Next Gig:
The Elgin Ladbroke Grove.
Sunday 15th April 1pm -4pm.
Had a great time in Memphis.
Attended Scotty Moore's 80th Birthday party.
Scotty asked if we'd play a set and back some of the musicians.
Why certainly!
I
first worked with Scotty in 1999 when Pete Pritchard and myself set up a tour of UK and Ireland featuring Scotty and DJ Fontana. On that tour we had Ian Conningham vocals/drums and Peter Davenport guitar. The format featured Presley repertoire, of course, as well as songs by Carl Perkins, Billy Lee Riley etc. - Good Classic SUN stuff.
IIt was a great band, and Pete and I continued working with Scotty.
We made several recordings with him too.
The tours and dates that followed saw the line-up of the band eventually evolve to feature Jimmy Russell - Drums,
Dave Briggs - Guitar and Paul Ansell - Vocals
We had played at Scotty's 73rd party in 2003 in Nashville which was filmed for MTV, but Scotty was taken ill and although the night went ahead, everyone was really worried about how things would turn out. Happily, Scotty recovered and then toured UK and Ireland with us the following year.
We were really happy to help celebrate his 76th in Nashville, and honoured to be asked to return for his 80th also.
He was in really fine form I have to say.
Roland Janes, Billy Swan, DJ Fontana, and a host of Memphis luminaries, including Priscilla, attended.
At one point we were joined on stage by the legendary JM Van Eaton on drums for two of the classic tunes he recorded at SUN;
Whole Lotta Shakin' and Red Hot.
Pete Pritchard did a great job on vocals belting out 'Red Hot' and I sang 'Whole Lotta Shakin'.
Playing the piano intro to 'Whole Lotta Shakin', while JM played the drums was certainly spine-tingling. Like a lot of legendary musicians, JM is a very nice guy and very happy to chat about those early recordings that changed the world of music for so many of us.
The picture above is with James Lott a great performer, as well as the man who kept SUN Studios operating through the difficult times.
A debt due indeed.
While in Memphis, Pete Pritchard, Dave Briggs,
Jimmy Russell and myself did some sessions at SUN on 706 Union Ave.
We cut seven tracks.
All self-penned original songs, singing lead vocal on our own tracks.
Our old friend Kevin Woods was good enough to join us on acoustic guitar.
Elvis' original drummer DJ Fontana dropped in and so did JM Van Eaton.
The two most famous drummers in Rock n Roll with us at SUN.
Hard to believe it happened.
Matt Ross-Spang did a sterling job running the board on the session and we're really happy with the results. There's something in that room definitely.
We'll be putting the tracks out soon for you to judge.
The following night Paul Ansell was due in SUN to record tracks for a new album too.
Paul asked us to play with him on the tracks, which we were really happy to do.
The songs are great and he sang great as always.
One to watch for definitely.
I was due to head to Nashville a few days later in the week to visit friends.
Scotty kindly suggested my wife and I pop in to see him so we called in and had a lovely
afternoon catching up with himself and Gail.
Theres some more pics and some videos to come so check back as I will be adding to this blog.
Next Gig is at The Elgin Ladbroke Grove. Sunday 15th April 1pm -4pm.
Be great to see you
http://www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/theelgin/
Posts
