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Welcome to Week In Geek Wednesday! That's right, we've spun off our quick-hits segment of entertainment and interesting bits of internet debris into its own show! In this episode, we talk about a bunch of Star Wars Celebration news, the new Fantastic Four trailer, is Galactus a goodie, and a character from a forgotten Star Wars movie. FULL VIDEO EPISODES! That's right folks, you can see our bright smiling idiotic faces in full color on our YouTube channel. Full episodes available as well as clips. LINKS OF INTEREST: - New Film "Star Wars: Starfighter" - Cinemacon Fantastic Four Trailer reveals some new details about the movie - Is Galactus actually trying to save the universe and not just destroy Earth? - How a Solo character could've used another outing to cement itself and a small Kathleen Kennedy update ...AND ANOTHER THING: The Man They Call Tim suggests watching the season finale of WWE Legends & Future Greats on A&E Uncle Todd suggests listening to Muddy Waters' 1969 album “Fathers and Sons” featuring Otis Spann, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Donald “Duck” Dunn, and Sam Lay FOLLOW US ON THE SOCIAL MEDIAS: Facebook - http://facebook.com/freerangeidiocy Instagram - http://instagram.com/freerangeidiocy YouTube - http://youtube.com/@freerangeidiocy
Hola, gente. Semana turbulenta la que se ha vivido en la Wurlitzer. Pero al fin he llegado con el episodio semanal que hoy está dedicado a uno de los pioneros del blues rock, Paul Butterfield junto a su banda, que reunía a tres de las Bes mas importantes del blues de los 60, el propio Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield y Elvin Bishop. Nos centraremos en el segundo disco de la banda, East-West. En el segundo tramo os traigo algunas novedades y entre tantas, despediremos definitivamente a un músico y felicitaremos a otro coincidiendo con el principio y el final de la Wurli Por aquí sonarán: Joe Louis Walker - Brother, Go Ahead And Take Her Walker, Katz & Robson - I'm A Lonely Man The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Born In Chicago The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Thank You, Mr. Poobah The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Walking Blues The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Get Out Of My Life, Woman The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Work Song The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Two Trains Running The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - East-West Warren Haynes - Smooth Sailing Robert Jon & The Wreck - Better Of Me In Theory - Since I've Been Loving You James McMurtry - The Black Dog And The Wandering Boy Van Morrison - Cutting Corners Bob Seger - Long Twin Silver Line Gracias por escuchar con cariño y dejar tu corazón en el audio, aunque no lo parezca, esta chorradita es importante. Apoya este proyecto desde 1,49€ al mes. Tan solo tienes que pulsar el botón azul que tienes en la cabecera de este canal Y gracias infinitas, ya que tu aportación permite mejorar cada programa. Este programa, como siempre, está dedicado especialmente a nuestros patrocinadores: La Última Frontera Radio, Yago Llopis, Joao Sampaio, RLP, Juan Carlos Acero, Mechimariani, Iñaki Del Olmo, L Ibiricu Traba, Nachoigs, Alfonso Ladrón, Javier Carmona, Ana López, Gustavo, Carmen Neke, Manuel García y Michel. ¡Qué la música os acompañe!
Extended Podcast 38. Rick Derringer / Rock n Roll Hoochie Coo39. Aerosmith / Baby Please Don't Go40. Long John Baldry / I'm Ready - Baldry met Rod Stewart when Rod was busking a Muddy Waters song on the Streets of LondonAfter the Beatles - Trying Something New41. 1968 - Electric Mud (Rotary Connection) - - Muddy Waters w/Rotary Connection / Let's Spend the Night Together42. 1969 - Fathers & Sons - - Muddy Waters with Paul Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield, Donald 'Duck' Dunn (Booker T & the MGs), Sam Lay, Buddy Miles, Otis Spann/ Mean Disposition43. 1972 - The London Sessions- - Muddy Waters w/ Rory Gallagher, Richard Roman Grechko a/k/a Rick Grech (Traffic, Blind Faith), Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix), and more / Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man with I'm Gone? 44. 1975 - Woodstock - - Muddy Waters w/The Band / Mannish Boy / Mannish Boy (The Last Waltz) Electric Guitar & Amplification45. Charlie Christian / Rose Room 46. T Bone Walker / Stormy Monday Blues 47. BB King / The Thrill is Gone Development of a Song 48. (1950) Muddy Waters / Rollin' Tumblin' Blues49. (1928) Gus Cannon & the Jug Stompers / Minglewood Blues50. (1929( Hambone Willie Newburn / Rollin' & Tumblin' Blues [Sleepy John Estes] 51. (1929) Charlie Patton / Banty Rooster Blues 52. (1929) Sleepy John Estes with Yank Rachel / The Girl I Love, She's Got Long Black Wavy Hair 53. (1936) Robert Johnson (Chris Thomas King) / If I Had Possession over Judgement Day- Travlin' Riverside Blues 54. (1969) Led Zeppelin / The Girl I Love, She's Got Long Black Wavy Hair 55. (1969) Led Zeppelin / Travelin' Riverside Blues 56. (2006) Bob Dylan / Rollin' Tumblin' Development of a Song57. Robert Petway / Catfish Blues58. Muddy Waters / Rollin' Stone Blues59. The Rollin' Stones / Catfish Blues (Rollin' Stone Blues above)60. Jimi Hendrix / Catfish Blues
Tom Ellis joins me on episode 132 for another look into the life and career of the legendary Paul Butterfield. Butter gained access to the Chicago blues scene at a young age when his lawyer father carried out pro bono work for some of the musicians there. The black blues musicians took a paternal interest in Paul's musical development, none more so than Muddy Waters who knew Butter from around the age of sixteen. Butter later returned the favour after having made his own name. He gave something back to Muddy by recording the Fathers and Sons album with him in 1969, followed by a second album with Muddy, The Woodstock album in 1975.Tom then goes on to tell us about how Butter changed his sound during the middle part of his career with the release of the two Better Days albums in 1973, producing possibly the first Americana albums, and seeing Butter having developed into a more nuanced harmonica player.Links:Tom article on Substack platform: https://ellist.substack.com/p/down-by-the-riverArticle on the Super Cosmic Joy-Scout Jamboree concert (Father and Sons): https://bobsblog73.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/super-cosmic-joy-scout-jamboree-april-1969/Fathers and Sons album blog by David Hawkins: https://paulbutterfield.blogspot.com/2014/03/37-fathers-and-sons.htmlButter on the Woodstock album blog by David Hawkins: https://paulbutterfield.blogspot.com/2016/10/61-muddy-waters-woodstock-album.htmlVideos:Mannish Boy in Last Waltz concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGG-oBrmzbQButter on Midnight Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZhfIOuiPe4Bonnie Raitt live with Butter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOdeROUz2UPlaying Why Are People Like That on David Letterman show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvdTabtRN0Podcast website:https://www.harmonicahappyhour.comDonations:If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GBSpotify Playlist: Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQPodcast sponsors:This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS--------------------------------Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.comSupport the show
This week on Time Signatures with Jim Ervin, Erv heads past the halfway point in Season four, with legendary Bluesman and elder statesman, Elvin Bishop. Many will remember Elvin for his smash hit with Mickey Thomas on vocals in 1976, ‘Fooled Around And Fell In Love', but Bishop's bigger claim to fame was his work with the Chicago Blues scene in the 1960s and 70's. Elvin talks about meeting a young Paul Butterfield on some steps of an apartment building shortly after arriving in Chicago, his jam sessions with Muddy, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and others, and his advice to the next generation of the Blues. Don't miss this episode, and be sure to share it with your Blues friends!Website: https://www.elvinbishopmusic.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elvinbishop Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2G1yVp387GlUf9yvLk6V11 _________________________Facebook: Time SignaturesYouTube: Time SignaturesFacebook: Capital Area Blues SocietyWebsite: Capital Area Blues SocietyFriends of Time Signatures _______Website: University of Mississippi Libraries Blues ArchiveWebsite: Killer Blues Headstone ProjectWebsite: Blues Society Radio NetworkWebsite: Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation
Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Crooked Eyed Tommy on his new project with Tomislav GolubanIt's not very often that an old-school Croatian harmonica player hooks up with a West Coast guitarist. In fact, this collaboration is partially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. Tomislav Goluban, whose surname translates to Pigeon in English, has been inspired by harmonica masters Sonny Boy Williamson, Paul Butterfield, Kim Wilson, Gary Primich, Sonny Terry, and Joe Filisko. His twenty-year music career includes 15 studio albums. Tomislav began playing harp in 1997 and released his debut recording, “Pigeon's Flight,” in 2005. http://www.makingascene.org
Salty Dog's HAZE Podcast, January 2025 We are coming out of the HAZE from the seasons cheers tone hounds. So what better way than with a mess o fine toons to kick us into twenty twenty five. Cuts from Lothar Nabde Schack, Otis Namrell, Kuther Allison, Baker Smith Gamble, Steely Dan, McNaMarr Project, Paul Butterfield, Tony Jow White, Wilson Diesel, Richard Thompson, MOntio Amundson, Nick Charles, Teskey Brothers, William Crighton, Gary Clark Jnr, Junior Kimbrough, Charlie Parr, Jake Xerxes Fussell, John Gorka, Brett Mosley, Jeffery Foucault, Clayton Doley. ARTIST / TRACK / ALBUM ** Australia 1. Lothar Nande Schack / Get Right Church / Walk Right In 2. ** Otis Namrell Trio / Roadtrippin' Blues / Otis Namrell Trio 3. Luther Allison / Ragged And Dirty / Bad News Is Coming 4. ** The Baker Smith Gamble / The Ol' Bump N Grind / The Baker Smith Gamble 5. Steely Dan / Show Biz Kids / Countdown To Ecstasy 6. ** The McNaMarr Project / Driving Wheel / The Quasar Sessions 7. Paul Butterfield Blues Band / Just To Be With You / The Original Lost Elektra Sessions 8. Tony Joe White / Living Off The Land / Feeling Snakey 9. ** Wilson Diesel / I Can't Stand The Rain / Short Cool Ones 10. Richard Thompson / Hard On Me / Mock Tudor 11. Monti Amundson / Plain As Day / Somebody's Happened To Our Love 12. ** Nick Charles / Three Lines Deep / The River Flows 13. ** The Teskey Brothers / Drown In My Own Tears / The Circle Session 14. ** William Crighton / Your Country / Water And Dust 15. Gary Clark Jnr / Catfish Blues / Gary Clarke Jnr Live 16. Junior Kimbrough / Most Things Haven't Worked Out / Most Things Haven't Worked Out 17. Charlie Parr / Dog / Dog 18. Jake Xerxes Fussell / Pork And Beans / Jake Xerxes Fussell 19. John Gorka / Thorny Patch / After Yesterday 20. ** Brett Mosley / What You Feel / Charge 21. Jeffrey Foucault / The Universal Fire / The Universal Fire 22. ** Clayton Doley / Barely Alive / Nervous
Joe Boyd is a man about music, record producer, a film producer and author. He arrived in London in 1964 with Muddy Waters and a host of blues musicians who played to sold out UK audiences when they were unappreciated in their US homeland. In this conversation he talks about Nick Drake, Paul Simon, The Incredible String Band, Paul Butterfield, MIke Bloomfield and the enduring power of real music. A thought provoking podcast.
"Your daddy he's an outlaw and a wanderer by tradeHe'll teach you how to pick and choose and how to throw the bladeHe oversees his kingdom so no stranger does intrudeHis voice it trembles as he calls out for another plate of food.One more cup of coffee for the roadOne more cup of coffee 'fore I go. To the valley below."Yes, the arrival of Standard Time calls for another cup of Coffee so please enjoy it with me as I welcome Ellen McIlwaine, Leo Kotke, Laura Nyro, Roxy Music, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Bob Welch, Queen, Styx, Nilsson, Joe Walsh, Frijid Pink, Dexy's Midnight Runners, J.J. Cale, Rod Stewart, Three Dog Night, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, Loggins & Messina, Steve Miller Band and Bob Dylan...
Salespeople have quotas and a large % of their compensation is variable. But what about enablement? Paul and I discuss some spicy ideas that he's implemented in the past.
Text us about this show.David Janke (a.k.a. Lil' Davy Max) is a true bluesman through and through. From learning guitar at an early age to teenage midnight forays to see blues legends perform miles from his home to becoming friends with the likes of Muddy Waters, you will know that David is the real deal. He is a gracious and authentic man who is as captivating to talk with as he is to listen to when he's delivering a solid performance. His music reflects the great Chicago blues traditions and whether he's belting out a vocal, blowing his blues harp, or cranking out incredible guitar solos, he will undoubtedly have your attention.Check out Lil' Davy Max on SoundCloud!"Little Girl" written and performed by Lil' Davy Max℗ 2018 Lil' Davy Max. Used with permission of David Janke."Jump The Broom" written and performed by Lil' Davy Max℗ 2018 Lil' Davy Max. Used with permission of David Janke.Support the Show.Visit Into The Music at https://in2themusic.com or https://intothemusicpodcast.com!Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intothemusic E-mail us at intothemusic@newprojectx.com YouTube Facebook Instagram INTO THE MUSIC is a production of Project X Productions, Appleton, WI.Host/producer: Rob MarnochaVoiceovers: Brad BordiniRecording, engineering, and post production: Rob MarnochaOpening theme: "Aerostar" by Los Straitjackets* (℗2013 Yep Roc Records)Closing theme: "Close to Champaign" by Los Straitjackets* (℗1999 Yep Roc Records)*Used with permission of Eddie Angel of Los StraitjacketsT...
Colin's 21st album is called Chasing the Sun. Today, Aug 17 is his Birthday. Happy Day Colin Co-produced by Colin Linden in his Pinhead Studios in Nashville. Colin's coming to the Mulligan Stew Podcast with the complete story of how he and his friends wrote and created these outstanding songs. Colin singing a Lucinda Williams song, Protection, with Lucinda in the studio doing harmony. Two tracks with blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, co-writing memorable songs with Tom Wilson, Terra Lightfoot, Thompson Wilson, Jesse Obrien and others. A great rhythm section of Darryl Jones (Stones) Charley Drayton (Keith Richards). A splendid cover of Paul Butterfield's classic In My Own Dream. Also vocals by The McCrary Sisters and Ruby Amanfu Colin Linden leading the all-star band and co-writing with Colin James. It's their 6th album together. Colin and I have been doing interviews for a long time but there are still events and moments in his life that need retelling. For example, when the two Colins' met on the Canadian Prairies Colin James was 13 and Colin Linden was 17. Both were into playing the blues. A short time later Colin, still a teenager, got to play for Stevie Ray Vaughn. Stevie helped him take the next steps in his career. This is the complete Interview. His 2021 album Open Road won the JUNO Award for Best Blues Album and was nominated for Blues Foundation Best Blues Rock Album in 2023. Catching the Sun may very well get the best reception yet.
By the end of the 1970s, Rick Danko found himself in an unexpected place. After the release of his first solo album on Arista Records didn't sell well, and with management in flux, Arista dropped him. Despite this, Danko continued to tour, collaborate, and perform in smaller, more intimate venues, showcasing his character and musicianship. Collaborations with former Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin, Richard Manuel, Paul Butterfield, and even actor Gary Busey highlighted his versatility. Woodstock ‘79, a smaller and less impactful event than the original, featured Danko performing with Butterfield. This era also saw Danko contributing to Joe Cocker's chaotic version of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and Larry Lee's album “Marooned.” This period of triumph and tribulation is a testament to Danko's enduring spirit and love for music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
"Up on the hill People never stareThey just don't careChinese music under banyan treesHere at the dude ranch above the seaAja, when all my dime dancin' is through, I run to you"Whole 'Nuther Thing is live and well on KXFM 104.7, Laguna's Community Radio Station. So please join me this afternoon for 2 hours of Music without Boundaries. Joining us are Cyndi Lauper, The Motels, Eric Clapton, America, Mountain, The Soft Machine, Badfinger, Fleetwood mac, David Bowie, The VerveELO, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Humble Pie, Van Morrison, Sinead O' Connor, The Police, John Waite, Mott The Hoople, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Full Moon, Wallflowers and Steely Dan...
Today's show features music performed by Ella Mae Morse and Paul Butterfield
In this episode, we delve into the art of Leading a Sales Team with Paul Butterfield the Founder and CEO of Revenue Flywheel Group. Paul shares his extensive experience and proven strategies for effectively leading a Sales Team to achieve outstanding results. Discover the key elements that contribute to a successful sales team and how to implement these practices within your organization. Paul's insights will help you understand the nuances of motivating and guiding your sales force to new heights. Tune in to learn valuable tips and techniques for Leading a Sales Team to drive growth and success. Get the show notes for Leading a Sales Team with Paul Butterfield at Revenue Flywheel Group Click to Tweet: Listening to a fantastic episode on Growth Think Tank with #PaulButterfield featuring your host @GeneHammett https://bit.ly/gttPatrickEsposito #LeadingaSalesTeam #GeneHammettPodcast #GHepisode1110 #BusinessConsulting #BusinessServices Give Growth Think Tank a review on iTunes!
Curious about mastering leadership & transforming your team into a high-performance machine? In this episode of the Leadership Project, we are joined by Paul Butterfield, CEO and founder of the Revenue Fly Group. Paul discusses strategies for enabling high-performance teams that drive revenue and maintain a customer-centric focus. He shares his Customer Journey Enablement Framework and insights from his extensive career in sales leadership. Topics include the importance of onboarding new leaders, the distinction between enablement and empowerment, fostering trust within teams, and aligning organizational processes with customer needs to enhance the overall customer experience. Paul emphasizes the critical role of servant leadership and the necessity of nurturing an enabling ecosystem for both internal teams and customers.Send us a Text Message.Support the Show.✅ Follow The Leadership Project on your favorite podcast platform and listen to a new episode every week!
In this episode of the State of Sales Enablement, Felix Krueger talks with Paul Butterfield and Keenan, two veterans in the sales enablement space. Paul Butterfield, known for his work at the Revenue Enablement Society, and Keenan, the author of "Gap Selling," bring their extensive experience to discuss the Revenue S.P.E.E.D. Model and how it can help can bridge the divide between skill development, opportunity management, and forecasting. Here are some of the questions Paul and Keenan tackled:What are the common disconnects between the skills management layer and the opportunity management layer in sales enablement?How can sales enablement professionals ensure their efforts are directly connected to revenue outcomes?How can organizations effectively capture and utilize buyer input data to improve sales outcomes?What are the key elements of a successful sales enablement strategy that aligns with both skills development and business objectives?Connect with Keenan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkeenan/Learn more about the S.P.E.E.D. model:https://salesgrowth.com/revenue-speed-model/Connect with Paul Butterfield: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfield/Connect with Felix Kruegerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hfkrueger/
Revenue Flywheel Group Founder Paul Butterfield shares key strategies for organizations to get maximum revenue enablement impact, including continuous coaching and fostering a transparent relationship between sales and marketing teams.
In this episode, Jeff interviews Paul Butterfield, a sales and revenue enablement expert with more than two-and-a-half decades of experience, is a certifiable leader in the industry who founded the Revenue Fly Real Group. His perspective on sales enablement, shaped by his extensive background in sales leadership, is that it's an indispensable tool in fostering sales team development and success. He underlines the significance of integrating sales, customer success, and other departments to facilitate a flawless customer journey. Key Takeaways: Investing in sales enablement is crucial for companies to support their sales teams and enhance customer interactions. Sales methodologies like customer-centric selling, gap selling, and triangle selling provide sales teams with frameworks to improve business acumen and have meaningful conversations with prospects. Developing customer-centric sales organizations in a commoditized industry involves understanding customer needs and tailoring sales approaches to differentiate. Conversational intelligence and CRM tools play a crucial role in evaluating sales team performance. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an essential tool for social selling and developing appointments by connecting with prospects and customers. Helping new sales reps achieve a quick win is crucial to boost their confidence and motivation early on. Sales 3.0 Revenue Enablement Excellence Awards recognizes impactful enablement solutions with real case studies and revenue uplift measures. Find out more about Paul https://www.revenueflywheelgroup.com/ Connect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfield/ Find out more about Jeff https://jgsalespro.com/ Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffgoldbergsalescoach/
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The Diffused Blues Band formerly known as The Grumpy Old Men & Friends. The band is based out of McHenry, IL and was formed as a trio in 2021. In January of 2023 the full band was born. The band is comprised of veteran musicians performing Rock'n Blues, Classic Rock, and Southern Rock covers in their unique style. They feature a wide range of bands including Anthony Gomes, Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, John Nemeth, Creedence Clearwater, Bob Seger, Marshal Tucker Band and more. Ray and Mike were able to diffuse the band for a short time and hear their backstory.Support the show
In this week's episode, Kieran is joined by Paul Butterfield. Paul is a huge figure in the enablement world and not only brings decades of experience being a VP of enablement, but also a massive passion for the development of the enablement profession through his previous role at the Revenue Enablement Society. In this episode we discuss Customer Journey Enablement, what it is, why it's important and why Pauls all enablement teams should be focussed on this kind of enablement.
In this week's podcast, hosts Alastair Woolcock and Howard Brown engage with Paul Butterfield, founder of the Revenue Flywheel Group, to explore the transformative impact of customer-centric selling. The conversation reveals how this approach can significantly enhance profit margins, stressing the importance of genuine engagement and strategic product discussion as verbs rather than nouns. With insights around equipping sales teams with the necessary business acumen and leveraging AI for enhanced buyer-seller interactions, this episode offers a deep dive into the methodologies and technologies that are shaping the future of sales in both B2B and B2C landscapes. Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn: Alastair Woolcock (CRO, Revenue.io) Howard Brown (CEO, Revenue.io) And our Special Guest: Paul Butterfield (Founder, Revenue Flywheel Group) Sponsored by: Revenue.io | Powering high-performing revenue teams with real-time guidance Explore the Revenue.io Podcast Universe: Sales Enablement Podcast Selling with Purpose Podcast RevOps Podcast *If you'd like to ask the guys a question that could get answered on the show, call our new message line at (323) 540-4777. Just leave your name, where you're from, and your question and we'll do our best to answer it on an upcoming episode.
In this week's podcast episode, hosts Alastair Woolcock and Howard Brown engage with Paul Butterfield, founder of the Revenue Flywheel Group, to dissect the nuances of sales methodologies versus processes. The trio delves into the findings of a recent study about the lack of structured sales processes and methodologies in many organizations, leading the discussion to a more disciplined approach to sales that focuses on the buyer's journey rather than rigid methodologies. They span the evolution of sales methodologies, emphasizing the significance of personalized engagement with customers, effective discovery meetings, and the role of empathy in sales. Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn: Alastair Woolcock (CRO, Revenue.io) Howard Brown (CEO, Revenue.io) And our Special Guest: Paul Butterfield (Founder, Revenue Flywheel Group) Sponsored by: Revenue.io | Powering high-performing revenue teams with real-time guidance Explore the Revenue.io Podcast Universe: Sales Enablement Podcast Selling with Purpose Podcast RevOps Podcast *If you'd like to ask the guys a question that could get answered on the show, call our new message line at (323) 540-4777. Just leave your name, where you're from, and your question and we'll do our best to answer it on an upcoming episode.
Join us in this episode as we dive into the world of customer journey enablement with seasoned consultant Paul Butterfield, Founder of Revenue Flywheel.Discover the core principles behind buyer-centric operations and the pivotal role enablement plays in driving organizational success.Paul shares insights on prioritizing enablement in building effective sales strategies and the dangers of relying solely on self-reported data. Through vivid examples, he illustrates the consequences of inadequate outreach and engagement when teams lack proper enablement.Drawing from his consultancy experience, Paul reveals essential elements clients seek when hiring consultants and introduces his comprehensive "Customer Enablement Framework."#salesconsultantpodcast #enablement #gtm #revenueops #b2bsales #b2bmarketing #consultingpractice #productmarketing #entrepreneurship Time Stamps:[05:15] - Paul's first priorities in building his second consulting practice.[10:55] - Enablement defined.[15:30] - Why enablement leaders must think like a sales leader.[18:50] - The negative side of just relying on self-reporting and the importance of using actual customer feedback to inform the sales enablement strategy. [22:50] - Examples of poor outreach and poor engagement when revenue teams are not properly enabled.[32:00] - Paul had a successful intellectual property consultancy that he built prior to Revenue Flywheel - we discuss the business and why he ultimately stopped consulting the first time. The lessons he learned the first time around that are influencing his approach with Revenue Flywheel. He shares important stories and insights that every consultant should hear.[38:20] - Three things people are looking for when they're hiring a consultant.[39.45] - Paul breaks down his “Customer Enablement Framework” (Methodology, Process, Tools, Coaching, Skills)[46:30] - The importance of including enablement for managers in the enablement plan.Connect with Paul:https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfield/Connect with Derrick:https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrickis3linksales/These interviews are also available on Derrick's YouTube page - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfMnGtGWVrzO3BorCimojw
Too many salespeople spend time on accounts that go nowhere, and too many sales leaders struggle to get their salespeople to accurately qualify their deals. Instead of using subjective data to build our piplelines, we can remove hope from systemizing how we qualify deals – even before we've called on them. To learn how to master the art of qualification, we sat down with Paul Butterfield, founder of Revenue Flywheel Group. He showed us exactly how he guides clients through better qualifying their deals so they can sell more and serve more! It's all in this week's Bulletproof Selling podcast!
Alex is rolling a new format, one he has been wanting to do for awhile. The Private Peacock Edition episodes of the podcast are a more intimate and detailed look at a musical artist. This week's Peacock in Music is Paul Butterfield, Alex dives into this amazing Chicago bluesman, his rise and fall from rock n roll stardom.
Mike Turk joins me on episode 104.Mike is a Boston-based player who started out playing blues harmonica, inspired by the great Paul Butterfield, before becoming interested in playing jazz on the chromatic. He recorded some session work in New York and recorded through the 1970s with various artists, with many of those tracks available on anthology albums Mike has put out. He released his first solo album, Harmonica Salad, in 1991. Mike went on to record several more albums, with a letter from Toots Thielemans included in the liner notes for Turk's Works. He also toured Europe and recorded some albums with the Italian band he was working with while in Europe. Links:Mike's website:https://www.tinsandwichmusic.com/Toots Thielmans testimonial on Mike's website:https://www.tinsandwichmusic.com/?page_id=265Polyphonia harmonica:https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_1306456Great interview with Mike:https://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/harmonica-virtuoso-mike-turk-talks-about-jazz-blues-lowel-fulsomVideos:Don Brooks session recordings:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDGSb5NxtJY&list=PLGbKWi5veb_nwSHBWYjEgDPtHfYbFFufY&index=4Honeydripper film opening credits:https://youtu.be/BO5eP6XsF9MDouglas Tate playing at the NHL Festival in 1988 (not on a Renaissance):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1PbXWfoY8Mike trio gig from March 2022:https://www.facebook.com/themadmonkfish/videos/1593252841059782Podcast website:https://www.harmonicahappyhour.comDonations:If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GBor sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/supportSpotify Playlist:Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQPodcast sponsors:This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICASANDThe Harmonica Company. Use promo code: 'happyhour7'. Email Jonathan at: sales@theharmonicacompany.comSupport the show
Are you tired of the same old tactics falling flat in your sales discovery calls? Everyone wants to make a sale, but too often, the approach is to pitch the product or service right out of the gate. Is there a better way to connect with your prospects and truly understand their needs before you dive into your sales pitch? Host Donald Kelly speaks with guest Paul Butterfield on having a solid strategy for sales discovery in this episode of "The Sales Evangelist Podcast." Paul dives deep into the importance of understanding the customer's journey and shares insights on creating a unified, customer-focused experience across various teams. He emphasizes the need for a robust discovery process and how it can significantly impact the quality of the buyer's experience. Tune in to hear how effective discovery calls can revolutionize your sales approach and elevate your success in closing deals. Paul's Experience and Expertise Paul is the founder of the Revenue Flywheel Group, focusing on enabling B2B companies to create a unified customer journey. With extensive experience in the field, Paul brings real-world examples to support his insights, making this episode a valuable resource for sales leaders and individual contributors. The Flawed Approach to Discovery Calls Paul highlights the all-too-common practice of immediately jumping into a demo without fully understanding the customer's needs. He acknowledges the prevalence of pitch decks laden with bragging rights and emphasizes the need for a shift in mindset regarding the purpose of a sales interaction. The Power of Effective Discovery Paul passionately advocates for a more in-depth approach to discovery calls, stressing the importance of preparing for a business-level conversation. He believes that a successful discovery call can create a vision in the prospect's mind and help them understand how to achieve their future state. Moreover, Paul emphasizes how this approach enhances the customer experience and filters out deals that may not be a good fit early in the process. Elevating the Role of BDRs Paul shares valuable insights on the role of Business Development Representatives (BDRs) in preparing for successful discovery calls. He underlines the significance of equipping BDRs with business acumen, allowing them to elevate their conversations beyond the traditional script and initiating a more meaningful interaction with prospects. Key Strategies for Sales Success Paul expands on the significance of maintaining finesse when handling buyers fixated on immediate demos. He advocates for an approach that understands the underlying business challenges and provides insights tailored to the prospect's specific needs. Overcoming Inferiority Complex in Sales Acknowledging the common struggle of feeling inferior in front of high-profile prospects, Paul shares personal experiences and insights on how sales professionals can overcome this mindset. He emphasizes the importance of being seen as an industry authority, fostering a mutual learning environment between the seller and the buyer. In this enriching TSE episode, Paul has shed light on the transformative potential of effective discovery calls in sales. Paul's practical tips and real-world examples are a game-changer for sales professionals and leaders striving to differentiate themselves and enhance the buyer experience. This episode is a must-listen if you're seeking ways to boost conversion rates, negotiation effectiveness, and overall sales performance. Take advantage of this opportunity to refine your sales strategy and drive exceptional results. Tune in to the full episode now and take your sales game to the next level! “The opportunity to differentiate through the sales experience and the quality of that buyer experience. That opportunity is huge. The bar is very low in the way that outbound, even inbound prospecting, qualifying, and discovery are being done. And you will set yourself up for better conversion rates and better negotiating if you come in strong with a higher-quality discovery process. I cannot overestimate that.” - Paul Butterfield. Resources Paul Butterfield on LinkedIn Sponsorship Offers This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot. With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales. 2. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse. 3. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation. Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin. Credits As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.
Unlock the secrets to a customer journey that will set your sales apart from the competition, as Paul Butterfield of Revenue Flywheel Group reveals the synergy of marketing and sales. Journey with us through Paul's rich history in sales, from his encyclopedia-selling days to spearheading enablement on a global scale. Discover how the right methodology can transform your understanding of the customer and why aligning sales stages with the customer's buying process isn't just a nice-to-have, it's a necessity for success. Embrace the "Three I's" of personal growth—integrity, intelligence, and intensity—and learn how to sift through the noise to find sales strategies that truly elevate your game. Paul and I dissect the common pitfalls that hinder sales teams, such as ineffective prospect qualification and the misalignment between marketing and sales. By implementing structured approaches like Rev-ops assessments and SWOT analyses, we illuminate the path to improving sales effectiveness and setting realistic growth expectations. The conversation crescendos as we discuss the art of balancing efficiency with a customer-focused approach, offering practical tips to streamline account planning and CRM documentation. Paul imparts wisdom on developing a sales process that mirrors the customer's journey, a strategy that not only speeds up sales but deepens customer relationships. As we welcome Paul into the Sales Lead Dog pack, you're invited to explore the innovative solutions at Revenue Flywheel Group, promising to propel your sales team's efficiency and effectiveness to new heights. Paul Butterfield has designed, built and led high impact revenue enablement strategies and teams for Vonage, G.E., NICE InContact, and Instructure. He's coached Go-to-Market leaders from Expedia, ABB. Aspen Media, Orbitz, and Red Wing Shoes in change management and sales methodology adoption. Prior to his career as a revenue enablement leader he led channel and direct sales organizations for world-class companies including Intuit, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard. Paul was the Executive Board President of the Revenue Enablement Society from 2022-2024. He produces and hosts the podcast “Stories From the Trenches” and is a regular keynote speaker on revenue enablement strategies and sales methodologies. Links: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfield/ Company: https://www.revenueflywheelgroup.com Get this episode and all other episodes of Sales Lead Dog at https://www.empellorcrm.com/salesleaddog
SummaryIn this episode, Lucas Price discusses the intricacies of selecting, adopting, and measuring the impact of sales methodologies with Paul Butterfield, founder of Revenue Flywheel Group. Delving into the nuances of strategies like MEDDIC, listeners are invited to explore the significance of proper implementation and the potential misconceptions surrounding such frameworks.Paul shares his wisdom on the importance of a full-cycle sales methodology versus qualification frameworks, emphasizing the ability to guide sales teams in having business-level conversations, nurturing client relationships, and advancing deal negotiations. The conversation pivots from his early experiences in sales to the considered approach required when transitioning sales teams to newer, more effective methodologies.Take Aways Full-cycle Methodology: Understand the benefits of a full-cycle sales methodology over singular qualification frameworks like MEDDIC.Discovery Process: Implement methodologies that enable sales teams to conduct deep discovery sessions, focusing on customer-centric conversations.Customization and Relevance: Choose a sales methodology based on your team's experience and customer type for better adaptability and success.Adoption and Measurement: Implement clear adoption strategies and requalify existing pipelines to align with the new methodology for accurate forecasting.Selection Process: Research and thoroughly vet potential sales methodologies, ensuring they align with the desired customer experience and business needs.Learn More: https://www.yardstick.team/Connect with Lucas Price: linkedin.com/in/lucasprice1Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk Connect with Paul Butterfield: linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfieldMentioned in this episode:BEST OutroBEST Intro
We are so excited to have the legendary Bobby Vegas with us as our guest on No Simple Road this week! Bobby began his professional career at age 15 with Bo Diddley, but he achieved wide attention at age 16 for his distinctive picked and muted bassline on Sly Stone's “I Get High On You” (from Sly's 1975 album High On You ). Since then he has contributed his soulful feel and incredibly dynamic playing to a long list of world-class artists including: Billy Preston, Booker T., Paul Butterfield, Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Santana , Tower of Power, Etta James, Zigaboo Modeliste, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Starship, Babatunde Olatunji, Kitaro, Ronnie Laws, Hubert Laws, Lee Oskar, Melvin Seals, Cold Blood, and Zero with Steve Kimock. We had an absolute blast talking to this living legend about his new album 'Whatcha Got', what life was like 'back in the day', how he sees his musical career in hindsight, where he's headed now, and a whloe lot more! Follow Bobby on Instagram @bobby_vega1956 ... and make sure to check out the new album 'Whatcha Got' out now! -Make Sure to visit NORTHBOUND COFFEE ROASTERS for the best Deadhead roasted and delicious coffees + get free shipping with the PROMO CODE: nosimpleroad -For THE BEST MUSHROOM CHOCOLATES EVER go over to @MELTMUSHROOMS ON INSTAGRAM and shoot them a DM for a menu of all the amazing flavors of MUSHROOM CHOCOLATE BARS and MAKE SURE TO TELL THEM NSR SENT YOU FOR $20 OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER! -FREE SHIPPING from Shop Tour Bus Use The PROMO CODE: nosimpleroad INTRO MUSIC PROVIDED BY - Will Hanza of Escaper MUSIC IN THE COMMERCIALS BY AND USED WITH PERMISSION OF: CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN OUTRO MUSIC BY AND USED WITH PERMISSION OF: CHILLDREN OF INDIGO No Simple Road is part of OSIRIS MEDIA. Osiris Media is the leading storyteller in music, combining the intimacy of podcasts with the power of music.
The Not Ready for Prime Time Podcast: The Early Years of SNL
Broderick Crawford hosts this week's episode of Saturday Night...Live and the addition of the "LIVE" was so much for Crawford that he fulfills most of his hosting duties from a plush armchair.This is an interesting episode of SNL (that's right, we can call it SNL now) because while the host doesn't play a big role in the episode, you do kind of fall in love with him. Or at least join him for a drink (or three), which he apparently would have been happy to do. His charm lends itself brilliantly to one of the best Gary Weis films we've seen so far and there are some wild behind-the-scenes stories from filming the week of St. Patty's Day. We also have a lot of sketches (some WITH Crawford) that are worth talking about such as the famous Bill Murray "New Kid" plea, Baba Wawa interviewing Godzilla, and a wonderful piece of physical comedy from Gilda.Lastly, there are 3 musical numbers from two different bands.Yet, with all this in the episode, Brad and Gary still wonder if the juice was worth the squeeze.Subscribe today! And follow us on social media on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.
"I never seen you looking so bad my funky oneYou tell me that your superfine mind has come undoneAny major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friendAny minor world that breaks apart falls together againWhen the demon is at your doorIn the morning it won't be there no moreAny major dude will tell you"Please join me and other Major Dudes in keeping the demons out on the Saturday Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing. Joining us are Moby Grape, Marshall Tucker Band, Laura Nyro, Jeff Beck, Bee Gees, Doobie Brothers, Flying Burrito Brothers, Righteous Brothers, Loggins & Messina, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Bob Dylan, Lovin' Spoonful, Jean Luc Ponty, Beatles, Eagles, Poco, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever, The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las, Little Feat and Steely Dan...
In this episode of the "Enterprise Sales Development Podcast", our host Eric Quanstrom engages in a deep dive conversation with Paul Butterfield, a renowned leader in the field of sales enablement and the CEO of the Revenue Flywheel Group. They tackle pressing topics like effective strategies for training sales development teams, the unique challenges at the top of the sales funnel, and the undeniable potential of AI in sales enablement. Paul shares his wealth of experience in the field, with invaluable insights into improving customer journey enablement and transforming sales processes. This episode offers a blend of concrete techniques, personal experiences, and forward-thinking tactics for sales enablement, making it a must-listen for anyone looking to advance in this arena. Tune in to learn from one of the best in the business.
ISE Season 3 is focused on the past, present and future of Enablement History. And timed perfectly as we just celebrated the seventh anniversary of the official signing of the Sales Enablement Society into reality by the ~100 SES Fore-founders in Palm Beach, November of 2016.For Episode 3, Paul Butterfield, President of the Executive Board of the (as of recently) Revenue Enablement Society joins us on the Orchestrate Sales Property and shares his take on Enablement History:⏪ BEFORE the Sales Enablement Society: ❇️ Building out the enablement function for multiple companies including Vonage, Instructure, and General Electric's CoE. ❇️ Googling "Sales Enablement" and being introduced to the research of Scott Santucci⏯️ Paul's introduction to the SES via Jill Rowley and ultimately getting involved locally. ❇️ A review of the three founding positions and how they, in part, solidified Paul's findings from having built Enablement programs organically ❇️ A peek "behind the scenes" at the catalysts, current events, and decision making process that informed the executive board's transition from the SES to the RES⏩️ Paul's take on the present and future of Enablement and his personal mission to empower enablement through the lens of Customer Journey ❇️ Enablement has yet to fully embrace and apply "business within a business" ❇️ The impact and opportunity of A.I. ❇️ A challenge for all to embrace becoming Enablement Challengers vs. Waiters ❇️ Drop the "ROI calculator" and rather focus on reasonable correlation to resultsThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Wanted. America. Dead or Alive. Glen Rockney of Rare Candy and The Back Wall joins me for a dance to the haunting tunes and portents of Martin Scorcese's THE LAST WALTZ (1978), a documentary classic about the historic final concert where The Band and friends staged several of the greatest rock performances of all time. For the full 2.5 hour episode, subscribe to the show at patreon.com/filthyarmenian to get access to twice as many adventures and support this travel agency for the soul. In memory of Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Pops Staples, Neil Young, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Ray Charles. In thankfulness to Garth Hudson, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Mavis Staples, Joni Mitchell, Ringo, and all the other stars at Winterland. Get your tickets to FAA presents WHITE CHRISTMAS at a hidden historic shrine to adventure in Los Angeles on January 6, a live show and festivity starring Amanda Milius, Richard Hanania, Santa and many other friends of the show. Please rate, review, wherever you listen. Follow us on X/insta @filthyarmenain
Join host John Golden and guest Paul Butterfield as they delve into the transition from Sales Enablement Society to Revenue Enablement Society. In this insightful podcast episode, you will discover: Why focusing on the entire customer journey is crucial for success The importance of collaboration between different departments to achieve customer success Effective communication strategies for post-sales engagement How to create a buying experience centered on business needs The essential skills of active listening and curiosity for a seamless sales process Listen now and navigate the shift from Sales Enablement to Revenue Enablement.
Jay Stulo isn't just one of the most talented blues guitarists you'll hear today, he's also a student of the genre. One of the reasons Jay is able to play with the passion and heart that he does goes back to learning the history of the blues and a plethora of its most storied players. It becomes an understanding of the foundations of blues music and its traditions (Delta, Chicago, Texas, British, etc.). Whether any number of guitarists (T-bone Walker to Jeff Beck to Derek Trucks) or other instrumentalists (harmonica players like Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, and Paul Butterfield), the rich traditions of the blues continue to grow and flourish. Join us as we take a deep dive into the blues and even take in a couple tracks by Jay."Red Dress Boogie" and "Watching You" written and performed by Jay Stulo℗ 2020 Jay Stulo. Used with permission of Jay Stulo.(Photo by Jennifer Stulo Photography)Support the showSupport the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intothemusic E-mail us at intothemusic@newprojectx.com YouTube Facebook Instagram INTO THE MUSIC is a production of Project X Productions, Appleton, WI.Producer: Rob MarnochaRecording, engineering, and post production: Rob MarnochaOpening theme: "Aerostar" by Los Straitjackets* (℗2013 Yep Roc Records)Closing theme: "Close to Champaign" by Los Straitjackets* (℗1999 Yep Roc Records)*Used with permission of Eddie AngelThis podcast copyright ©2024 by Project X Productions. All rights reserved.
A musician of many talents, James, is an iconic figure in blues music for over 40 years, is an accomplished blues harpist, singer, front man and bandleader, lending these talents to his own band, The James Montgomery Band, and to countless sessions and tours over the years with the likes of Gregg Allman, Johnny Winter, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, James Brown and so many others it would take two pages to list them all. He's also hosted his own syndicated blues radio show, interviewing and playing the music of numerous blues and blues-rock luminaries. This man has stories to tell!James is also the co-producer and one of the driving forces of a recently released, critically acclaimed documentary on blues harp legend James Cotton entitled Bonnie Blue: James Cotton's Life in the Blues. Cotton was Montgomery's mentor and good friend, so James is immensely proud of his involvement in this film.James's latest album, The James Montgomery Blues Band: A Tribute to Paul Butterfield, has been released on Cleopatra Records.James was inducted in 2018 into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame and into the New England Music Hall of Fame in September 2021.http://www.jamesmontgomery.comhttps://www.facebook.com/OfficialJamesMontgomery
There have been a few performers in my life that have hosted a secret clubhouse gathering, which provided me a respite from the grueling business of living - people whose comforting, yet compelling personalities, who, by sharing secrets, made me laugh heartily, or pulled me into a safe harbor of balanced perspective: Late nights under the covers with Jean Shepard, lonely, frustrating mornings of boredom with Howard Stern and his crew; and the first time I heard Elvin Bishop do this monologue. IN MY OWN DREAM was Paul Butterfield's follow up album to THE RESURRECTION OF PIGBOY CRABSHAW - where the legendary harpist stepped up to a more orchestrated sound. Previously, Elvin Bishop had been the band's second guitarist, wingman to the incomparable Mike Bloomfield, who caught most of the starry critical heat after the band's initial rocket launch. Here Elvin takes the spotlight and charms with such relaxed, magical monological improv that it catapulted him into a huge solo career and a string of hits in the 70's that was capped with the number five single FOOLED AROUND AND FELL IN LOVE. The foremost purveyor of southern good time boogie, at 80 years old Elvin continues to dole out big fun and happiness.In DRUNK AGAIN we are in John's Tavern with Elvin, who greets everyone jovially, chugs a few Gordon gins, flirts with a sassy bassline, gets tight (“drunk as grandma's old yeller hog”), and proceeds to blow the roof off the place with his guitar pyrotechnics - a one of a kind performance - breathtaking!
Tom Ellis joins me (again) on episode 90.This is part two of the Paul Butterfield retrospective where Tom takes us even deeper into Paul's career and talks us through more of his incredible output.About how Butter, while paying his due respect to the greats before him, took the blues in a new direction, with his experimentation and innovation.Butter's music and bands evolved as he developed, with the best musicians joining him to provide a bedrock to some of the greatest harmonica ever recorded. Tom Ellis puts forward a compelling case for Paul Butterfield as the most influential harmonica player ever, with his cultural and societal impact overshadowing even the classic players of the 1950s.Paul Butterfield retrospective, part 1:https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com/paul-butterfield-retrospective-with-tom-ellis/Was Butter a u-blocker?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-73mhQn4Pkc Podcast website:https://www.harmonicahappyhour.comDonations:If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GBSpotify Playlist: Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQPodcast sponsors:This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICASSupport the show
The nightclub scene was magical in Chicago's South and West sides in the late 1950s and during that time, white kids from the suburbs were finding The Blues at the end of their radio dials, buying the records, studying the music and traveling down to the clubs to meet and play with their idols!That story is told in the new Bob Sarles film, Born in Chicago. We are joined by musician/bandleader Jimmy Vivino and Blues legend Barry Goldberg who, along with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield, learned his craft at the feet of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Barry and Jimmy created the film's soundtrack and they are steeped in the history of Chicago Blues and loaded with stories and wisdom about class, race, inter-generational guidance and the joy of sharing and celebrating an art form that contains the power to transform us for the better.Barry and Jimmy give us a full account of the evolution of blues and blues rock from the '50s through today. Barry tells us about sitting in with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf as a teenager and his frenemy relationship with the British invasion acts like The Stones and Eric Clapton who also idolized the Blues greats. He talks about playing in one of our nation's first racially integrated bands, Electric Flag and his experience on stage with Dylan when he “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival.Jimmy and Barry describe composing the documentary's soundtrack & more and the blues standards that informed their musical choices.Plus, Fritz and Weezy are recommending Shiny Happy People: Dugger Family Secrets on Prime and Fair Play on Hulu and Prime.Path Points of Interest:Born in ChicagoBorn in Chicago - IMDBQ&A with Directors in Chicago ReaderBorn in Chicago on FacebookJimmy VivinoJimmy Vivino on WikipediaJimmy Vivino on InstagramJimmy Vivino on FacebookBarry GoldbergBarry Goldberg on WikipediaBarry Goldberg on imdbShiny Happy People: Dugger Family SecretsFair Play - Prime/Hulu
In the fast-moving SaaS space, mergers and acquisitions are business as usual. Our guest in today's episode has led teams through nine acquisitions over the years and will share his insights on how enablement leaders can effectively navigate the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities that come with M&As. Please welcome the Executive Board President of the Sales Enablement Society and the Host of the "Stories From The Trenches" podcast, Paul Butterfield.These are some of the questions we cover:On a high level, what is the role of enablement in the context of M&As?What are the key challenges and opportunities for the sales enablement function during an acquisition?How do you make sure the acquired company's sales effectiveness doesn't suffer during the integration process?What role does communication play in sales enablement during acquisitions, both internally and with external customers and partners?Can you share a success story or case study where sales enablement played a critical role in the successful integration of an acquired company?What advice would you give to sales enablement professionals who are navigating the complex landscape of acquisitions and mergers, and what are the top factors that contribute to success?Here are some of the resources referenced in this episode:Connect with Paul Butterfield on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfield/The SES Stories From The Trenches Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sales-enablement-society-stories-from-the-trenches/id1510380341Connect with Felix Krueger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hfkrueger/Where to find The State of Sales Enablement:Website - http://thestateofsalesenablement.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-state-of-sales-enablement-podcast/Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-state-of-sales-enablement/id1558307853Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4ceCJYJLuCbTNbRTriOFpe?si=avn_E9EGSNu3gmHfoqJ_6gMentioned in this episode:The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning ExperienceIf you want to stop reinventing the wheel, maximize business impact, and fast-track your career, consider joining a growing community of Enablers at The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement Learning Experience. To learn more visit goffwd.com/blocks.Webinar: 7 Steps to Maximizing Enablement's Business ImpactSome of the topics Mike Kunkle and Felix Krueger cover include: - Understand the maturity level of your sales enablement team - A simple framework that will help you identify current shortfalls - How to get more done with less by effectively managing stakeholders - An overview of the sales performance levers you should consider - How to formalize a plan that delivers results and helps you gain momentum fast If making a business impact with enablement is your priority going into 2023,...
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
Paul Butterfield is the Executive Board President of the Sales Enablement Society. Today he joins Hilmon on The Winning Zone to discuss how to create a long-term, ROI-driven coaching system.In this episode, you will learn the positive effects that impactful coaching can have on one's career journey. You will also walk away knowing the most effective strategies for engaging managers in the coaching process, as well as the best, proven tools and processes to track progress and measure success.Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulrbutterfieldFollow him on Twitter: PRButterfieldFor more information about CoachCRM: www.coachcrm.comFor more information about ClozeLoop: www.clozeloop.comConnect with Hilmon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilmonsorey/Follow Hilmon on IG: @hilmonsorey
The singer, composer and guitarist has had a lifelong passion for the jazz and blues of the '20s and '30s. In the '60s and '70s, he made a series of influential recordings with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and Maria Muldaur. His new double CD, titled His Last Letter, traces the musical influences of his life, and is arranged for, and performed with, Dutch chamber musicians. He spoke with Terry Gross in 2009. Justin Chang reviews the new thriller The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling.