Photos from Nashville

After Austin we moved to Nashville for the AmericanaFest. Here is a selection of photos of some of the many artists we saw during our week there. The first gig we went to was an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 'Exile On Main Street' which featured well over a dozen acts. Here are a couple of them: the lead singer of Them Vibes (above), who did an impressive Mick Jagger impersonation, and Peter Case, who led the band for much of the evening.

This is Chuck Mead (left), who we saw at 6th and Peabody. ">

Here are some more photos from my week in Austin for the Eastside Kings Festival. Here is Trudy Lynn, who was excellent, at Antone's.

Backing two of the acts at Antone's was Japanese band Bloodest Saxophone.

One of the artists they backed was Crystal Thomas.

Also Stan Mosley.

Sean 'Mack' McDonald.

This is Big A Anthony Sherrod.

Here is Birdlegg.

Lucious Spiller.

I had my photo taken with several of the acts that I saw in Austin. This is with Rosie Flores.

With Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

With Gypsy Mitchell.

With Trudy Lynn

With Stan Mosley

Finally, one with Crystal Thomas.

Photos from Austin - 1

Having returned from our US trip I will be putting a few music related photos on the Vinyl Word in the coming days. This first batch is from our stay in Austin, Texas, and the first photo is of Dale Watson at the Continental Club.

This is Lou Ann Barton who we saw at Antone's.

On our third night we caught a very entertaining tribute to Buddy Holly's 86th birthday featuring a host of artists, too many to cover in detail here. This is Rosie Flores.

Also on stage was Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

This is a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan which is down by the river in Austin.

Just prior to the Eastside Kings Festival three blues artists played at Antone's. Here is Gypsy Mitchell.

Here is the second one, Ernie Johnson.

This is Taildragger.

On the first day of the Festival proper, this is (right) Johnny Nicholas, formerly of Asleep At The Wheel.

One of several lesser known artists, this is Soul Man Sam.

This is Keith Dunn.

A frequent visitor to the UK in the 90s, this is Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges.

Here is Amanda Dawson.

This is Little Jimmy Reed.

Finally in this Batch of photos here is the last live act of the afternoon, the Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band.

AmericanaFest in full swing

Americanafest got into full swing on Thursday with a multi artist session at Roberts Western World which was cramped and crowded. Each act did two numbers and the atmosphere was noisy and uncomfortable but good musically. Artists of note included Jim Lauderdale 49 Winchester, Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel with Brennen Leigh, Joshua Ray Walker (a big guy and popular with the locals it seems), Alex Williams and Kelsey Waldon. The final act that we stayed for was Tommy McLain who played keyboard facing one way while CC Adcock faced the other. He did a couple of numbers from his new album 'I Ran Down Every Dream' plus his 1966 hit 'Sweet Dreams'. The evening was spent at 3rd & Lindsley which featured the music of Arkansas. First up was Larry McCray, a bluesman I haven't seen since the nineties whose singing and playing on his flying V guitar was excellent. Numbers included 'Arkansas', 'No More Crying' and 'Down To The Bottom'. He has a new album out called 'Blues Without You' which is surely worth a listen. Next up was Bonnie Montgomery, a country singer , who was followed by country rock artist Rev Greg Spradlin who was very good. The rest of the evening was spent on a tribute to Arkansas native Levon Helm with a succession of artists singing one solo or The Band song each. These included Allen Thompson, Webb Wilder ('W C Walcott Medicine Show'), Shannon McNally ('Up On Cripple Creek'), Jim Lauderdale ('Rag Mama Rag') and Mike Farris ('The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down'). Other artists included J D Clayton Lee Roy Parnell Lisa Morales and Allison Moorer. We were expecting someone to sing 'The Weight' but the wait was too long so we left around 12.30. Friday took us back to Roberts for boogie woogie piano player Jason D Williams. His act is very much in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis and was wild as he played with his fists, heel, backside and anything else available. Numbers included 'Little Queenie', 'Crazy Arms' and bits of 'Hi Heel Sneakers', 'Drinking Wine Spodie Odie' 'Great Balls Of Fire' and 'Sea Cruise'. It was exciting and exhausting even for the audience. From there we went to the much less frenetic atmosphere of the Riverside Revival to see Tommy McLain do a full set with C C Adcock. This was swamp pop at its best with songs including 'Roses Don't Grow Here Any More', 'Juke Box Songs' 'I Ran Down Every Dream' and, of course the Woodies anthem 'Before I Grow Too Old'. We stayed on for Josh Rouse who turned out to be a so-so singer/songwriter. The final night of the festival was an all female one at the Station Inn and a brilliant one it was too. Folliwing a five women folk group called Sister Sadie we saw the McCrary Sisters, Ann, Regina and Alfreda, who provided some fantastic gospel soul numbers including a version of 'Amazing Grace' which they dedicated to fourth sister Deborah who died recently, 'Come On', 'Train' and 'Ill Take You There'. They were due to be at Porretta a couple of years back but their trip was cancelled because of Covid. Let's hope they are invited back. The final act was a trio of female singer songwriters Brennen Leigh Kelly Willis and Melissa Carper. Each of them sang their own numbers with superb harmony from the others and were highly enjoyable. We will be back in London kn Tuesday, skilfully avoiding the Queen's funeral, and I will post photos then.

Austin to Nashville

The Eastside Kings Festival ended with a series of shows on East 12th Street. Some of the acts had been on earlier but it was an excellent day nonetheless. Trudy Lynn was at the Circle Bar with a bluesy set backed just by harmonica and guitar while Crystal Thomas and Keith Dunn were at the King Bee supported by Bloodest Saxophone. There were excellent sets by Lucious Spiller and Big A Anthony Sherrod who I have seen previously at Red's in Clarksdale and by Guitar Slim Jr who I've seen in New Orleans. A new name to me was Sean "Mack' McDonald who was very impressive and there were also sets by Eugene Hideaway Bridges, Dr James Polk and Centerpeace Jazz, Birdleg and Little Jimmie Reed among others. Again these shows were sparsely attended, with the exception of Crystal Thomas, which was a shame as the quality of performances was excellent. After a week of Austin's heat and high prices we moved on to Nashville which was slightly cooler although still quite expensive due to the poor exchange rate. We arrived late but eventually reached our 4 bedroom up market Airbnb before walking for a late night beer at Old Glory. Next day we bagged some goodies offered by a whiskey company at a welcome do for the Americanafest and then met up with Ron Cook at the Fleet Street pub in Printer's Alley. In the evening we went to Basement East where the 50th anniversary of Exile On Main Street was celebrated. There were several bands, including the Homestead (I think), Them Vibes and one led by Peter Case which had a rolling company of over a dozen musicians. Naturally the songs being performed were by the Stones and there were several Mick Jagger impersonators, not least the singer with Them Vibes. Artists took turns in performing one Stones number each, among them Webb Wilder Amy Darling Leah Blevins and Matthew Page. The show was good fun but seemingly endless so we took our leave about 11.30. Highlight was probably the first band who did several early Rolling Stones classic numbers. I didn't recognise some of the later material I have to admit. We took the long walk next day to Nashville's recreation of the Parthenon in Centennial Park before going down town for some food. Broadway was heaving and the food was poor but afterwards we slipped into Roberts Western World for some fine rockabilly by Kelley's Heroes. from there we went to 6th and Peabody where Chuck Mead formerly of BR5-49 was playing some country stuff with a bit of rockabilly. Final stop of the evening was the City Winery where we caught The War and Treaty. They are a husband and wife duo Michael and Tanya Trotter, and they harmonised beautifully on some soul inflected numbers. A good end to the evening.

Blues and soul at Eastside Kings

The Eastside Kings Festival hit its stride on Saturday with a series of shows featuring mainly lesser known blues artists in small bars in East Austin with some bigger names appearing at Antones later in the evening. Founded ten years ago by local bluesman Eddie Stout the festival is quite a low key affair with small audiences but is high in quality. Kicking off the music in the Circle bar in East 12th St was Johnny Nicholas a fine guitarist who was formerly a member of Asleep At The Wheel and who has played with many blues artists over the years. There were several artists playing at the same time in different bars nearby, including local bluesman Soul Man Sam, Goldie Pipes and the excellent Andrea Dawson, 'the sassy soulstress of the blues' who made an excellent impression. Boston harmonica player Keith Dunn was also performing as was Rip Lee Pryor, son of Snooky, and Little Jimmy Reed, who has been a regular visitor to the UK over the years The highlight of the afternoon session however was Eugene Hideaway Bridges who was himself a regular UK visitor in the nineties. Since then he has lived in Australia and Holland and it was good to see him again. His voice remaine in great shape on soulful renditions of songs including 'I Can Never Forget', 'Real Hero', 'Jump The Joint', 'She Want To Dance','I'll Be A King' and 'Rise Above It'.Excellent stuff. The final act I saw before dashing off to Antones was the Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band, which was originally formed by one of the last original Mississippi fife players Otha Turner over 60 years ago. Back at Antones, the first act of another exciting evening was Houston blues singer Trudy Lynn who I last saw in London nearly 30 years ago. Dressed in a dazzling sparkly blue/green dress she put on a great show which included numbers such as 'Life Goes On' from her new album 'Golden Girl' which marked her 75th birthday. Other songs included a raunchy number called '29 Ways', 'Blues Aint Nothing' and 'Just A Little Bit'. Backing the next two acts was an extraordinary Japanese band called Bloodest Saxophone, featuring two saxes and an excellent guitarist who together made one hell of an impact. The first vocalist they supported was Crystal Thomas, a dynamic young blues singer from Louisana who has a big powerful voice to match her plus size frame. She was superb on a series of R and B and soul numbers including 'Let Me Down Easy', 'Just Like A Fish','I Want A Man' and 'Let The Good Times Roll'. This was certainly good time music and the saxophones played a big part in making this a sensational set. The final act of what was another wonderful evening of music was southern soul singer Stan Mosley. Stan has a voice that is similar to that of Wilson Pickett and has performed at Porretta twice, in 2016 and last years Christmas festival. Starting with 'I'm A Bluesman',his all too short set included Al Green's 'Love And Happiness', 'If I Can't Be What You Want' and 'I'm Back'. Highly enjoyable and good to see him again.

Eastside Kings Festival underway

Our US trip continued with a visit to San Antonio - my third - where we heard the news that the Queen had died, one of those 'where was I' moments that will stay in the memory. Back in Austin we bought our tickets for the Eastside Kings Festival, had a look around Antones record shop on Guadaloupe and ate a fairly average Mexican meal. Next day we had a look at Stevie Ray Vaughan's statue by the river and then took a long walk in the heat to the Texas Music Museum. When we got there it was closed but luckily one of the curators, Clayton Sharkey turned up. He showed us around and his love of all types of Texas music, from classical to conjunto, was obvious. In the evening it was back to Antones club for the first night of the festival. First up was Gypsy Mitchell, an Austin bluesman who I hadn't seen before. He made a big impression dressed in a black and white checkerboard suit and wielding a guitar. Numbers included 'Take Me I'm Yours', a deep Soul version of 'Closer To You', some funk, an excellent cover of 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' and 'Movin', with good support from two backing singers. He's a fine guitarist and a showman, as evidenced by a stroll around the audience, playing his guitar behind his head and standing on a table. A great start and the excitement continued with Ernie Johnson from Dallas, as he told the audience several times. A tall old school soul/bluesman with a voice similar to Bobby Bland his act was much the same as the show he did at Porretta in July with excellent versions of 'Dreams To Remember', 'It's Party Time' plus a tribute to Bobby Bland with 'Stormy Monday Blues', 'I Take It Where I Find It' and 'Drifting Blues'. It was easy to picture Ernie in small clubs on the chitlin circuit and his set was over far too quickly. Final act of the evening was Chicago bluesman Taildragger, a singer very much in the style of Howlin' Wolf who he worked with and who allegedly gave him his nickname because he always turned up late. Looking smart in a wide brimmed hat and brown suit he sat for his act as he was clearly none too mobile, but his deep voice was excellent. Numbers included 'Trouble', 'Where Did That Woman Go' and 'Be Careful' and backing by guitarist Hash Brown and harmonica player Keith Dunn was excellent. All in all a great way to start the festival.

Back in the USA

I'm back in the States after a gap of three years taking in festivals in Austin and Nashville and the first few pre-festival evenings have been great. There are six of us - John Howard, Dave Carroll, Alan Lloyd, Lee Wilkinson, Nick Tancock and myself - which is slightly more than normal, but so far so good. The first evening took us to the Continental Club where we caught the regular Monday night show by Austin legend Dale Watson. What a great show it was with a seamless mixture of Americana, Country and rockabilly numbers with regular calls by Dale to drink Lone Star beer, which he has been promoting for years. Highlights included 'Ring Of Fire', 'Is Anyone Going To San Antone' and 'Jambalaya' and there were a couple of numbers by, I think, James Penrose including 'From A Jack To A King'. Dale's shows are seemingly endless and we baled out after about 90 minutes but it was a fantastic start to the trip. Next day we had a wander around Austin during the day but it was pretty dead. Not so in the evening when we went to Antones to see another Austin legend Lou Ann Barton. backed by the Moeller Brothers, who have spent time in the Fabulous Thunderbirds, This was another brilliant show despite there being a very thin crowd. The Moellers set the ball rolling with the trio producing excellent versions of blues classics such as 'Pretty Thing' and 'It Hurts Me So'. Lou Ann more than lived up to expectations with moody plaintive versions of blues numbers by Slim Harpo ('Baby Scratch My Back' and 'Shake Your Hips' for example), Hank Ballard and others, including 'Stop These Teardrops'. It was a fairly short set but really top drawer. The support act later Sarah Barton and the Heat, also came across well. We decided to rent a car for a couple of days after numerous Uber trips and drove out to the Texas Hill Country. We had lunch in Blanco and stopped off in Gruene, home of the oldest dance hall in Texas. The evening's entertainment was beyond brilliant , a celebration of Buddy Holly' birthday at the Sagebrush in South Austin featuring an all star cast. The band, led by Colin Gilmore, played all Buddy's timeless songs with different artists contributing. Rosie Flores sang 'Heartbeat', BettySoo led on 'Words Of Love', Jimmie Dale Gilmore on 'Oh Boy', Pat Byrne on 'Well Alright', Kimmie Rhodes on 'Midnight Shift', Julian Neil on 'That's My Desire'. And there was 'Peggy Sue', with a tribute to co-writer Jerry Allison who died last week, 'It's So Easy', 'True Love Ways', 'Not Fade Away', 'Raining In My Heart', with everyone joining in on 'That'll Be The Day'. It was a truly joyous occasion with a birthday cake and fond memories of Buddy. The Buddy Holly Story was the first LP I owned and I, along with countless others, sang along throughout. Tomorrow is the start of the Eastside Kings Festival the reason we are here, but what a great trip it has been so far. I will put photos on the Vinyl Word when I get home.

The Temptations' Otis Williams - the Formative Years....and he's returning to the UK

By Seamus McGarvey

In November 2000 and late-2020 I interviewed Otis Williams, currently the only surviving member of the original Temptations, and due to tour the UK again this September - October alongside The Four Tops (see https://www.thepublicityconnection.com/thetemptations for details). We spoke about the early years, preceding The Temptations, and these were his memories.

'I was born in Texas, a strong gospel background... I used to listen to quartets and I used to be part of the choir when I was a little fellow down in Texas and I was raised by my grandmother.’ The original Temptations ‘used to sit around and sing gospel songs like 'Oh Mary Don't You Weep'... So I did sing with a gospel quartet if you wanna think of The Temptations as a gospel quartet in the way they harmonised things (laughs)!' Otis was always a solid bass singer: ‘I grew up appreciating the gospel singers like Sam Cooke, The Pilgrim Travellers, The Soul Stirrers, The Harmonizing Four, The Swan Silvertones, Mahalia Jackson... and their bass singers... and then when I moved from Texas to Detroit, I started hearing the other pop singers of the day like Nat 'King' Cole, Roy Hamilton, Little Richard, James Brown and different vocal groups... and the bass singers in the vocal groups.'

"Gospel ‘was very important because we were all Southern boys – I’m from Texas, David [Ruffin] was from Mississippi, Paul [Williams] was from Birmingham AL, Eddie [Kendricks] was from Union Springs, AL, Melvin [Franklin] was from Montgomery AL, so there was a lotta guys from the South, and especially back then because you was raised listening to great gospel singers. And when The Temps got together, a lotta times we would start off our rehearsals by singing great gospel songs, and then onto some of the popular songs of the day.’

Regarding their repertoire, ‘‘Do You Love Me’ by The Contours was originally written for The Temps, but Melvin, Eddie, Paul, Al [Elbridge ‘Al’ Bryant] and myself were at The King Solomon Baptist Church [in Detroit] watching The Dixie Hummingbirds, The Harmonizing Four and a few other name groups, and they were singing, and they had the choreography... So the next day we come up from town and they were asking us where we were because [label owner] Berry Gordy Jr. was looking for us… we said, ‘We were at church, listening to some great gospel groups’, and they said, ’Well, you know, Berry wrote ‘Do You Love Me’ for The Temps, but when he couldn’t find you he gave it to The Contours’.’ Despite missing the session, ‘we were out there watching the great gospel groups doin’ their thing, that’s why we were steeped with that gospel singing, and some of the choreography… the influence from the church.’

In terms of vocal groups, 'I started out as a doo-wopper, on the street corner, in the street-lights, in the hallways, any place you could get a good echoey sound… Doo-Wop was really important… just about any street corner you would go to in Detroit you would find a vocal group singing Doo-Wop. That was the growing-up process of singers in just about any city – Chicago, New York, Detroit – any big city had a lot of Doo-Wop groups goin’ – that was a given.’

"One of the earliest groups Otis helped form was The Siberians who cut a couple of sides, 'Pecos Kid' and 'All Of My Life', for Detroit deejay Senator Bristol Bryant around 1958. ‘Everything at that time was so helter-skelter… we didn’t last long, nothing too much happened.’ Re ‘Pecos Kid’, they ‘did a take of it, it got a little action but it didn’t jump off. It was during the time when a lot of those novelty types of records was being popularised… but it didn’t really do anything.’

Otis recalled doing ‘a lot of little menial stuff that didn’t take us nowhere. The only thing that took us to any kind of popularity or notoriety was when we went with [label owner] Johnnie Mae Matthews.’ Otis formed The El Domingoes with Melvin Franklin and Richard Street, signing with Matthews’ Northern label as The Distants and recorded 'Come On' [co-written by Otis]/ 'Always' and, with Morty Craft as producer, 'Open Your Heart'/ 'All Right', all of which were released nationally on Warwick Records. They did score a Detroit hit with ‘Come On’, ‘by Richard Street and The Distants… it was such a popular record in the Detroit area that it brought us to Berry Gordy’s attention.’

Lacking national distribution, Johnnie Mae ‘made a deal with Warwick Records… it helped us get our name known… Eddie Kendricks told me that in Birmingham, AL, ‘Man, they used to play The Distants’ record all the time… ‘ - made us feel good.’ Johnnie Mae ‘signed us… we got a hit’, and ‘she started makin’ money, and when I asked her about royalties because I wrote ‘Come On’… she didn’t want to give me any… that’s when we parted ways.’ Berry later ‘saw my group perform… at St. Stephen's Community Centre. And I came off because he came in with The Miracles then, and I'm standing alongside him watching The Miracles. We had to go to the Men's Room and he said 'Come and see me, I'm starting my own record company', gave me his business card and history was made.'

As regards the group’s name, ‘We tried ourselves as The Elgins’, a name already in use: ‘Billy Mitchell, a guy who used to work [at Motown], said ‘What about The Temptations?’ I jumped up and said, ‘I like that!’’ The others agreed, ‘that was 1961.’ As The Temptations they scored a range of chart hits, Pop and R&B, from 'My Girl' through 'It's Growing' to 'Get Ready’ and more… at that time we were just singing whatever was brought to us, and bein' part of Motown… whether it was Smokey Robinson or Norman Whitfield, or Berry Gordy himself, we would sing... whoever would bring us the song and Berry said, 'Record it'.' The rest is record and R&B history.

Seamus McGarvey.

The top photo was taken on stage in 2018. The backstage photo above in 2012 and the one below in 2012.