I’ve been an admirer of Neal “Soul Dog”
Furr since I first began reading his CD reviews online at BeachMusic45.com in 2005. I find his views to be dead on, and always
an interesting read.
And you know why? Because he just lays it out there. He doesn’t
get all caught up in a literary exercise of biting sarcasm that’s designed to show off his own writerly cleverness.
Nor does he go overboard with long fawning strings of alliterative, admiring adjectives that only a publicist could love.
With Neal, it’s all about the music, and he knows his
stuff. An avid music collector for 40-plus years, he has amassed an enviable knowledge of classic beach, R&B, southern
soul and northern soul music.
“As a child, even though my household listened to country
music,I found myself gravitating toward R&B,” says Neal. “I remember buying 45s by Lloyd Price, Marv Johnson,
the Drifters ... “ He told me the first 45 he ever bought was the 1960 “I Love the Way You Love” by R&B
singer Marv Johnson.
“I followed beach music from almost the day the phrase
was coined. I listened to the “Men of Music,” which included our own Charlie Brown on WKIX 850 AM in Raleigh.”
The Men of Music jocks, which also included guys like Rick
Dees, Gary Edens and Mike Mitchell, played mainstream R&B and soul along with rock ‘n’ roll. After just a
little research on WKIX, I could write a whole story about it, but for now, here’s a website you might want to check
out: www.wkixrewound.com. It’ll give you an idea of what a younger Neal Furr was listening to as he spent his teenage
and college years in Chapel Hill.
According to Neal, he was “part of the 60s-day baby
boomers that made the pilgrimages to North Myrtle Beach. I remember the days and nights at
the ‘original’ Spanish Galleon, which was on the same corner of where the current one stands . . . and the Pad.”
After marrying and beginning what he calls his “real
job” at IBM, Soul Dog continued to follow beach music. In the mid-nineties he had a chance meeting with beach music
DJ Big John Ruth, who would later ask him to produce his radio show at WTRG 100.7FM. In fact, it was Ruth who came up with
Neal’s “Soul Dog” handle, referring, of course, to his passion for soul music. Neal is quick to credit Big
John with bringing him into the radio business and says, “I’ve learned a lot, just observing him over the years.”
Neal still produces Big John’s Beach Party Sunday on 102.9FM and 102.3FM.
Back in 2001, Neal started the very first beach show at Oxford, North Carolina’s 98.3
FM, where today, Mike Brooks hosts Carolina Ocean Drive
on Sunday afternoons. He also served as the feature story writer for Kelly Harrison’s Beach Music Reporter. And when
Craig Fleming was set to purchase the paper, the plan was for Neal to continue with him. When that fell through, however,
Neal continued penning his CD reviews, biographies, interviews and stories – but now for BeachMusic45.com.
“Neal has worked with me from the start,” says
Craig. “He is one of the most knowledgeable people on current or classic beach music that I know.”
Online since October 2007, Way Down South is the first in
a series of radio shows from the Beach Music 45 Radio Network. Running on Live365.com, the program focuses on southern and
northern soul, classic beach, boogie and blues. Neal Furr both DJs and produces. The show has listeners from all over the
U.S. and about 25 different countries.
If you like classic beach and soul sounds, you may find yourself a regular listener.
When asked if he had a preference – DJ or live music,
Neal laughed, “I like both. You get more energy from the bands. Music is what’s on my mind all the time, but I
like DJing, trying different things.
“At DJ Throwdown this year, Thursday night [Band of
Oz, blues guitarist Debbie Davies and the Fantastic Shakers performed at Duck’s.] was great ... and the Holiday Band,
too, but I liked hearing all the different DJs . . . For TJ’s in Raleigh, I DJ at 7, and the bands start at 8:30 or
9.” So he gets to DJ and listen to a live band.
Listening to Soul Dog talk about the interviews he’s
conducted, it’s clear how important the music is.
“I really enjoyed doing the Embers interview, way back.
I learned a lot. And Chairmen of the Board, too. They’re in a class by themselves, one of the few, who really cross
over into southern soul . . .Rickey Godfrey has such a varied background. People don’t realize the breadth of what he’s
done . . . and Jim Quick, what a songwriter talent. I believe that group [Jim Quick & Coastline] could go national.”
This story originally ran in Dariel Bendin’s Beach
Newz column in Coast Magazine and Alternatives NewsMagazine in Myrtle Beach,
issue March 27 – April 10, 2008.
