lifetime, but they sold consistently, and everything from Otis Blue onward sold two hundred thousand or so copies -- a massive number in the much smaller album market of the time. These sales gave Redding some leverage. His contract with Stax was coming to an end in a few months, and he was getting offers from other companies. As part of his contract renegotiation, he got Jim Stewart -- who like so many people in this story including Redding himself liked to operate on handshake deals and assumptions of good faith on the part of everyone else, and who prided himself on being totally fair and not driving hard bargains -- to rework his publishing deal. Now Redding's music was going to be published by Redwal Music -- named after Redding and Phil Walden -- which was owned as a four-way split between Redding, Walden, Stewart, and Joe Galkin. Redding also got the right as part of his contract negotiations to record other artists using Stax's facilities and musicians. He set up his own label, Jotis Records -- a portmanteau of Joe and Otis, for Joe Galkin and himself, and put out records by Arthur Conley: [Excerpt: Arthur Conley, "Who's Fooling Who?"] Loretta Williams [Excerpt: Loretta Williams, "I'm Missing You"] and Billy Young [Excerpt: Billy Young, "The Sloopy"] None of these was a success, but it was another example of how Redding was trying to use his success to boost others. There were other changes going on at Stax as well. The company was becoming more tightly integrated with Atlantic Records -- Tom Dowd had started engineering more sessions, Jerry Wexler was turning up all the time, and they were starting to make records for Atlantic, as we discussed in the episode on "In the Midnight Hour". Atlantic were also loaning Stax Sam and Dave, who were contracted to Atlantic but treated as Stax artists, and whose hits were written by the new Stax songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter: [Excerpt: Sam and Dave, "Soul Man"] Redding was not hugely impressed by Sam and Dave, once saying in an interview "When I first heard the Righteous Brothers, I thought they were colored. I think they sing better than Sam and Dave", but they were having more and bigger chart hits than him, though they didn't have the same level of album sales. Also, by now Booker T and the MGs had a new bass player. Donald "Duck" Dunn had always been the "other" bass player at Stax, ever since he'd started with the Mar-Keys, and he'd played on many of Redding's recordings, as had Lewie Steinberg, the original bass player with the MGs. But in early 1965, the Stax studio musicians had cut a record originally intending it to be a Mar-Keys record, but decided to put it out as by Booker T and the MGs, even though Booker T wasn't there at the time -- Isaac Hayes played keyboards on the track: [Excerpt: Booker T and the MGs, "Boot-Leg"] Booker T Jones would always have a place at Stax, and would soon be back full time as he finished his degree, but from that point on Duck Dunn, not Lewie Steinberg, was the bass player for the MGs. Another change in 1965 was that Stax got serious about promotion. Up to this point, they'd just relied on Atlantic to promote their records, but obviously Atlantic put more effort into promoting records on which it made all the money than ones it just distributed. But as part of the deal to make records with Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett, Atlantic had finally put their arrangement with Stax on a contractual footing, rather than their previous handshake deal, and they'd agreed to pay half the salary of a publicity person for Stax. Stax brought in Al Bell, who made a huge impression. Bell had been a DJ in Memphis, who had gone off to work with Martin Luther King for a while, before leaving after a year because, as he put it "I was not about passive resistance. I was about economic development, economic empowerment.” He'd returned to DJing, first in Memphis, then in Washington DC, where he'd been one of the biggest boosters of Stax records in the area. While he was in Washington, he'd also started making records himself. He'd produced several singles for Grover Mitchell on Decca: [Excerpt: Grover Mitchell, "Midnight Tears"] Those records were supervised by Milt Gabler, the same Milt Gabler who produced Louis Jordan's records and "Rock Around the Clock", and Bell co-produced them with Eddie Floyd, who wrote that song, and Chester Simmons, formerly of the Moonglows, and the three of them started their own label, Safice, which had put out a few records by Floyd and others, on the same kind of deal with Atlantic that Stax had: [Excerpt: Eddie Floyd, "Make Up Your Mind"] Floyd would himself soon become a staff songwriter at Stax. As with almost every decision at Stax, the decision to hire Bell was a cause of disagreement between Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton, the "Ax" in Stax, who wasn't as involved in the day-to-day studio operations as her brother, but who was often regarded by the musicians as at least as important to the spirit of the label, and who tended to disagree with her brother on pretty much everything. Stewart didn't want to hire Bell, but according to Cropper “Estelle and I said, ‘Hey, we need somebody that can liaison between the disc jockeys and he's the man to do it. Atlantic's going into a radio station with six Atlantic records and one Stax record. We're not getting our due.' We knew that. We needed more promotion and he had all the pull with all those disc jockeys. He knew E. Rodney Jones and all the big cats, the Montagues and so on. He knew every one of them.” Many people at Stax will say that the label didn't even really start until Bell joined -- and he became so important to the label that he would eventually take it over from Stewart and Axton. Bell came in every day and immediately started phoning DJs, all day every day, starting in the morning with the drivetime East Coast DJs, and working his way across the US, ending up at midnight phoning the evening DJs in California. Booker T Jones said of him “He had energy like Otis Redding, except he wasn't a singer. He had the same type of energy. He'd come in the room, pull up his shoulders and that energy would start. He would start talking about the music business or what was going on and he energized everywhere he was. He was our Otis for promotion. It was the same type of energy charisma.” Meanwhile, of course, Redding was constantly releasing singles. Two more singles were released from Otis Blue -- his versions of "My Girl" and "Satisfaction", and he also released "I Can't Turn You Loose", which was originally the B-side to "Just One More Day" but ended up charting higher than its original A-side. It's around this time that Redding did something which seems completely out of character, but which really must be mentioned given that with very few exceptions everyone in his life talks about him as some kind of saint. One of Redding's friends was beaten up, and Redding, the friend, and another friend drove to the assailant's house and started shooting through the windows, starting a gun battle in which Redding got grazed. His friend got convicted of attempted murder, and got two years' probation, while Redding himself didn't face any criminal charges but did get sued by the victims, and settled out of court for a few hundred dollars. By this point Redding was becoming hugely rich from his concert appearances and album sales, but he still hadn't had a top twenty pop hit. He needed to break the white market. And so in April 1966, Redding went to LA, to play the Sunset Strip: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Respect (live at the Whisky A-Go-Go)"] Redding's performance at the Whisky A-Go-Go, a venue which otherwise hosted bands like the Doors, the Byrds, the Mothers of Invention, and Love, was his first real interaction with the white rock scene, part of a process that had started with his recording of "Satisfaction". The three-day residency got rave reviews, though the plans to release a live album of the shows were scuppered when Jim Stewart listened back to the tapes and decided that Redding's horn players were often out of tune. But almost everyone on the LA scene came out to see the shows, and Redding blew them away. According to one biography of Redding I used, it was seeing how Redding tuned his guitar that inspired the guitarist from the support band, the Rising Sons, to start playing in the same tuning -- though I can't believe for a moment that Ry Cooder, one of the greatest slide guitarists of his generation, didn't already know about open tunings. But Redding definitely impressed that band -- Taj Mahal, their lead singer, later said it was "one of the most amazing performances I'd ever seen". Also at the gigs was Bob Dylan, who played Redding a song he'd just recorded but not yet released: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Just Like a Woman"] Redding agreed that the song sounded perfect for him, and said he would record it. He apparently made some attempts at rehearsing it at least, but never ended up recording it. He thought the first verse and chorus were great, but had problems with the second verse: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Just Like a Woman"] Those lyrics were just too abstract for him to find a way to connect with them emotionally, and as a result he found himself completely unable to sing them. But like his recording of "Satisfaction", this was another clue to him that he should start paying more attention to what was going on in the white music industry, and that there might be things he could incorporate into his own style. As a result of the LA gigs, Bill Graham booked Redding for the Fillmore in San Francisco. Redding was at first cautious, thinking this might be a step too far, and that he wouldn't go down well with the hippie crowd, but Graham persuaded him, saying that whenever he asked any of the people who the San Francisco crowds most loved -- Jerry Garcia or Paul Butterfield or Mike Bloomfield -- who *they* most wanted to see play there, they all said Otis Redding. Redding reluctantly agreed, but before he took a trip to San Francisco, there was somewhere even further out for him to go. Redding was about to head to England but before he did there was another album to make, and this one would see even more of a push for the white market, though still trying to keep everything soulful. As well as Redding originals, including "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)", another song in the mould of "Mr. Pitiful", there was another cover of a contemporary hit by a guitar band -- this time a version of the Beatles' "Day Tripper" -- and two covers of old standards; the country song "Tennessee Waltz", which had recently been covered by Sam Cooke, and a song made famous by Bing Crosby, "Try a Little Tenderness". That song almost certainly came to mind because it had recently been used in the film Dr. Strangelove, but it had also been covered relatively recently by two soul greats, Aretha Franklin: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Try a Little Tenderness"] And Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "Live Medley: I Love You For Sentimental Reasons/Try a Little Tenderness/You Send Me"] This version had horn parts arranged by Isaac Hayes, who by this point had been elevated to be considered one of the "Big Six" at Stax records -- Hayes, his songwriting partner David Porter, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Booker T. Jones, and Al Jackson, were all given special status at the company, and treated as co-producers on every record -- all the records were now credited as produced by "staff", but it was the Big Six who split the royalties. Hayes came up with a horn part that was inspired by Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come", and which dominated the early part of the track: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] Then the band came in, slowly at first: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] But Al Jackson surprised them when they ran through the track by deciding that after the main song had been played, he'd kick the track into double-time, and give Redding a chance to stretch out and do his trademark grunts and "got-ta"s. The single version faded out shortly after that, but the version on the album kept going for an extra thirty seconds: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] As Booker T. Jones said “Al came up with the idea of breaking up the rhythm, and Otis just took that and ran with it. He really got excited once he found out what Al was going to do on the drums. He realized how he could finish the song. That he could start it like a ballad and finish it full of emotion. That's how a lot of our arrangements would come together. Somebody would come up with something totally outrageous.” And it would have lasted longer but Jim Stewart pushed the faders down, realising the track was an uncommercial length even as it was. Live, the track could often stretch out to seven minutes or longer, as Redding drove the crowd into a frenzy, and it soon became one of the highlights of his live set, and a signature song for him: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness (live in London)"] In September 1966, Redding went on his first tour outside the US. His records had all done much better in the UK than they had in America, and they were huge favourites of everyone on the Mod scene, and when he arrived in the UK he had a limo sent by Brian Epstein to meet him at the airport. The tour was an odd one, with multiple London shows, shows in a couple of big cities like Manchester and Bristol, and shows in smallish towns in Hampshire and Lincolnshire. Apparently the shows outside London weren't particularly well attended, but the London shows were all packed to overflowing. Redding also got his own episode of Ready! Steady! Go!, on which he performed solo as well as with guest stars Eric Burdon and Chris Farlowe: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, Chris Farlowe and Eric Burdon, "Shake/Land of a Thousand Dances"] After the UK tour, he went on a short tour of the Eastern US with Sam and Dave as his support act, and then headed west to the Fillmore for his three day residency there, introducing him to the San Francisco music scene. His first night at the venue was supported by the Grateful Dead, the second by Johnny Talbot and De Thangs and the third by Country Joe and the Fish, but there was no question that it was Otis Redding that everyone was coming to see. Janis Joplin turned up at the Fillmore every day at 3PM, to make sure she could be right at the front for Redding's shows that night, and Bill Graham said, decades later, "By far, Otis Redding was the single most extraordinary talent I had ever seen. There was no comparison. Then or now." However, after the Fillmore gigs, for the first time ever he started missing shows. The Sentinel, a Black newspaper in LA, reported a few days later "Otis Redding, the rock singer, failed to make many friends here the other day when he was slated to appear on the Christmas Eve show[...] Failed to draw well, and Redding reportedly would not go on." The Sentinel seem to think that Redding was just being a diva, but it's likely that this was the first sign of a problem that would change everything about his career -- he was developing vocal polyps that were making singing painful. It's notable though that the Sentinel refers to Redding as a "rock" singer, and shows again how different genres appeared in the mid-sixties to how they appear today. In that light, it's interesting to look at a quote from Redding from a few months later -- "Everybody thinks that all songs by colored people are rhythm and blues, but that's not true. Johnny Taylor, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King are blues singers. James Brown is not a blues singer. He has a rock and roll beat and he can sing slow pop songs. My own songs "Respect" and "Mr Pitiful" aren't blues songs. I'm speaking in terms of the beat and structure of the music. A blues is a song that goes twelve bars all the way through. Most of my songs are soul songs." So in Redding's eyes, neither he nor James Brown were R&B -- he was soul, which was a different thing from R&B, while Brown was rock and roll and pop, not soul, but journalists thought that Redding was rock. But while the lines between these things were far less distinct than they are today, and Redding was trying to cross over to the white audience, he knew what genre he was in, and celebrated that in a song he wrote with his friend Art
This week we welcome Jerry Presley! "Jerry Presley "Elvis Live!"" is the Branson tribute to The King that can't be missed! Cousin to the most famous singer to ever live, Jerry pays homage to Elvis as only family could ever do, and he stays true to all the details of an authentic Elvis concert, including an amazing live band. Jerry wears costumes replicating every last detail of those worn by Elvis; they're even made by the same company. With that signature Presley charm, he keeps audiences dazzled with his impeccable performance of songs from Elvis' unforgettable Madison Square Garden and Aloha from Hawaii concerts, as well as his beautiful gospel recordings. The show's schedule varies; you can choose from the two different concert performance tributes, or a show that highlights the gospel music that Elvis loved so much. Jerry's Elvis pedigree includes performing with the Jordanaires and former members of JD Sumner's Stamps Quartet, groups that worked with Elvis for years. Jerry Presley has gained his own loyal fan base over the years, especially in Branson where his performances date back to 1985, and where he's credited with performing Branson's first tribute to Elvis. I n addition to working with former Elvis band mates, "Jerry Presley" has enjoyed an amazing opening act career that included concerts by Mitch Ryder, Billy Dean, George Jones, Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, The Coasters, and more. Whether you're a diehard Elvis fan, or you're just now becoming familiar with the unforgettable music of the King of Rock 'n Roll, this is the Elvis Presley tribute for you! And don't forget to hang around after the show; Jerry enjoys taking photos with fans and signing autographs. "Jerry Presley "Elvis Live!"" lets you experience the magic of Elvis in the place where tribute shows reign supreme...Branson, Missouri For more information, call the God & Country Box Office: 417-334-6806; or visit GodAndCountryTheatre.com
The roots of rock and roll, stealth gospel, unstoppable innovators, and hair with tons of personality. This week it's All Shook Up, originally by Elvis Presley, covered by the Jeff Beck Group. Outro music is Dig a Little Deeper by The Jordanaires.
Veteran West Coast performer from San Francisco Dave Crimmen talks about his latest “Come On” where Bill Haley's Original Comets have recorded a song on their current CD that was written just for them by Dave. Dave's current Album/CD “Big Daddy D” features the Jordanaires on two tracks! Also included “1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air”, “Revved Up”, “Full Circle”, “Big Daddy D, “The Son of Sun” and more! Dave also shared the stage with Elvin Bishop, Gregg Allman, James Cotton, Koko Taylor and had his music featured on “The Game”, “Cold Case”, “Dateline NBC”, “Melrose Place” plus he is author of two books “Images of Broadmoor Village” and “Daly City Then & Now”! Check out the amazing Dave Crimmen on all streaming platforms today! #davecrimmen #westcoastperformer #sanfrancisco #dalycity #comeon #thejordanaires #billhaleyandthecomets #1957chevybelair #bigdaddyd #sunrecords #coldcase #datelinenbc #melroseplace #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnagerdavecrimmen #themikewagnershowdavecrimmen --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/support
Veteran West Coast performer from San Francisco Dave Crimmen talks about his latest “Come On” where Bill Haley's Original Comets have recorded a song on their current CD that was written just for them by Dave. Dave's current Album/CD “Big Daddy D” features the Jordanaires on two tracks! Also included “1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air”, “Revved Up”, “Full Circle”, “Big Daddy D, “The Son of Sun” and more! Dave also shared the stage with Elvin Bishop, Gregg Allman, James Cotton, Koko Taylor and had his music featured on “The Game”, “Cold Case”, “Dateline NBC”, “Melrose Place” plus he is author of two books “Images of Broadmoor Village” and “Daly City Then & Now”! Check out the amazing Dave Crimmen on all streaming platforms today! #davecrimmen #westcoastperformer #sanfrancisco #dalycity #comeon #thejordanaires #billhaleyandthecomets #1957chevybelair #bigdaddyd #sunrecords #coldcase #datelinenbc #melroseplace #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnagerdavecrimmen #themikewagnershowdavecrimmen --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/support
Veteran West Coast performer from San Francisco Dave Crimmen talks about his latest “Come On” where Bill Haley's Original Comets have recorded a song on their current CD that was written just for them by Dave. Dave's current Album/CD “Big Daddy D” features the Jordanaires on two tracks! Also included “1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air”, “Revved Up”, “Full Circle”, “Big Daddy D, “The Son of Sun” and more! Dave also shared the stage with Elvin Bishop, Gregg Allman, James Cotton, Koko Taylor and had his music featured on “The Game”, “Cold Case”, “Dateline NBC”, “Melrose Place” plus he is author of two books “Images of Broadmoor Village” and “Daly City Then & Now”! Check out the amazing Dave Crimmen on all streaming platforms today! #davecrimmen #westcoastperformer #sanfrancisco #dalycity #comeon #thejordanaires #billhaleyandthecomets #1957chevybelair #bigdaddyd #sunrecords #coldcase #datelinenbc #melroseplace #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #bitchute #rumble #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnagerdavecrimmen #themikewagnershowdavecrimmen
Davis has worked to improve race relations by seeking out, engaging in dialogue with, and befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1983, he was playing country western music in a "white" bar in Frederick, Maryland, when a patron came up to him and said it was the first time he had "heard a black man play as well as Jerry Lee Lewis". Davis explained to the man that "Jerry Lee learned to play from black blues and boogie-woogie piano players and he's a friend of mine". The white patron was skeptical and over a drink admitted he was a member of the KKK. The two became friends and eventually the man gave Davis contact information on KKK leaders.A few years later, Davis decided that he wanted to interview Klan members and write a book on the subject, to answer a "question in my head from the age of 10: 'Why do you hate me when you know nothing about me?' That question had never been answered from my youth".Davis eventually went on to befriend over twenty members of the KKK, and claims to have been directly responsible for between forty and sixty, and indirectly over two hundred people leaving the Klan.Over the course of his activities, Davis found that Klansmen have many misconceptions about black people, stemming mostly from intense brainwashing in their youth. When they got to know him, Davis claims, it was more difficult to maintain their prejudices. The artist has recounted his experiences in his 1998 book, Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan.Daryl Davis is not on a mission to "convert" bigots, white supremacists, Klansmen, or Nazis. Rather because of the earnest respect he offers all human beings and his core beliefs in the power of love, respect, fairness and his willingness to listen and find the heart of "the other" that people are moved and transformed. Over 200 Neo-Nazis, Klansmen and others who belong to organizations that preach hate have chosen to leave those organizations and give Daryl their robes, flags, insignia and other symbols of hate. As a musician, Davis absorbed the style of blues musicians from the Mississippi Delta who had migrated north. In 1980, he earned a bachelor of music degree from Howard University, where he was a member of the Howard University Choir and Jazz Vocal Ensemble. Davis "was mentored by legendary pianists Pinetop Perkins and Johnnie Johnson, who both claimed him as their godson and praised his ability to master a piano style that was popular long before he was born", according to his Kennedy Center profile.Davis has frequently played backup for Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. He was a friend of Muddy Waters and played piano in The Legendary Blues Band.Davis has also performed with blues icon B. B. King, Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, The Platters, The Drifters, The Coasters, Bo Diddley] Percy Sledge, and Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave).In 2009 Davis was awarded "Best Traditional Blues/R&B Instrumentalist" at the Washington Area Music Awards. For several years, Davis served as artistic director of the Centrum Acoustic Blues Festival.
As told by the late great lead tenor Gordon Stoker, this is the story of the greatest backup group in the history of recorded music and that is undoubtedly the Jordanaires, a gospel group of mostly Tennessee boys, formed in the 1940s, that set the standard for studio vocal groups in the '50s, '60s, '70s, and beyond. In their sixty-five-year career, from 1948 through 2013, the recordings they sang on have sold an estimated eight billion copies. They sang on more than 200 of Elvis's recordings, including most of his biggest hits. They were in three of his best-known movies, appeared with him on most of his early nation-wide TV shows, and toured with him for many years. Throughout Elvis's early career, the Jordanaires were his most trusted friends and probably his most positive influence. While the Jordanaires' bread and butter may have been Nashville's burgeoning recording industry, it seemed that there was always a plane waiting to take them cross country to the pop sessions in L.A. They sang on most of Ricky Nelson's biggest hits and over the years backed up Andy Williams, Fats Domino, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Dinah Shore, The Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell, Patti Page, Neil Young, Perry Como, Loretta Lynn, Ringo Starr, Tom Jones, Andy Griffith, Bobby Vinton, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, Billy Ray Cyrus, Clyde McPhatter, and about 2,100 other recording acts.Michael Kosser is a senior editor at American Songwriter magazine, where he has written a column on songwriting called "Street Smarts" for the past twenty years. Since 1979, Kosser's songs have been recorded by George Jones, Barbara Mandrell, Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, and others. Many of his songs have appeared on the national country music charts. Kosser offers an in-depth, insider's view of Nashville during its ascendancy in his book “How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: Fifty Years of Music Row”.Alan Stoker is the son of Gordon Stoker, of the Jordanaires quartet. He's a Grammy-winning audio engineer, a musician, vocalist, and a music historian. As a musician/vocalist, he's backed up beach music legend Clifford Curry and Sam Moore of the Stax Records duo Sam and Dave. He's also recorded with prog-rock group McKendree Spring and E Street Band bassist Gary Tallent. He's opened shows for Ray Charles and his orchestra, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon band, the Tams, Crystal Gayle, and others.He's the long-time legendary archivist for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN. He's preserved some of the earliest recordings of the biggest names in music. Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash are just a few of the artists whose recordings Stoker has been involved with. His work is credited on close to one hundred commercially released products, including “Hank Williams Mother's Best Flour Show”, “The Patsy Cline Collection”, “The Bristol Sessions: Historic Recordings from Bristol, Tennessee”, and the Grammy award–winning “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970”.Stoker has appeared in numerous documentaries as a music historian. He's a twenty-year member of the National Recording Preservation Board at the Library of Congress.Purchase a copy of “The Jordanaires: The Story of the World's Greatest Backup Vocal Group” through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jordanaires-Story-Worlds-Greatest-Backup/dp/1493064576/Listen to a playlist of the music discussed in this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5tOPsjatmHAt8bvMz5wjwh?si=061deba8ef9848a9Visit the Gordon Stoker Memorial Page: https://www.facebook.com/GordonStokerMemorialPageVisit the Jordanaires website: https://www.jordanaires.netThe Booked On Rock Website: https://www.bookedonrock.comFollow The Booked On Rock with Eric Senich:FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/bookedonrockpodcastTWITTER: https://twitter.com/bookedonrockINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bookedonrockpodcastSupport Your Local Bookstore! Find your nearest independent bookstore here: https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finderContact The Booked On Rock Podcast:thebookedonrockpodcast@gmail.comThe Booked On Rock Music: “Whoosh” & “Nasty” by Crowander (https://www.crowander.com)
We talk about sexy gremlins, Hawaii, and poor gifts. Challenge: Movie – Kill Bill, Album – Showcase (feat. The Jordanaires). spiderman playing american football in an acai bowl with pistachios
It's August 31, 1957 in Vancouver and Elvis Presley is about to take the stage for his first — and only — visit here. With my heart pounding with excitement, I left Elvis in his dressing room and walked toward the stage at the north end of Empire Stadium. A huge curtain hung from the rear of the stage, and it was in this area that I waited for my turn to appear on the platform and bring on the legendary Elvis Presley. The acts on stage at this time were the Jordanaires, a gospel group from the US South who had recently been added to the background sound of Elvis' RCA recordings. They gave a more well rounded sound to the drums of D. J. Fontana, the bass of Bill Black and the incredible guitar of Scotty Moore. Road manager Tom Diskin stood with me on the backstage platform, and when the Jordanaires completed their set I walked out on stage. I can't describe the feeling of standing at one end of a stadium and looking out at a sea of 25,000 faces. I had to gather up every ounce of courage. Tom had told me to point to the right of the stadium when introducing Elvis, and he would run out of the tunnel and step into a large black Cadillac limousine. My introduction was brief. An off stage announcer shouted my name as MC, I walked out to thundering applause, and said "On behalf of the Teen Canteen, Canada's largest teen show, I'm proud tonight to present to you, ELVIS PRESLEY!!!" With that short announcement I pointed to my right, and right on cue Elvis came running out of the tunnel and hopped into the waiting limo. The crowd went berserk. It sounded like a city of a million all screaming and yelling in unison. My greeting had been generous, and I knew that it was more for the fact that I had been instrumental in getting Elvis to Vancouver than for my own appearance, but the ecstatic greeting for Elvis was pure joy for seeing the one man who had brought the whole world of Rock'n'Roll together. Elvis Presley was the centerpiece of the art form and the idol of their generation and here he was — in the flesh! Elvis wore only the top jacket from his solid gold suit. When I asked him backstage in the dressing room why he hadn't worn the whole gold suit, he explained that the creases in the pants caused them to look terrible and unsuitable to wear. The gold suit had been a Colonel Tom Parker concept. Here was the golden boy of music in the Fifties and the Colonel was going to have him appear in gold, real gold, to show the world just how big his boy was. "The Colonel" knew the value of glamour and he used it masterfully. What follows is a recording of my introduction, Elvis' entrance, and the reaction of 25,000 fans. A night I'll never forget.
Absolutely THRILLED to announce new guest, Daryl Davis, to The Story!Daryl Davis is an international recording artist, published author, actor, and leader of The Daryl Davis Band.Born in the Electric Blues Capital of the world, Chicago Illinois, Daryl absorbed the influences of the South from musicians who traveled North from the Mississippi Delta, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Missouri to this Blues Mecca.Daryl Davis earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from Howard University in Washington, DC where he was a member of their world famous and renowned Jazz Vocal Ensemble. In addition to being a vocalist, guitarist, and composer, Daryl is a keyboardist extraordinaire. Upon graduation, Daryl went on to work with such artists as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Platters, The Drifters, The Coasters, Bo Diddley, Percy Sledge, and Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), to name a few.He's not white. He's not even light-skinned. Make no mistake about it; he's black. Yet Daryl Davis has come in closer contact with members of the Ku Klux Klan than most whites and certainly most blacks — short of being on the wrong end of a rope. What's more? He continues to do so, making him one of the most unique lecturers on the speaking circuit today.On a quest to do nothing more than explore racism and gather information for his book, Klan-Destine Relationships, Daryl Davis eventually became the recipient of numerous robes and hoods given to him by KKK members who rescinded their beliefs after coming to know him. He had inadvertently stumbled upon a successful method of forming friendships between sworn enemies.As a race relations expert, Daryl Davis has received acclaim for his book, Klan-Destine Relationships and his work in race relations from many respected sources including CNN, NBC, Good Morning America, The Learning Channel, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and many others. He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the highly prestigious Elliott-Black Award and the Bridge Builder Award presented by the American Ethical Union and Washington Ethical Society respectively, to name a few.Check out Daryl here:Website : https://www.daryldavis.comInsta : @RealdaryldavisSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-story/donations
Get the story from behind the MUSICIANS who made some of the greatest albums of all time. This episode discusses Backup Singers- the unsung heroes who keep every album harmonized and sounding amazing. We give a little background on some of today's biggest artists, specifically, projects they sang backup on (Sheryl Crow, Mariah Carey, John Legend). We also discuss several different "backup" singers including Merry Clayton, Clare Torry, The Jordanaires, and many more. The singers bring new levels to albums from the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Pink Floyd to the King himself, Elvis Presley. Listen to the stories behind the music! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/album4theday/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/album4theday/support
372. Have Some Everybodyon-target-podcast.onpodium.comBack with a punch this episode. Overflowing with powerful, unforgettable tracks to keep you bopping through the week. Don't miss out on this hour, it's MONSTER!-----------------------------------------------The Playlist Is:Tell Me (What's On Your Mind)The Accents - Apex"Young Jesse Bossa Nova (parts I & II)"Young Jessie- Bit"40 Days - 40 Nights"Don Covay & The Goodtimers- Atlanitc"Such A Soul Says..."The Third Party - Soulhawk"Keep On Keeping On"N.F. Porter- Lizard"It's Written All Over My Face"Marva Holiday- GNP Crescendo"Do The Clam"Elvis Presley & The Jordanaires with The Jubilee Four- RCA-Victor"Uh-Huh"Dean Hagopian- Loma"Are You Back In My World Now"The Cherokees- Capitol"Free For All (Winner Takes All)"Phillip Mitchell- Shout"Like Adam and Eve" The Reflections - ABC-Paramount"What Would I Do"The Superiors- Verve"What Would I Do"The Tymes- MGM"Too Good To Be True"The Traits- Garrison"I'm A Teardrop"The Jerms- Honor Brigade"Mary Jane"Ronnie Hawkins- Yorkville"Free Love"Max Frost & The Troopers- Capitol "Vito's House"The Reflections- ABC-Paramount"Turning My Heartbeat Up"The M.V.P.'s- Stardust"Have Some Everybody"Flaming Emeralds- Fee"Big Red"The Buena Vistas- Goodgroove
Elvis is back in the building becuase of the Baz Luhrmann movie. But I believe that where he should have probed he skims over the soul of Elvis in so many ways. So, I'm reposting some of my in-depth conversations about the King.
Klan-Destine Relationships. It began with a question. How can you hate me when you don't even know me? Listen to our powerful Interview with acclaimed musician, author, educator and race reconciliator, Daryl Davis. A chance encounter with members of the Ku Klux Klan led musician Daryl Davis on a quest to determine the source of the hate. His unorthodox, yet simple approach, has wielded surprising results and just might be the solution for all racial discourse. As a pianist, vocalist, and guitarist, he performs nationally and internationally with The Daryl Davis Band. He has also worked with such notables as _Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley's Jordanaires, The Legendary Blues Band,_ and many others. In 1983, A chance occurrence after one of his performances led him to befriend a member of the Ku Klux Klan. This eventually led Daryl to become the first black author to travel the country interviewing KKK leaders and members, all detailed in his book, Klan-Destine Relationships. Today, Daryl owns numerous Klan robes and hoods, given to him by active members who became his friends and renounced the organization. Davis has received the Elliott-Black and MLK awards as well as numerous national awards for his work in race relations. He is also an actor appearing in the critically acclaimed _HBO's The Wire,_ and most recently, as the subject of the documentary _Accidental Courtesy,_ which filmed his real life encounters with Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi leaders as he helps to dismantle racism across the United States. All Music, Lyric and Performances by James Harrell and Ilyana Kadushin.
Episode 214, “RCA Studio B,” focuses on the history of an especially productive recording studio in Nashville and two groups of backup singers, The Anita Kerr Singers and The Jordanaires. Performers include Chet Atkins, Elvis... Read More The post Episode 214, “RCA Studio B,” appeared first on Sam Waldron.
Episode one hundred and thirty-three of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "My Girl" by the Temptations, and is part three of a three-episode look at Motown in 1965. 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 "Yeh Yeh" by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. 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/ Resources As usual, I've put together a Mixcloud playlist of all the recordings excerpted in this episode. This box set is the definitive collection of the Temptations' work, but is a bit pricey. For those on a budget, this two-CD set contains all the hits. As well as the general Motown information listed below, I've also referred to Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations by Mark Ribowsky, and to Smokey Robinson's autobiography. For Motown-related information in this and other Motown episodes, I've used the following resources: Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George is an excellent popular history of the various companies that became Motown. To Be Loved by Berry Gordy is Gordy's own, understandably one-sided, but relatively well-written, autobiography. Women of Motown: An Oral History by Susan Whitall is a collection of interviews with women involved in Motown. I Hear a Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B by J. Andrew Flory is an academic look at Motown. The Motown Encyclopaedia by Graham Betts is an exhaustive look at the people and records involved in Motown's thirty-year history. How Sweet It Is by Lamont Dozier and Scott B. Bomar is Dozier's autobiography, while Come and Get These Memories by Brian and Eddie Holland and Dave Thompson is the Holland brothers'. And Motown Junkies is an infrequently-updated blog looking at (so far) the first 694 tracks released on Motown singles. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript For the last few weeks we've been looking at Motown in 1965, but now we're moving away from Holland, Dozier, and Holland, we're also going to move back in time a little, and look at a record that was released in December 1964. I normally try to keep this series in more or less chronological order, but to tell this story I had to first show the new status quo of the American music industry after the British Invasion, and some of what had to be covered there was covered in songs from early 1965. And the reason I wanted to show that status quo before doing this series of Motown records is that we're now entering into a new era of musical segregation, and really into the second phase of this story. In 1963, Billboard had actually stopped having an R&B chart -- Cashbox magazine still had one, but Billboard had got rid of theirs. The reasoning was simple -- by that point there was so much overlap between the R&B charts and the pop charts that it didn't seem necessary to have both. The stuff that was charting on the R&B charts was also charting pop -- people like Ray Charles or Chubby Checker or the Ronettes or Sam Cooke. The term "rock and roll" had originally been essentially a marketing campaign to get white people to listen to music made by Black people, and it had worked. There didn't seem to be a need for a separate category for music listened to by Black people, because that was now the music listened to by *everybody*. Or it had been, until the Beatles turned up. At that point, the American charts were flooded by groups with guitars, mostly British, mostly male, and mostly white. The story of rock and roll from 1954 through 1964 had been one of integration, of music made by Black people becoming the new mainstream of music in the USA. The story for the next decade or more would be one of segregation, of white people retaking the pop charts, and rebranding "rock and roll" so thoroughly that by the early 1970s nobody would think of the Supremes or the Shirelles or Sam Cooke as having been rock and roll performers at all. And so today we're going to look at the record that was number one the week that Billboard reinstated its R&B chart, and which remains one of the most beloved classics of the time period. We're going to look at the careers of two different groups at Motown, both of whom managed to continue having hits, and even become bigger, after the British Invasion, and at the songwriter and producer who was responsible for those hits -- and who was also an inspiration for the Beatles, who inadvertently caused that invasion. We're going to look at Smokey Robinson, and at "My Girl" by the Temptations: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl"] The story of the Temptations both starts and ends with Otis Williams. As I write this, Williams is the only living member of the classic Temptations lineup, and is the leader of the current group. And Williams also started the group that, after many lineup changes and mergers, became the Temptations, and was always the group's leader, even though he has never been its principal lead singer. The group that eventually became the Temptations started out when Williams formed a group with a friend, Al Bryant, in the late 1950s. They were inspired by a doo-wop group called the Turbans, who had had a hit in 1956 with a song called "When You Dance": [Excerpt: The Turbans, "When You Dance"] The Turbans, appropriately enough, used to wear turbans on their heads when they performed, and Williams and Bryant's new group wanted to use the same gimmick, so they decided to come up with a Middle-Eastern sounding group name that would justify them wearing Arabic style costumes. Unfortunately, they didn't have the greatest grasp of geography in the world, and so this turban-wearing group named themselves the Siberians. The Siberians recorded one single under that name -- a single that has been variously reported as being called "The Pecos Kid" and "Have Gun Will Travel", but which sold so poorly that now no copies are known to exist anywhere -- before being taken on by a manager called Milton Jenkins, who was as much a pimp as he was a manager, but who definitely had an eye for talent. Jenkins was the manager of two other groups -- the Primes, a trio from Alabama who he'd met in Cleveland when they'd travelled there to see if they could get discovered, and who had moved with him to Detroit, and a group he put together, called the Primettes, who later became the Supremes. The Primes consisted of three singers -- Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams (no relation to Otis, or to the soft-pop singer and actor of the same name), and Kell Osborne, who sang lead. The Primes became known around Detroit as some of the best performers in the city -- no mean feat considering that Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, the Miracles and the Four Tops, just for a start, were performing regularly on the same circuit. Jenkins had big plans for his groups, and he sent them all to dance school to learn to perform choreographed routines. But then Jenkins became ill and disappeared from the scene, and the Primes split up. Kendricks and Paul Williams went back to Alabama, while Osborne moved on to California, where he made several unsuccessful records, including "The Bells of St. Mary", produced by Lester Sill and Lee Hazelwood and arranged by Phil Spector: [Excerpt: Kell Osborne, "The Bells of St. Mary"] But while the Primes had split up, the Siberians hadn't. Instead, they decided to get new management, which came in the person of a woman named Johnnie Mae Matthews. Matthews was the lead singer of a group called the Five Dapps, who'd had a local hit with a track called "Do Whap A Do", one of the few Dapps songs she didn't sing lead on: [Excerpt: The Five Dapps, "Do Whap A Do"] After that had become successful, Matthews had started up her own label, Northern -- which was apparently named after a brand of toilet paper -- to put out records of her group, often backed by the same musicians who would later become the core of the Funk Brothers. Her group, renamed Johnnie Mae Matthews and the Dapps, put out two more singles on her label, with her singing lead: [Excerpt: Johnnie Mae Matthews and the Dapps, "Mr. Fine"] Matthews had become something of an entrepreneur, managing other local acts like Mary Wells and Popcorn Wylie, and she wanted to record the Siberians, but two of the group had dropped out after Jenkins had disappeared, and so they needed some new members. In particular they needed a bass singer -- and Otis Williams knew of a good one. Melvin Franklin had been singing with various groups around Detroit, but Williams was thinking in particular of Franklin's bass vocal on "Needed" by the Voice Masters. We've mentioned the Voice Masters before, but they were a group with a rotating membership that included David Ruffin and Lamont Dozier. Franklin hadn't been a member of the group, but he had been roped in to sing bass on "Needed", which was written and produced by Gwen Gordy and Roquel Davis, and was a clear attempt at sounding like Jackie Wilson: [Excerpt: The Voice Masters, "Needed"] Williams asked Franklin to join the group, and Franklin agreed, but felt bad about leaving his current group. However, the Siberians also needed a new lead singer, and so Franklin brought in Richard Street from his group. Matthews renamed the group the Distants and took them into the studio. They actually got there early, and got to see another group, the Falcons, record what would become a million-selling hit: [Excerpt: The Falcons, "You're So Fine"] The Falcons, whose lead vocalist Joe Stubbs was Levi Stubbs' brother, were an important group in their own right, and we'll be picking up on them next week, when we look at a single by Joe Stubbs' replacement in the group. The Distants' single wouldn't be quite as successful as the Falcons', but it featured several people who would go on to become important in Motown. As well as several of the Funk Brothers in the backing band, the record also featured additional vocals by the Andantes, and on tambourine a local pool-hall hustler the group knew named Norman Whitfield. The song itself was written by Williams, and was essentially a rewrite of "Shout!" by the Isley Brothers: [Excerpt: The Distants, "Come On"] The Distants recorded a second single for Northern, but then Williams made the mistake of asking Matthews if they might possibly receive any royalties for their records. Matthews said that the records had been made with her money, that she owned the Distants' name, and she was just going to get five new singers. Matthews did actually get several new singers to put out a single under the Distants name, with Richard Street still singing lead -- Street left the group when they split from Matthews, as did another member, leaving the group as a core of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Al Bryant. But before the split with Matthews, Berry Gordy had seen the group and suggested they come in to Motown for an audition. Otis, Melvin, and Al, now renamed the Elgins, wanted to do just that. But they needed a new lead singer. And happily, they had one. Eddie Kendricks phoned up Otis Williams and said that he and Paul Williams were back in town, and did Otis know of any gigs that were going? Otis did indeed know of such a gig, and Paul and Eddie joined the Elgins, Paul as lead singer and Eddie as falsetto singer. This new lineup of the group were auditioned by Mickey Stevenson, Motown's head of A&R, and he liked them enough that he signed them up. But he insisted that the name had to change -- there was another group already called the Elgins (though that group never had a hit, and Motown would soon sign up yet another group and change their name to the Elgins, leading to much confusion). The group decided on a new name -- The Temptations. Their first record was co-produced by Stevenson and Andre Williams. Williams, who was no relation to either Otis or Paul (and as a sidenote I do wish there weren't so many people with the surname Williams in this story, as it means I can't write it in my usual manner of referring to people by their surname) was a minor R&B star who co-wrote "Shake a Tail Feather", and who had had a solo hit with his record "Bacon Fat": [Excerpt: Andre Williams, "Bacon Fat"] Andre Williams, who at this point in time was signed to Motown though not having much success, was brought in because the perception at Motown was that the Temptations would be one of their harder-edged R&B groups, rather than going for the softer pop market, and he would be able to steer the recording in that direction. The song they chose to record was one that Otis Williams had written, though Mickey Stevenson gets a co-writing credit and may have helped polish it: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "Oh Mother of Mine"] The new group lineup became very close, and started thinking of each other like family and giving each other nicknames -- though they also definitely split into two camps. Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin were always a pair, and Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams had come up together and thought of themselves as a team. Al Bryant, even though he had been with Otis from the beginning, was a bit of an outlier in this respect. He wasn't really part of either camp, and he was the only one who didn't get a nickname from the other band members. He was also the only one who kept his day job -- while the other four were all determined that they were going to make it as professional singers, he was hesitant and kept working at the dairy. As a result, whenever there were fights in the group -- and the fights would sometimes turn physical -- the fighting would tend to be between Eddie Kendricks and Melvin Franklin. Otis was the undisputed leader, and nobody wanted to challenge him, but from the beginning Kendricks and Paul Williams thought of Otis as a bit too much of a company man. They also thought of Melvin as Otis' sidekick and rubber stamp, so rather than challenge Otis they'd have a go at Melvin. But, for the most part, they were extremely close at this point. The Temptations' first single didn't have any great success, but Berry Gordy had faith in the group, and produced their next single himself, a song that he cowrote with Otis, Melvin, and Al, and which Brian Holland also chipped in some ideas for. That was also unsuccessful, but the next single, written by Gordy alone, was slightly more successful. For "(You're My) Dream Come True", Gordy decided to give the lead to Kendricks, the falsetto singer, and the track also featured a prominent instrumental line by Gordy's wife Raynoma -- what sounds like strings on the record is actually a primitive synthesiser called an ondioline: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "(You're My) Dream Come True"] That made number twenty-two on the R&B chart, and was the first sign of any commercial potential for the group -- and so Motown went in a totally different direction and put out a cover version, of a record by a group called the Diablos, whose lead singer was Barrett Strong's cousin Nolan. The Temptations' version of "Mind Over Matter" wasn't released as by the Temptations, but as by the Pirates: [Excerpt: The Pirates, "Mind Over Matter"] That was a flop, and at the same time as they released it, they also released another Gordy song under their own name, a song called "Paradise" which seems to have been an attempt at making a Four Seasons soundalike, which made number 122 on the pop charts and didn't even do that well on the R&B charts. Annoyingly, the Temptations had missed out on a much bigger hit. Gordy had written "Do You Love Me?" for the group, but had been hit with a burst of inspiration and wanted to do the record *NOW*. He'd tried phoning the various group members, but got no answer -- they were all in the audience at a gospel music show at the time, and had no idea he was trying to get in touch with them. So he'd pulled in another group, The Contours, and their version of the song went to number three on the pop charts: [Excerpt: The Contours, "Do You Love Me?"] According to the biography of the Temptations I'm using as a major source for this episode, that was even released on the same day as both "Paradise" and "Mind Over Matter", though other sources I've consulted have it coming out a few months earlier. Despite "Paradise"'s lack of commercial success, though, it did introduce an element that would become crucial for the group's future -- the B-side was the first song for the group written by Smokey Robinson. We've mentioned Robinson briefly in previous episodes on Motown, but he's worth looking at in a lot more detail, because he is in some ways the most important figure in Motown's history, though also someone who has revealed much less of himself than many other Motown artists. Both of these facts stem from the same thing, which is that Robinson is the ultimate Motown company man. He was a vice president of the company, and he was Berry Gordy's best friend from before the company even started. While almost every other artist, writer, or producer signed to Motown has stories to tell of perceived injustices in the way that Motown treated them, Robinson has always positioned himself on the side of the company executives rather than as one of the other artists. He was the only person outside the Gordy family who had a place at the very centre of the organisation -- and he was also one of a very small number of people during Motown's golden age who would write, produce, *and* perform. Now, there were other people who worked both as artists and on the backroom side of things -- we've seen that Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder would sometimes write songs for other artists, and that Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier had started out as performers before moving into songwriting. But these were mostly little dalliances -- in general, in Motown in the sixties, you were either a performer or you were a writer-producer. But Smokey Robinson was both -- and he was *good* at both, someone who was responsible for creating many of the signature hits of Motown. At this point in his career, Robinson had, as we've heard previously, been responsible for Motown's second big hit, after "Money", when he'd written "Shop Around" for his own group The Miracles: [Excerpt: The Miracles, "Shop Around"] The Miracles had continued to have hits, though none as big as "Shop Around", with records like "What's So Good About Goodbye?": [Excerpt: The Miracles, "What's So Good About Goodbye?"] But Robinson had also been writing regularly for other artists. He'd written some stuff that the Supremes had recorded, though like all the Supremes material at this point it had been unsuccessful, and he'd also started a collaboration with the label's biggest star at this point, Mary Wells, for whom he'd written top ten hits like "The One Who Really Loves You": [Excerpt: Mary Wells, "The One Who Really Loves You"] and "You Beat Me To The Punch", co-written with fellow Miracle Ronnie White, which as well as going top ten pop made number one on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Mary Wells, "You Beat Me to The Punch"] Between 1962 and 1964, Robinson would consistently write huge hits for Wells, as well as continuing to have hits with the Miracles, and his writing was growing in leaps and bounds. He was regarded by almost everyone at Motown as the best writer the company had, both for his unique melodic sensibility and for the literacy of his lyrics. When he'd first met Berry Gordy, he'd been a writer with a lot of potential, but he hadn't understood how to structure a lyric -- he'd thrown in a lot of unrelated ideas. Gordy had taken him under his wing and shown him how to create a song with a beginning, a middle, and an end, and Robinson had immediately understood what he needed to do. His lyrics, with their clever conceits and internal rhymes, became the ones that everyone else studied -- when Eddie Holland decided to become a songwriter rather than a singer, he'd spent months just studying Robinson's lyrics to see how they worked. Robinson was even admired by the Beatles, especially John Lennon -- one can hear his melismatic phrases all over Lennon's songwriting in this period, most notably in songs like "Ask Me Why", and the Beatles covered one of Robinson's songs on their second album, With the Beatles: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "You Really Got a Hold On Me"] After writing the B-side to "Paradise", Robinson was given control of the Temptations' next single. His "I Want a Love I Can See" didn't do any better than "Paradise", and is in some ways more interesting for the B-side, "The Further You Look, The Less You See": [Excerpt: The Temptations, "The Further You Look, The Less You See"] That track's interesting because it's a collaboration between Robinson and Norman Whitfield, that pool-hall hustler who'd played tambourine on the Distants' first single. Whitfield had produced the records by the later Distants, led by Richard Street, and had then gone to work for a small label owned by Berry Gordy's ex-mother-in-law. Gordy had bought out that label, and with it Whitfield's contract, and at this point Whitfield was very much an apprentice to Robinson. Both men were huge admirers of the Temptations, and for the next few years both would want to be the group's main producer and songwriter, competing for the right to record their next single -- though for a good chunk of time this would not really be a competition, as Whitfield was minor league compared to Robinson. "I Want a Love I Can See" was a flop, and the Temptations' next single was another Berry Gordy song. When that flopped too, Gordy seriously started considering dropping the group altogether. While this was happening, though, Robinson was busily writing more great songs for his own group and for Mary Wells, songs like "What Love Has Joined Together", co-written with his bandmate Bobby Rogers: [Excerpt: Mary Wells, "What Love Has Joined Together"] And the Temptations were going through their own changes. Al was becoming more and more of an outsider in the group, while also thinking of himself as the real star. He thought this even though he was the weak link -- Paul and Eddie were the lead singers, Otis was the band's leader, Melvin had a hugely distinctive bass voice, and Al was... just "the other one". Things came to a head at a gig in October 1963, when a friend of the group showed up. David Ruffin was so friendly with Melvin Franklin that Franklin called him his cousin, and he was also a neighbour of Otis'. He had been a performer from an early age -- he'd been in a gospel group with his older brother Jimmy and their abusive father. Once he'd escaped his father, he'd gone on to perform in a duo with his brother, and then in a series of gospel groups, including stints in the Dixie Nightingales and the Soul Stirrers. Ruffin had been taken on by a manager called Eddie Bush, who adopted him -- whether legally or just in their minds is an open question -- and had released his first single as Little David Bush when he was seventeen, in 1958: [Excerpt: Little David Bush, "You and I"] Ruffin and Bush had eventually parted ways, and Ruffin had taken up with the Gordy family, helping Berry Gordy Sr out in his construction business -- he'd actually helped build the studio that Berry Jr owned and where most of the Motown hits were recorded -- and singing on records produced by Gwen Gordy. He'd been in the Voice Masters, who we heard earlier this episode, and had also recorded solo singles with the Voice Masters backing, like "I'm In Love": [Excerpt: David Ruffin, "I'm In Love"] When Gwen Gordy's labels had been absorbed into Motown, so had Ruffin, who had also got his brother Jimmy signed to the label. They'd planned to record as the Ruffin Brothers, but then Jimmy had been drafted, and Ruffin was at a loose end -- he technically had a Motown contract, but wasn't recording anything. But then in October 1963 he turned up to a Temptations gig. For the encore, the group always did the Isley Brothers song "Shout!", and Ruffin got up on stage with them and started joining in, dancing more frantically than the rest of the group. Al started trying to match him, feeling threatened by this interloper. They got wilder and wilder, and the audience loved it so much that the group were called back for another encore, and Ruffin joined them again. They did the same song again, and got an even better reaction. They came back for a third time, and did it again, and got an even better reaction. Ruffin then disappeared into the crowd. The group decided that enough was enough -- except for Al, who was convinced that they should do a fourth encore without Ruffin. The rest of the group were tired, and didn't want to do the same song for a fourth time, and thought they should leave the audience wanting more. Al, who had been drinking, got aggressive, and smashed a bottle in Paul Williams' face, hospitalising him. Indeed, it was only pure luck that kept Williams from losing his vision, and he was left with a scar but no worse damage. Otis, Eddie, and Melvin decided that they needed to sack Al, but Paul, who was the peacemaker in the group, insisted that they shouldn't, and also refused to press charges. Out of respect for Paul, the rest of the group agreed to give Al one more chance. But Otis in particular was getting sick of Al and thought that the group should just try to get David Ruffin in. Everyone agreed that if Al did anything to give Otis the slightest reason, he could be sacked. Two months later, he did just that. The group were on stage at the annual Motown Christmas show, which was viewed by all the acts as a competition, and Paul had worked out a particularly effective dance routine for the group, to try to get the crowd going. But while they were performing, Al came over to Otis and suggested that the two of them, as the "pretty boys" should let the other three do all the hard work while they just stood back and looked good for the women. Otis ignored him and carried on with the routine they'd rehearsed, and Al was out as soon as they came offstage. And David Ruffin was in. But for now, Ruffin was just the missing element in the harmony stack, not a lead vocalist in his own right. For the next single, both Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy came up with songs for the new lineup of the group, and they argued about which song should be the A-side -- one of the rare occasions where the two disagreed on anything. They took the two tracks to Motown's quality control meeting, and after a vote it was agreed that the single should be the song that Robinson had written for Eddie Kendricks to sing, "The Way You Do the Things You Do": [Excerpt: The Temptations, "The Way You Do the Things You Do"] At first, the group hadn't liked that song, and it wasn't until they rehearsed it a few times that they realised that Robinson was being cleverer than they'd credited him for with the lyrics. Otis Williams would later talk about how lines like "You've got a smile so bright, you know you could have been a candle" had seemed ridiculous to them at first, but then they'd realised that the lyric was parodying the kinds of things that men say when they don't know what to say to a woman, and that it's only towards the end of the song that the singer stops trying bad lines and just starts speaking honestly -- "you really swept me off my feet, you make my life complete, you make my life so bright, you make me feel all right": [Excerpt: The Temptations, "The Way You Do the Things You Do"] That track was also the first one that the group cut to a prerecorded backing track, Motown having upgraded to a four-track system. That allowed the group to be more subtle with their backing vocal arrangements, and "The Way You Do the Things You Do" is the point at which the Temptations become fully themselves. But the group didn't realise that at first. They spent the few weeks after the record's release away from Detroit, playing at the Michigan state fair, and weren't aware that it was starting to do things. It was only when Otis and David popped in to the Motown offices and people started talking to them about them having a hit that they realised the record had made the pop charts. Both men had been trying for years to get a big hit, with no success, and they started crying in each other's arms, Ruffin saying ‘Otis, this is the first time in my life I feel like I've been accepted, that I've done something.'” The record eventually made number eleven on the pop charts, and number one on the Cashbox R&B chart -- Billboard, as we discussed earlier, having discontinued theirs, but Otis Williams still thinks that given the amount of airplay that the record was getting it should have charted higher, and that something fishy was going on with the chart compilation at that point. Perhaps, but given that the record reached the peak of its chart success in April 1964, the high point of Beatlemania, when the Beatles had five records in the top ten, it's also just possible that it was a victim of bad timing. But either way, number eleven on the pop charts was a significant hit. Shortly after that, though, Smokey Robinson came up with an even bigger hit. "My Guy", written for Mary Wells, had actually only been intended as a bit of album filler. Motown were putting together a Mary Wells album, and as with most albums at the time it was just a collection of tracks that had already been released as singles and stuff that hadn't been considered good enough to release. But they were a track short, and Smokey was asked to knock together something quickly. He recorded a backing track at the end of a day cutting tracks for a *Temptations* album -- The Temptations Sing Smokey -- and everyone was tired by the time they got round to recording it, but you'd never guess that from the track itself, which is as lively as anything Motown put out. "My Guy" was a collaborative creation, with an arrangement that was worked on by the band -- it was apparently the Funk Brothers who came up with the intro, which was lifted from a 1956 record, "Canadian Sunset" by Hugo Winterhalter. Compare that: [Excerpt: Hugo Winterhalter, "Canadian Sunset"] to “My Guy”: [Excerpt: Mary Wells, "My Guy"] The record became one of the biggest hits of the sixties -- Motown's third pop number one, and a million-seller. It made Mary Wells into a superstar, and the Beatles invited her to be their support act on their UK summer tour. So of course Wells immediately decided to get a better deal at another record label, and never had another hit again. Meanwhile, Smokey kept plugging away, both at his own records -- though the Miracles went through a bit of a dry patch at this point, as far as the charts go -- and at the Temptations. The group's follow-up, "I'll Be in Trouble", was very much a remake of "The Way You Do the Things You Do", and while it was good it didn't quite make the top thirty. This meant that Norman Whitfield got another go. He teamed up with Eddie Holland to write "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)", which did only slightly better than "I'll Be in Trouble": [Excerpt: The Temptations, "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)"] The competition between Robinson and Whitfield for who got to make the Temptations' records was heating up -- both men were capable of giving the group hits, but neither had given them the truly massive record that they were clearly capable of having. So Smokey did the obvious thing. He wrote a sequel to his biggest song ever, and he gave it to the new guy to sing. Up until this point, David Ruffin hadn't taken a lead vocal on a Temptations record -- Paul Williams was the group's official "lead singer", while all the hits had ended up having Eddie's falsetto as the most prominent vocal. But Smokey had seen David singing "Shout" with the group, and knew that he had lead singer potential. With his fellow Miracle Ronald White, Smokey crafted a song that was the perfect vehicle for Ruffin's vocal, an answer song to "My Guy", which replaced that song's bouncy exuberance with a laid-back carefree feeling: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl"] But it's not just Ruffin's record -- everyone talking about the track talks about Ruffin's vocal, or the steady pulse of James Jamerson's bass playing, and both those things are definitely worthy of praise, as of course are Robinson's production and Robinson and White's song, but this is a *Temptations* record, and the whole group are doing far more here than the casual listener might realise. It's only when you listen to the a capella version released on the group's Emperors of Soul box set that you notice all the subtleties of the backing vocal parts. On the first verse, the group don't come in until half way through the verse, with Melvin Franklin's great doo-wop bass introducing the backing vocalists, who sing just straight chords: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl (a capella)"] It's not until the chorus that the other group members stretch out a little, taking solo lines and singing actual words rather than just oohs: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl (a capella)"] They then drop back until the same point in the next verse, but this time rather than singing just the plain chords, they're embellishing a little, playing with the rhythm slightly, and Eddie Kendricks' falsetto is moving far more freely than at the same point in the first verse. [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl (a capella)"] The backing vocals slowly increase in complexity until you get the complex parts on the tag. Note that on the first chorus they sang the words "My Girl" absolutely straight with no stresses, but by the end of the song they're all emphasising every word. They've gone from Jordanaires style precise straight harmony to a strong Black gospel feel in their voices, and you've not even noticed the transition: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl (a capella)"] The track went to number one on the pop charts, knocking off "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, before itself being knocked off by "Eight Days a Week" by the Beatles. But it also went to number one on the newly reestablished R&B charts, and stayed there for six weeks: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "My Girl"] Smokey Robinson was now firmly established as the Temptations' producer, and David Ruffin as the group's lead singer. In 1965 Robinson and Pete Moore of the Miracles would write three more top-twenty pop hits for the group, all with Ruffin on lead -- and also manage to get a B-side sung by Paul Williams, "Don't Look Back", to the top twenty on the R&B chart. Not only that, but the Miracles were also on a roll, producing two of the biggest hits of their career. Pete Moore and Marv Tarplin had been messing around with a variant of the melody for "The Banana Boat Song", and came up with an intro for a song: [Excerpt: The Miracles, "The Tracks of My Tears"] Robinson took that as a jumping-off point and turned it into the song that would define their career: [Excerpt: The Miracles, "The Tracks of My Tears"] And later that year they came up with yet another million-seller for the Miracles with "Going to a Go-Go": [Excerpt: The Miracles, "Going to a Go-Go"] Robinson and his collaborators were being rather overshadowed in the public perception at this point by the success of Holland-Dozier-Holland with the Supremes and the Four Tops, but by any standards the records the Temptations and the Miracles were putting out were massive successes, both commercially and artistically. But there were two things that were going to upset this balance. The first was David Ruffin. When he'd joined the group, he'd been the new boy and just eager to get any kind of success at all. Now he was the lead singer, and his ego was starting to get the better of him. The other thing that was going to change things was Norman Whitfield. Whitfield hadn't given up on the Temptations just because of Smokey's string of hits with them. Whitfield knew, of course, that Smokey was the group's producer while he was having hits with them, but he also knew that sooner or later everybody slips up. He kept saying, in every meeting, that he had the perfect next hit for the Temptations, and every time he was told "No, they're Smokey's group". He knew this would be the reaction, but he also knew that if he kept doing this he would make sure that he was the next in line -- that nobody else could jump the queue and get a shot at them if Smokey failed. He badgered Gordy, and wore him down, to the point that Gordy finally agreed that if Smokey's next single for the group didn't make the top twenty on the pop charts like his last four had, Whitfield would get his turn. The next single Smokey produced for the group had Eddie Kendricks on lead, and became the group's first R&B number one since "My Girl": [Excerpt: The Temptations, "Get Ready"] But the R&B and pop charts were diverging, as we saw at the start. While that was their biggest R&B hit in a year, "Get Ready" was a comparative failure on the pop charts, only reaching number twenty-nine -- still a hit, but not the top twenty that Gordy had bet on. So Norman Whitfield got a chance. His record featured David Ruffin on lead, as all the group's previous run of hits from "My Girl" on had, and was co-written with Eddie Holland. Whitfield decided to play up the Temptations' R&B edge, rather than continue in the softer pop style that had brought them success with Robinson, and came up with something that owed as much to the music coming out of Stax and Atlantic at the time as it did to Motown's pop sensibilities: [Excerpt: The Temptations, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"] Whitfield's instinct to lean harder into the R&B sound paid off. "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" returned the group to the pop top twenty, as well as going to number one on the R&B charts. From this point on, the Temptations were no longer Smokey's group, they were Norman Whitfield's, and he would produce all their hits for the next eight years. And the group were also now definitively David Ruffin's group -- or so it seemed. When we pick up on the story of the Temptations, we'll discover how Ruffin's plans for solo stardom worked out, and what happened to the rest of the Temptations under Whitfield's guidance.
I am marking August 16th 2021, the forty-fourth anniversary of the day Elvis died and I set out on a personal quest to make sense of his death, and life, with this podcast, the first in a series called In Search of Elvis. Here, Gordon Stoker talks about his appearance with Elvis on the historic Ed Sullivan shows, Elvis's claim that he "wasn't up the calibre of" Sinatra and the Rat Pack and how Elvis, his musicians and the Jordanaires were seen as hicks by Sinatra and the clan. This is the history of Elvis as you never heard it before. Or read it anywhere, no matter who wrote the book. Copyright JJ.
Dr. Leah Payne, associate professor of theology at George Fox University and Portland Seminary,a nd co-host of Weird Religion, a podcast about religion and popular culture, speaks to the influence of Christian rock music on American Evangelical church culture on Episode 6 of #ejesuspodcast. Co-hosted by ELECTRIC JESUS writer-director Chris White and Music Supervisor/CCM Historian John J. Thompson, and featuring composer Daniel Smith, Season 1 - Electric Jesus: The Music Behind the Movie explores the world of 1980s Christian rock music with an eye toward the creation of the film's unforgettable original songs and score, the power of nostalgia, Evangelical youth group culture, and the Christian rock songs and artists that appear in the movie, ELECTRIC JESUS. EPISODE SONG LIST: 'Commando for Christ' 316, 'Do the Barabbas!' Familyre Friends, 'Vacation Bible Bop' Familyre Friends, 'Strange Things Happening Every Day' Sister Rosetta Tharpe, 'Rock 'n Roll Religion' The Jordanaires, 'Barabbas' 316, 'Girl (I Love Jesus Too)' 316, 'Have You Ever Had a Girlfriend' Familyre Friends, 'Makes Me Wanna Sing' 316, 'Our God Reigns' Highland Baptist Church. LINKS: Electric Jesus: Music From and Inspired By the Motion Picture https://lnk.to/ElectricJesus. EJ Official Website https://electricjesusfilm.com/. EJ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ejesusfilm. EJ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ejesusfilm. EJ Twitter https://twitter.com/ejesusfilm. EJ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_t4tvTqhKVDjfMC19tEYog. EJ IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8666022. Produced by John J. Thompson and Bruce A. Brown for Gyroscope Productions. Copyright 2021 Blue Tape Records.
I already uploaded the precursor and companion piece to this radio documentary. It is called, Memories Of An Elvis Fan, which was deemed to be "too personal" by RTE Radio 1 in Ireland, to be broadcast. And so I substituted, Conversations About The King, which then was nominated for a 'Best Music Documentary' award in 2018. The first show tells the tale of how I became an Elvis fan and how he became to me a kind of spirit guide and source of ceaseless inspiration, and strength, particularly during periods of 'dark sadness' surrounding my family, to quote a poem I wrote in 1973 in response to his recording of You'll Never Walk Alone. This show, on the other hand, is based on countless interviews I probably was destined to do as part of a personal quest after Elvis died in 1977. Eight years later, I became an interviewer and this gave me access to not only many of the world's top musicians, such as Bono, but more importantly, to me, to the likes of Sam Phillips, Founder of Sun Records and a founding father of Rock 'n' Roll. When I was ten years old I told my mother, "One day I am going to Memphis, Tennessee, to thank Mr. Phillips for discovering Elvis." A quarter-century, or so, later, I did. This podcast also includes interviews with the likes of DJ Fontana, Elvis's original drummer; Gordon Stoker from The Jordanaires; songwriter Ben Weisman, and fellow Elvis fans such as Sinead O' Connor and Cliff Richard. This one is for Elvis Aaron and I am launching it near enough to the forty-third anniversary of his death to ensure that maybe a few people will be listening to it on August 16th 2020. when i was ten, that i intended to "go to Memphis one day to thank him for discovering Elvis."
Episode #9 of the Miller Piano Podcast is finally here! In this episode, host Jason Skipper talks with Eric Bikales, a musician, composer, and amazing pianist. If you are a music lover, this is an episode you do not want to miss out on! Topics Discussed: Eric's Relationship with Miller Piano How Eric Became the Musician He Is Today Advice to an Aspiring Musician The Music Business and LA Living Eric's Music and New Album Transcript Jason Skipper 0:12 Welcome to the Miller Piano Podcast! I'm your host, Jason Skipper, and in this episode, we have special guest, Eric Bikales connected with us. Eric has been a longtime friend of Miller piano specialist and is a musician. Specifically a wonderful pianist, composer, also a flute player and many other things. Eric has played for 37 years, I believe, with Neil Sedaka. He has composed music and played for many different artists, TV shows, and much more. I'm really looking forward to having Eric share so many of his stories. Eric, welcome to the podcast! Eric Bikales 0:47 Hey, Jason, great to be here. I'm really happy to speak with you. The first thing I want to say is thank you to Miller Piano for being such a great home to me. All the people over there so nice, and they have treated me so well. For years now they just really make me feel like I have a place here in Franklin, Tennessee. You know, they also sell the best pianos too! Jason Skipper 1:18 That is for sure! I know you've been with their events, "The River of Calm" and other events that they've done over the years at Miller Piano Specialists. I heard your music there and heard it online many times. Your music is amazing. Talking about Miller since we started there, how did your relationship start with Miller Piano Specialists? Eric Bikales 1:37 Well, it was kind of funny. I had just moved to Franklin from a little bit north of Nashville. I lived there for a number of years. When I moved to Franklin, I decided that I want to start teaching piano out of my home. So I designed some posters and I just looked up what music stores were in the area and the first one on the list happened to be Miller. I went over there and I met Sherry Carlisle Smith, who was their general manager and a saleswoman, and she and I just really hit it off. Jason Skipper 2:16 It's hard not to with Sherry in it? Eric Bikales 2:19 She's got that bubbly personality! We sat down and talked for I think what amounted to like a couple of hours. I was only going to ask her if I could hang up an ad for teaching in her music store and it wound up that we knew all kinds of people in common. Then I found out that she had been in the business herself as one of the Jordanaires, which is a very famous singing group who used to backup Elvis and a lot of other artists. One of the guys in the Jordanaires and the name escapes me now (Charlie McCoy), who actually devised the Nashville Number System that we still use today. Sherry was there on the ground level when all that was happening, she was touring as a singer and she didn't become a piano salesperson until later on in life. Anyway, we had a great conversation and became really good friends. I just wound up starting to go there weekly to check up on how things were going, and then I got involved in their Writers Night, and she let me play original material. I developed a little audience and following at Miller, and then one thing developed into another and we've just been going strong for years. Jason Skipper 3:43 How long has that been? Eric Bikales 3:45 Well, I've been here for about six years, something like that. I think that she was one of the first people I met when I got here. Jason Skipper 3:52 Okay. I know you've been connected through "Writers Night," you've been involved in that activity. Also "The River of Calm." How often are you in these events? And how often are these events held? Eric Bikales 4:03 Miller Piano has events going every month. They have a whole schedule of things ranging from "Writers Night" where anybody can come out there and talk to Sherry about it, or Dave and get signed up to perform on a Writers Night. It is just such a good experience for people who write original material and want to test it out on an audience. Believe it or not, even though it is a piano store, "Writers Night" doesn't even cater to piano artists, in particular. Lots and lots of guitars, people who sing and play guitar, come out there and participate in Writers Nights as well. Then there's "The River of Calm" and that's something that started up a couple of years ago with Ed Bazell. "The River of Calm" is an internet radio station that promotes healing, soothing, relaxing music. It's primarily based on piano but not totally. I met Ed Bazell at Miller Piano. Come to think of it, I met Ed at my CD release party for my first CD that I put out called "Follow Your Heart." That was an event that Sherry was kind enough to sponsor for me at Miller Piano to be able to have my release party there. I had a nice sized crowd and I got to play a few of my tunes from the upcoming record, and I played a few new ones. We had a great time. Ed and I actually started hanging out and decided to form a drone company because we're both into flying drones. So, we joined forces and we started a company called "Fly by Day." Jason Skipper 6:05 Oh wow! Very cool! Eric Bikales 6:08 We still have a little Facebook page up and some of our work. That continued for a couple of years until the laws changed regarding commercial drone flying. Of course, now, it requires a pilot's license of sorts, and things kind of came unglued at that point. But, we still do it and we still have our drones. So in fact, I use the drone now for taking photos from my records and my latest record, which is called "Fire in the Clouds." That piece, "Fire in the Clouds" is written for a scene that I took a photo of which was a beautiful sunset right here in Tennessee. I guess I had it up there at almost as high as you could get it about 380 feet or so. I got a really gorgeous shot and that wound up being the cover of the new CD. To continue about Miller, they sponsor their "Writers Night" I think those are the first Thursday of every month. They sponsor "The River of Calm," which is the third Thursday of every month. Then, they have various other things like CD release parties, and of course, they have teachers on-site there who give lessons. Sherry also gives a class lesson on piano. It's a busy place you know, they've always got stuff going on there. Jason Skipper 7:29 Always, always. Well for our listeners, follow Miller Piano Specialists Facebook page, because we're always sharing when these events are. You can see it on our website, Millerps.com, as well. I know that these are always going out live from the Miller Piano Facebook page, and also The River of Calm Facebook page, I believe. Always come out, too. It's quite an experience, as Eric said. Eric, let's get to know you a little bit more, just about you, where you're from. So let me just ask you that, where are you from? Eric Bikales 7:58 I'm a Kansas City guy. Jason Skipper 8:00 Kansas City! Eric Bikales 8:01 Yeah! Kansas City, Kansas. My family was all musical, everybody in the family played instruments. There were four kids in my family, two boys, and two girls. We all started on the piano, and if we chose to, we could take a second instrument after a couple of years. I chose flute, I really chose drums, but my folks said, "No!" Then I said okay well then, saxophone and they said no again. And then they suggested, "How about flute" and I went, "Okay." I mean, my folks were totally classically oriented. What we listened to at home was classical music or show tune. So that was the era in which my folks grew up in. To them, The Beatles would have been kind of like new crazy music that you know, they just don't listen to. Which seems so funny to us, because The Beatles are so accepted at this point. But back then, it was a new thing. So I didn't get into listening to pop music until I got into junior high school or middle school, as they call it now. That's, that's when I got turned on to pop music and jazz in particular. Once I heard a couple of jazz artists that really spoke to me, I was off and running. I just, I love this stuff. I mean, I heard Dave Brubeck. His song "Take Five" was brand new, I think was released in the late 50s or maybe early 60s. I can't remember. But, it was a cool, cool thing. That record "Time Out" just captivated me. Then when I heard Ramsey Lewis come out with "In Crowd," that was it. I had to learn how to play that note for note and so I did! I just learned the whole thing, see by then, I had already had several years of classical lessons and so I had some fingers at that point. I just had to try to copy what Ramsey was doing. I didn't know what I was doing, I'm sure I ruined a couple of record albums, putting the needle back and forth, making sure I had everything exactly the way he did it. Then I did the same thing with Herbie Mann on a flute because the first time I heard Herbie Mann live at the Village Gate, which only had three songs on it which were "Summertime," "Comin' Home Baby" and something else. It absolutely captivated me and it gave me a direction besides classical. Although I love classical, I was at the age where I was really interested in integrating into the music of my generation, and music that my peers were listening to. I know that when I performed classical music, in school and talent shows and stuff like that, people were receptive to it, and I think they were more impressed than the present. Really, I think that classical music was always something that some people listen to and other people never really bothered with. I love it to this day, I still have a classical repertoire that I play on the piano and a little bit of flute. I try to keep those things up as best I can. The problem these days is that there's so much music that you collect throughout your life, that it's just really hard to keep it all going at once. Jason Skipper 11:24 Right! Well, let me ask you this. I understand you lived in Los Angeles for a while, and you've done quite a bit of commercial music. I know you've moved around, played with Neil Sedaka, I believe 37 years. How did you get into all of that? Eric Bikales 11:37 Well, I guess it all started in college. Just briefly what happened was that I discovered when I went to the University of Kansas that contrary to my entire belief system, I wasn't going to be a doctor. I thought I was going to go to medical school like my dad. I just figured that was what I was going to do because it seemed like a really good thing to do. Of course, that's pretty naive. So when it really gets down to brass tacks, you find out pretty quickly if you've got what it takes to be in that world. The magic wasn't there for me, I wasn't really actively taking physics and chemistry and biology when I got to college. I was in the liberal arts program, and I realized that I'm not going to be a doctor. Then I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wound up deciding that I should do what I do best, and that's music. So it had nothing to do with making a living or anything else. I didn't really consider anything except, "What do I do the best? What do I love doing? What do I want to go into?" It's just so naive, but that's where I was. So I said, "Follow your heart." Yeah, I just decided to do that and I got into the Music School at the University of Kansas. I did that for two years until I realized that it was kind of a dead-end for me because the school didn't even recognize jazz or pop music as a legitimate art form. They really only did classical and they went right from classical into all this postmodern stuff that I didn't really like all that much. I didn't really look like serial music and 12 tones and all the really weird stuff just didn't appeal to me at all and I didn't see the purpose of it. So after two years of music school, I quit and I joined a band. The band became really popular in a regional way. It's called Sanctuary, and that attracted the attention of a producer in Los Angeles named Mike Post. Mike had a couple of hit tunes, one with classical gas, Mason Williams, and he had a hit with Kenny Rogers in the first edition called, "To See What Condition My Condition Was In." So everybody knew who Mike Post was, and he was interested in producing my own song "Sanctuary." He and I became really good friends, and we did a recording session together with him. At that session, he pulled me aside and said, "You know, you should really consider coming out to LA and being a studio musician." I said, "Yeah, I definitely want to do that. And what is a studio musician by the way? Jason Skipper 14:29 Right! Eric Bikales 14:29 He said, "You know, you could play people's records for a living!" I said, "I could make a living from that?" And he said, "Sure, you could get paid union scale for playing with different people. You just have to know how to play in all styles. Your time has to be good. You have to play in tune, you have to be able to read a little bit. Look, why don't you just work on all those skills for a year or two, save your money, move out to LA and I'll help you!" I said, "Man, that's an incredible offer. I would love to do that." It opened up a whole world to me that I could go into. I just had never thought about moving to California or making a living in music or anything else. I was just kind of floating with what was going on. So I took him at his word, and I wood-shed for two solid years, and I practiced between five and eight hours a day, took lessons, and I really worked hard. I saved my money, and I moved out to LA. Sure enough, he made good on his word only he had also, in the meantime, become a really hot TV composer. When I saw what he was doing, he was splitting focus between producing records and writing music for TV. He had shows like Rockford Files, The A-Team and Black Sheep Squadron and those were all hit shows. He said, "Eric, you really need to follow me into this, you'd be perfect for this." Off show, you had to write for a picture. So he sat down with me and taught me how to write music for TV. However, I didn't have any training as an orchestrator or an arranger, and he was using like a 37 piece orchestra. So I had to take lessons on the fly from a guy in Hollywood. He took one of the pieces that I wrote, and he scored it for A-Team. He had me come to the session, and I got to hear my music played on the air. Then he sat down, showed me how to do it, and he showed me how it all worked. He gave me an opportunity to write some music for A-Team and then for a show called Hunter. Later on, there was NYPD Blue, Hill Street, and LA Law, White Shadow, just a whole bunch of shows. Ten one of the guys that he was working with, I started working with that person. His name's Danny Lux, and he had that he had the work on like Party of Five, Ally McBeal, My Name Is Earl, Sliders, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scrubs, Good Wife. It just goes on. Jason Skipper 17:12 That had been amazing the first time that you heard your music being played live on these shows. Eric Bikales 17:19 Yeah, it really was. It was an incredible experience for me. As exciting as it was even then I didn't really get how cool it was until years later when I could gain some perspective on it and realize how fortunate I was to have come across Mike Post and become one of his protegees, have him show me the ropes as he did. He's amazing. I mean, this guy was just so talented musically, and so good at business, so sharp and so good at thinking on his feet. He was just like a perfect role model and he was hot at that point. He was the number one TV composer. He kind of was to TV what Hans Zimmer became in the movie industry, later on. In looking at everything, for me, it's been a game of trying to be the absolute best you can be at all times and never stopping with practicing and learning and being a student, just absorbing everything you can. But then the other half of the equation is accessibility, and we just all need to have access to something that can propel us in the right direction with the right people at the right time. My guy was Mike Post at that time, and I was just so fortunate. During that time, I had a lot of opportunities to audition for different people and play in different recording situations and road situations that work with The Pointer Sisters, [Inaudible], Chere, Bette Midler, a whole bunch of different artists. I wound up auditioning for Niels Sedaka one point, and I had played recording sessions with everybody in his band, and so when they decided to have a second keyboard player, I got the call. I didn't get the job, but I just had to audition along with all the other usual suspects. I would see the same piano players that all the auditions, it's all the same guys. They're all really good, sometimes you get it sometimes, they get it. You take turns and it was really fun. I happened to get the audition for Neil, so I joined his band in 1983. I have been doing it ever since and I just never thought I could possibly last that long. Yet it has he just keeps going and he keeps using more or less the same guys. It's changed a little bit. We have been all over the world, we've played so many different places everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Billy Bob's in Texas. The best place everywhere and I've been in so many different countries Jason Skipper 20:03 Really? Eric Bikales 20:06 Oh, it's been an incredible experience. It's not all smooth sailing, but it's provided me with so much travel and experience that I never would have gotten any other way. You know, Jason, it's really a question of being ready for those opportunities when they come around. Sometimes you are and sometimes you aren't, it's not a matter of luck, It's a matter of good fortune. There were auditions that I went out for that I did not get. I thought, "Gosh, I mean, I thought I played pretty well. "And yet, there are reasons, they're there sometimes things beyond your control, or maybe somebody came in and played a lot better. One thing I did learn in LA very quickly is that there are 10 people that probably live on the block that can play circles around you, and it's just amazing. You just don't want to pin all your hopes and dreams and your ego on the fact that other people can't outplay you, because you won't be able to deal with it psychologically if you've got that kind of a personality. You really have to let that go and figure out there are people that can play better than you all over the place. You know you find your own little niche. You have your own way of doing things. Everybody is special in their own way. You know, they have their way of writing songs, their way of playing their style, and you can find your place. Jason Skipper 21:44 That is a great life motto. It doesn't matter what niche you're in, it doesn't matter what you do. There's always someone that can run circles around you. So I love that! Eric Bikales 21:56 I'm constantly amazed, and especially with it with YouTube now and all the phenomena's that you see on YouTube. Little kids that are six years old that can play rock [Inaudible.] It never ceases to amaze me, but I don't I really don't think about it too much. It's one of those things that there's always somebody that can outdo you at something. It's really not the point of it. Jason Skipper 22:23 Right. You mentioned you have a new album out, of course, with the drone, you were able to take the footage of that, but I'd like to hear more about the album. Exactly, what did it take to make that? How long have you been working on it? Eric Bikales 22:35 I'm going to start with the album for that, which was my first release in quite a long time. I actually had a little record deal toward the end of my stay in Los Angeles. I released four CDs as a new age electronic artist. I was on a label called "Mood Tape". I guess the best-known record that I did of the four was called "Tranquility." There's still stuff on the radio that they play from some of those four albums. At that point in time, the easiest way and the most inexpensive way to record was to do it all electronically and digitally. That's what I did because I've always enjoyed synthesizers and electronics. Then the styles when Windham Hill came along, the style started shifting more toward acoustic music. That really left me out in the cold because I was an electronic guy, with that deal. It wasn't that I couldn't play acoustic piano, that's my main instrument. It's just that's not what I was known for. So there was some period of inactivity there and then I didn't pick back up on being a solo artist until I got to Tennessee. Then I decided I wanted to do something to take the place of the TD music that I'm really not doing anymore because most of that's done out in LA or at least was then. So I started working toward making a solo CD and I wanted to make it all piano because I wanted to show people that I can play the piano and that I love acoustic music as much as electronic. So I released an album called "Follow Your Heart." It did moderately well and got a lot of radio play all over the world. My follow up album is the one that you're speaking of, and it's called "Fire in the Clouds." The difference between these two records is mainly that "Fire in the Clouds" was recorded completely at home in my own studio. I've got this great studio, I've had a studio for as long as I've been in the music business and it's always changed. It's morphed from one thing into another because technology changes so much. At this point, It's a pretty efficient little studio. I decided I'm going to try to do the whole thing at home. That's what I did. This record now is just being released as we speak. It's not up on Spotify yet, but it will be within the week. You can find it on any of the usual vendors online from Apple Music, iTunes, it'll be streaming on Spotify, Pandora, basically everywhere. I have a promotion company that was helping me get it out there called "Higher Level Media," and they're just great. So they're helping me with the effort, and I'm getting a lot of help from The River of Calm and from Sherry down at Miller. I'm just hoping that the follow-up record does better than the first record. I mean, that's sort of the idea, Jason Skipper 25:51 Right, of course! Eric Bikales 25:54 What's really changed that is hard to completely get my mind around is the fact that CDs are going away. I find fewer and fewer people who are buying CDs. So it's really hard for me to let go of, I'm at the age where I grew up with records, and then that that gave way to CDs. I didn't mind that so much. CDs to me sound better than records even though records are kind of a kick down for a lot of younger people, it's just it's like a nostalgic thing. You know, it's vintage and all that. But, the fact that CDs could be seeing their last days is a difficult thing to transition for me to make. Personally, I really like the idea of having physical media that you can hold in your hands and say, "This is my record, you know, this is my music." I find that what we're going to is a world where you can say, "Yes, I'm a composer. Here's my music because you can't hold it in your hand because now it's just a file. Jason Skipper 27:00 Right, It's just a file. Eric Bikales 27:02 This may be a weird thing for some people to understand but for those of us musicians who were old enough to have been through the era of vinyl, it's kind of sad to see it all going away. It's only going to be streaming at least for now. We never know what the future holds. Jason Skipper 27:23 It has changed so much the music industry I know that I didn't grow up with records, but I grew up with cassette tapes, and then, of course, CDs and everything along with that. It has changed so much over the years. We don't have a CD player in our house. Of course, I do in my truck, but I don't at my house. And I think that's the norm anymore. Everyone uses digital now. Eric Bikales 27:45 You can't fight the trend, right? I mean, you can't. You have to go with where everybody is going if you want to be a part of it. Honestly, for me, Jason, it's been a struggle to let go of the old school music business and embrace the new music business. Suffice it to say, that where I am in my career right now, I mean forget about records and forget about CDs and all that you really need to get your stuff out there on the streaming stations so that people can hear you because that's how music is being listened to. We're making this transition and while CDs are not completely dead yet, they're just like gasping for breath. So you still have to make a CD sometimes. I find that at some radio station if you want them to play your music, you have to submit it on a CD. Jason Skipper 28:41 Oh, is that right? Eric Bikales 28:42 Yeah, it is! That's one good reason to go ahead and at least make a short run on CDs. I like having the physical thing that I can hold in my hand and I like it when I go play for a gig and I want to sell my music at the gig, that I can sell a CD. So I'm still making CDs. But I think by the time I do another record, ooh, I don't know. That may be the end of us. Jason Skipper 29:13 Wow, yeah. It's hard to let go but it very well maybe because it has changed so much. Well, one more follow up question here. So we don't get too long. You mentioned that you had put together some footage from your drone and put it with music. Do you post that anywhere? Is there a way to see that footage? Eric Bikales 29:32 Well, what footage we've actually had time to do, my wife Khai has put together for me, she's really getting into the video editing portion of this. You are asking where you can find it. Well, right now it's only on my Facebook, but I intend to put that up on YouTube and I intend to see if I can develop a YouTube channel. It's just another way of adapting to what there is to do at this point in time. I still have a lot of music that I want to write, I have lots and lots of ideas. I have a nice studio and I'm at a time in my life where I'm really kind of foregoing a lot of the activities that I used to be involved with, because I'm sort of tired of doing those and I want to focus more attention on writing and getting my music out there. So I want to build a following and I want to build a fan base that enjoys my music and is willing to buy it or download it or at least listen to it stream. Which, again, that's the main thing I guess. I'm in their pitch and you know, I haven't turned in the towel a doubt If I'll ever do that. Jason Skipper 30:38 Well, I think that's the way it has to be done today. That would be great if you could get something up on YouTube. Now, for everyone who is looking for on Facebook, we can find you on I believe it's facebook.com/ebikales, correct? Eric Bikales 30:55 That's right, yes. The other thing too is that I've gotten to enjoy teaching, which is something I never did in my earlier years. I work for the Academy of Art in San Francisco as an instructor, and I've written several courses for them, and I teach them. So I have college students and graduate students from all over the world that are enrolled in the Academy of Art based in San Francisco. I teach online, I teach harmony and theory, notation, ear training, arranging and film scoring. I do that full time I've been doing that for about, over five years, maybe six years, I really enjoy it. So being an educator is another thing that is part of my life. It's a stabilizing factor. I enjoy helping people to understand what music is important and what's not and what you really ought to do to equip yourself to do your art. Jason Skipper 31:49 All right. Do you still do personal lessons as well? Eric Bikales 31:52 I do, I do. I still have piano students and love to teach a piano and I've given lessons on B3. I have one of those over here. I've taught people in film scoring, how to write for a picture. Yes, I can do it all privately. So if you're in the Tennessee area, I'm happy to oblige. Jason Skipper 32:11 All right, well, how can people get ahold of you? Eric Bikales 32:13 The best way is to go to my website, which is undergoing a facelift right now. But It is www.Ericbikales.com. That website is being redone as we speak. Also there's the Facebook site that you mentioned already is facebook.com/ebikales. By all means, you can friend me on Facebook and my email address is easy to find on both of those sites, so you can write me a personal email if you wish to do that. I am selling the second CD and the first one, and copies of it if you have a CD player! Jason Skipper 32:51 Well, I'm gonna buy it off of Apple Music, but I'm really looking forward to that as soon as it comes out there. I was looking forward to earlier. Eric Bikales 32:57 Well, great. It's been a pleasure, Jason, I am so happy to be associated with Miller Piano. You know, they sell the best pianos in the world. Even when I go out of town with Neil Sedaka, and play concerts with him, we always have a grand piano for him. Then I play it for part of the evening. 90% of the time, that's a Yamaha. They just make the most consistent pianos. Jason Skipper 33:22 They really do. Well, that is amazing. I just love hearing all your stories, Eric, I imagine we could probably talk for another two hours. You can probably share maybe more, you know, of just all the things you've been through. This has just been a great, great time to hear your stories. This has been great, Eric, I really appreciate it. One last question. As a personal note here, you said you're from Kansas City. Are you a Chief's fan? Eric Bikales 33:47 Oh, you betcha. I am so proud of the chiefs. The Super Bowl, It was an amazing thing. Yeah, I was jumping up and down. Jason Skipper 33:56 I bet, I bet. We're a little sad here that Tennessee didn't make it, that the Titans didn't make it this year, but we were written for the Chiefs when they made it through. At least I was and everyone I know was, as well. So, alright Eric. Well, thank you. Eric Bikales 34:11 Thanks, Jason. It's been really fun talking to you. I appreciate the opportunity of coming to your podcast and getting to talk to everybody. I'm so happy and proud to be associated with Miller Piano, and I'm going to be a supporter from now until the end! Jason Skipper 34:28 Well, thank you, Eric, so much for being a part of Miller Piano and everything that we're doing and we appreciate that. This has been great. This was Eric Bikales, a pianist, flutist, composer, drone flyer, just a great guy, get his music! As always on this podcast, you can find show notes and a transcript of this episode right on our website at Millerps.com, as well as you can also find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play podcasts and Spotify. Look us up on your favorite podcast listening platform. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. It really does help us, we'd really appreciate it. Once again, I'm your host Jason Skipper, and we'll see you next time!
Are you buying a used piano? Give this Miller Piano Podcast episode a listen. In this episode, host Jason Skipper talks to Sherry Carlisle Smith, the General Sales Manager of Miller Piano Specialists, an authorized dealer of Yamaha Pianos in Nashville, Tennessee. Sherry discusses buying used pianos and other topics including: Catching up With Sherry (Click Here for Episode 1 and Episode 2) Great Deals at Miller Piano Specialists for Christmas and New Year's How Sherry Started With Miller Piano Specialists Miller Piano Specialist Youtube Channel Why People Tend to Search More for Used Pianos Than For New Pianos How to Buy a Used Piano the Right Way Why Buy a Used Piano From a Dealer? Why Buy Used Pianos Local? Why Miller Names Theirs Used Pianos With Actual Names? Transcript Jason Skipper 0:13 Welcome to the Miller Piano Podcast. I'm your host Jason Skipper. And in this episode, we have Sherry Carlisle Smith back with us to talk about the ins and outs of how to buy a used piano. Sherry is the General Sales Manager at Miller Pianos Specialists in Cool Springs. Sherry, welcome back to the podcast. Sherry Carlisle Smith 0:33 Oh, it's so good to be back. Hello. How are you doing? Jason Skipper 0:36 I'm doing great. It's good to have you here, Sherry. I know you're busy. I know everyone's busy with the end of the year here but we wanted to get you back on the podcast to talk about everything that's going on there at Miller Piano Specialists and I appreciate you taking the time. Sherry Carlisle Smith 0:51 Well, I'll tell you what, it has been very busy between Christmas and spreading the Christmas musical love and end-of-the-year closeout. It's been one chaotic fun place. Jason Skipper 1:04 I bet! You're gonna have to tell us about some of those things here while we're talking. But before we get into everything, I know that for those who are listening, if you don't know Sherry, well, you need to go back and listen to episodes one and two of the podcast, Sherry... Sherry Carlisle Smith 1:20 Maybe they don't! Ha! Jason Skipper 1:21 Maybe they - yeah, exactly! But if you don't know Sherry, come and listen to episodes one and two of the podcast and, you'll get to know her a lot better. If I remember right, going back, you were born in Kentucky, you grew up in Indiana. You moved to Nashville in your 20s after graduating from college, you've been in the music business pretty well, ever since. You've toured with several different groups and musicians, including Johnny Paycheck. The Jordanaires, is that right? Sherry Carlisle Smith 1:50 Yes, yes. And then my dad, we actually started recording in Nashville when I was 14. We did gospel and I did like, my first single when I was 17, here in Nashville. So, I've been back and forth with Nashville for a long time. Jason Skipper 2:05 Yes, I can tell! And how long have you been, I can't remember, how long have you been here at Miller? Sherry Carlisle Smith 2:13 I started at Miller in 2010. And I was so blessed to find Ross and Sylvia and just a wonderful place and environment to work and so proud that we've got a great staff. And my daughter's in here working with us, too. So it's a family thing. Jason Skipper 2:30 It is a family thing. Ross and Sylvia are amazing. I hope to get them on the podcast very very soon. Wow, you're going on 10 years now. Sherry Carlisle Smith 2:39 Yes. Jason Skipper 2:40 10 years. 2010. That's what you said, right? Sherry Carlisle Smith 2:43 2010. Jason Skipper 2:44 Wow. We're almost in 2020, so... Sherry Carlisle Smith 2:47 Yeah, so September will be my 10th anniversary. We'll have to have a party, invite everybody. Jason Skipper 2:52 Well, that sounds good. I want to be there. I hope I get an invitation! Ha! That sounds awesome. Well, anything new going on other than, you know, you shared quite a bit there at what's going on in Miller. One thing I wanted to ask before we get into the topic of how to buy a used piano is, you know, we're coming up on Christmas, New Year's. Are there any great deals going on right now for now? Maybe after New Year's? Sherry Carlisle Smith 3:19 Right now Yamaha's doing a red-letter envelope that gives you some options and financing. And at the end of the year, it's always a great time to buy because we are trying to close out to get our new stuff being delivered in coming up in January. So we have a lot of great specials on new pianos. And Yamaha, like I said, has joined in and has done some special financing for everyone through the holidays. That will really benefit them. And we are really loaded with a lot of nice trade-ins or used pianos right now. Jason Skipper 3:52 Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, that's what we wanted to talk about. And let's get into that talking about used pianos a little bit. I do a lot of the online work for Miller and... Sherry Carlisle Smith 4:03 You're doing a great job. Jason Skipper 4:04 Well, I appreciate that, thank you. But part of the work that I do is research. I do a lot of online research trying to figure out what people really want or what they're searching for. And you know, something that really interests me, you know at Miller we have some of the most the best the most technologically advanced pianos in the world. From the Disklavier or the Clavinova, the AvantGrand the acoustics and digital upright grand pianos - we've got it all. But something interesting that pops up in my research over and over is that so many more people are searching for used pianos. The new ones, for example, last month, 10 times more people in the United States search for the keyword "used piano" over the keyword "new piano". Why do you think that is? Sherry Carlisle Smith 4:55 I think, you know, it's bargain shoppers, and they're wanting to get in the market and buy a piano. And a lot of times people get sticker shock. Yeah, when they go into a piano store and they see a sticker price of a piano before asking the quality, it's just like buying anything else - clothes, shoes, cars, you know, you go around you look at the sticker prices first, right? And so I think shopping in the US market, just like if you were buying a car, you look for the US market and then it kind of filters you up to where, okay, if this is used, I kind of know what to expect for a new piano. So it's, I think, it's just a filter of people getting into the market and that's the first place people look basically for anything. Jason Skipper 5:41 Okay, well, that definitely makes sense. Let me ask you this. When someone contacts you, maybe they call or they send an internet form, or maybe they contact you through Facebook or they walk in, you know, walk into the store, and they're looking for used piano do they usually have a clear idea of what they're looking for? Or is it the case that usually someone looking for a used piano and says, "I'm interested in buying a piano, but I don't think my budget gives for a new one? Can you help me?" Can you walk me through the process of working with a customer evaluating their needs, and helping them find that perfect piano for them? Sherry Carlisle Smith 6:21 Yes. And that's about 50/50. You have 50% probably that walk-in that they do have a certain model or they've been online, or they think they know what they want. And then you have 50% that really are needing education. And what is the used piano? What's a new piano? What's a digital, what's a hybrid? So a big part of our job here, even if you're looking for us is it's let's sit down and talk. But are you going to use the piano for are there children involved? And do you know how and what to look for in a used piano? Let me show you some examples of used pianos. Let me show you some examples of new pianos and your other options which may be digital or hybrid. So really finding out what the customers' needs are, makes it a lot easier for us to find the right piano. And if we don't have it, at least we know what to look for. Because used pianos are turnover daily. So I may not have what you need today, but tomorrow, I may have the exact piano. Jason Skipper 7:26 Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Well, let me ask you this. Let's say I'm on the Internet, and I've decided with my family, we need to buy a piano, okay, but we don't have a huge budget. I'm searching on the Internet. And I write in, for example, in Google, I write used pianos near me. And I find a plethora of listings on eBay and Craigslist and maybe Facebook marketplace and I see used pianos from online businesses from other parts of the United States. I assume that they could ship them to me or I also see, you know, local businesses such as Miller Piano Specialists, you know, and the offerings that we have for used pianos. Where do I start? You know, I'm a new customer, I don't know much, but I'm looking for something. Where do I start? What do I need to know before buying a used piano? Sherry Carlisle Smith 8:19 Well, first of all, you want to know the history of that piano, because there are some things that just like we have a lifespan and acoustic pianos lifespan is approximately 50 years, okay? Okay, now, it could last a little longer, a little less, depending on the care just like us going getting a checkup at the doctor, right? Tuning - what people do not understand, and this once again goes back to education. A piano needs to be tuned twice a year in a home in a church, the atmosphere, depending on if they take their heat up and down. It could be four times a year, right? There are tons of pressure points that pull against that plate with those strings. And if it is not cared for properly, it will pull those tuning pins out that are threaded. And then they have a tuning block issue on the piano. So then we're looking at, it's almost like pulling the engine to get to the alternator. We're looking at more money to fix it than what we put into the piano. So the outside is the least of our worries. We can always have the outside, prettied up. We look more at the inside and the workings of the piano and how much life is left on it for that next person. Jason Skipper 9:38 Gotcha. Okay, so I'm assuming, I mean just, if I were, for example, you find something online, maybe in another state and I can't travel to get it I want them to ship it to me. I don't know how many do that but I'm assuming that Sherry Carlisle Smith 9:55 Oh, they do. Jason Skipper 9:55 They do. You know, that doesn't sound like a good idea. Sherry Carlisle Smith 10:00 Not it's not, it's just like my daughter is a ballet dancer. And it doesn't matter the brand of shoe or every time she goes to get a new pair of ballet shoes. She has to try them on to have to be fitted. A piano is a personal experience. It's a sound. It's just like I tell people listen to this and touch it. So when they touch it, they get a feel, a sense. When they stand back and they listen to it, they're going to get a sound color. Some people say that's too mellow, that's too vibrant for me. You know, so then there's a sound color. And it's not a right or wrong answer. It just helps me to understand what they're looking for but buying online and not having a technician locally that can go through the piano or a dealer like we are that. We've gone through the piano and we know what the inside is like and you not being able to lay your hands on it and touch it. That's the experience of buying a piano just like test driving a car. Jason Skipper 11:07 Right. Okay. So, for example, I find something on Craigslist or, you know, Facebook marketplace from an individual that's selling their piano from their home. But how would I go about evaluating a piano if it's been taken care of how do you know that? Sherry Carlisle Smith 11:22 Well, that's where people, we have people all the time that say, Oh, we haven't had it tuned in 20 years, it sounds just like it did. There's no way it can sound just like it did. It may be totally out of tune with itself, but there's no way it can be in tune. And will it hold pitch? Will it hold a tune? So you really need for a technician to look through it which is going to cost you money to go out and do that. You need to look for the serial and the model number. And if a person will not give you that because that's trackable on the internet, or we can do it for you here. Because there are some pianos that are what's called gray market that are not even destined for the US market. And that's something you really want to stay away from. Jason Skipper 12:09 Gotcha. Okay. Well, that's interesting. Well, let me ask you this. What would be a reason if someone's looking for a used piano and why buy from a dealer? Why buy from you? Sherry Carlisle Smith 12:21 Well, I hope first of all their experience is good and we find what they need. And they do know buying through us that they have someone they can call they can talk to, they can come back to if they have a problem. One of our specialists is there for you 24/7. The other thing is buying from us you get a value trading. So let's say you buy a used piano for $2,000. But your son or daughter does really well and you want to buy him that grand in 10 years, or five years or next year. Then we give you full value trade up. That's to go up to something larger and you know that the quality like I said, is going to be there and our use panels because if it's not, it will not be on our floor. Jason Skipper 13:06 I gotcha. Okay, well, what do you do? You know, before we talk about what you have there in stock, do you guys accept every panel that comes through the door? Sherry Carlisle Smith 13:16 Absolutely not. Jason Skipper 13:18 Okay, what do you do? Sherry Carlisle Smith 13:21 I've been out on three different calls this week looking at people that have not had success in selling on these different sites that you were talking about. And so I went out and I looked and appraise the piano and realistically gave them a figure. Yes, you can always if the pianos in good shape, sell it for a little bit more because we have to go into it. Make sure it's tuned up, make sure it's regulated, make sure it's got a warranty. We have to ship it to the next person. We have to pick it up. So we actually look at the pianos before they're brought in. So it's not like, oh yeah you got that piano in a great teacher. And then we get there and half the pedals are gone. Jason Skipper 14:07 I hear you on that one. So you're very selective in choosing what you bring in because you want to back that as well. Sherry Carlisle Smith 14:14 We want to back it in our name is on it. So that is very important to Miller Piano Specialists, to the family here, and to the specialists that work here. Jason Skipper 14:23 Of course, right. Okay, so what do we have right now at the store? I let me just say this, I love it. You know, we look online, you can see the listing of used pianos we have they're also new. But I look online and I see all of these pianos that we have, for example, you go to the used pianos page, I see him and they all have names. You know, for example, we have Becky, a Pearl River baby grand, I believe, And Ronnie Roland digital. We have a Gary, a Gulbransem, a Branson Grand Piano, Timothy a Kawai digital piano, and Rachel. I love that. Sherry Carlisle Smith 15:02 Well, Timothy's gone, but okay. Jason Skipper 15:05 That's gone? Oh, no. Okay, well, that's great, but... Sherry Carlisle Smith 15:09 My daughter, Dakota, one of the specialists that works here, said, Mom, you know, we put the stories of the pianos and where they came from and the background of the piano who owned the piano where they want owner. She said we get so personal let's, let's name them. Let's give them a name with the personality. And I've had people that come in that actually have bought the piano because they love the name. Yeah. And then one lady said, it's Barry. This is Barry and I'm not changing the name. This is Barry. Barry Baldwin. So it just gives more personality to the background behind the piano. Jason Skipper 15:46 Right. Well, what do we have right now in stock? Sherry Carlisle Smith 15:49 We have got several. We've got, I believe, eight grands that had been traded in lately that are very nice, that are in the somewhere between five-foot, six-foot range. And we have got several digital's in right now. And we have got, I would say, six or seven vertical uprights, including, I believe we have a, you one, you know, maybe I use three coming in, which is very rare with waiting lists for a lot of these pianos. Jason Skipper 16:22 Right. So can a person find all of these online or are there more in store? Sherry Carlisle Smith 16:29 They can. They can find them online, you know, through - and there's a really good thing on our YouTube and I believe it's on our website too now but we actually went in the studio and did a little video on it's like six or seven points of how to purchase a used piano and what to look for in a used piano. So there's a lot of questions that people ask and this these are really good videos we shot at a local studio over here and based on Devonshire and we're very helpful in getting that done. And it really helps you walk through some of the questions and some of the answers to what we've been talking about. Jason Skipper 17:08 Right. Okay, well, we're definitely in the show notes of this episode, we're going to link to all of those or embed them on the page. So we'll definitely put that so anyone listening, check out the website, Miller PS.com, and you'll be able to see all these videos that Sherry's referring to. So I believe people can always ask for a used or a new piano inventory list as well, right? Sherry Carlisle Smith 17:32 They can, yes, they can go out and fill web form on the page right there. And then one of our specialists will get back with you to send you information. We like to do a call first. If you could please put the number because it helps us so we're not sending you just a glob of staff. Right. It's kind of like walking into one of these department stores and they have so much stuff from floor to ceiling. And I have actually left my basket and all the floor. And they're full because I went in there for baby powder. And I came out with all this stuff. And I'm like, Oh, no, no, no, that's not working for. So if we know a little bit more about what you're looking for, and we made that phone call, then we know more what to send that might be special just for you. Jason Skipper 18:19 So it's all about that personal contact with the customer? Just allowing the customer? Sherry Carlisle Smith 18:24 And I can tell you it is and, you know, we all, I think at the Christmas season we have a joyous time shopping and then we have some of his fat grumble about shopping and the crowds and everything else. Okay. It has been so crazy busy. Like I went shopping for an hour and a half, two hours today. And it was you know, everybody goes shop online. I want the experience, whether it's good or bad. I want the experience and of hearing the muzak and seeing people bustling around and people talking about buying what, and then me feeling it and touching it. I wouldn't have bought a sweater today if I hadn't touched it because I went I don't like that. And then I touched it and went, Oh, I gotta have it because one of my senses clicked in and it was like, this is perfect. Jason Skipper 19:14 Right. Sherry Carlisle Smith 19:16 So, it is the experience. Jason Skipper 19:18 It really is understanding what you need, what you're looking for. And when you're buying that piano, just like you mentioned, being able to see it in person. It's like buying a vehicle, even more, I would think, just because it becomes part of the inside of your house for not just you know, 5, 7, 8 years. I mean, we're talking many years to come. It's part of your family, It becomes part of your history, right? Sherry Carlisle Smith 19:43 It is and I travel a lot and I live in my car. So when I went to get a car, and I knew what I was kind of looking for - something with four wheels, you know, four doors - Ruby, that kind of thing, you know? But I literally wanted to sit in it. And that gentleman was so good. And here are three vehicles I like to use sit in on drive them and try them and the experience because I live in my car as much as I do as my house. And a piano is something that is used every day for a long, long, long time. So you want to make the experience of buying it. Good. Jason Skipper 20:24 I hear you. Well, that is perfect. And I think that really explains it. So for our listeners out there, you know, I don't know if you're looking for something maybe you're part of the Miller Piano Specialists family. You've already purchased one but it's so important to be able to get to know it and I love this with the used pianos, putting a name on them. But whatever it is that experience coming in talking to you guys understanding if you're searching for that, I think that's the key. It really is. Make it more personal. Go out and touch him and look at him. I won't talk anymore, this is yours ha! Sherry Carlisle Smith 21:02 No, that's great. You're saying all the right things. And you know, please, by all means, call us, let us know how we can help you or fill out those forms and put the phone number on there. And if you know you've had that great experience with us, a testimonial, you know if you could give us a good review, because people do look at that, before they make that second move off I'm going to give them my information to find out what they have. They're going to look at the reviews and see who's happy and what experience they've had here at Miller. Jason Skipper 21:35 Right, right. Well go to Google, go to Facebook, look at our reviews. It's pretty amazing. I look at it and we have over 100 between the two and they're all five-star. They're amazing. I will say this. Yeah, you know, let me ask you this Sherry. Just to end up here, for the person listening. You know, they're trying to figure out what to do and searching for a piano. Do you have any last advice, something that I didn't ask, you know, a lot of times they say you don't know what you don't know? And maybe I don't know what to ask, you know, but... Sherry Carlisle Smith 22:08 Well, there's one big word: Education. Do not be afraid of asking a question. There is no such thing as a stupid question. And education is what we specialize in. So allow us to educate you on pianos and a piano that might be right for you. So education is the one word I would leave you with. Jason Skipper 22:32 You got it. All right. Well, Sherry, how can our listeners, of course, get in touch with you? I know you can go to the website, but how can they get in touch with you? Sherry Carlisle Smith 22:43 Okay, they can get in touch with us, of course, through the website. They can also call us at 615-771-0020. We're on all forms of social media, you can message us on Facebook. Please give us a call. I mean, that's the quickest easiest way to get through us. Jason Skipper 23:01 Right. And if you're doing some Christmas shopping in Cool Springs stop by the store. You're just right there. Sherry Carlisle Smith 23:06 650 Fraser, Dr. Franklin, Tennessee. We're located between Sperry's and Bassett Furniture. Jason Skipper 23:11 All right. All right. Well, thanks, Sherry. This has been great. This has been great. Everybody. This has been Sherry Carlisle Smith, the general sales manager at Miller Piano Specialists in Cool Springs in Tennessee. As always, you can find show notes and a transcript of this episode right on our website, www.millerps.com. As well as you can also find us on Apple podcast, Google Play Podcasts, and Spotify. Look us up on your favorite podcast, listening platform. And don't forget to rate review and subscribe. And also, as Sherry mentioned, go out and leave a review somewhere online. If you've been with us, you worked with Miller Piano Specialists, do that. In any case, once again, this is your host Jason Skipper, and we'll see you next time.
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