Author: General Manager

A special three-hour program focusing on the music and culture of Memphis — featuring an interview with noted author and documentary filmmaker Robert Gordon — took place on the Dec. 5 edition of Greasy Tracks.

Click here to check out an archive of the program, while a playlist is here. 

Gordon talked about how he embraced the 25^th anniversary of his debut book, It Came From Memphis, publishing a revised and updated version with Third Man Books, the literary imprint of Jack White’s Third Man Records. The just-out tome features more than 80 new photos, updated text with additional interviews and a new layout.

Following in the footsteps of legendary music writers Peter Guralnick and Robert Palmer, Gordon’s latest effort is perhaps the definitive tale of the how music played a key role in Memphis — especially from the 1950s through the 1970s, but even onwards — as the city went through an array of social and cultural changes with a seemingly endless cast of fascinating characters.

Gordon has written six books and produced or directed eight documentaries, including the Emmy-winning Best of Enemies — about the televised 1968 debates between William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal — which took honors for Outstanding Historical Documentary in 2017.

He won a Grammy for his essay for the four-CD Big Star collection, Keep an Eye on the Sky and four of his documentaries have earned Grammy nominations, including Johnny Cash’s America; Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story; Muddy Waters Can’t Be Satisfied and “The Road To Memphis” which was an episode of Martin Scorsese’s The Blues.

An interview with veteran folk and blues singer Tom Rush was featured on a special edition of Greasy Tracks on Oct. 15.

The program also included music from across Rush’s career which is now in its sixth decade. Rush appears at Bridge Street Live on Nov. 7.

Click here to check out an archive of the program, while a playlist is here. 

In 1962, Rush released his debut album — Tom Rush Live At The Unicorn — as two of his performances at the famed Boston coffeehouse were recorded, even though only 600 copies were ultimately pressed. The record remains highly sought after by collectors.

It was during this period that Rush, a native of New Hampshire, helped introduce the era of the singer-songwriter, paving the way for artists who would become household names years later, including Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Browne to name but a few.

Rush would go on to record a number of songs written by the aforementioned artists. Throughout his recording and performing career, he’s managed to find the right balance between his own compositions and a wide range of tastefully done covers.

In March, Rush was diagnosed as having COVID-19, but by the following month, had apparently recovered from the sickness.

Rush will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Matt Nakoa at the Bridge Street show. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Nakoa first played with Rush during an impromptu recording session in 2014 when he sat in on piano. Impressed by Nakoa’s ability, Rush took him on the road shortly thereafter and the duo have worked together regularly since as Nakoa accompanies Rush on guitar or keyboards.

Greasy Tracks presented a two-part feature on the band Spirit.

Go here to check out the first part and here for the second part, while a playlist is here.

In addition to music from throughout their catalog, the feature includes interviews with founding members Mark Andes and Jay Ferguson as well as Mick Skidmore, the trustee of guitarist Randy California’s estate.

Best known for their 1968 single “I Got A Line On You” which went to No. 25 in the U.S. charts, the band was formed in 1967 and merged rock, jazz and psychedelia — essentially progressive rock before the genre gained popularity in the early 1970s.

It was during Wolfe’s time in the Blue Flames that Hendrix nicknamed him Randy California to differentiate him from Randy Palmer. Since Wolfe was from California, while Palmer was from Texas and would be known by Hendrix as “Randy Texas.”

Between 1968-70 the band released four albums, including their self-titled debut, The Family That Plays Together, Clear and The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus which would be their only gold album.

Ferguson and Andes would leave the band for form Jo Jo Gunne in 1971 following a tour to support the release of Sardonicus.

In addition to discussing the band’s history, especially the talents of California, the guests also share insight on the on-going lawsuit which was filed by Skidmore on behalf of the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust against Led Zeppelin in 2014 contending that Zeppelin copied elements of the Wolfe (California)-written “Taurus” from Spirit’s 1968 debut for what would become one of the most famous songs ever recorded, “Stairway to Heaven” which was released in 1971.

Last month, Skidmore filed a petition for writ certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, essentially requesting that it gives the lower court’s ruling a complete review of how it found that the Zeppelin classic didn’t infringe on the Spirit track.

Oddly enough, on their first U.S. tour in 1968-69, Zeppelin opened for Spirit on a handful of dates and would regularly include Spirit’s “Fresh Garbage” during a mid-set medley.

A trust, established by California’s estate, provides financial support for music programs for the school systems of Ventura, Calif. and Quincy, Mass.

A special program featuring the music of the late Justin Townes Earle was part of the Aug. 31 edition of The Devo Rock Show. Earle passed away on Aug. 20 of an apparent drug overdose according to reports by police in Nashville, Tenn.

Click here for an archive of the program.

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The son of musician Steve Earle, he grew up in South Nashville.  His parents separated when he was a young child, partly due to Steve Earle’s drug use. This led to a tumultuous childhood with Justin battling drug addiction beginning in his teenage years. After dropping out of school, he worked for his father as a roadie and was later invited to perform onstage with Steve Earle’s band The Dukes.

After cutting his teeth with Nashville bands The Distributors and The Swindlers, Earle borrowed a $1,000 from a girlfriend to release his debut EP Yuma in 2007. This led to moderate success and got him into the Nashville singer/songwriter music scene. From 2008-19 he released eight more albums, including his most recent The Saint Of Lost Causes.

His music is described as a fusion of rock, blues, bluegrass and country. In 2009, he received an Americana Music Award for new and emerging artist of the year.  His “family trilogy” albums from 2014-17 include Single Mothers (2014), Absent Fathers (2015) and Kids In The Street (2017). 

Justin struggled with drug addiction his whole life and was in and out of rehabilitation facilities. He is survived by wife Jenn Marie Maynard and daughter Etta.

The Aug. 17 edition of The Devo Rock Show featured an interview with  John Cate and music from his band The Van Gough Brothers.

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Click here to check out an archive of the program.

Included was a world radio premier of a track from their forthcoming untitled album that was just recorded at David Minehan’s  Woolly Mamouth Sound in Waltham, Mass., and music from their 2019 release Love Letters (American Music Partners). Minehan (The Neighborhoods/The Replacements) co-produced the new album which is Cate’s 15th.

In the interview, Cate described how he got his start as a musician playing jazz fusion/rock with Mark Zamcheck, including gigs at The Newport Jazz Festival and touring with the likes of Dave Brubeck and Pat Metheny.

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He did many things along the way in his 50-year career, including working as a sound engineer at the legendary clubs The Jazz Workshop and Paul’s Mall in Boston before leaving the music business and pursuing a business career that eventually led to his involvement as a founding principal with eMusic where he conceived the industry’s first-ever digital rights licensing strategy in the creation of the pioneering music download company EMusic.

In the late 1990s, he teamed up with an old friend Paul Candilore (guitar) and formed The Van Gough Brothers. They recruited bassist Clayton Young and fiddle, pedal steel and mandolin player Steve Latt. They have employed a variety of drummers, including former Fairport Convention member Dave Mattacks and noted session players Andy Plaisted and John Sands.

Their sound is often compared with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with songs that tell stories of love and struggle.

Cate has written more than 1,000 songs, many of which have been featured in film and television, including such programs as NCIS, Justified, American Idol, Numb3rs and others.

He was interviewed at The Magical Moon Farm and Foundation Marshfield, Mass., which is currently one of the only places featuring live music in the area this summer. Cate is the music director of the organization and has recruited an eclectic lineup of musicians to play at the farm in an open air environment to help keep it in business and support local musicians.

The Aug. 8 edition of Greasy Tracks featured a special on Zamrock.

Click here to check it out, while a playlist is here.

Tracing its roots to Zambia’s mineral-rich Copperbelt Province in the 1950s where northern singers Stephen Tsotsi Kasumali, William Mapulanga and John Lushi were based, the genre is a hybrid of traditional African rhythms and Western influences stemming from funk and psychedelic rock.

One of the people responsible for Zamrock was Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia who happened to be an amateur musician. In the first years of his tenure, Kaunda passed a law that at least 95 percent of the music on the radio in the country had to be of Zambian origin.

Key musicians in this new, very unique form of music included guitarist Rikki Ililonga who led the band Musi-O-Tunya (MOT) and Paul Dobson Nyirongo — best known as Paul Ngozi — who fronted the Ngozi Family. MOT was based primarily in Kenya for periods of time.

As a player, Ngozi had some obvious Hendrixian influences, down to his stage antics of occasionally playing with his teeth.

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Another important performer was Emanyeo “Jagari” Chanda, the lead singer for one of the top Zamrock bands, WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc). WITCH played especially heavy music, boosted by an array of electronic effects and the fuzz guitar of Chris “Kims” Mbewe.

Chanda garnered the nickname when crowds compared him to Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, but not wishing to be likened to the Stones, he tweaked the moniker, combining it with “jaggery” — a type of dark sugar.

Italian journalist/documentarian Gio Arlotta, who traveled to Africa with Tim Spreng to make We Intend To Cause Havoc chronicling Chanda’s life, summed up the genre: “What’s special about Zamrock is how heavy it sounds,” Arlotta said. “Nigeria has more funk. Mali is more bluesy, Ethiopia is more jazz. In Zambia they just loved Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix. It’s proto-metal, proto-punk — a dirty sound that you can’t hear anywhere else in Africa.”

Other Zamrock bands that turned heads and caught ears included Amanaz, The Foot Steps, 5 Revolutions, The Peace and Salty Dog

Social themes were central for the majority of the material recorded and performed by Zamrock bands as Zambia, one of the world’s largest producers of copper, enjoyed strong economic times in the opening portion of its first decade of independence, but quickly fell on hard times as the 1970s progressed.

Despite the immense pool of talent and potential for numerous Zamrock bands, the “glory days” of the genre were short-lived and lasted less than a decade. In the 1980s, Zambia was handicapped by a horrible economy compounded by the HIV/AIDS epidemic from which the country has never recovered. WITCH was the hardest hit with every member, minus Chanda, dying from AIDS.

WRTC hosts have done a number of tributes to Peter Green who passed away July 25 at the age of 73.

The first spotlight on Green took place July 25 with three hours of music from throughout his career on Authentic Radio. Click here to listen to an archive of the show. The Aug. 1 tribute on Greasy Tracks, focused on deeper tracks in a career overview. Click here to check it out, while a playlist is here.

The start to Green’s rise to critical acclaim and later commercial success — both of which he would shun – came simply because of who he replaced when he joined as the lead guitarist in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in July 1966 to fill the place of Eric Clapton who left to form Cream.

Green had subbed for Clapton for a handful of shows eight months earlier, but upon taking on the role, Green’s new boss was his biggest champion. When going into the studio to start recording A Hard Road, Mayall told Decca Records producer Mike Vernon: “He (Green) might not be better (than Clapton) now. But you wait… he’s going to be the best.”

While he would only remain with Mayall for less than a year, the time spent in studio and on the road with the Bluesbreakers became a valuable experience for Green who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac in 1967, bringing on two Mayall alums, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood.

In time, the group would boast three guitarists with Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan rounding out the line-up which would release three outstanding studio albums (Fleetwood Mac, Mr. Wonderful and Then Play On) before Green left the band in 1970.

It was during his Mac days that Green penned some of his greatest songs, “Black Magic Woman,” “Albatross,” “Man Of The World,” “Show-Biz Blues,” “Rattlesnake Shake” and “Long Grey Mare.”

In the post-Mac period of his career, Green dealt with a series of mental health issues, inconsistent studio creation and album output and a number of different line-ups of players.

The July 27 edition of The Devo Rock Show featured a tribute to singer/songwriter Emmitt Rhodes who passed away at the age of 70 on July 19.

Click here to listen to an archive of the show.

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A native of Hawthorne, Calif., Rhodes, like many of his contemporaries, was heavily influenced by The Beatles and The Byrds. His joined his first group, The Palace Guard, in 1965. They would don red uniforms of royal British guardsmen when performing and became local favorites in southern California. The Place Guard briefly included drummer Don Grady who was part of the cast of My Three Sons.

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A multi-instrumentalist and talented songwriter, Rhodes would go solo, signing with ABC/Dunhill and releasing a debut self-titled and self-produced solo album in 1970 featuring songs written and performed by Rhodes on all of the instruments. The album, which reached No. 29 on Billboard’s album chart, drew critical acclaim and Rhodes was immediately compared to Paul McCartney. The song “Fresh As A Daisy” became a regional hit in the Los Angeles area and went to No. 54 on the Billboard singles chart.

Anxious to capitalize on the success of Rhodes, ABC/Dunhill released the album The American Dream which featured material recorded with session musicians during Rhodes’ time in The Merry-Go-Round. This was not received well as it didn’t sound like the material written and performed solely by Rhodes.

Two more albums of material written and performed by Rhodes were released by ABC/Dunhill including, Mirror and Farewell To Paradise. The label wound up suing Rhodes over the pace of his recording saying he wasn’t keeping up to schedule. Friends of Rhodes described him as being upset and feeling betrayed by the record company and this led to his leaving the record industry. He eventually wound up working as a staff producer for Elektra Records.

In 2000, Rhodes completed a solo record for the Rocktopia label that was set for release, but the record company went out of business. He returned to recording in 2009 and released a new version of the Merry-Go-Round song “Time Will Show The Wiser” with the Nick Vernier Band that was previously covered by Fairport Convention. In 2011, he released three songs recorded with Debbie and Vickie Peterson of The Bangles, but these were withdrawn shortly after release due to litigation and were unavailable until 2015.

In 2016, fans were finally rewarded with a new solo album by Rhodes called Rainbow Ends. It features contributions by Aimee Mann, Jason Faulker, Bleu, Taylor Locke, Susanna Hoffs and others. It was met with favorable reviews and features the classic sound of the early 70s Rhodes releases.

Featured on the program were songs from The Merry-Go-Round, his solo albums and covers by bands like The Bangles and Fairport Convention.

Multi-instrumentalist Alex Jordan was part of a feature on the July 25 edition of Greasy Tracks spotlighting music from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Jordan recently released The Subtle Exhibitionist (Chicken Man Music), his debut solo album following his departure from  Midnight North last year. He spent nearly six years with the group playing guitar, keyboards and adding vocals. He was part of two studio and a pair of live releases with the San Francisco-based band.

Jordan’s album has been a few years in the making. Armed with some demos he had put together, Jordan went into the studio in November 2017. He played the majority of the instruments on the album, but has a handful of guest musicians, including Dave Zirbel (lap/pedal steel guitar), Sean Nelson (drums), Owen McInnis (bass), Steve Adams (bass) and Danny Eisenberg (Hammond organ), adding support.

He wrapped up recording in March 2019, but due to his commitments with Midnight North, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that all production and mastering on the 10 tracks was completed.

In addition to tracks from Jordan’s album, a variety of music from Bay Area bands was also be featured.

Guitarist Elgin Park was a guest on the July 18 edition of Greasy Tracks where he discussed  Como De Allstars (Knowledge Room Recordings), the just-released album by The Greyboy Allstars.

Click here to listen to an archive of the show, while a playlist is here.

The album, which is the fifth studio effort by the band, marks its first in seven years. In August, they plan to re-issue their 1994 debut, West Coast Boogaloo, which was recorded live in a single day and featured the legendary J.B. Horns trombonist Fred Wesley on three tracks.

Although they have been together since 1993, when the band started playing weekly gigs in their hometown of San Diego and making the trek north to San Francisco for weekend appearances, side projects have long been a constant for members.

Park, who focuses on film scoring, gained a lot of attention for his work on Donnie Darko in 2001 and more recently, Pete Davidson’s The King of Staten Island. Saxophonist Karl Denson records and tours with his band, Tiny Universe, and has been a touring member of the Rolling Stones since 2014 when he replaced Bobby Keyes. Keyboardist  Robert Walter records and tours with 20th Congress as well as rounding out Phish bassist Mike Gordon’s band. Bassist Chris Stillwell and drummer  Aaron Redfield are in-demand studio players.

Denson and Walter were guests on Greasy Tracks in the past. Click here and here to listen to archives.

Due to hectic schedules related to their respective projects, the Allstars appear together only a few times a year on stage. Such was the foundation for what would become their new offering which took only three days to record.

During a weekend of concerts in Texas, an Allstars appearance in Dallas was canceled due to poor weather. Not to let the opportunity to play slip away, they found some rehearsal space and challenged themselves to write new material for the first time in five years.

“Getting the physical bodies together is almost impossible, given our schedules,” says Park, “but it immediately feels like it did back then (in early days of the band). We have such a great time.”

Denson captured the Dallas jam sessions on his laptop and shared the tracks with the rest of the band. A while later, they gathered for a writing session in San Diego and determined that getting into the studio and properly recording the material would be the best approach, albeit as soon as possible and by not overthinking the project.

“This band has such chemistry that it was never hard work,” says Walter. “So it’s never that hard to get back to it, even if we haven’t played for a year.”

Apparently, the moment the band finished a take of the final song on the third day of recording, the tape machine died. “That’s a sign!” Walter remembers. “That’s it!”

The band came up for the album title based on the Spanish phrase “como de costumbre” or “as per usual” – given the Allstars’ ability to take care of business in short order.