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Lakeside Drive Band
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KB
& The Shifters
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Marsha
Morgan Band
Allie Privette
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As a member of the Board of Advisory for the Carolina Beach Music Academy, I had the opportunity to participate in
this year's CBMA Awards nomination announcements on Friday evening, September 20th. Hosted on 94.9 FM The Surf
by Ted Bell and CBMA President Peter Carpenter, the two hour event during SOS featured many of the nominees on the radio as
well. Bo The Web Guy was in the station busily posting the announcements on several key website locations simultaneously as
they occurred on the air.
One very intriguing category for 2013 from my perspective is the Rising Star Award. Renamed
this year from the previous New Group/Artist Award, this group of five nominees make up one of the strongest fields in this
category in recent memory. The nominees are Allie Privette, KB & The Shifters, Lakeside Drive Band, Marsha Morgan Band
and Night Move Band. All of these nominees have had songs this past year that had have made the Beach music charts in a big
way. This bodes well for the future of the industry, to have such up and coming artists that are highly motivated to keep
the genre alive.
Dip Ferrell & The Truetones led the way this year with nine CBMA nominations, which included Shana Blake for Female
Vocalist Of The Year and Dip Ferrell for Male Vocalist Of The Year. Some folks
in the Beach music world are not as familiar with this outstanding group of musicians since they are more of a studio band
than a touring and performing entity. If you have not had a chance to read it, go to the July 2013 archives of Beach Buzz
right here on the website to get the full story on Dip Ferrell & The Truetones!
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The legendary Eddie Floyd graced us with his presence and performance at last year's 2012 CBMA Awards. He enjoyed the
weekend so much that he made plans to be there again in 2013. In the interim, he released a ten track album this summer, Down
ByThe Sea, of Beach music tunes that has been nominated for Solo Album Of The Year. All the songs were written by
Eddie – I really like the beachfulness (what a word!) groove of Carolina Ladies, the soulfulness of Come On Over To My Place and the slowfulness
(another new adjective!) of I'm Gonna Be With You. Although Eddie had many hits in the '60's and '70's
while at Stax Records, it is not as well known that his first job at the label was as a songwriter and producer. He wrote or co-wrote tunes for Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Rufus Thomas, Booker T. &
The MG's, Ollie & The Nightingales and The Emotions, to name a few. It will
be great to have Eddie back as he continues to build an ongoing fondness for North Myrtle Beach and the CBMAs.
Although I have been acquainted with Albert Rogers for several years, I didn't really get to know him well until the
last few weeks, which, incidentally has coincided with the release of his new self-titled album. He has been on a developmental
musical journey indeed – born in and now living in Southport, N. C. while experiencing several genres in the music world
during his career. Since 2005, Albert has been known as the relatively quiet, very polite and reserved bass player and sometime
lead vocalist for Jim Quick & The Coastline Band as well as King Tyrone & The Graveyard Ramblers.
Albert began his career playing in various bands in the Southeastern portion of North Carolina as well as the Myrtle
Beach area. The focus was mainly on Classic Rock, but he began to expand his horizons in the '90's with a strong interest
in Jazz music. In a recent interview, Albert stated that the key milestone in his life was meeting and marrying his wife,
Christine Martinez, who at the time was a radio DJ in Wilmington. Their union was later followed up by a bold move –
to upstate New York, where Christine got a job with a Woodstock radio station. Albert, ingraining himself in the highly active
music scene there, met, performed with, hung out with etc. some of the best players in the business, including several of
the late great Levon Helm's (who had a studio in Woodstock) cohorts at the time. It was an education in itself, to say the
least.
Back home was calling, however, resulting in Albert and Christine finally returning to Brunswick County. Christine
again landed an air chair spot on a Wilmington radio station. She is also an accomplished musician, part of a performing duo
that does a few gigs a month in the Southport area. Albert, meanwhile, joined on with the travelling caravan that is Coastline.
He has recorded several outstanding songs along the way that were released on KHP compilations, including Satisfy My
Soul, Real Love, Don't You Wish It Was True, Stuff You Got To Watch and the Jim Quick written awesome Christmas tune,
This One Yuletide. The seeds for what was to be a solo album were being planted – they just need a lot
of fertilizing with encouragement and support!!
Several years in the making, the new album, which by the way was selling like hotcakes at Fall SOS, represents the
musical evolution of Albert Rogers through his own strong interpretation and expression of the vocal content. It is not just
a group of songs, but a soulful collection of outstanding compositions by some of the best songwriters in music history.
Let's see, there's songs from Taj Mahal (She Caught The Katy, Further On Down The Road), John Fogerty
(Sugar, Sugar), Bill Withers (The Same Thing That Made Me Laugh), Gary Nicholson and Vince Gill
(Sweet Thang), Van Morrison (Tupelo Honey), Wilson Pickett (I'm Not Tired) and Homer
Banks (Ain't That A Lot Of Love). Who is Homer Banks, you ask?
A '60's Soul artist/composer that wrote or co-wrote songs recorded by such greats as Sam & Dave, Duane Allman,
Isaac Hayes, Simply Red, Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, The Oak Ridge Boys, Luther Ingram, David Ruffin, and many more. There
is also the rare Michael McDonald composed Take It From The Top (sometimes
sub-titled Pour Me Another), which has been the hottest tune out of the chute on the album so far, getting plenty
of radio and club play.
What is not immediately visible on the surface is the labor of love that went into the creation of this album. Produced
by fellow Coastline guitarist Casey Meyer, who stepped up to the plate in a huge way, it was actually recorded at The Clubhouse
in Rhinebeck, New York. With a focus on guitar instrumentation, some pretty famous musicians nationally were part of the recording
including Jim Weider (guitar, replaced Robbie Robertson as a key member of The Band in 1985), Randy Ciarlante (drums, recorded
with such greats as Bob Dylan and Joe Walsh as well as The Band) and Dan McKinney (keyboards, has played and/or recorded with
dozens of artists over the years). Additional guest performers included Albert's wife Christine, Glen Tippett, Andy King and
Robbie Dupree.
Executive production and marketing representation for the project is provided
by Danny and Kathy Byrd, who encouraged Albert to do the album over the past few years. As expected, the end result was not
nor was it intended to be Carolina Beach music, but there are certainly some shaggable tunes within the eleven tracks. What
the album does signify is an outstanding effort for a very humble individual who often does not get the credit he deserves
as a very accomplished artist and musician. Congratulations, Albert on a job well done!
For my money, one of
the best male vocalists of all time, Mr. Jerry Butler, was inducted into The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame on September 21st, 2013
at a performance in Winston-Salem, N. C. This prestigious award was initiated in 2006 by famous radio programmer John Rook,
who led legendary WLS in Chicago to be one of the greatest Top 40 stations in
America in the '60's. The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame was created to honor many of those artists that achieved greatness but have
never made it to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. That was not the case however, for Jerry Butler, who has made The Billboard
Hot 100 Singles Chart thirty-eight times over his long and illustrious career. The Iceman was inducted into the Rock &
Roll Hall, along with all the original members of The Impressions, in 1991.
Beach Bits: It is hard to believe that is has been over a decade
since Love Don't Come No Stronger was the #1 song for Craig Woolard in the year 2002. The
monster hit is also listed at #50 on the all time Top 200 Beach Music Chart. Craig was still with the Embers as their lead
singer at that time – much has changed since the early 2000's. Forevermore Records Executive Producer Christopher Biehler,
who released the song as the feature track on his 2001 issue of This Is Beach Music Volume 2, is anticipating comparable success for Craig's latest single on the label, Love Is On Our Side, just released on
the new I Love Beach Music compilation.......
Interesting that the
remix of Sheba Potts-Wright's I've Done All
I Can Do was #1 on the National Beach Music Top 40 chart for the week of 09/14. The remixed version is on the recent
Ecko Records' Blues Mix 10 compilation. The original was a selection on Sheba's 2011 Let Your Mind Go Back album. It first appeared on this website's Smokin' Top 45
Southern Soul tunes in September 2012...... Another absolute killer tune on the Top 40 chart (and has been for twenty plus
weeks) is Lovecontract by Musiq Soulchild.
The thirteen year R&B veteran and Philadelphia native has had three releases to date make it to #1 on Billboard's Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. Beach music continues to come from many different genres!........
Imagine participating
in a DJ Jamboree, each player gets to pick and play three songs with their turn in the club DJ booth, which songs do I pick?
Well, how about I Used To Cry Mercy Mercy
by The Lamplighters, Lady Soul by The
Temptations and How Do You Stop by James Brown? Even though these songs were released in 1954,
1986 and 1987 respectively, they consistently make The Association of Beach & Shag Club DJ's Top 50 Song list every year,
including 2012, AND all three tunes are on the All Time Top 50 Beach Music Chart.............
I find myself often using Judy's
House Of Oldies website (www.judyshouseofoldies.com) to see if new releases in Beach music have been posted there.
If found there, then I feel like the product is also getting good exposure in the North Myrtle Beach store as well. Most of
the Beach music community is aware that Judy Collins, who has done so much for this industry over the years, has not been
well for several months. Please everyone continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.......
Just returned from having
a large time (as Pat Patterson would say!) DJ'ing in between sets this past Saturday at the 6th and final Hot Nights Hot Cars
concert series for 2013 in Pilot Mountain, N. C. The Holiday Band took the stage
around 5:30 PM, putting on a fabulous performance for another huge crowd. This event consistently brings around 10,000 folks
to town six Saturdays a year for a fantastic array of classic cars and great Beach music!
Artists,
DJ’s, Club owners etc. send me your latest news for potential inclusion in Beach Buzz at nealfur@aol.com.
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