What's happening with the longest continuous running band in Beach music, The Embers?  Formed in the late '50's, the band is known far and wide as the “Goodwill Ambassadors of Beach Music”. Led by original member Bobby Tomlinson, the band stays constantly booked with gigs up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The current lineup: Tomlinson (Leader/Drummer),  Wayne Free (Lead Vocalist/Trombone), Stephen Pachuta (Trumpet), Jeff Grimes (Guitar), John Ray (Bass) and Jimmy Weaver (Keyboards).  The sound of The Embers can been enjoyed at many venues over the next few months. One in particular, they are the headliners at this year's Virginia Pork Festival on Wednesday, June 13^th in Emporia, Virginia. This is a HUGE event every year with five entertainment stages running simultaneously.

After 18 albums and over 50 years of turning out music, The Embers are still able to produce outstanding hit tunes.  Their recent single, Little Mama, has done well on all of the charts and has been a hot ticket with the club DJs. An even more recent release entitled Lovey Dovey is also beginning to make some real noise. So you may ask “How are The Embers these days?”  Alive and well, still doing what they have done for over half a century, entertaining enthusiastic Beach music lovers where ever they go.

The Nomads Band, Chapel Hill, North Carolina circa 1965

Speaking of bands with a long history of playing Beach music as part of their overall show, a group from my hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina is getting ready to celebrate their 50^th year in the business. The Nomads were the pioneers of the teen startup bands in town (we called them combos back then). More players saw the attraction and soon followed including The Corsayers featuring a young James Taylor (that's right, the one and only). Starting so young, The Nomads were able to find quite a degree of success even before finishing high school. I recently spoke with original member Robert Humphreys about the excitement of coming up on 50 years of playing in the band.. I'll let him tell the condensed version of their story:

'' The Nomads Band began with Bobby Scott, Robert Humphreys, and several other neighborhood Junior High kids in Chapel Hill sitting around in the summer singing to Bobby's guitar. We progressed into a real band with Bobby's brother Bill (who was all of 12 at the time) on drums; Robert, sax, Louis Ambrosio, trumpet; Kemp Nye Jr., bass; Bob Rasmussen, bongos; and John Umstead and Bobby, vocals. Our first real gig was in mid October of 1962 for our friend Jenny McClamroch's 13th birthday party at the Lion's Hut in Carrboro. We knew 10 songs and played 3 hours; repeating the same songs over and over and over. It was the first band that our friends had ever had at a party so it was a big deal for all. Once we tasted the adulation of our fans, we were hooked and never turned back. We quickly learned more songs, bettered our equipment, and played school dances and birthday parties around the Piedmont.

During our Chapel Hill High School days and once we got our drivers licenses, we branched out to a larger radius and started playing fraternity parties, Junior-Senior Proms and WKIX Record Hops (Bobby wrote and we recorded at Jimmy Capps Studios in Raleigh, WKIX's Charlie Brown's signature theme song that he played everyday as the intro into his show). Personnel changes along the way added Kent Collins, Steve Oakley (former lead guitar for James Taylor's first band the Corsayers), Kay Marley, and  Jo Ann Faulkner.

 In 1965, we played every day of the NC State Fair from noon to 6 PM in the Geodesic Music Dome. The Counts Four and The Kays played the night shows and we all alternated all day on Saturday. We did this for 3 years and it helped promote us to kids across North Carolina which lead to more proms and school dances.

We continued after college and into our adult lives with more changes in personnel adding Art Webb, David Hackney, and later Mel Baker, Matt Koch, Burt Cole, Joel Jones, and Herman Civils. After 50 years, Robert Humphreys is the only original member of the group but we're still having a great time spreading the FUN & FROLIC of Beach music, old Soul, and R&B; the music of our lives...........''                                                                            

Many female singers have come and gone over the years in Beach music. One that is definitely here to stay is McCormick, South Carolina's Rhonda McDaniel. She has had a continuous string of top hits in the genre over the last 7 years. Good Thing, You Got What It Takes, Why Am I Crying,  Left With A Broken Heart, We're Tight (with Angel Rissoff),  Touching In The Dark, You Bug Me Baby (with Mike Taylor) and Lighten Up have all worked their way up the Beach charts. Rhonda has been the Carolina Beach Music Award Female Vocalist of the Year for the last 4 years running. Her self-titled Rhonda McDaniel release was voted as the best Solo Album Of The Year for 2008.

Rhonda has shown no signs of  late of slowing down. One of the top songs from the recent Queens Of Southern Soul compilation over the last 6 months has been her rendition of  Don't Wait Around. Her just released album, Where The Boys Are, contains some new tunes that are potential hitmakers as well. The title track is a must request at all of Rhonda's live shows, Look Before You Leap has started up the charts and the Clifford Curry written Be Serious is getting major attention as well. Here's hoping Rhonda and all her singing sisters from the Queens continue to provide us with great Beach music for many years to come!