Tune Tuesday

Happy 100th birthday to the King of the Blues – BB King! He was born in the Mississippi Delta and was attracted to music and taught himself to play guitar. The beginning his career was in juke joints and on local radio. It was later that he lived and performed in Memphis and Chicago.

One of my favorite BB King stories is how his guitar got its name. It happened in Twist, Arkansas one night during one of his shows. A brawl broke out between two men and caused a fire. He left the building with the rest of the crowd but ran back in to get his guitar. He said he later learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named the guitar Lucille as a reminder not to fight over women, or run into any more burning buildings.

The song The Thrill is Gone was written and originally recorded by the blues musician Roy Hawkins in 1951. In the 1950s, BB was a Memphis radio DJ who played the Roy Hawkins original on the air. The song is about moving on from a relationship that has gone bad.

King recorded the song several times but didn’t like any of the results. Producer Bill Szymczyk (most famous for producing the Eagles) called King at 4:00 a.m. and suggested the addition of strings (King later said that he’d agree to just about anything at that time of the night). The addition polished up the recording that gave him his first million-selling record.

The song won him a Grammy in 1970 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. In 1980 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame while in1987 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006. Those are just a few of his many accolades.

BB King passed away on May 14, 2015 at age 89. He was one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Allmusic recognized King as “the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century”. I would agree!

Happy Birthday, BB!

Tune Tuesday

Happy 50th birthday to Michael Buble’!

Michael is often referred to as a crooner. This is because he helped to renew public interest and appreciation for the Great American Songbook and those traditional pop standards.

He readily admits that he is a “great cover artist.” His albums feature him covering the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and Mel Torme’. But he is also a great songwriter and the songs he has written have done well on the charts, too.

Bublé has sold over 75 million records worldwide, and won five Grammy Awards. He has also won fifteen Juno Awards.

His first album was released in 2003. It did well in Canada and the UK. In 2005, his album It’s Time brought him more world wide attention. In total, he’s recorded nine albums. He’s about due for a new one since his last one was released in 2022.

Right around the time of his first album, he made the rounds at radio stations. My buddies Tim and Jeff had them on their show in Arkansas. They said he was a blast.

They said he was very funny and down to earth. They hung out with him that evening, I think they all went to a hockey game together. They said he was one of the coolest artists they’d ever met.

He seems like a pretty cool guy. He has no problem poking fun at himself and always seems to be having fun. I would love to meet him one day.

I have featured his music a few times on this blog. Feelin’ Good, The Theme From Spiderman, and Cry Me a River are some of my favorites. Today I picked another one that I like – Call Me Irresponsible.

I was hooked as soon as I heard the opening bass line. When the drums and band join in, it’s just “smooth.” He has a Dean Martin vibe here – relaxed and effortless.

Let’s swing together and wish Michael a Happy 50th!

Tune Tuesday

Billy Preston was born on this day in 1946.

Preston was a keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed many genres of music. He was R&B, rock, soul, funk, and even gospel.

Preston started off at the age of 10 playing keyboards for gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. Later he joined Ray Charles’ touring band before recording with The Beatles on several of their tracks including “Get Back” and “Let It Be” (The Beatles considered him to be the fifth Beatle). He also played on a number of Sly & The Family Stone recordings and went on to have a successful solo career with five Top 10 US hits.

He was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing artists like Little Richard, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones! He also made a name for himself as a solo artist. Today let’s look at two of his hits.

Will It Go Round in Circles

This funky soul number was Billy Preston’s first #1 solo single. The virtuoso keyboardist, who was credited on the Beatles’ “Get Back” and joined them for their iconic 1966 rooftop concert, was briefly signed to the Fab Four’s Apple Records but found success with a switch to A&M Records. Music Is My Life was Preston’s second album on the LA-based label; his first, I Wrote A Simple Song, yielded the Grammy Award-winning instrumental “Outa-Space, which narrowly missed the #1 slot.

This was born out of a joke Preston made to his songwriting partner, Bruce Fisher, about having a song but no melody. The comment inspired the opening refrain, “I got a song that ain’t got no melody, I’m gonna sing it to my friends,” and set up similar proclamations, such as having a story with no moral and having a dance with no steps.

Nothing From Nothing

Billy Preston started writing this one night in the dressing room of an Atlanta nightclub where he was performing. He wanted to write a song based on the saying, “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing,” a variation on Bob Dylan line: “When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

“The saloon piano gave it character,” Preston explained, “and I had a feeling it would be a hit because it was a singalong kind of thing.”

Bruce Fisher, who was Preston’s songwriting partner (he co-wrote “Will It Go Round In Circles”), added a second verse.

Fun Fact: The B-side of the single was another song Preston wrote with Fisher: “You Are So Beautiful,” which was later a hit for Joe Cocker.

Bonus Fun Fact: “Nothing From Nothing” was the first song performed on Saturday Night Live. Preston and Janis Ian were the musical guests on the October 11, 1975 debut of the show.

The later years of his life were plagued by substance abuse, health issues and legal issues. In 1997 he was sent to prison on drug charges. He suffered from kidney disease and hypertension. In 2005, he voluntarily entered a drug rehab center where pericarditis led to respiratory failure. He was in a coma from November of 2004 until he died in June of 2006 at age 59.

Tune Tuesday

Happy 76th birthday to Bob Cowsill of the Cowsill.

Wikipedia says: The band was formed in early 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry Cowsill; their brother John joined shortly thereafter. Originally Bill and Bob played guitar and Barry played the drums. When John learned to play drums and joined the band, Barry began playing bass. After their initial success, the brothers were joined by their siblings Susan and Paul along with their mother, Barbara. A seventh sibling, Bob’s fraternal twin brother Richard, was never part of the band during its heyday, although he occasionally appeared with them in later years.

Between 1967-1970, the band released 5 albums. In their career, they chatted 8 singles that made the Hot 100 chart. They never had a number one song, but came close. Hair and The Rain The Park and Other Things both made it to number 2.

The Rain, The Park and Other Things was the breakthrough hit for the group. The song is known to many as “The Flower Girl.”

The Cowsills were the forerunner of The Osmonds, a group that would appear on the same record label a few years later. Unlike the Osmonds, the boys’ mother Barbara also features on the recordings. The Cowsills also made many television appearances during the late 1960s and the early 1970s and they were an inspiration for the Partridge Family.

Studio musicians were brought in for the recording, a practice that continued until 1969, when the Cowsill family were allowed to play their own musical instruments. (No, the Wrecking Crew did not play with the group.)

Olivia Newton-John recorded an upbeat version of this song for the 2011 movie soundtrack A Few Best Men. The soundtrack album is all cover songs recorded by Newton-John and mixed by various producers.

Sources: Songfacts.com, Wikipedia

Tune Tuesday

Happy 56th birthday to country music’s Clay Walker!

Clay was one of the nicest guys in the business. I never felt rushed when he was doing a Meet and Greet. He was always happy to sign something or record a line for me. He was the same way with listeners. Someone would come out and tell folks “One picture and one signature per person,” and Clay would sign everything a listener brought back for him.

Clay had his share of ballads over the years, but A Few Questions is one that really struck a chord with people.

It was released in April 2003 as the lead-off single and title track from his album of the same name. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hit Country Singles & Tracks Charts.

When the song was just hitting radio, Clay said, “‘A Few Questions’ is touching people the way it touched me the first time I heard it. The choruses come right out of the Book of Job. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in 1996, the Book of Job is part of the Bible I read over and over, trying to understand what I needed to do. And every time I sing the song, it lifts up my own spirits as much as it lifts those of others. My favorite line in the song is “When you look down on me, can you see the good through all the bad.” That’s a powerful thought.” He told Country Weekly “It’s a very deep song to me. It really relates to me in a lot of ways, because I think everybody has questions in life.”

During an interview with CMT, Clay revealed that philosophical songs like “A Few Questions”, “The Chain of Love” and “It Ain’t Pretty”, are not his favorite form of songs when he said, “Those kinds of story songs are the ones that choke you up. I’m not a person that tends to listen to those songs a whole lot because they are deep. I like something with a little more vocal range in it. But those three songs really do make me think. It takes great songwriters to write them because they’re totally lyric-based. They’re not standing on production. They’re standing on the story and the words.”

As a man of faith, I can tell you there is a lot of stuff that I don’t understand. All I know is that while I don’t know the answer, God does. When people come to me and tell me of their struggles, I will often tell them that. It’s not in the easy times that people question God, it’s during the tribulations we go through.

I remember when my Grandpa died. I was 11 and standing on the driveway crying. I looked up and asked, “Why did you have to take him? Why do good people have to die?” I had no idea, but He did. If you have ever found yourself questioning “Why?” then you will be able to relate to this one.

Happy Birthday, Hoss!

Tune Tuesday

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. who was born on this day in 1929. You probably know him as “Buck.”

I was introduced to Buck when I saw him on Hee Haw with Roy Clark.

They co-hosted the show together from 1969-1986! Had quite a run full of hillbilly humor and corny jokes.

Buck taught himself how to play guitar, horns, mandolin, and drums. He was the frontman for The Buckaroos and together they chocked up 21 number one hits. He is best known for his Bakersfield sound, named in honor of Bakersfield, California.

In 1963, Johnny Russell pitched his song “Act Naturally” to Buck. Buck really didn’t care for it at first. His guitarist and longtime collaborator Don Rich, however, enjoyed it and convinced Owens to record it with the Buckaroos. Laid down on February 12, 1963, it was released on March 11 and entered the charts of April 13. By June 15 the single began its first of four non-consecutive weeks at the No. 1 position, Owens’s first top hit.

The song made an impact on four guys from Liverpool known as The Beatles. They covered the song in 1965 and Ringo Starr handled the lead vocals.

23 years later, Ringo and Buck would get together and perform the song as a duet.

Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He passed away in March of 2006.

Tune Tuesday

Happy 57th birthday to Terri Clark.

I have always loved her music. I’ve had the chance to meet her on a couple occasions as well as interview her on the air. She is witty and has a great sense of humor. She was a lot of fun to talk to.

I decided to go with a song that would probably be familiar to you. One of Terri’s early hits was a remake of “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”

Written and originally recorded by Warren Zevon, it first appeared on his self-titled album in 1976. It became a hit when Linda Ronstadt covered it the next year.

Ronstadt shared her thoughts on this song in a 1978 interview with Sounds: “To me that song seemed like the purest expression of male vanity. Step on you, be insensitive, be unkind and give you a hard time, saying can’t ya take it, can’t ya take it. Then if you tease men in the slightest bit, they’ll just walk off with their feelings hurt, stomp off in a corner and pout. I mean that’s the way men are, I swear. I thought the verse turned around to a female point of view was just perfect. The gender change works perfectly.”

Terri’s version was released in September 1996 as the lead single from her second album, 1996’s Just the Same. Clark told Billboard magazine that she heard Linda Ronstadt’s version of the song in a local gymnasium while she was exercising. She said “and I thought, what a cool song. What a great country record that could make. I started doing it live, and it worked.”

“Poor Poor Pitiful Me” debuted at number 47 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of October 12, 1996. Clark’s version was a number one hit on the Canadian RPM country charts, and a number five hit on the country charts in the U.S.

The video comprises black-and-white tour footage interspersed with Clark being approached by a series of men while her car is being fixed at a full service gas station. Eventually, she realizes the man fixing her car is the one for her. She starts to drive off, before calling him over to get in. The two drive off together, leaving the other two co-workers at the shop surprised.

Happy Birthday, Terri!

Sources: Songfacts, Wiki

Tune Tuesday

Linda Ronstadt turns 79 today!

I have written about Linda a couple times on this blog. Both times were in connection with Dave Ruch’s music feature, Turntable Talk. The first one can be found here. The second one is here.

I have always loved her voice and was devastated when I heard she could no longer sing. It seems like her music has always ben a part of my life. Until I looked at a list of her songs, I didn’t realize just how many covers she did. Blue Bayou, When Will I Be Loved, It’s So Easy, Just One Look, Tracks of My Tears, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, That’ll Be The Day, Desperado, and so many others were all cover songs!

Her albums with Nelson Riddle are among my favorites. She had hoped to do one more album with him, but he passed away. So she took those songs and made the album, Hummin’ To Myself. One of my favorite cuts from that album is, I’ll Be Seeing You. It’s a beautiful song by a beautiful lady.

Happy Birthday, Linda!

Tune Tuesday

There are plenty of “musical” birthdays that I could have tied into Tune Tuesday today. Billy Eckstine (1914), Jerry Vale (1931), Steve Lawrence (1935), Toby Keith (1961) and Joan Osborne (1962) were all born on this day. However, I decided not to pick any of them.

Instead, I wanted to feature one of the early influencers of Rock and Roll. As a matter of fact, he is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His music would not be considered Rock and Roll, but his “jump blues” and “rhythm and blues” sound certainly influenced many of those rock pioneers. I am talking about the amazing Louis Jordan.

Louis Jordan was born on this day in 1908. He was a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Among his nicknames were “The King of the Jukebox,” “The Father of Rhythm and Blues,” and “The Grandfather of Rock and Roll.”

According to Wiki, “Jordan began his career in big band swing jazz in the 1930s.” He came to the public’s attention while he played in Chick Webb’s hard swinging band. As his career continued, he became better known as an “innovative popularizer of jump blues—a swinging, up-tempo, dance-oriented hybrid of jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie. Typically performed by smaller bands consisting of five or six players, jump music “featured shouted, highly syncopated vocals and earthy, comedic lyrics on contemporary urban themes. It strongly emphasized the rhythm section of piano, bass and drums; after the mid-1940s, this mix was often augmented by electric guitar.”

From 1942 to 1951, Jordan had 59 songs that charted! On the R&B charts, of those 59 songs the lowest charting song rose to #14. According to Joel Whitburn’s analysis of the Billboard magazine charts, Jordan ranks fifth among the most successful musicians of the period 1942–1995!

I’m staring at a list of his songs and it is hard to choose just one to feature. Memorable songs from Louis include: Five Guys Named Moe, Let the Good Times Roll, Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby, Knock Me a Kiss, Beware, Caldonia, Open the Door Richard, and G.I. Jive. His songs were even referenced in cartoons. One example is Tom the Cat singing Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby in a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Another is from a Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon where Sam is banging on a door and says, “Open the door!” He pauses, breaks the fourth wall by looking at the viewer and says, “Notice I didn’t say, ‘Richard?'”

Here are a couple of my top Louis Jordan songs. First, a little boogie-woogie with Choo Choo Ch’Boogie:

My buddy used the chorus of this song as his answering machine outgoing message. There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens:

My best friend, Jeff, and I always laugh at this next one. Give it a listen all the way through once, and then go back and listen to it again and focus on the vocals by the Tympany Five in the back ground. Here is Beans and Cornbread:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame say that my final Louis Jordan pick is an “early example of rap.” I can totally see where they might thing that. It is one of those great “story” songs. From 1950, here is a Saturday Night Fish Fry:

Happy Birthday Louis Jordan!!!

Tune Tuesday

For Tune Tuesday today, I want to play both sides of the record. The A-side was a hit for the recording artist, while the B-side was a hit for another artist a few years later.

Robert Byrd was born on this day in 1930. He is best known by his stage name – Bobby Day. It’s interesting that a guy named Byrd would have a hit song about a bird – Rockin’ Robin.

He was part of many groups, including the Crescendos, the Jets, the Voices, the Sounds, and The Hollywood Flames. He actually helped write the Flames biggest hit, “Buzz Buzz Buzz.”

Rockin’ Robin was a solo hit for Bobby. It went #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the Hot 100. The Hollies, Gene Vincent and Michael Jackson all covered the song. In 1980, the song was also featured on The Muppet Show, with their house band The Electric Mayhem performing it in a tree with some feathered friends.

Fun Fact: That famous piccolo part was played by Plas Johnson, who was better known as a saxophone player – he did the Pink Panther theme.

The B-side of this single was a song called “Over And Over,” which was written by Day. In 1965 became a US #1 hit for The Dave Clark Five when they covered it. It was their only US #1.

Bobby Day and Thurston Harris released the song the same week. Both entered the Hot 100. Harris’s version topped out at #96, while Bobby’s bubbled under the top 40, reaching #41.

Personally, I like Bobby’s version the best.

Bobby Day died of prostate cancer on July 27, 1990, at age 60.