My guest on this episode is Tim Riley, Tim is what’s called a promotion man. Record promotion is the division of a record company that places songs on the radio. They build relationships with program directors and music directors at radio stations and try to get them to play their records. They may also contract a third party, known as an independent promotion man or woman, whose responsibility is to take their artist's new song and get it on the radio by any means necessary. Tim is an independent promotion man who has many stories about his promotions to draw attention to the records he was working and some he just liked.
My guest this week is Sid Herring of the Gants. The Gants were a great garage band from Greenwood, Mississippi originally known as the Kingsman. The Kingsman began with Sid Herring & Johnny Freeman in 1963 playing R&B covers and the type of instrumentals inspired by The Ventures. For a short period, Sid Herring lived in Memphis and the Gants recorded there. The British were invading, and Sid Herring was getting to be well known as the local singer who not only resembled Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, but his singing voice was compared to that of John Lennon. To add to that British Invasion connection the Gants opened for the Animals 1965 Florida tour.
Jimmy Tarbutton got his start in Memphis music by playing in a few garage bands including the Jimmy Hart led Gentrys. He and two others quit the Gentrys to form one of the best Memphis bands of the seventies, Edgewood. He worked at Jerry Williams’ TMI studios for a while before moving to Nashville seeking work as an engineer and producer. Jimmy has worked with José Feliciano, JJ Cale, and the Oak Ridge Boys to name but a few. He shared a lot of great stories in this interview and I enjoyed talking with him after all these years. I hope you enjoy this episode.
This episode's guest is a Memphis Music Icon, John Fry the owner of Ardent Studios. I believe this is John’s last interview before his untimely death on December 18, 2014. John Fry had been involved with Memphis music for years. His Ardent studios survived when others like Sun and Stax have fallen. John talks about Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Big Star and their contribution to Memphis music. Here’s the interview from September of 2013. I started by talking about the first broadcast from Ardent over FM100, the year was 1970 or 71 and the artist was Wishbone Ash.
Wait until you hear my conversation with Linda Gail Lewis, she is so much more than Jerry Lee's little sister. She is talented, warm, charming and a great storyteller! She talks about recording and touring with Van Morrison, her collaboration with Robbie Fulks, the legend of the Killer and the truth about him as well. It's interesting to hear about Jerry Lee from his little sister's perspective. You will also hear her play the piano in that undeniable Lewis style. If you listen, you will become a fan as I have. Thank you, Linda Gail.