American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group
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8 episodes with The Staple Singers
5 episodes with The Staple Singers
9 episodes with The Staple Singers
8 episodes with The Staple Singers
10 episodes with The Staple Singers
4 episodes with The Staple Singers
3 episodes with The Staple Singers
6 episodes with The Staple Singers
2 episodes with The Staple Singers
This won't be the last time you hear the Rolling Stones but this is the episode wherein we discuss "The Last Time" from early 1965. After acknowledging the chorus copped from the Staple Singers, we move on to the riff, the riff, the riff! We also note the strange connection to German Oompah music. The second in the parade comes from their producer and manager Andrew Oldham and his Orchestra. Obviously, this is a rearrangement rather than a cover, and obviously, it's infamous in the wake of Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony." It's totally tubular! In '66 to North Carolina's Nomads gave the song the garage treatment and the vocals are snottier and the kick drum is busier! The same year Phil & The Frantics authored a version with strange strangled vocals, an added organ with "Gloria" flourishes and it's the most oompah of all. We break the mold for "Do You Understand Me" by The Jujus, a song which steals the riff but scrambles it a bit - it's a classic! The last word goes the Who, who covered the song in 67 who underplay the riff and focus on Pete Townshend's thundering chords and Keith Moon's wild drumming. Oompah!
Marty Stuart rocked the country radio in the early 90s and albums that blended Steve Earle-esque country rock with badass guitar playing and a nod to traditional country. In this episode, we take a listen to the trajectory of Marty's music. Traditional country to modern country to where his music lives now: as rock music. Did that really happen? Stuart has more than 20 studio albums, has charted more than 30 times on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, won five Grammy Awards, and is an engaged member of the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame. It is a fascinating truckload of music. Let's go. Email the show: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com NOTES: The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart's band since 2002, includes Stuart on guitar and mandolin, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Harry Stinson on drums, and from 2002 until 2008, Brian Glenn on bass. From 2008 until 2015, Paul Martin was on bass. In 2015, Chris Scruggs replaced Paul Martin on bass, and also played steel guitar. Every member sings. Stuart's guitars also include "Clarence", a two-tone Fender Telecaster, once owned by Clarence White. This instrument is the original B-Bender guitar, built and designed by White and Gene Parsons (Byrds) in 1967, to allow the guitarist to manually raise the guitar's 'B' string one whole step to play in a style similar to a pedal steel guitar. Stuart bought the guitar in 1980 from White's widow. Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers gave one of her father "Pops" Staples' guitars to Marty Stuart after Pop's death. "My father was Marty's godfather. My sisters and I took him in as our brother. He's the only one that I've heard who -- when he's playing guitar, sounds like Pop. He can play just like him."
Our Mother's Day special featuring songs about mother by artists such as the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Angelic Choir feat. Delores "Bootsy" Roberts, Staple Singers (pictured), Supreme Councilors, Violinaires, John P. Kee, and others
Just like the Goonies, we here at ATTT never say die. Down here, this is our time, and we'll be damned if we're going to let evil forces ruin what precious time we have here on the planet. We must remain resilient, and thankfully special guest Steve Goodie is on hand to help us curate a list of songs that will get you through your current moment of anxiety and the next one too. Here in Top Ten Songs About Resilience Part 2, we wrap up our conversation about the songs that galvanize, and help get us through the most ridiculous of timelines.If you missed Part 1, go here:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-666-top-ten-songs-about-resilience-part-1-w/id573735994?i=1000705249791Here's the official Top Ten Songs About Resilience Playlist featuring every song heard in Parts 1 & 2, bumper songs includedhttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tHHeBMitqnluv3r7fvWpY?si=1a02fc3b08a945aaGet Steve's tour dates and listen to his tunes at his website:https://stevegoodie.com/Watch Steve and friends in the Virtual Comedy Show live every Monday! More details hither:https://virtualcomedyshow.com/Archives for the Virtual Comedy Show can be found at:https://www.facebook.com/brad.tassellWe've lowered our prices, but not our standards over at the ATTT Patreon! Those who are kindly contributing $2 a month are receiving an exclusive monthly Emergency Pod episode featuring our favorite guests and utilizing our patent-pending improv format in which we miraculously pull a playlist out of thin air. The Old Boy Himself Ryan Blake joined for May's bonus episode.Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/c/alltimetoptenWe're having a blast chatting it up about music over on the ATTT Facebook Group. Join us and start a conversation!https://www.facebook.com/groups/940749894391295
Grace Potter was raised in rural Vermont by parents who were seeking a different way of life, one with an emphasis on the arts and a connection to the land. Thanks to her parents' extensive record collection, Grace grew up listening to a lot of soul and gospel by artists like the Staple Singers and Mahalia Jackson. You can still hear those influences in her music now, even as she's created her own distinctive bluesy sound. Often compared to Bonnie Raitt or Janis Joplin, Grace has a powerful voice and the stage presence to match. And now she has a new album called Medicine that's actually not new at all. It was produced with T Bone Burnett 17 years ago before her record label decided to shelve it in favor of a different direction. And even though it was recorded when she was just 24, it sounds as fresh and timely as if she cut it yesterday. Sid talks to Grace about the vision issues that shaped the way she sees the world, the impact of motherhood on her songwriting, and how she's preparing to sing the national anthem at the 2025 Kentucky Derby. For more info visit: southernliving.com/biscuitsandjam Biscuits & Jam is produced by: Sid Evans - Editor-in-Chief, Southern Living Krissy Tiglias - GM, Southern Living Lottie Leymarie - Executive Producer Michael Onufrak - Audio Engineer & Editor/Producer Jeremiah McVay - Producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
**It's The Relax With Rendell Show Replay On Trax FM & Rendell Radio. Rendell Featured Soul & Boogie/Rare Groove/80's & 70's Grooves/Easy Listening Cuts From The Whispers, Staple Singers, Peech Boys, Lew Kirton, Kwick, Kashif, James D Train Williams, Hot Chocolate, Gene Dunlap, Forrest, Con Funk Shun, Bernard Wright, Sweet Candies & Papik Ft The Soultrenders & More. #originalpirates #soulmusic #disco #reggae #raregroove #easylistening #boogiefunk Catch Rendell Every Saturday From 8PM UK Time The Stations: Trax FM & Rendell Radio Listen Live Here Via The Trax FM Player: chat.traxfm.org/player/index.html Mixcloud LIVE :mixcloud.com/live/traxfm Free Trax FM Android App: play.google.com/store/apps/det...mradio.ba.a6bcb The Trax FM Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092342916738 Trax FM Live On Hear This: hearthis.at/k8bdngt4/live Tunerr: tunerr.co/radio/Trax-FM Radio Garden: Trax FM Link: http://radio.garden/listen/trax-fm/IEnsCj55 OnLine Radio Box: onlineradiobox.com/uk/trax/?cs...cs=uk.traxRadio Radio Deck: radiodeck.com/radio/5a09e2de87...7e3370db06d44dc Radio.Net: traxfmlondon.radio.net Stream Radio : streema.com/radios/Trax_FM..The_Originals Live Online Radio: liveonlineradio.net/english/tr...ax-fm-103-3.htm**
We're celebrating our 10th anniversary all year by digging in the vaults to re-present classic episodes with fresh commentary. Today, we're revisiting our 2015 conversation with Bill Withers. ABOUT BILL WITHERSPop and R&B legend Bill Withers released nine albums between 1971 and 1985 that included such classic songs as “Lean on Me,” “Ain't No Sunshine,” “Grandma's Hands,” “Use Me,” “Lovely Day,” and “Just the Two of Us.” Though he stepped away from the limelight in the mid-1980s, his songs have become classics that have withstood the test of time and been covered by iconic artists including Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Gladys Knight, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson, Al Green, The Staple Singers, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Sting, Linda Ronstadt, Roberta Flack, Buddy Guy, Barbra Streisand, and George Benson. Additionally, his music has been sampled by Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, L.L. Cool J, Tupac Shakur, and Kanye West. Withers was in the inaugural class of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, and is a nine-time Grammy nominee. He won three Grammy awards for Best R&B song for “Ain't No Sunshine” in 1971, “Just the Two of Us” in 1981, and the Club Nouveau cover of “Lean on Me” in 1987. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
You're in for a treat with this episode. I found Adama through a short clip on Instagram, and it cut through the noise like a knife. I knew that I had to connect with her. Adama has been helping raise consciousness on this planet for over 40 years. She lives what she preaches, and you can feel the depth of this embodiment with every word. Adama is a force of nature, and after our conversation, I felt like I was walking on water. You will, too. If you don't know her work, buckle up. About After earning a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Florida, along with Presidential and Scholastic Honors, I returned to Atlanta to study Conscious Cosmic Citizenship with African elder Josiah Osuagwu from 1982 to 1985, continuing private tutelage for 17 years. My focus was on Creator-Knowledge, Creation-Knowledge, and Self-Knowledge as essential for Liberation and Emancipation, aiming to reorient, regenerate, and re-educate individuals and collectives about their roles in Conscious Living. In 1984, I began performing with SOLAR at the New Orleans World Fair and as a solo artist in 1985, using rhythm, movement, and verse to inspire audiences. My performances include appearances with the Staple Singers, Melba Moore, and Aisha Khalil, as well as at major venues like Fox Theater, Emory University, and the National Black Arts Festival, along with radio interviews on WDET and WRFG. I consulted for the Wholistic Stress Control Institute, teaching life skills and poetry to youth in Atlanta, including over 2,000 young people in 1999 through various youth centers and schools. I also served as president and co-owner of Mother Earth's Adornments, Inc., which offered custom adornments, vegan cuisine, and spiritual consultation. I currently produce and host the radio program "The Meeting of The Inner Circle" on 89.3FM WRFG Atlanta, providing inspirational programming on liberation, resurrection, and life-support. As a strict vegetarian for over forty years, I am also an Inspirational Lifestyle Change and Wholistic Wellness Consultant, helping others with spiritual and nutritional support for healing and regeneration. As CEO of Integrity Global Enterprises, Inc., I produce Mother Earth's Blessing products, including healing clays, oils, and herbal teas. I also run the Mother Earth's Blessing Wholistic Life Center, which offers coaching, classes, and empowerment sessions. The center focuses on disease reversal, cleansing, and cellular regeneration. I also provide numerological and destiny card readings and aim to inspire action against destructive industries through live streams and documentaries promoting conscious living. Feelings with Strangers Socials https://www.instagram.com/feelings.with.strangers/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@FeelingswithStrangers ADAMA Site http://new.adamaspeaks.com/ Radio & Podcast http://new.adamaspeaks.com/the-inner-circle/ Socials https://www.instagram.com/therealadamaspeaks/?hl=en
Rockshow episode 211 The Story of Stax RecordsStax Records was a pioneering American record label based in Memphis, Tennessee, that played a crucial role in the development of soul, R&B, and funk music. Founded in 1957 by Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton, the label became synonymous with the gritty, raw, and deeply emotional sound that defined Southern soul.Stax was home to legendary artists such as Otis Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett (through a deal with Atlantic), Isaac Hayes, and The Staple Singers. Unlike Motown, which had a polished and orchestrated style, Stax music was known for its raw energy, tight horn sections, and a heavy gospel influence.One of Stax's most defining characteristics was its integrated roster of musicians, producers, and executives during a time of deep racial segregation in the South. The studio band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, featured both Black and white musicians, which was groundbreaking in the 1960s.The label thrived throughout the 1960s but faced difficulties after the tragic death of Otis Redding in 1967 and the loss of its distribution deal with Atlantic Records in 1968. It experienced a resurgence in the early 1970s, largely due to Isaac Hayes' massive success with Hot Buttered Soul and Shaft. However, financial struggles led to Stax's bankruptcy in 1975.In later years, Stax was revived as a brand, and its legacy continues through reissues and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis. Its impact on music remains profound, influencing countless artists across multiple genres.https://staxrecords.com/https://youtube.com/@staxrecords?si=bPBfHvzs7kxHrb5Dhttps://staxmuseum.org/#StaxRecords #SoulMusic #MemphisSoul #OtisRedding #IsaacHayes #BookerTandTheMGs #SouthernSoul #RNB #ClassicSoul #SamAndDave #TheStapleSingers #SoulLegends #Funk #VintageVinyl #MusicHistory #StaxMuseum #RespectYourRoots
Black History Month is celebrated every February, to honor the contributions of African-Americans to the history and culture of America. For the commemoration this year, we'll share music from The Staple Singers, Our Native Daughters, Gil Scott-Heron, Fanny Lou Hamer, Elizabeth Cotten, and many others. Listen as they bend the arc … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine. Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysElizabeth Cotten / “Washington Blues” / Shake Sugaree / Smithsonian FolkwaysThe Staple Singers / “Freedom Highway” / Freedom Highway / Epic LegacyGordon Lightfoot / “Black Day in July” / Did She Mention My Name? / United ArtistsWord Beat-Charles Williams & Tom Teasley / “Wade in the Water” / The Soul Dances / T&TGil Scott-Heron / “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” / Pieces of a Man / Flying DutchmanBernice Johnson Reagon / “Freedom in the Air” / Give Your Hands to Struggle / Smithsonian FolkwaysTony Joe White / “Willie and Laura Mae Jones” / Black and White / RepriseElizabeth Cotten / “Ruben” / Shake Sugaree / Smithsonian FolkwaysOur Native Daughters / “Black Myself” / Songs of Our Native Daughters / Smithsonian FolkwaysThomas A. Dorsey w/ The Dixie Hummingbirds / “I'm Waiting for Jesus” / Precious Lord / ColumbiaSolomon Linda's Original Evening Birds / “Mbube” / Mbube Roots / RounderMartin Simpson & Dom Flemons / “Stealin'” / Proudly Present A Selection... / Fledg'lingFanny Lou Hamer / “Woke Up This Morning” / Songs My Mother Taught Me / Smithsonian FolkwaysEarl Robinson / “Black and White” / Classic Folk Music / Smithsonian FolkwaysBrownie McGhee / “Black, Brown and White” / The Little Red Book of Protest Songs / ProperPete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer”(excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian Folkways
This episode marks the start of Black History Month 2025 with selections by the Gospel Pilgrims, Staple Singers, and Bro. Will Hairston; plus a tribute to the late Willis Pittman of the Burden Lifters (pictured), and music by the A. C. Bilbrew Choir, D.C. Aires, Mighty Clouds of Joy, New Friendship MBC Choir, and others.
Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with an hour of gospel music from artists who performed on the Avenue, as we explore the connection between gospel music and the struggle for civil rights. Also hear an interview with the Indianapolis-based historic preservationist Claudia Polley, she attended King's 1959 speech in the Avenue neighborhood. Gospel music played a profound role in the civil rights movement, serving as both a source of spiritual nourishment and a rallying cry for social change. Enjoy music from local and national artists, including The Wandering Travelers, Staple Singers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, Dorothy Love Coates, and more.
This week we go back to 1995 with an hour of hits from the year and forgotten gems as well as some soul classics from Staple Singers and brand new tracks from Stone foundation and the 745sFor more info and tracklisting, visit: https://thefaceradio.com/lock-and-stockTune into new broadcasts of Lock And Stock, Thursday from 4 – 6 PM EST / 9 -11 PM GMT.//Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Interview with Ollee Owens. Canadian soul/blues powerhouse singer Ollee Owens announces the release of her new album, Nowhere to Hide, on October 25th through her Ollee Owens Music label imprint. The first single from Nowhere to Hide, “Some Days,” was released on August 30. Produced by Bobby Blazier, the music on Nowhere to Hide is also graced by the presence of Muscle Shoals all-star guitarist Will McFarlane on eight of the album's eleven tracks. “The writing of ‘Some Days' came out of a desire to acknowledge the ups and downs of our day-to-day experiences and at the same time call out the resilience of the human spirit no matter what we come up against,” Owens says. “Sonically, we imagined it as a blues-infused song that leaves the listener feeling happy. It was recorded in Nashville with some of the best session musicians in Music City: Chris Rodriguez, Craig Young, Bobby Blazier, and DeMarco Johnson. The energy in the room that day was palpable as the song began to take shape, capturing exactly what I heard in my head when we wrote the song, resulting in a soulful and hope-filled anthem.” After returning to music a decade ago and releasing 2022's Cannot Be Unheard, the Calgary-based blues/rock singer is better than ever with her latest dazzling, down-to-earth studio album Nowhere to Hide. It's one teeming with stylish, sophisticated jewels mined from blues, rock, and soul. Nowhere to Hide features eight co-writing credits by Owens and a few covers, including Bob Dylan's "Lord Protect My Child." Whether it's Owens' confident delivery fueling the driving title track, the infectious "Some Days," or the deliciously well-crafted "Shivers and Butterflies," Owens is as dynamic as the eleven-track album is flawless. "I learned so much," Owens says of the creative process, "especially, vocally, as there was real opportunity to dig deeper and embody the lyrics." Nowhere to Hide, recorded at Nashville's Sweetbriar Studio and Gnome Studios, shines with help from a who's who of acclaimed Nashville session musicians Blazier brought to the album. "Bobby has an incredible ability to bring people together," Owens says of Blazier. "We all got in the studio together, gave it everything we got, and made some great music." That great music derives from Owens' backstory in the farming community of New Bothwell, Manitoba. As a teen, she gravitated toward Dylan, Delta Blues, The Staple Singers, and Etta James. "When I came back to creating music, I really realized the depth and influence that particular style of music had on me," Owens says of her early listening habits. Owens and her husband started their family early and had three daughters, one of whom has a cognitive disability. After some soul-searching, and realizing her daughter had exceptional needs, she took a hiatus from music. "I focused on being present and engaged for my daughters," she says. As a result, "Lord Protect My Child" strikes an emotional chord as Owens pours her soul into it. "That song has really become close to my heart," she says. "My daughter is twenty-three now, but there's still a lot of vulnerability there. The desire for protecting and taking care of her will never go away." Owens will be playing a Canadian concert in October celebrating the release of Nowhere to Hide and has plans for further touring in the spring. She's also performed at the Roots Blues and BBQ Festival in Drumheller, Alberta, and Calgary's National Music Centre, among several other venues. Now with Nowhere to Hide, Owens will have a larger fan base thanks to an amazing album you would be wise to experience wherever you get your music. Ollee's Info /https://olleeowens.com/
Twilight Session Episode 198 28/12/2024Blues Dance Special and Sexy!Playing the best in Neo under played soul and independent soul. Featured artists include Pat Kelly, Chaka Khan, Maze, The Staple Singers, Zapp & Rodger, Betty Wright plus many many more.Catch me every Saturday between 9pm-11pm for great beats with great vibes on dejavufm.com.Facebook Drea Positive LadyTwitter @Positive lady DreInstagram Dreahpositiveladyneo soul, nu soul, rnb, soul, radio show, podcast, dejavufm, love music, positive, radio, dj, female
Hoy en La Gran Travesía os dejamos un programa dedicado al sello Stax Records, con Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Staple Singers, Carla Thomas, Albert King, Otis Redding, Booker T and the M.G´s, The Mar-Keys, William Bell, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas...y muchos más. También recordaros que ya podéis comprar La gran travesía del rock, un libro interactivo que además contará con 15 programas de radio complementarios, a modo de ficción sonora... con muchas sorpresas y voces conocidas... https://www.ivoox.com/gran-travesia-del-rock-capitulos-del-libro_bk_list_10998115_1.html Jimi y Janis, dos periodistas musicales, vienen de 2027, un mundo distópico y delirante donde el reguetón tiene (casi) todo el poder... pero ellos dos, deciden alistarse al GLP para viajar en el tiempo, salvar el rock, rescatar sus archivos ocultos y combatir la dictadura troyana del FPR. ✨ El libro ya está en diversas webs https://npqeditores.com/producto/la-gran-travesia-del-rock/ ▶️ Y ya sabéis, si os gusta el programa y os apetece, podéis apoyarnos y colaborar con nosotros por el simple precio de una cerveza al mes, desde el botón azul de iVoox, y así, además podéis acceder a todo el archivo histórico exclusivo. Muchas gracias también a todos los mecenas y patrocinadores por vuestro apoyo: Jose Angel Tremiño, Marco Landeta Vacas, Oscar García Muñoz, Raquel Parrondo, Javier Gonzar, Eva Arenas, Poncho C, Nacho, Javito, Alberto, Tei, Pilar Escudero, Utxi 73, Blas, Moy, Juan Antonio, Dani Pérez, Santi Oliva, Vicente DC,, Leticia, JBSabe, Huini Juarez, Flor, Melomanic, Noni, Arturo Soriano, Gemma Codina, Raquel Jiménez, Francisco Quintana, Pedro, SGD, Raul Andres, Tomás Pérez, Pablo Pineda, Quim Goday, Enfermerator, María Arán, Joaquín, Horns Up, Victor Bravo, Fonune, Eulogiko, Francisco González, Marcos Paris, Vlado 74, Daniel A, Redneckman, Elliott SF, Guillermo Gutierrez, Sementalex, Jesús Miguel, Miguel Angel Torres, Suibne, Javifer, Matías Ruiz Molina, Noyatan, Estefanía, Iván Menéndez, Niksisley y a los mecenas anónimos.
HERE WE GO MY SHOW FOR 05-DEC-2024 WITH A MIXED BAG OF OLD CLASSICS INCLUDING ( CHANGE, GLORIA GAYNOR, ROY AYERS, LINDA CLIFFORD, THE OJAYS, BRASS CONSTRUCTION, HERBIE HANCOCK ) AND MANY MORE ALSO SOME TOP NEW TRACKS FROM ( SOULMATES, JESSIE LAINE POWELL, GEORGIE B & THE GROOVE ASSOCIATION ) WE ALSO HAVE THE CONNOISSEURS CORNER ( THIS WEEK WE HAVE TWO TRACKS FROM NAJEE ) AND WE HAVE THE BACK TO BACK CLASSICS BY A CLASSIC ARTIST (THIS WEEK WE HAVE TWO TRACKS FROM THE FATBACK BAND ) THEN WE HAVE THREE TRACKS DUG OUT FROM THE GARAGE FROM ( TYRONE DAVIS, THE STAPLE SINGERS, THE DRIFTERS) FINNISHING OF WITH A COUPLE OF SLOW TRACKS AND MUCH MUCH MORE SIT BACK WITH A GLASS OF SOMETHING AND ENJOY OR DOWNLOAD FOR LATER
Six String Hayride, The Gospel Music Episode. Giving Thanks with Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Willie Nelson, Eva Cassidy, George Jones, Hank Williams, The Staple Singers, Jeff Beck, Curtis Mayfield, and Alison Krauss, The Stories behind "I'll Fly Away" , "I Saw The Light" and "People Get Ready." The Chicago Gospel Scene with Thomas Dorsey and The Staple Singers. The tradition of Southern Church Music in Bluegrass, Country, and Rock and Roll. Chris shares Uncle Tube Carter's family Cheese Grits Recipe for a Hearty Sunday Morning. All the major religions have some type of musical tradition, so let's listen up and get right before Santa finishes making his list and dispensing his fierce artic justice. Winter needs light, ritual, and celebration to make it more interesting. Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, Diwali ,Boxing Day ,Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa ,Las Posadas , St. Lucia Day, Ashura, Saint Nicholas (leave your shoes out), Whichever one is yours, we hope it is filled with a strong sense of Peace, Love, and Family. We don't care what religion you are or aren't, the basic message is always Be Kind and Do No Harm. Join Chris and Jim for a look at Gospel Music on Six String Hayride Classic Country Podcast.https://www.facebook.com/share/g/12BRioFZWNr/
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This week, we talk to actor, writer, and improviser DAVID PASQUESI (Strangers With Candy, Lodge 49, At Home With Amy Sedaris, Veep, TJ & Dave) about Martin Scorsese's concert film about THE BAND, THE LAST WALTZ !!!We discuss David's connection with The Band and the the sadness inherent in the film, how every member of The Band can be the coolest depending on which way you're watching, how the film can be tainted by their history, how David discovered and watched the entire evening of music and what's missing from the film, marveling in how long the night actually lasted and imagining what the turkey dinner tasted like, Scorsese's secretive approach to intially making the film, how they got all these masters of cinematography to participate, The Staple Singers &Van Morrison, how the first song seen in the film is the last song they performed that night, The Basement Tapes, Chris's family's 3 generation admiration of David's work & how David uses silence in his work, how The Band seemed small town-ish while being one of the biggest rock bands in the world, the debate on who wrote the actual lyrics, how heavily Scorsese storyboarded and prepared for this film, how they had to transform the Filmore to film the concert, the song Stage Fright and if David ever gets that when performing, Joni Mitchell stealing the show, gettting Neil Young's rare ability to smile and his cocaine nose booger removal techinolgoy, the accidents that happen in this film and why they are magical, the band/gang mentality vs. being a loner, the fear of public humilation, Dylan's decision at the last minute that he didn't want to be filmed for the movie and how they got him to change his mind, the endless end of night jams with Ringo and Ron Wood, Scorsese's flawed Rolling Stones film and more!So let's fill up on a turkey, waltz, and dance to The Band on this week's episode of Revolutions Per Movie!!!DAVE PASQUESI:https://www.davidpasquesi.com/https://www.tjanddave.com/REVOLUTIONS PER MOVIE:Host Chris Slusarenko (Eyelids, Guided By Voices, owner of Clinton Street Video rental store) is joined by actors, musicians, comedians, writers & directors who each week pick out their favorite music documentary, musical, music-themed fiction film or music videos to discuss. Fun, weird, and insightful, Revolutions Per Movie is your deep dive into our life-long obsessions where music and film collide.The show is also a completely independent affair, so the best way to support it is through our Patreon at patreon.com/revolutionspermovie. By joining, you can get weekly bonus episodes, physical goods such as Flexidiscs, and other exclusive goods.Revolutions Per Movies releases new episodes every Thursday on any podcast app, and additional, exclusive bonus episodes every Sunday on our Patreon. If you like the show, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing it on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!SOCIALS:@revolutionspermovieX, BlueSky: @revpermovieTHEME by Eyelids 'My Caved In Mind'www.musicofeyelids.bandcamp.com ARTWORK by Jeff T. Owenshttps://linktr.ee/mymetalhand Click here to get EXCLUSIVE BONUS WEEKLY Revolutions Per Movie content on our Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Josh Joplin joins us to discuss "Be What You Are” from the Staple Singers (1973). Plenty of other discussion including the new album from Josh called “Figure Drawing” and baptism, Quakers, the soul charts of 1974, Bill Withers, Stax Records, Gladys Knight, “I'll Take You There” and a song that Ben thinks sounds like it, “You can't wash the Bert out” and what happens when you have to do some of your own lyrical transcribing. Check out Josh Joplin at: https://www.joshjoplin.com/Check out The Staple Singers at: https://staxrecords.com/artist/the-staple-singers/Billboard Soul Singles from April 1973: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/42h63MT0gkNDxUUhzBUCi9?si=73459ed98f0b4c1eCheck out other episodes at RecordsRevisitedPodcast.com or one all your favorite podcast providers like Apple Podcasts, Castbox, iHeartMedia, and Spotify. Additional content is found at: Facebook.com/recordsrevisitedpodcast or twitter @podcastrecords or IG at instagram.com/recordsrevisitedpodcast/ or join our Patreon at patreon.com/RecordsRevisitedPodcast
In which The Curmudgeons stand up to the man and deliver the best of the best of a special era for both cinema and music, when African-Americans anti-heroes lit up the screens and imaginations of a generation of young Black people. And also young Black artists, who cranked out stunning funk, soul and disco anthems to accompany these films. Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and The Staple Singers were among the legends who contributed to this electrifying canon. We enter our wayback machine and revisit some of the best Black music of its time. Listen to all of this great music by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/159nl5UDgswraoThqqv07A?si=7b57198f803e4944 Here's a handy navigation companion to this episode. (00:52 - 04:56) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for our discussion (05:49 - 16:23) - The Parallel Universe, feauturing reviews of new albums from King Hannah and Wand (17:08 - 45:11) - We discuss 13 great songs from blaxploitation films from artists including Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Bobby Womack and Donny Hathaway (46:29 - 1:09:08) - We discuss 13 additional songs from blaxploitation films from artists including Gladys Knight & the Pips, Don Julian, Willie Hutch, Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911 https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy80M Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons
Voces pediram! Mega episódio do mais errático e caótico podcast do minúsculo mundinho do surfe. João Valente ausente após ficar sem voz de tanto gritar depois daquela onda do Medina, Bruno Bocayuva e Júlio Adler tiveram o grande privilégio de receber o Unicórnio da bola de espuma, Daniel Rangel para debater o dia mais impressionante da história do surfe profissional - até a semana que vem. Na trilha, Slippery People dos Talking Heads interpretado pelos Staple Singers, The Noise of Carpet com Stereolab e por fim, John Mayall (que nos deixou aos 90 anos!)com os seus Bluesbreakers
Storytelling in song is not new. It's mankind's way of conveying, in both accuracy and reflection, the narrative from one perspective. Embellishments and hooks have long been the best way to make the story easy to digest and, if need be, to get a point (likely sociopolitical) across. We'll be doing just that in this Friday's episode: stories based in war, natural disasters, national tragedies and personal conflict. We'll take a hundred year tour of storytelling from Bessie Smith to the Drive-by Truckers, from Memphis Minnie and The Tex-I-An Boys to Calexico, The Staple Singers and Marty Robbins. There are floods, murders, environmental catastrophes, bombings, and some wartime solemnity to be shared today. Tune into KOWS Community Radio every Friday morning for some fresh musical linens, curated by the outdoors and streaming to all of planet Earth on KOWSFM.COM/listen
Let's go to Memphis in the meantime, baby! Our featured interview is with Rob Bowman, the Toronto based academic scholar and Grammy Award-winning professor of ethnomusicology. Notably, Rob is a recognized authority on Stax Records, and has produced numerous Stax box sets in addition to writing an exhaustively researched book, Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records. He is also an executive producer and main source for Jamila Wignot's fantastic four part HBO Max documentary series, STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A. We also speak with Eric Friedl and Zac Ives from contemporary Memphis record store, Goner Records, who tell us about their store, their label, and their annual fall festival, Gonerfest. The Record Store Day Podcast is a weekly music chat show written, produced, engineered and hosted by Paul Myers, who also composed the theme music and selected interstitial music. Executive Producers (for Record Store Day) Michael Kurtz and Carrie Colliton. For the most up-to-date news about all things RSD, visit RecordStoreDay.com) Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (dogfish.com), Tito's Handmade Vodka (titosvodka.com), RSDMRKT.com, and Furnace Record Pressing, the official vinyl pressing plant of Record Store Day. Please consider subscribing to our podcast wherever you get podcasts, and tell your friends, we're here every week and we love making new friends.
När Mavis gick in i extasen och släppte fram sig själv gav hon populärmusiken en ny frihetskänsla. I del två når Staple Singers det verkliga genombrottet på skivbolaget Stax då de hamnar i en grå stenbyggnad i Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Staples hade insett att det behövdes mer än tro för att bekämpa förtrycket. Och samtidigt som gospelfundamentalisterna vände gruppen ryggen var de på väg i sin mest spännande fas.Memphis verkade vara Staple Singers öde. Det var här som de drabbades av hat och rasism, det var här som deras vän Martin Luther King mördades, och det var här som de fann sitt nya musikaliska hem. Staple Singers fortsatte att göra musik i Kings anda, och skapade tillsammans med några av söderns främsta låtskrivare klassiker som ”Respect yourself”, ”If you're ready” och ”I'll take you there”. Men nya utmaningar väntade runt hörnet.
I två avsnitt gräver vi oss djupt ner bland soul- och R&B-rötterna (100 år), och får samtidigt berättelsen om den amerikanska erfarenheten. Mavis Staples som växte upp i kyrkan och vid frontlinjen av medborgarrättsrörelsen påverkade gospel och soul för evigt. Förkroppsligade kampen för ett värdigt liv i en ovärdig värld. En kraftgärning med ett pris. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radio Play. Staple Singers serverade opolerad musik bland stål och skyskrapor i ett hårt segregerat Chicago. Det lät mystiskt och gammalt, högtidligt och lantligt på samma gång. Ett mörkt, glest och nästan spöklikt ljud olikt något annat inom gospeln utvecklades, och influerade alla från Bob Dylan och Rolling Stones till Sly Stone och Prince. Mavis Staples gripande uttryck bidrog också till att föra fram Martin Luther Kings budskap, och blev ljudspåret till en dramatisk tid. Det är där vi befinner oss i den första delen som även innehåller ett möte med patriarken Pops Staples.
This episode contains music from the Swan Silvertones, Christ Universal Temple Choir, Mighty Cherubims, Rosa Shaw, Madame Louise Reed, Staple Singers (pictured), Lee Williams & the Spiritual QCs, and others.
Remembering Bill Walton: Basketball Star and Grateful Dead SuperfanIn this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Mishkin covers various topics, including a historic Grateful Dead show, personal concert experiences, and music news. Larry starts with a deep dive into the Grateful Dead's June 3, 1976, concert at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. This show marked the band's return after a year-long hiatus, featuring five new songs and a revived tune from a four-year break. He highlights the opening track, written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, which nostalgically reflects on the band's Festival Express tour, a legendary 1970 train journey across Canada with prominent rock bands.Larry then discusses the song "Lazy Lightning," introduced at the same 1976 concert. Written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow, it became a fan favorite for its melody and message of living in the moment, though it was retired from the Grateful Dead's repertoire by 1984. He transitions into music news by honoring Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly, who recently passed away. Larry reminisces about the band's iconic 1968 track "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" and its influence on the late 60s music scene.The podcast also pays tribute to Bill Walton, the legendary basketball player and devoted Deadhead who passed away at 71. Larry shares stories of Walton's deep connection with the Grateful Dead, including his record of attending 869 concerts, significantly more than his total basketball games played. Larry recounts Walton's influence on fellow athletes and his unique presence at Dead shows.Finally, Larry describes his recent experience at a Dead & Company concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas. He marvels at the venue's immersive visual technology, which enhanced the concert experience, likening it to a planetarium. Despite the advanced visuals sometimes overshadowing the music, Larry enjoyed the performance and the unique atmosphere. He also mentions a mini-exhibition featuring Dave Lemieux's tape collection and the significance of tape trading in Grateful Dead fandom.In summary, this episode covers a blend of Grateful Dead history, personal concert experiences, tributes to influential music figures, and the latest in concert technology, providing a rich narrative for Deadheads and music enthusiasts alike. Grateful DeadJune 3, 1976 (48 Years Ago)Paramount TheaterPortland, ORGrateful Dead Live at Paramount Theatre on 1976-06-03 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive First show back after 1975 year offPrior show: Sept. 28, 1975 – last of the four shows in 1975, this show is 9 months later. Long wait for Deadheads. Dead did not disappoint with five new songs and a breakout after a 4 year hiatus. INTRO: Might As Well Track #1 1:15 – 2:50 “Take that ride again” Might as Well” is a song written by Jerry Garcia with lyrics penned by Robert Hunter. Released on Garcia's 3d solo album, Reflections, in February, 1976. It's one of the tracks from Garcia's solo career, showcasing his musical versatility and unique ability to transform personal experiences into joyful music. The song takes a nostalgic look back at the Grateful Dead's time on the Festival Express Tour, a memorable rail trip that brought together prominent artists of the '60s for a raucous, whisky-fueled journey across America. Festival Express is the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito Bros, Ian & Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird, Mountain and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Later made into a movie Festival Express was staged in three Canadian cities: Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary (Montreal and Vancouver were also originally scheduled but both dropped) during the summer of 1970. Rather than flying into each city, the musicians traveled by chartered Canadian National Railwaystrain, in a total of 14 cars (two engines, one diner, five sleepers, two lounge cars, two flat cars, one baggage car, and one staff car).[5] The train journey between cities ultimately became a combination of non-stop jam sessions and partying fueled by alcohol. One highlight of the documentary is a drunken jam session featuring The Band's Rick Danko, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, New Riders of the Purple Sage's John Dawson, as well as Janis Joplin. Here, it is played as the show opener. Ultimately, became more of a first set closer, a popular one along with Deal, another Garcia solo tune. Played 111 times First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW 19 times that year Last: March 23, 1994 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, USA – only time played that year, 6 times in ‘91 SHOW No. 1: Lazy Lightning Track #6 0:00 – 1:46 Written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow, paired with Supplication in concert and released with Supplication as the opening tracks on the album, Kingfish, released in March, 1976. Lazy Lightning is often interpreted as a metaphorical representation of the pursuit of a carefree and leisurely lifestyle amidst the chaos and hardships of reality. The lyrics depict a whimsical scenario where the protagonist encounters a bolt of lightning that transforms into a woman, symbolizing the allure and transitory nature of fleeting pleasures. The song encourages listeners to embrace the present moment and let go of the rigid expectations and responsibilities that burden their lives. It is a celebration of spontaneity, freedom, and the pursuit of personal bliss. Lazy Lightning became a fan favorite due to its infectious melody, poetic lyrics, and the sense of liberation it evoked. Grateful Dead fans often resonated with the song's message of embracing the present moment and shedding societal expectations. It became a rallying cry for those seeking to live life on their own terms, igniting a sense of camaraderie and freedom among concert-goers. Usually, a late first set number. Unfortunately, dropped from the repertoire in 1984. I got to hear it three or four times. A fun number. Played: also played 111 timesFirst: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW!!Last: October 31, 1984 at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA, USA MUSIC NEWS – Intro music: In A Gadda Da Vida: IRON BUTTERFLY - IN A GADDA DA VIDA - 1968 (ORIGINAL FULL VERSION) CD SOUND & 3D VIDEO (youtube.com)Start - :45 is a song recorded by Iron Butterfly, written by band member Doug Ingle and released on their 1968 album of the same name.At slightly over 17 minutes, it occupies the entire second side of the album. The lyrics, a love song from the biblical Adam to his mate Eve, are simple and are heard only at the beginning and the end. The middle of the song features a two-and-a-half-minute Ron Bushy drum solo. Famously featured on a Simpson's episode when Bart switches the organist's regular music for this tune and hands out the words to the congregation who sing along. The older organ player plays the entire organ solo (although they only feature a part of it) and then at the end promptly slumps over at the keyboard. Featured today as a tribute to Doug Ingle, songwriter, keyboard player and vocalist for the song, who passed away on May 24th at the age of 78. He was the last surviving member of the original band lineup.Bill Walton passed away on last Monday, May 27th at the all too young age of 71. Couldn't miss him at the shows, 7 foot redhead dancing away or else up on stage.Dead & Co. at the Sphere, saw the June 1st show. SHOW No. 2: Supplication Track #7 2:00 – 3:30 Written by Bobby and John Perry Barlow, paired with Lazy Lightning in concert and released with Lazy Lightning as the opening tracks on the album, Kingfish, released in March, 1976. The song delves into the universal theme of the human experience, specifically emphasizing the concept of surrender and humility. It explores the idea of surrendering oneself to a higher power, relinquishing control, and embracing the unknown. The lyrics touch upon the vulnerability and humility required to let go and trust in something beyond our comprehension. Supplication encourages listeners to reflect upon their own lives, urging them to question their beliefs, values, and the significance of surrendering to a greater force. Played: 111 times (a good number for the lottery, keeps coming up), always paired with Lazy LightningFirst: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW!!Last: October 31, 1984 at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA, USA SHOW No. 3: Dancin In the Streets Track #11 0:00 – 1:42 "Dancing in the Street" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson, and Ivy Jo Hunter. It first became popular in 1964 when recorded by Martha and the Vandellas whose version was released on July 31, 1964 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks, behind "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann and it also peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.A 1966 cover by the Mamas & the Papas was a minor hit on the Hot 100 reaching No. 73. In 1982, the rock group Van Halen took their cover of "Dancing in the Street" to No. 38 on the Hot 100 chart and No. 15 in Canada on the RPM chart. A 1985 duet cover by David Bowie and Mick Jagger charted at No. 1 in the UK and reached No. 7 in the US. The song has been covered by many other artists, including The Kinks, Tages, Black Oak Arkansas, Grateful Dead, Little Richard, Myra and Karen Carpenter. I saw it as the first night show opener on June 14, 1985 at the Greek Theater as part of the band's 20 Anniversary celebration. A really fun concert tune. The 1970's versions always had strong Donna support backing up Bobby's lead vocals. This show was the first time the band had played the song since Dec. 31, 1971 (203 shows) Played: 131 timesFirst: July 3, 1966 at Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, USALast: April 6, 1987 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA MJ NEWS Blake Schneider passed away May 27th at 69. Legendary cultivator who created the best strain of marijuana I ever smoked. We just called it Blake weed and put it up against any other strain, anywhere, any time. Folks would say they had the best weed until I let them smoke some of the Blake weed. They never failed to concede. Eccentric, temperamental, hospitable, mentor and good friend. And self titled “best joint roller in the worlds.” Was one of my Bulls season ticket partners during the Jordan era. Every home game began with a pregame at Blake's loop residences including great wines, gourmet appetizers and snacks, top shelf liquor (on the way out the door we always did our “Go Bulls” shots) and more marijuana than anyone should ever smoke. With four of us in the room, he would have 3 joints circulating at all times. With his ever present life partner, Jeanne, an evening at Blakes was as much fun as the actual game itself. Ran into a problem with the Green County Sheriff, but gave them the finger when the feds took the case over and Blake only had to serve 11 months at a fed minimum risk prison instead of the 20 years that Green County said was a done deal given the number of plants he was growing at his farm house in Argyle, WI. They were not happy campers when the feds moved in to take over the case due to the value of the property they could sieve and force Blake to buy back from them. Blake was a true party legend and will be sorely missed by those of us that knew him, loved him and tolerated him. 2. Marijuana Terpenes Are ‘As Effective As Morphine' For Pain Relief And Have Fewer Side Effects, New Study Finds 3. CBD Is Effective In Treating Anxiety, Depression And Poor Sleep, Study Finds4. Marijuana And Hemp Businesses At Odds Over Consumable Cannabinoid Ban In House Farm Bill SHOW No. 4: Samson and Delilah Track #12 0:00 – 1:45 "Samson and Delilah" is a traditional song based on the Biblical tale of Samson and his betrayal by Delilah. Its best known performer is perhaps the Grateful Dead, who first performed the song live in 1976, with Bobby singing lead vocals and in the ‘70's with Donna joining in. It was frequently played on Sundays due to the biblical reference. Released by the band in 1977 on their album Terrapin Station. Although Weir learned the song from Reverend Gary Davis, several earlier versions had been recorded under various titles, including "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down"/"Oh Lord If I Had My Way" by Blind Willie Johnson in 1927.[1] The song has since been performed by a wide variety of artists ranging from Dave van Ronk, Bob Dylan, Charlie Parr, The Staple Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, Clara Ward, Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes, to Peter, Paul and Mary, The Washington Squares, The Blasters, Willie Watson, Elizabeth Cook, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band (in Verona, Italy 2006). Guest star Simon Oakland sings the song with the drovers around a campfire in the Rawhide episode "Incident of the Travellin' Man", aired in season six on October 17, 1963. A long time favorite tune with a distinctive drummers intro that tipped off the song and got the crowd fired up. Settled into a set opener, more frequently a second set opener and often played on Sundays due to its biblical reference with Bobby's “This being Sunday . .” Played: 365 timesFirst: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOWLast: July 9, 1995 at Soldier Field OUTRO: The Wheel Track #22 2:48 – 4:30 One of their most beloved songs, “The Wheel,” holds a special place in the hearts of fans worldwide. Written by Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, and Bill Kreutzmann, this folk-rock anthem has captivated listeners with its enigmatic lyrics and catchy melody. The song's meaning has been widely debated among enthusiasts, and its cryptic nature has allowed for multiple interpretations. “The Wheel” reflects the transient nature of life, offering a philosophical perspective on the cycles we all experience. The lyrics suggest that life is like a wheel, constantly turning and repeating itself. The song evokes a sense of impermanence and reminds us of the cyclical patterns we encounter throughout our existence. This theme resonates strongly with the band's philosophy and their connection to the spiritual and psychedelic culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s. “The Wheel” was released on the Grateful Dead's album “Garcia” in 1972. “The Wheel” is characterized by its infectious melody and intricate guitar work. The song showcases the Grateful Dead's ability to seamlessly blend folk, rock, and improvisational elements into a cohesive piece of music. Normally, a second set tune, into or out of drums/space although it moved around a bit in the second set. Here it is the encore which is more of a rarity. Played 259 times First: June 3, 1976 at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, USA THIS SHOW Last: May 25, 1995 at Memorial Stadium, Seattle, WA .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast
Before we get to the interview, a message from Anne:‘Hosting this podcast and interviewing all these amazing people has been such an enriching experience, and I had no idea the impact it would have on me and my listeners. With every conversation, I feel changed by my guests' stories. Because it is stories that stay with us, that and how people made us feel.' On that note, dear listener, can you please do me a favour?If you enjoy Out of the Clouds, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps make it stand out and will support booking of upcoming guests.'Episode NotesKnown in the yoga world as THE teachers' teacher, Annie Carpenter (@anniecarpentersmartflow) shares her story with Anne, who has been an avid student, first via online platform Glo.com, before attending live Zoom classes and IRL workshops with her in 2022. Annie's journey starts in Virginia, but she tells Anne how she found her path early on with dance, leading her to the Martha Graham company and New York City. From getting a scholarship to working at the junior company and briefly joining the main company, Annie found a calling in what she refers to as authentic self-movement and in teaching at the Martha Graham Center. An introvert, she shares with Anne how yoga became an essential part of her life, thanks to Integral yoga (Swami Satchidananda's school) which felt like a refuge from the competitiveness of the dance world.Annie explains how after a trip to LA and a conversation with her teacher Maty Ezraty, she impulsively relocated to the West Coast and turned to teaching yoga full time, training at Yoga Works under Maty and Lisa Walford. They go on to talk about teaching, about Annie's movement principles and energy, how to create inspiration for students, and why Annie founded her own yoga school, Smart Flow Yoga. Annie also shares why continuing to evolve is essential, as well as learning to let go of preconceived notions. She explains how she has learnt to tap into her students' expectations rather than relying on her own. Now based in Northern California, the teacher, who turned 65 this year, also talks about the stages of life, or ashrams, and she is learning to ‘retire' whatever is not supportive in her practice. Quoting Noam Chomsky, she says: "If you are teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either your field is dead, or you are.” Annie also reveals her passion for bird-watching, her mindfulness and pranayama practices, and how learning to be still was the doorway to her meditation practice. Finally, she answers the most delicate and profound question of all, one that Annie regularly asks her students: who is Annie? A joyous, profoundly thoughtful and inspiring interview. Enjoy!TakeawaysAnnie Carpenter's journey from dance to yoga and the influence of Martha Graham on her practiceThe importance of finding one's truth and balance in yoga practiceAnnie's development of Smart Flow Yoga and the principles behind itAnnie's role as a teacher's teacher and her experience teaching on Glow Glow Yoga offers a variety of teachers and practices that are both entertaining and beneficial.Teaching yoga via Zoom has its challenges, but it also allows for a more global community.Traveling for yoga teacher trainings can be both rewarding and guilt-inducing due to carbon emissions.Tapping into energy and using inquiry are important aspects of teaching yoga.Somatic movement and meditation can enhance the yoga practice and bring about self-discovery.Yoga philosophy, such as the Yuga Sutras, offers insights into time, space, and the human experience.There is a need for more accessible yoga classes that cater to beginners and focus on functional movement.Birdwatching is a passion of Anne's that connects her with nature and brings her joy. Birdwatching can be a meditative and calming hobby that allows for a deeper connection with nature.Daily rituals and practices, such as breathing exercises and yoga, can support well-being and balance.Continuous learning and evolution are essential in teaching and personal growth.Exploring the question of 'Who am I?' can lead to a deeper understanding of oneself and a sense of constancy.Connection, empathy, and self-discovery are key to finding happiness.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Annie Carpenter03:01 Annie's Journey from Dance to Yoga11:19 Annie's Early Yoga Experiences and Integral Yoga22:38 Creating Her Own School and Curriculum27:07 Movement Principles in Smart Flow Yoga31:45 Annie Carpenter: A Teacher's Teacher34:36 Teaching on Glow and the Future36:02 The Exciting and Beneficial World of Glow Yoga37:28 Teaching Yoga via Zoom: Challenges and Opportunities38:55 The Dilemma of Travel and Carbon Emissions42:17 Tapping into Energy and the Power of Inquiry in Teaching44:43 Exploring Somatic Movement and Meditation in Yoga57:31 Insights from Yoga Philosophy: The Yuga Sutras01:09:10 The Need for Accessible Yoga Classes01:12:04 Finding Joy in Birdwatching01:13:29 Birding: A Meditative and Calming Practice01:20:22 Daily Rituals for Well-being and Balance01:25:22 Continuous Learning and Evolution in Teaching01:32:40 Exploring the Question of 'Who am I?'01:43:29 The Significance of Connection, Empathy, and Self-Discovery in Happiness***Selected links from episodeYou can find Annie at https://www.smartflowyoga.com/about-annie-carpenter/on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anniecarpentersmartflow/and on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/annie.carpenter1And all details for her upcoming class schedule and teacher trainings are available here - https://www.smartflowyoga.com/or find Annie's classes on Glo - https://www.glo.com/Selected links from episodeMartha Graham on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_GrahamAnd https://marthagraham.org/The classic piece Appalachian Spring - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM5-CsI713gIntegral Yoga - https://integralyoga.org/Savasana pose - https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/6582/savasanaAli McGraw Yoga, Mind & Body - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmW5Og4VBg8Eric Schiffman - https://erichschiffmann.com/Sally Kempton - https://www.sallykempton.com/Swami Satchidananda - https://integralyoga.org/founder/Maty Ezrati - https://matyezraty.com/Kia Miller - https://www.kiamiller.com/Triyoga London - https://triyoga.co.uk/Diana Rilov - https://www.dianarilov.com/Feldenkreis - https://feldenkrais.com/Alexander Technique - https://alexandertechnique.com/Bonnie Bainbridgecohen - https://bonniebainbridgecohen.com/The Glo Podcast - https://podcast.glo.com/The yoga sutras of Patanjali - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_PatanjaliSiddhis - https://www.thecontemplativelife.org/blog/yoga-sutras-patanjali-siddhis-mystic-powersThe prothonotary warbler - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prothonotary_warblerSlow birding, the book by Joan E. Strassmann - https://www.amazon.com/Slow-Birding-Science-Enjoying-Backyard/dp/B09SN7L7WMScrub jays - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_scrub_jayThe four ashrams of life - https://yogasvi.com/the-four-ashrams-of-life/Abhinivesha - https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5533/abhiniveshaAnnie's favourite word 'molt' - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moltOut of the Clouds' playlist - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Viqm1uiiHtM5Y0FwTCtFR?si=9c1d46979d784abaAnnie's choice for what song best represents her is I'll Take You There by the Staple Singers - https://open.spotify.com/track/5xHfZxFBcMA2akGVMM1bdk?si=fb01ff20b53c42b7An Immense world by Ed Yong https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59575939-an-immense-world***If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe for more, and consider writing a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, we really appreciate your support and feedback. And thank you so much for listening! For all notes and transcripts, please visit Out Of The Clouds on Simplecast - https://out-of-the-clouds.simplecast.com/ Sign up for Anne's email newsletter for more from Out of the Clouds at https://annevmuhlethaler.com. Follow Anne: IG: @_outoftheclouds or @annvi This episode is brought to you by AVM Consulting Struggling to connect with your audience? Feeling disconnected from your brand's purpose? Is motivating your team becoming a daunting task?AVM Consulting offers a unique blend of coaching, consulting, and storytelling services designed to help your brand connect authentically, align with your values, and inspire your team to achieve greatness.With a track record of success in working with fashion and luxury partners worldwide, AVM Consulting, led by industry expert and certified coach Anne Mühlethaler, is your trusted partner in achieving your brand's vision. Ready to transform your brand and drive meaningful change? Don't wait any longer. We like to make magic happen.FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AVM CONSULTING HERE. ***If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe for more, and consider writing a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, we really appreciate your support and feedback. And thank you so much for listening! For all notes and transcripts, please visit Out Of The Clouds on Simplecast - https://out-of-the-clouds.simplecast.com/ Sign up for Anne's email newsletter for more from Out of the Clouds at https://annevmuhlethaler.com. Follow Anne and Out of the Clouds: IG: @_outoftheclouds or @annvi Or on Threads @annviOn Youtube @OutoftheClouds For more, you can read and subscribe to Anne's Substack, the Mettā View, her weekly dose of insights on coaching, brand development, the future of work, and storytelling, with a hint of mindfulness.
This week on Cultural Manifesto, celebrate Women's History Month by learning about the women pioneers of Hoosier music, including Vivian Carter, Dena El Saffar, Mary Byrne, Priscilla Mclean, Margaret Hills and Anna Mae Winburn. Vivian Carter was a legendary disc jockey and co-founder of Gary, Indiana's Vee Jay Records. Vee Jay released hit songs by artists including The Impressions, The Dells, Gladys Knight, John Lee Hooker, and Gene Chandler. Vee Jay also issued significant jazz and gospel titles, including the first full-length LP by the Staple Singers, and Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader. In February of 1963 Vee Jay became the first American record label to issue music from The Beatles. Vee Jay's release of ”Please Please Me” pre-dated The Beatles' first Capitol Records release by a year. Mary Byrne is the founder of Labyris, an influential feminist lesbian bar that operated in Downton Indianapolis from 1978-1984. During the 1980s, Byrne also served as director of the National Women's Music Festival in Bloomington, Indiana. Byrne's work creating stages for women performers in Indiana was unprecedented at the time, and remains a significant achievement in the history of Indiana music. Anna Mae Winburn was raised in Kokomo, Indiana. Winburn gained international notoriety as the bandleader and vocalist for the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a trailblazing multi-racial, all female big band that was active from 1937 to 1949. The multi-instrumentalist and composer Dena El Saffar is the founder of Salaam, a Bloomington-based Middle Eastern music ensemble. The music of Salaam draws from El Saffar's Iraqi heritage. For over 30 years, Salaam have educated audiences around the country about the music and culture of Iraq. Kokomo, Indiana's Margaret Hillis was an influential figure in American choral music and a trailblazing pioneer for women in classical music. Hillis is best remembered as the founder and director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, she led the ensemble from 1957 to 1994. Hillis' work with the chorus earned her nine Grammy Awards. Composer Priscilla Mclean studied electronic music at IU Bloomington during the late 1960s. During the 1970s, Mclean created groundbreaking electronic music works at IU South Bend. Mclean was among the first Hoosier women to attain national notoriety in the world of electronic music.
This week on Cultural Manifesto, celebrate Women's History Month by learning about the women pioneers of Hoosier music, including Vivian Carter, Dena El Saffar, Mary Byrne, Priscilla Mclean, Margaret Hills and Anna Mae Winburn. Vivian Carter was a legendary disc jockey and co-founder of Gary, Indiana's Vee Jay Records. Vee Jay released hit songs by artists including The Impressions, The Dells, Gladys Knight, John Lee Hooker, and Gene Chandler. Vee Jay also issued significant jazz and gospel titles, including the first full-length LP by the Staple Singers, and Wayne Shorter's debut album as a leader. In February of 1963 Vee Jay became the first American record label to issue music from The Beatles. Vee Jay's release of ”Please Please Me” pre-dated The Beatles' first Capitol Records release by a year. Mary Byrne is the founder of Labyris, an influential feminist lesbian bar that operated in Downton Indianapolis from 1978-1984. During the 1980s, Byrne also served as director of the National Women's Music Festival in Bloomington, Indiana. Byrne's work creating stages for women performers in Indiana was unprecedented at the time, and remains a significant achievement in the history of Indiana music. Anna Mae Winburn was raised in Kokomo, Indiana. Winburn gained international notoriety as the bandleader and vocalist for the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a trailblazing multi-racial, all female big band that was active from 1937 to 1949. The multi-instrumentalist and composer Dena El Saffar is the founder of Salaam, a Bloomington-based Middle Eastern music ensemble. The music of Salaam draws from El Saffar's Iraqi heritage. For over 30 years, Salaam have educated audiences around the country about the music and culture of Iraq. Kokomo, Indiana's Margaret Hillis was an influential figure in American choral music and a trailblazing pioneer for women in classical music. Hillis is best remembered as the founder and director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, she led the ensemble from 1957 to 1994. Hillis' work with the chorus earned her nine Grammy Awards. Composer Priscilla Mclean studied electronic music at IU Bloomington during the late 1960s. During the 1970s, Mclean created groundbreaking electronic music works at IU South Bend. Mclean was among the first Hoosier women to attain national notoriety in the world of electronic music.
It was a bittersweet Rendezvous this week, as it marks the final Rendezvous in The Face Radio's Brooklyn studios.Nonetheless, it was a beautiful show with some of the best selections to be featured!Classics from Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, The Rance Allen Group, Curtis Mayfield, Gene Harris, Marvin Gaye, and The Staple Singers.New music from Lee Wilson, Nuovi Fratelli with Nimbus Sextet, Thee Sinseers & Joey Quinones, Jungle, and more. For more info and tracklisting, visit: https://thefaceradio.com/the-rendezvous/.Tune into new broadcasts of The Rendezvous, LIVE, Sunday from 2 - 4 PM EST / 7 - 9 PM GMT on The Face Radio and Totally Wired Radio.Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com.https://linktr.ee/kurtispowers Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Recorded live on KX FM 104.7 in Laguna Beach, California, today's Keith's Music Box show features Green Day, Ramones, Nirvana, Muse, Steve Miller Band, Jackson Browne, Robin Trower, The Beach Boys, The Staple Singers, Dusty Springfield, Foreigner, Stephen Stills, Timbuk 3, The Stray Cats, Stone Temple Pilots, King Crimson, Grateful Dead, R.E.M., and a deep dive into the music of 1974 with Bad Company, Genesis, The Doobie Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad, Sweet and Supertramp.,
Teatime with Miss LizFebruary 15th, 7 pm ESTEVENING TEAJOIN US FOR THE LIVE SHOW WHERE YOU CAN BRING YOUR QUESTIONS, COMMENTS AND SUPPORT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TOGETHER. WITH A QUICK SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MISS LIZS YOUTUBE CHANNEL BELOW:https://youtube.com/@misslizsteatimes?si=5eu0--BgowGVVHKqMEET MY GUEST:Glenda BenevidesLive Performance and Philanthropy - Music that makes a differenceGlenda Benevides is an award-winning, Recording Academy voting member,GRAMMY® considered a singer-songwriter who weaves stories that touch the soul. Imagine the soul-singing love child of Heart, Janis Joplin, and Bessie Smith and that is Glenda. A powerfully resonant voice, emanating with blues and soul, demanding attention, calling to action anduplifting the very fabric of love shared amongst us all...Like a wild tent revival preacher, Glenda's sermon is empowerment, enlightenment and building bridges of understanding all wrapped in powerful self-expression that moves you from the head to the feet!Glenda Benevides was born in Oakland Ca and has been singing professionally since 16. Deeply influenced by classic vocalist Sarah Vaughan Rachelle Ferrell to Staple Singers, her soul's expression and intention are of the heart. Glenda has toured from Japan to the EU to the UK on through Canada leaving no stone unturned to light a fire on the dance floor.Glenda's career has included singing and performing for the South African Film Festival in Cannes France, The Brava theatre for a women's fundraiser gala in San Francisco, the Popkomm Music conference in Berlin, a Beverly Wilshire, Los Angeles solo performance for best-selling author Harv Ecker (Millionaire Mind seminars) and a guest appearance at the Crown Plaza in Santiago, Chile to a Presidential fundraiser for Dennis Kucinich at the Kuumbwas Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA and 2017 a rally for Alabama Dem Senator Doug Jones.Glenda has also produced many of her live performances, a web series, and music videos and has been the creative director and producer for many private events such as an exclusive fundraising gala for The Shakespeare Society of America, Foundation for Climate Restoration and donates a percentage from her music sales to One Tree Planted.Glenda also started her own record company Good Witch Records in 2004, along with Mirror Speaks The Truth productions for music in film and T. Glenda, wrote and developed a TV script called Never Give Up. She started Global Badass Goddess online Magazine and podcast in 2018, featuring women from around the world sharing stories of inspiration and empowerment. She now has a Glenda Benevides Music podcast to share stories from extraordinary artists in their trials and triumphs.Glenda is an author of Courage, Find Your Fire and Ignite Action in Your Life along with Own The Goddess Within e-book and workshop.Glenda has worked and sung with artists Toto, Jeffrey Osborne, Pink Martini and Broadway artists of "Aida" fame, Damian Perkins, and Steve Smith of Dirty Vegas, to name a few.Awards include AOF Action on Film International LA Film Festival X 2014 award winner for Best Score, Original Composition Change - Orphans in the Storm.YOUTUBE: youtube.com/c/glendabenevidesW: glendabenevides.comIG: glendabenevidesmusicLINKED IN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glendabenevides/BUY MUSIC: https://glendabenevides.bandcamp.comSPOTIFY STREAM: https://open.spotify.com/artist/ 7iEMzMaMTNsw7uw1Ivq59S#teatimewithmissliz#misslizteatime#makingadifferencetogether#GrammyArtist#songwriter#musician#philanthropy#singersongwriter#awardwinning#womanempowerment#magazine#filmfestival#authorlife#creativeart#producer#director#musicvideos#podcastshow#joinus#livestreaming#LikeFollowShare
# the staple singers if you're ready come go with me # one of the greatest musical acts ever# singers and writers# gospel R&B and pop# respect and appreciate --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mr-maxxx/support
On this episode the guys discuss the Jewish Tunnels, Gypsy Rose, Mos Def comments about Drake, Brick Lady, The Aliens In Miami, Shaunie O'Neal, Vince McMahon's nasty business, Lamar Jackson, Nicki Minaj vs Megan, Taylor Swift & more. Song of The Week: I'll Take You There x Staple Singers
January 2, 2024Leslie "Les" McCann, an exceptional jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who discovered a young Roberta Flack, and whose own works have been sampled by countless hip-hop artists, died last Friday (Dec. 29) at the age of 88.Born into a musical family, Sept. 23, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, McCann would become one of jazz music's "most gifted and influential artists," reads a statement from Kevin Gore, president of Global Catalog, Recorded Music for Warner Music Group.A self-taught pianist, McCann was an innovator in the soul jazz style, fusing jazz with funk, soul and world rhythms. He mastered all instruments before him, and enjoyed an unusual breakthrough, by winning a Navy talent contest, opening the door to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.An early hit came with "The Shampoo," the 1963 instrumental cut with his trio for Pacific Jazz Records.McCann would enjoy a fruitful relationship with Atlantic Records, releasing a dozen albums on the label from the late-‘60s through to the mid-‘70s.During that run, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, featuring McCann, frequent collaborator, saxophonist and labelmate Eddie Harris, and trumpeter Benny Bailey. The album earned a Grammy nomination for best jazz performance – small group or soloist with small group, and included the protest song, "Compared to What," which McCann and Co. performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969.Another career highlight would come in 1971, when McCann appeared with a starry cast of artists, including Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Santana and Ike & Tina Turner, for an historic 14-hour concert in Accra, Ghana. The event was captured for the concert film Soul To Soul.His ears might have been just as impressive as his hands. It was McCann who discovered and recommended Roberta Flack to Atlantic Records.A stroke in the 1990s slowed McCann's output. So he channeled his energies into painting and photography, and he recovered for a string of music releases, including Pump It Up from 2002.Gore remembers McCann as a great of jazz, the creator of "timeless" works. "While we deeply mourn his passing," Gore continues, "his music will live on in the hearts of millions of music fans across the globe."https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/les-mccann-grammy-nominated-jazz-pianist-and-vocalist-dies-at-88/ar-AA1mlFuf
January 2, 2024Leslie "Les" McCann, an exceptional jazz pianist, composer and vocalist who discovered a young Roberta Flack, and whose own works have been sampled by countless hip-hop artists, died last Friday (Dec. 29) at the age of 88.Born into a musical family, Sept. 23, 1935 in Lexington, Kentucky, McCann would become one of jazz music's "most gifted and influential artists," reads a statement from Kevin Gore, president of Global Catalog, Recorded Music for Warner Music Group.A self-taught pianist, McCann was an innovator in the soul jazz style, fusing jazz with funk, soul and world rhythms. He mastered all instruments before him, and enjoyed an unusual breakthrough, by winning a Navy talent contest, opening the door to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.An early hit came with "The Shampoo," the 1963 instrumental cut with his trio for Pacific Jazz Records.McCann would enjoy a fruitful relationship with Atlantic Records, releasing a dozen albums on the label from the late-‘60s through to the mid-‘70s.During that run, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, featuring McCann, frequent collaborator, saxophonist and labelmate Eddie Harris, and trumpeter Benny Bailey. The album earned a Grammy nomination for best jazz performance – small group or soloist with small group, and included the protest song, "Compared to What," which McCann and Co. performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969.Another career highlight would come in 1971, when McCann appeared with a starry cast of artists, including Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Santana and Ike & Tina Turner, for an historic 14-hour concert in Accra, Ghana. The event was captured for the concert film Soul To Soul.His ears might have been just as impressive as his hands. It was McCann who discovered and recommended Roberta Flack to Atlantic Records.A stroke in the 1990s slowed McCann's output. So he channeled his energies into painting and photography, and he recovered for a string of music releases, including Pump It Up from 2002.Gore remembers McCann as a great of jazz, the creator of "timeless" works. "While we deeply mourn his passing," Gore continues, "his music will live on in the hearts of millions of music fans across the globe."https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/les-mccann-grammy-nominated-jazz-pianist-and-vocalist-dies-at-88/ar-AA1mlFuf
For the Season Five finale, Kirk takes a look at The Band and Martin Scorsese's beloved 1978 concert film The Last Waltz - "The beginning of the beginning of the end of the beginning."Featuring music by The Band: Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, and Garth HudsonDirected by: Martin ScorseseAlbum: The Last Waltz (1978)Listen/Buy via SongwhipALSO DISCUSSED/REFERENCED:"The Weight" by Robbie Robertson as covered by The Staple Singers and Aretha FranklinStudio versions of several songs from the show, featured on The Band (1969) and Northern Lights - Southern Cross, 1975A 2014 New Yorker interview with Mavis Staples"Rockin' in Rhythm" by Duke Ellington, first recorded 1931"The Next Waltz," a concert event held every November in Portland, ORThe Jeremy Wilson Foundation, helping support local musicians in need----LINKS-----SUPPORT STRONG SONGS!Paypal | Patreon.com/StrongsongsMERCH STOREstore.strongsongspodcast.comSOCIAL MEDIAIG: @Kirk_Hamilton | Threads: @Kirk_HamiltonNEWSLETTERhttps://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribeJOIN THE DISCORDhttps://discord.gg/GCvKqAM8SmOUTRO SOLO PLAY-A-LONG:https://soundcloud.com/kirkhamilton/strong-songs-outro-music-no-soloSTRONG SONGS PLAYLISTSSpotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music--------------------DECEMBER 2023 WHOLE-NOTE PATRONSBrian TempletCesarCorpus FriskyBen BarronCatherine WarnerDamon WhiteKaya WoodallDan AustinJay SwartzMiriam JoySEAN D WINNIERushDaniel Hannon-BarryChristopher MillerJamie WhiteChristopher McConnellDavid MascettiJoe LaskaKen HirshJezMelanie AndrichJenness GardnerDave SharpeSami SamhuriJeremy DawsonAccessViolationAndre BremerDave FloreyDECEMBER 2023 HALF-NOTE PATRONSJames McMurryEthan Laserbrianjohanpeter@outlook.comChris RemoMatt SchoenthalAaron WilsonDent EarlCarlos LernerMisty HaisfieldAbraham BenrubiChristopher BrunoChris KotarbaCallum WebbLynda MacNeilDick MorganBen SteinSusan GreenSean MurphyJake YumatillaAlan BroughRandal VegterGo Birds!Whit SidenerRobert Granatdave malloyNick GallowayHeather Johnsonjohn halpinPeter HardingDavidMeghan O'LearyJohn BaumanMartín SalíasStu BakerSteve MartinoCarolinaGary PierceMatt BaxterLuigi BocciaE Margaret WartonCharles McGeeCatherine ClauseEthan BaumanKenIsWearingAHatJordan BlockAaron WadeJeff UlmJamieDeebsPortland Eye CareCarrie SchneiderRichard SneddonDoreen CarlsonDavid McDarbyWendy GilchristElliot RosenLisa TurnerPaul WayperBruno GaetaKenneth JungAdam StofskyZak RemerRishi SahayJason ReitmanAilie FraserRob TsukNATALIE MISTILISJosh SingerAmy Lynn ThornsenAdam WKelli BrockingtonVictoria Yumino caposselaSteve PaquinDavid JoskeEmma SklarBernard KhooRobert HeuerMatthew GoldenDavid NoahGeraldine ButlerMadeleine MaderJason PrattAbbie BergDoug BelewDermot CrowleyAchint SrivastavaRyan RairighMichael BermanOlivia BishopLinda DuffyBonnie PrinsenLiz SegerEoin de BurcaKevin PotterM Shane BordersDallas HockleyJason GerryNathan GouwensLauren ReayEric PrestemonCookies250Damian BradyAngela LivingstoneSarah SulanDiane HughesMichael CasnerLowell MeyerStephen TsoneffJoshua HillWenGeoff GoldenRob FPascal RuegerRandy SouzaClare HolbertonDiane TurnerTom ColemanDhu WikMelEric HelmJonathan DanielsMichael FlahertyJarrod SchindlerCaro Fieldmichael bochnerNaomi WatsonDavid CushmanAlexanderChris KGavin DoigSam FennTanner MortonAJ SchusterJennifer BushDavid StroudAmanda FurlottiAndrew BakerAndrew FairL.B. MorseBill ThorntonBrian AmoebasBrett DouvilleJeffrey OlsonMatt BetzelNate from KalamazooMelanie StiversRichard TollerAlexander PolsonEarl LozadaJustin McElroyArjun SharmaJames JohnsonKevin MorrellColin Hodo
Recorded live on KX FM 104.7 in Laguna Beach, California, today's Keith's Music Box features Dave Edmunds, Steve Miller Band, ELP, Sly & the Family Stone, Pat Benatar, Journey, The Rolling Stones, Robin Trower, Santana, R.E.M., Paul McCartney & Wings, Hooters, The Staple Singers, The Kings, Ace, Silversun Pickups, Three Dog Night, Cake, Deep Purple, U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Vaughan Brothers, ZZ Top, Toadies and Kaleo.
Matt and Sammy are keeping the peace and love vibe going this week with music from Sly and The Family Stone, Harold Melvin, The Jam and The Staple Singers.Plus we feature some britpop classics from The Seahorses, The MockTurtles, Blur and James.Tune into new broadcasts of Blow-Up, Sunday from 8 - 10 AM EST / 1 PM - 3 PM GMT, in association with Brisbane's 4ZZZ.For more info visit: https://thefaceradio.com/blow-up///Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode includes music from artists such as Ethel Davenport, J. Robert Bradley, Consolers (pictured), Rev. F.C. Barnes & Rev. Janice Barnes, Staple Singers, Sensational Jubilettes, and others.
William Luck is host this week with music from the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers, Mighty Mighty Clouds of Joy, Gospel Landers, Williams Brothers, rare Staple SIngers (photo), B.B. King (yes, the blues king also sang spirituals), and others.
The tour bus delivers our travelers for two days in historic Memphis, Tennessee. The National Civil Rights Museum rests on the site of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King lost his life to an assassin's bullet while standing on the balcony with his trusted friends, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Abernathy, and Andrew Young. The Museum is housed in a comprehensive series of buildings that outlines the history of Slavery from 1619 to the present day. Exhibits feature the story of resistance and the champions of the Civil Rights Movement. Our tour explores the I AM A MAN Memorial Park and the Sanitation Worker's Strike of 1968 that brought Dr. King to Memphis. Then, we move on to the Burkle House, commonly known as the Slave Haven, a stop on the Underground Railroad. STAX RECORDS in Memphis launched American soul music, celebrated in the STAX Museum where careers were launched including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and many others. Spoken word artist Rev. Jesse Jackson and comedians Moms Mabley and Richard Pryor got their start in the STAX studios. We end this edition of TRUTH QUEST on Beale Street, the home of B.B. King, Ida B. Wells, and The Memphis Blues. The grand boulevard became the inspiration for James Baldwin's fifth novel If Beale Street Could Talk. SHOW NOTESIn this episode, we happily introduce Sasha Lunginbuhl.Meet our contributors.Listen to the entire series - TRUTH QUEST: Exploring the History of Race in America - in their own words.Support the show
SUMMARYStax Records legend Deanie Parker talks about writing songs for Otis Redding, Albert King, William Bell, and Carla Thomas, dives deep on what made the Stax environment so special, and shines a light on the recently-released box sets of forgotten Stax songwriter demos. PART ONEScott and Paul discuss the wild story behind the monumental box set Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos.PART TWOOur in-depth interview with Deanie ParkerABOUT DEANIE PARKERWhile still in high school, Deanie Parker won a Memphis talent contest and an audition for Jim Stewart at Stax Records. He signed her and released her debut single, on the Volt label, in 1963. The self-penned “My Imaginary Guy” became a regional hit, but the life of a touring artist was not for Parker. She became the first Black employee at Stax's Satellite Record Shop before joining the label staff as the company's first publicist in 1964. Learning on the job while studying journalism at Memphis State, Parker eventually became the company's Vice President of Public Affairs. One of the first female publicists in the music industry, she worked closely with Isaac Hayes, Booker T & the MG's, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, and others. Wearing many hats at Stax, Deanie continued to write songs with colleagues such as Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Eddie Floyd, Bettye Crutcher, Mack Rice, Mable John, and Homer Banks, with whom she penned the soul classic “Ain't That a Lot of Love.” The list of Stax artists who recorded her songs includes Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers, and more. Her other writing skills were put to use penning liner notes for classic albums such as Sam & Dave's Hold On, I'm Comin', Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign, Otis Redding's Live in Europe, and Shirley Brown's Woman to Woman. From 1987 through 1995, Deanie served as the Assistant Director of the Memphis in May International Festival. A tireless champion of the Stax legacy, she became the first President and CEO of Soulsville, the nonprofit organization established to build and manage the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Stax Music Academy, and the Soulsville Charter School. She was appointed to the Tennessee Arts Commission in 2004 and, in 2009, was awarded two Emmy awards for the I Am a Man documentary short, for which she was an executive producer and the title song composer. The list of artists outside the Stax family who've covered Deanie Parker's songs includes The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Darlene Love, Taj Mahal, Three Dog Night, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Band, New York Dolls, Simply Red, Hall & Oates, and many others. She is a co-producer and co-liner notes writer of the seven-CD collection Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, and was recently announced as a 2023 inductee into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
On the show this week is William Bell, an incredible vocalist and legendary soul songwriter from Memphis. William was the first male artist signed to Stax Records in the early 60's and it's an honor to have him join me today to talk about his experiences. He grew up singing in church but quickly moved to the vibrant nightclub scene on Beale Street in Memphis where he worked with his vocal group The Del Rios at many of the venues there. He was first signed to Stax Records in the early 60's, primarily as a songwriter, but also as an artist. Other Stax artists at the time included Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Booker T and the MG's, Sam and Dave, and The Staple Singers. William wrote one of the label's first hits with “You Don't Miss Your Water” in 1961, and had several other releases and hits but his tenure at Stax was truncated in the mid-60's when he enlisted in the army. When he returned to Memphis and the Stax world, he wrote more classic soul tunes like “Everybody Loves A Winner” and ”Any Other Way”, as well as the blues mega-hit “Born Under A Bad Sign”, which he tailored directly for Albert King (including whispering the lyrics in his ear as King sang the song for his record). That song has also been covered by Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Etta James, among many others.Bell's successes continued through the 70's and 80's writing and recording more hit soul tunes, and having songs covered by artists like Eric Clapton, Lou Rawls, Rod Stewart, and Billy Idol.In 2017 William collaborated with the incredible producer and guitarist John Leventhal to make his album “This Is Where I Live” which brought him in front of a new audience and won him a Grammy award. That killer album was followed by 2023's “One Day Closer To Home”. We'll be hearing lots more from William Bell in the years to come, so make sure you check his dates at williambellmusic.com and go so him live!Be sure to listen to the Accompanying Songs Playlist which contains some of the artist's work, plus many of the songs we discuss on the show:Playlist on Spotify / Playlist on Apple MusicIf you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show with a donation or Patreon subscriptionThe show's website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.comYour fearless host, Steve Dawson can be found at www.stevedawson.ca Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/mmasspodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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
Day 19 “The first time I met the blues The Address: 229 Highway 8, Cleveland, Mississippi. The Story: It's called Dockery Farms. “Farms” is a rebrand. It was a back-breaking plantation in a small town in Mississippi. It's walking distance from where Fannie Lou Hamer picked cotton. It's a stone's throw from “the crossroads,” where a young Robert Johnson was rumored to have sold his soul for an unearthly cool. There, as the sun kissed the dusty sky goodbye, guitars played, feet stomped, and hips swayed. The long days of work were made magic by the masters of a new American art form called the Blues. Just one generation after Dockery Farms, hundreds of blues men and women amplified the stories of our people and became the soundtrack of struggle. That real pain was carried in the Great Migration to the blighted streets of the industrial north. Today, let's shine a light on the founders of the Blues. Many of them met on this very plantation: Charley Patton, Howlin' Wolf, and even “Pops” Staples of The Staple Singers worked there. But this is Black history, and it didn't just start on this farm. The truth is that the Blues was born in the hearts of the people of Africa. The Blues is their story and rhythms as they were brought to Mississippi. The Blues was therapy for their children on Beale Street in Memphis, and it brought laughter and reprieve to the hike joints of Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. The Blues brought truth to the world. This episode will be electrifying as we walk and talk about the function of Blues music for Black people.
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