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A 2 minute history of Donald “Duck” Dunn:“We were recording almost a hit a day for a while there. But I never knew how popular that music was until I came to England with Otis Redding in 1967.” – Donald Dunn (about the Stax period) |
Continue reading November 24: The late Donald Duck Dunn was born in 1941
60 year anniversary for Elvis Presley – That’s all right (read more)
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“Help!” is a song by the Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom. “Help!” was written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. During an interview with Playboy in 1980, Lennon recounted: “The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help”. |
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| Bernard Mathew “Bernie” Leadon, III (born July 19, 1947, in Minneapolis, Minnesota), is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. |  |
| Brian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home-built guitar, “Red Special”, and has composed hits such as “Tie Your Mother Down”, “I Want It All”, “We Will Rock You”, “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Who Wants to Live Forever”. |  |
| Larkin Allen Collins Jr. (July 19, 1952 – January 23, 1990) was one of the founding members and guitarists of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and co-wrote many of the band’s songs with late frontman Ronnie Van Zant. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida. |  |
| Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was one of the great American field collectors of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activist, oral historian, and film-maker. Lomax also produced recordings, concerts, and radio shows in the U.S and in England, which played an important role in both the American and British folk revivals of the 1940s, ’50s and early ’60s. During the New Deal, with his father, famed folklorist and collector John A. Lomax and later alone and with others, Lomax recorded thousands of songs and interviews for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress on aluminum and acetate discs. |  |
Spotify Playlist – July 19 |
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“On Heartbreaker, I had to sing those songs. I drank the way I did those songs. I ate the way I did those songs. I communicated the way I did those songs”
~Ryan Adams – Spin Dec 2003“I don’t know if Heartbreaker was influential as a record so much as the idea of it. There weren’t a lot of people out there doing that kind of thing. That’s all. But it was a terrible price to pay because I’ve never lived it down. I don’t regard that record as great art. I’m not even sure I put the right songs on the record. There are a lot of tracks that didn’t make it which with hindsight should have been on there.”
~Ryan Adams – Uncut Jan 2004
Come Pick Me Up @ KCRW:
Come pick me up
Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends
They’re all full of shit
With a smile on your face
And then do it again
I wish you would
From Wikipedia:
| Released | September 5, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Recorded | Woodland Studios, Nashville,Tennessee |
| Genre | Alternative country, country |
| Length | 51:57 |
| Label | Bloodshot |
| Producer | Ethan Johns |
Heartbreaker is the debut studio album by alternative country musician Ryan Adams, released September 5, 2000 on Bloodshot Records. The album was recorded over fourteen days at Woodland Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was nominated for the 2001 Shortlist Music Prize. The album is said to be inspired by Adams’ break-up with music-industry publicist Amy Lombardi.
According to Adams, the album’s title originates from a poster of Mariah Carey: “My manager called and said, ‘You have 15 seconds to name this record,’ “My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, ‘Heartbreaker!'”
Critical reception:
The album was considered to be a fresh start for Ryan Adams after the demise of his previous band Whiskeytown.
From pitchfork’s review (Steven Byrd):
…. Heartbreaker is the soundtrack to the last ten minutes of any relationship you’ve ever watched crumble before your eyes. It’s music for the ruined romantic in all of us. Usually, that little romantic simply sits quietly, tearfully watching everything disappear without so much as a single complaint. But on Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams has not only convinced that voice to speak, he’s taught it to sing. The result is an album of astonishing musical proficiency, complete honesty and severe beauty.
Read more over @ pitchfork
Track listing:
1. “(Argument with David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey)” (An argument regarding the Morrissey track “Suedehead”.)
2. “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)” Ryan Adams and David Rawlings
3. “My Winding Wheel”
4. “AMY”
5. “Oh My Sweet Carolina”
6. “Bartering Lines” Ryan Adams and Van Alston
7. “Call Me On Your Way Back Home”
8. “Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)”
9. “Come Pick Me Up” Ryan Adams and Van Alston
10. “To Be the One”
11. “Why Do They Leave?”
12. “Shakedown on 9th Street”
13. “Don’t Ask for the Water”
14. “In My Time of Need”
15. “Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)”
Musicians
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Uncut Magazine (UK) listed Heartbreaker as no.9 on their “Top 150 Albums of the Decade List”
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Oh My Sweet Carolina:
I went down to Houston
And I stopped in San Antone
I passed up the station for the bus
I was trying to find me something
But I wasn’t sure just what
Man I ended up with pockets full of dust
So I went on to Cleveland and I ended up insane
I bought a borrowed suit and learned to dance
I was spending money like the way it likes to rain
Man I ended up with pockets full of cane
Other September-05:
-Egil
| In 2004, Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right Mama” and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” both celebrated their 50th anniversaries. Rolling Stone Magazine felt that Presley’s song was the first rock and roll recording. At the time Presley recorded the song, Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle & Roll”, later covered by Haley, was already at the top of the Billboard R&B charts. The Guardian felt that while there were rock’n’roll records before Presley’s, his recording was the moment when all the strands came together in “perfect embodiment”. (wikipedia) |
“A lot of people seem to think I started this business, but rock ‘n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that kind of music like colored people. Let’s face it; I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that. But I always liked that kind of music.”
~Elvis Presley
Wikipedia:
| B-side | “Blue Moon of Kentucky” |
|---|---|
| Released | 19 July 1954 |
| Format | 7″ single |
| Recorded | 5 July 1954 |
| Genre | Rockabilly |
| Length | 1:57 |
| Label | Sun |
| Writer(s) | Arthur Crudup |
| Producer | Sam Phillips |
“That’s All Right” is the name of the first commercial single released by Elvis Presley, written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup. Presley’s version was recorded on 5 July 1954, and released on 19 July 1954 with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as the B-side. It is #112 on the 2004 Rolling Stone magazine list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
Arthur Crudup – That’s All Right (original version):
The song was written by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and originally recorded by him in Chicago on 6 September 1946, as “That’s All Right”. It was released as a single on RCA Victor 20-2205, but was less successful than some of Crudup’s previous recordings. In early March 1949, the song was re-released under the title, “That’s All Right, Mama” (RCA Victor 50-0000), which was issued as RCA’s first rhythm and blues record on their new 45 rpm single format, on bright orange vinyl.
Elvis Presley’s version was recorded in July 1954, and released with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as the B-side. Its catalogue number was Sun 209. The label reads “That’s All Right” (omitting “Mama” from the original title), and names the performers as Elvis Presley,Scotty and Bill. Arthur Crudup was credited as the composer on the label of Presley’s single, but Crudup had to wait until the 1960s when he received an estimated $60,000 in back royalties. Crudup used lines in his song that had been present in earlier blues recordings, including Blind Lemon Jefferson’s 1926 song That Black Snake Moan”.
Live @ NBC Studio’s 1968:
During an uneventful recording session at Sun Studios on the evening of July 5, 1954, Presley, Moore, and Black were taking a break between recordings when Presley started fooling around with an up-tempo version of Arthur Crudup’s song “That’s All Right, Mama”. Black began joining in on his upright bass, and soon they were joined by Moore on guitar. Producer Sam Phillips, taken aback by this sudden upbeat atmosphere, asked the three of them to start again so he could record it.
Black’s bass and guitars from Presley and Moore provided the instrumentation. The recording contains no drums or additional instruments. The song was produced in the style of a “live” recording (all parts performed at once and recorded on a single track). The following evening the trio recorded “Blue Moon of Kentucky” in a similar style, and it was selected as the B-side to “That’s All Right”.
Upon finishing the recording session, according to Scotty Moore, Bill Black remarked, “Damn. Get that on the radio and they’ll run us out of town.”
Sam Phillips gave copies of the record to local disc jockeys Dewey Phillips (no relation) of WHBQ, Uncle Richard of WMPS, and Sleepy Eyed John Lepley of WHHM. On July 7, 1954, Dewey Phillips played “That’s All Right” on his popular radio show “Red, Hot & Blue”.
Interest in the record was so intense that Dewey reportedly played the record 14 times and received over 40 telephone calls. Presley was persuaded to go to the station for an on-air interview that night.
“That’s All Right” was officially released on July 19, 1954, and sold around 20,000 copies. This number was not enough to chart nationally, but the single reached number four on the local Memphis charts.
Live – That’s The Way It Is (1970):
Album of the day – Sunrise:
Continue reading Today: Elvis Presley released “That’s All Right” in 1954 – 59 years ago
As the bassist for Booker T. & the MG’s, Donald “Duck” Dunn became, like James Jamerson at Motown, the man who provided a groove for an entire generation to dance to. In Dunn’s case it was the legendary Memphis record label Stax/Volt, where he laid down basslines for soul stars such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Albert King, helping to create one of the largest bodies of soul and R&B music that exists.
~Steve Kurutz (allmusic.com)
Short intro:
Booker T & the MG’s – green onions:
| Birth name | Donald Dunn |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Duck |
| Born | November 24, 1941 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | May 13, 2012 (aged 70) Tokyo, Japan |
| Genres | Rock, soul, rhythm and blues |
| Occupations | Songwriter, producer, actor |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1960–2012 |
| Associated acts | Otis Redding, Booker T & the MG’s, Albert King, Mar-Keys,The Blues Brothers, Sam and Dave |
| Website | duckdunn.com |
Donald “Duck” Dunn (November 24, 1941 – May 13, 2012) was an American bass guitarist, session musician, record producer, and songwriter. Dunn was notable for his 1960s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.’s and as a session bassist for Stax Records, which specialized in blues and gospel-infused southern soul which became known as Memphis Soul. At Stax, Dunn played on thousands of records including hits by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, and many others. Dunn also performed on recordings with The Blues Brothers, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Isaac Hayes, Levon Helm, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wilson Pickett, Guy Sebastian, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Roy Buchanan, Steely Dan, Tinsley Ellis and Arthur Conley.
Booker T. & The MG’s – Time Is Tight (Live, 1970):
Dunn played himself in the 1980 feature The Blues Brothers, where he famously uttered the line, “We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline!”
Awards:
Continue reading Today: The late Donald “Duck” Dunn was born in 1941 – 71 years ago
