|
|
Billy C. Jeffords R.I.P
We
lost another great one in our industry on July 3rd - Billy Jeffords, perhaps
better known to Beach music fans as Dip Ferrell, succumbed to cancer. Billy was a tremendously talented performer as well
as songwriter and arranger for both The Jeffords Brothers and Dip Ferrell & The Truetones. To that end he and his group
received numerous Carolina Beach Music Awards nominations and had several charting songs, including two of their biggest hits
That Old Rockola and Where You Tryin' To Go. Billy worked with legendary producer Don Dixon
on the Truetones albums to create a genuine sound of old school flavor coupled with a current groove. Billy Jeffords will
certainly be missed but not forgotten!
|
|
|
Stacy Danner & Summerdaze light up the Crowd
The Hottest: Ok, what is it that everyone
is listening to, smokin' up the grill and steaming up the windows?? Stacy Danner fronted some hit songs with her amazing voice
when she was with the Lakeside Drive Band. She has now done the same on I Got To Know as recorded by the Summerdaze Band. The boogie tune recently hit #1 on 94.9 the Surf, is in
the top rung on the Smokin' Top 45 while far from being done. Jim Quick's latest picked up the pace this past month, the frenetic
Same Kind Of Crazy As Me, which is
zooming up the charts. The balladry of Melodies
And Memories from Too Much Sylvia and Allie Privette's KHP compilation title track
One And Only have been doing
very well. Slower tempo is in vogue - another one that is sure to soar is Lesa Hudson's new one entitled It's A Better Thing. The Entertainers hottest track right now is also
slow and low - One More Try For Love. Also
smokin' is the slower shag groove of Reverend Bubba D. Liverance's Tender Moment, from his latest awesome Haint Blue Deluxe album.
The new singles are certainly rolling right now.
Already charting well is Salisbury, NC based Swashtones latest simply entitled 1-4-3. The band is featured on Appetizer, a mini sampler just coming out from Green Dot Records which includes the aforementioned Too Much
Sylvia track (which hit #1 this past week) as well as the Mark Bost & Band of Gold release of Summertime's Calling Me. Another
one destined to blow up the charts is the Jackie Gore/Rhonda McDaniel melodic duet Oh Honey. One of the top singles
in Beach music in 2015 was Swing It from
Georgia native and guitar virtuoso Lomax. He is back with another hot wax destined to hit the very top of the charts - Why
You Wanna Do That has great potential to explode!
Speaking of the Charlotte based Lakeside Drive Band,
they have a hot one right now with My Angel
Baby, featuring the vocals of a relatively new band member, Roger Smith.
Roger, of course, has a long history, including performing with and writing songs for the Poor Souls and the Boulevard Boys.
He also has a current charting solo composition entitled Love Is. Another brand new track making waves is I'm Gonna Love You Darlin' from the Carolina Breakers featuring the
golden voice of Jerry Shooter. This one was actually written by Doug Manning, who has penned several hits for various artists
in recent years. Another successful songwriter with a string of recent hits has to be Durham, NC's Phil 'Doc' Wilson. His
latest, Last Night, is destined to
hit #1 at some point this summer!
We stated this last month - new album production
may be at an all time low so far in 2016 in Beach music. The good news is, as evidenced by the amount of new singles we are
seeing, the albums are picking up as well.
New individual releases on target as we speak include
complete albums from Midnight Allie and Blackwater Rhythm & Blues Band. Some DJ's may have received an advance track from
Blackwater entitled Why I Love You that
has hit potential. A little further down the road, expect new albums from Marsha
Morgan and Rhonda McDaniel, which are nearing completion.
Here is a hot new KHP compilation that is also expected sooner than later
- quite possibly by the end of the week. Where
It All Began...And Continues will be co-produced by H. Lee Brown in conjunction with KHP. The expected tunes: Pony Time - Barrance Whitfield, used is a national Shag competition;
Forever My Love from Paul Craver; two
current up and comers from Charlotte's Bill Bradford productions, Run For Cover by Sonja Grier and
Be My Baby Tonight from Debby
Dobbins; Make Up My Mind original music by The Andy Swindell Coalition Money, an original from Splash, former
members of the Mark Roberts Band; Carolina
For The Weekend from Bantam Rooster, a high energy variety band based out of Asheboro, NC; a rendition of Baby Don't
Go, a duet featuring Phil Wilson & Karen Clayton; Carolina Soul Slide from the Carolina Soul Band; Back To You by Simon Russell, who is '50's R&B crooner the late Roy
Hamilton's nephew; a Carolina Shag Mix of the Lomax tune mentioned above;
the Jackie/Rhonda song mentioned above; and the Carolina Breakers tune mentioned above. There may still be one or two surprises
included in this release!
Here is a key event coming right up at the end of
the month in historic Charleston, SC. Working tirelessly every year, the Beach Music and Preservation Society there continues
to provide the best in quality entertainment and this year is no exception. On Sunday, July 31st two outstanding bands will
take the stage at The Citadel Alumni Center - the Tams and the Summerdaze Band. They will be supported by DJs Juan Gualda
from Ft. Pierce, Florida and Butch Halpin from Dunn, NC. This same lineup of bands and DJs will be the leaving Charleston
Harbor on February 18, 2017 with a party cruise to celebrate Little Redd's 40th anniversary with the Tams. The ship will sail
to Nassau and Half Moon Cay before returning on February 23rd. For more info
on this exciting excursion, go to http://www.travelininc.com.
Recently seeing the poster above made
me realize it has been quite awhile
since I had seen and/or talked to our
friend Ron Moody, who has one of few bands above the Virginia/North Carolina border still associated with and actively playing
Beach music. I caught up with Ron last week to see what was going on - turns out he continues to pursue his lifelong passion
of songwriting as well as taking two different bands on the road whenever the gigs are there. Both the legendary Hall of Fame
Ron Moody & The Centaurs and a smaller contingent, The Ron Moody Band, are available for hire. Ron also stays active in
the business with a radio show as well as a monthly lecture series on the history of Rock 'n' Roll.
What may have been overlooked over
the years is Ron's pure talent for songwriting. In addition to the tunes he has written for the band, he penned charting solo
Beach music hits such as Lulu's Chicken Shack, Gon' Dance, Tore Up From The Floor Up and some amazing Christmas tunes like Santa's Coming In A Cadillac
and It Won't Be Christmas.
This is the fact that most fans of the music do not realize: several Beach artists
have recorded and had major hits with Moody penned songs. Included are: Do That Thang Again (Archie Bell), Macon, Memphis, And Muscle Shoals and Timeless (Paul Craver), Motown Here Today (Holiday Band), Closed For The Season (Billy Scott) and Rag Top Down (D.K. Davis). Do
That Thang Again had an amazing run up the charts to #1 before it was even officially released!! The point to this is that Ron has a catalog of original material that he is willing to discuss with any
artists that are interested in some fresh new tunes. To contact Ron, hit him up on Facebook or email him
at roncentaur@aol.com. I promise you
will not be disappointed!
DJ
Mike Worley Presiding
Beach
music DJ's - young and old! Wait a minute, there are not too many that I can count that can be considered as young, and when
I say young, that to me is like under age 50! As father time takes its toll on all us old guys (and ladies), who is going
to replace us in the clubs and on the radio in order to preserve the sixty plus year music history that has accumulated? Well, I am trying to figure out exactly that. One such individual that I have gotten
to know recently and really respect as someone who is dedicated to keeping the music alive is DJ Mike Worley.
Mike
has been in the business as an Emcee and DJ now about eight years, heading up his own organization known as Edge Entertainment.
Growing up in Eastern North Carolina, he learned to appreciate the music right at home, where his parents were huge fans and
avid listeners to radio shows of Hall of Famers like Charlie Byrd. Mike has developed a full range of services, from talent
booking to festival arranging/hosting to stage production as well as event DJ' ing. What caught my interest in particular
was one of his more recent ventures, The Edge Radio Show, which can be heard Monday through Friday 9 AM to Noon on ShagCityUSA.com and on edgeoftheseat.com. The first
few times I listened, it was like 'hold up, wait a minute, has this guy been in my music library?' LOL. Mike plays a diverse
mix of old and new, and does not hold back on exposing listeners to songs that may have been long since forgotten about or
maybe missed the first time around say 35 or 40 or so years ago! It is a high energy interactive broadcast each and every
day! To learn more about Mike Worley and the services he provides, check it out at http://edgeoftheseat.com.
DJ Charlie Brown In the WHUP Studio
Ok, from the relative newcomers to
the way old timers! No I didn't say that! The legend himself, Hall of Famer Charlie Brown, who I listened to every chance
I got as a youngster on the mighty WKIX 850 AM in Raleigh, NC, still has quite an active legacy going on in radio. In addition
to his On the Beach with Charlie Brown syndicated radio show, which is carried
by 40 some plus stations and has won nine straight Carolina Beach Music Awards, Charlie also has a live broadcast on Tuesday
afternoons. The Charlie Brown Show can be heard from 1 to 3 PM on WHUP 104.7 FM
Community radio from Hillsborough, NC. Although the terrestrial signal does not extend too much further than the city limits,
the station is broadcast on the Internet and can be accessed at https://whupfm.org.
On this show, Charlie has the freedom to program it any way he wants, so there
will be all kinds of music that he likes including Country, Classic Rock, Oldies, Soul and of course Beach Music, both current
and old. You the audience will also have a chance to suggest songs you want to hear. There will be guests on the show to talk
to Charlie about music, music trivia and memories. I have to say I am proud to be a small part of this production - Soul Dog's
Rollback will be a periodic ten or so minute segment on the show, where we will feature some significant memories as well
as some of the rarer music of the past. Be sure to put this on your Tuesday calendar and give it a listen!!
DJ Bob Graves Handling a Private Party
Many of you over the years have heard the music of veteran DJ Bob Graves,
whose mobile sound business is known as Music Transit Authority. Bob was the on air producer during most of the 1990's for
On The Beach with Big John on WTRG 100.7 FM. (Retiring from that gig, he was replaced
by a relative unknown called Soul Dog!!). Bob continues to DJ for weddings, neighborhood events, birthday, graduation and retirement parties, class reunions, outdoor festivals, Beach and Shag clubs and more. Bob
is an active member of the Association of Beach and Shag Club DJs and can often be heard playing at one of the clubs at SOS.
You can check Bob out on Thursday, July 21st as he entertains for the inaugural Beach Music Throwdown at the Leesville Tap
Room right off of I-540 on Leesville Road in Raleigh NC. The music gets going around 9 PM - if you are in the area, come out
and join us, it is guaranteed to be a good time!
Well, my new show must be catching on - at least the station owners seem to
like it! We have expanded Soul Dog's Beach Boogie and Blues now to 3 hours from Noon to 3 PM EDT Sundays on RememberThenRadio.com. In addition, there is an encore
broadcast the following Thursday 5 to 8 PM EDT. So if you can't hear three hours of groove on Sunday, you have a second chance
to catch the same show on Thursdays! Stay tuned for any future updates as they develop!
Artists, DJs, Club owners etc. send me your latest news for potential inclusion in Beach Buzz at nealfur@aol.com.
|
