On the Record
On The Record: The OA asks musicians, critics, and record nuts about the best music and moments in 'Bama's recorded history.
Travis Morgan owns Skybucket Records in Birmingham. As a teenager, he became obsessed with playing guitar, but eventually realized playing an instrument might not be his real skill or calling. So he dove into the Birmingham music scene, attending local shows. Now his label puts out some of the bands he used to see at those shows: Delicate Cutters, Barton Carroll, 13ghosts, Vulture Whale, Through the Sparks, and Dexateens.
THE OA: What are the five best songs, in your opinion, ever written or performed by an Alabama artist?
TM: "Boulder to Birmingham" by Emmylou Harris
"Dancing in the Street" by Martha and the Vandellas
"The Song That Ended Your Career" by Verbena
"Dark End of the Street" by Dan Penn/Chips Moman
"Tuxedo Junction" by Erskine Hawkins
THE OA: Who, in your opinion, is the most talented musician or singer to come out of Alabama?
TM: Gosh, there are so many. This is difficult. For most talented singer, I've gotta go with Emmylou Harris. She is amazing and has such a great spirit and soul in every song. When her voice comes over the speakers, you just melt.
I would also love to mention Cinjun Tate from Remy Zero. What a beautiful, powerful voice he has.
As far as the most talented musician, it is a shame I have to whittle the extraordinarily large list down. I am biased in saying this, but I think that Jody Nelson is an absolute major talent (disclosure: his band is on my label). He is the main songwriter in the Birmingham band Through the Sparks, and, additionally, he is a great guitar and keys player. I think he will go down in Alabama music history if not for his playing ability, then for his songs and his band's recordings.
THE OA: What do you think is the best album of all time by an Alabama artist?
TM: A tie between: VERY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS by Eddie Hinton and CAR RADIO JEROME by Fred Lane.
THE OA: What is the best unheard-of Alabama artist or album?
TM: It would have to be Ralph "Soul" Jackson.
Rabbit Factory Records out of Chicago released two compilations a few years ago. THE BIRMINGHAM SOUND: THE SOUL OF NEAL HEMPHILL VOL. 1 and 2. These featured several of Jackson's performances. I later found out he had several hits in his day. He's still performing and I believe Rabbit Factory is releasing a full-length record of Jackson's in the future.
THE OA: What is your favorite historical moment or episode in Alabama musical history?
TM: This isn't exactly one particular moment, but a person who has the utmost historical importance: John T. "Fess" Whatley. He was born in Tuscaloosa but went on to be a music instructor at Tuggle Institute and Birmingham Industrial High School, both in Birmingham. Some of Whatley's students were Erskine Hawkins, Cleveland Eaton, Sun Ra, Sammy Lowe, Joe Guy, and Joe Britton. What Fess taught these players is astounding. That's REAL history!
THE OA: What is your favorite personal moment?
TM: Again, always difficult to pick a favorite. I have a great memory seeing David Byrne at City Stages in 2001 in Birmingham performing "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston. He was hilarious and entertaining.
THE OA: What is your favorite performance ever by an Alabama artist?
TM: The Improv Fest in Birmingham in 2004 was a revelation to me. There was so much creative energy and force all packed into The Virginia Samford Theatre in Birmingham. This is where I saw so many ridiculously talented improvisational musicians/performers and was introduced to the world-class instrumentalists guitarist Davey Williams and violinist/violist LaDonna Smith. Both LaDonna and Davey helped foster the improv movement in Tuscaloosa in the '70s, later bringing it to Birmingham. The Improv Festival happens in Birmingham every few years and it always knocks the breath out of me. Can't wait for the next one.
THE OA: What is your favorite lyric from an Alabama band?
TM: "Hittite Hot Shot," by Fred Lane:
When I come home the jaws of death
Nobody there so I help myself
Dead rat in the drainpipe
Bible down
The pollen's high; the sperm can dance
There's a death camp in my pants
You give all that you've got
Presbyterian.
Adjustable mustard
Receptacle prone
It would like a few puppies
And a bowl of its own
I'm a Hittite hot shot, but it won't last
Look out, baby; I'm fadin' fast
If you don't like my hairdo
Cop my shoe.
Andy and Ashley Vaughn own Vertical House Records, a small shotgun space located on the second floor of Lowe Mill/Flying Monkey Arts Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The store frequently hosts in-store performances and listening parties for new albums as they drop, and boasts around twenty thousand LPs and 45s.
THE OA: What are the five best songs, in your opinion, ever written or performed by an Alabama artist?
A&AV: "Hunstville Lights" by Bobby Brooks
"Modern Fix" by Sex Clark Five
"A Long Walk" by Thomas Function
"All My Rowdy Friends Are Dead" by Pine Hill Haints
"Rising Sun" by G-Side
THE OA: Who, in your opinion, is the most talented musician/singer to come out of Alabama?
A&AV: Hank Williams.
THE OA: What do you think is the best album of all time by an Alabama artist?
A&AV: GOD, THE DEVIL AND THE TWO BY THE GATE by Pine Hill Haints.
THE OA: Who is the best unheard-of Alabama artist?
A&AV: Sex Clark Five, Thomas Function, G-Side, Pine Hill Haints, and Dan Sartain.
THE OA: What is your favorite moment in Alabama musical history?
A&AV: Thomas Function & G-Side playing together at Vertical House Records marking the first rock/hip-hop show in Huntsville. More than a hundred and thirty people came to check it out on a Tuesday night and everyone left knowing that they were part of something that helped merge the two scenes.
THE OA: What is your favorite performance ever by an Alabama artist (or by a non-Alabama artist in Alabama)?
A&AV: Nobunny playing live at Vertical House Records, marking his first time to Alabama.
THE OA: What is your favorite lyric from an Alabama band?
A&AV: "Stop believing what you know if you only know what you are told." (Thomas Function, "Day in the Shade")
Joe Reddick was born in Birmingham to an L & N switchman and a Baptist homemaker. His much older brother brainwashed him with "Mean Old Lonesome Train" and "Heartbreak Hotel" in the room they shared. He was thirteen when The Beatles landed but he gravitated to the more dangerous Rolling Stones. When he realized he would probably not play wide receiver for the Crimson Tide, he turned to music as a hobby—a passion that continues to this day.
In his normal life, he has been an accountant and trust banker. He is involved in two local clubs of music enthusiasts: the Alabama Record Collectors Association and the Birmingham Record Collectors.
THE OA: What are the five best songs, in your opinion, ever written or performed by an Alabama artist?
JR: "Hound Dog" by Ariton, Alabama native Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. This 1952 release somehow seeped into the consciousness of the young Elvis Presley.
"You Better Move On" by Sheffield. Alabama native Arthur Alexander helped Rick Hall lay the foundation for FAME Studios, which launched dozens of hits for Atlantic Records and the likes of Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett.
"Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams—Hank knew cheating.
"Waiting for a Train" by Jimmie Rodgers. The Singing Brakeman tells the hobo side of life.
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Hugh Martin. Some Christmas songs get tiresome, but not this one.
THE OA: Who, in your opinion, is the most talented musician/singer to come out of Alabama?
JR: I give the nod to singer Arthur Alexander. His depth of emotion in "Anna (Go to Him)," "You Better Move On," and "Soldier of Love" moved The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.
THE OA: What do you think is the best album of all time by an Alabama artist?
JR: A band called Felt released an album by the same name in 1971, then promptly disappeared. It is a psych monster, highly sought after by collectors.
THE OA: What is the best unheard-of song by an Alabama artist?
JR: "Hang in There Like a Rusty Fishhook" by Country Boy Eddie, which is known to rockabilly fans, and is good advice for these troubled times.
THE OA: What is your favorite moment in Alabama musical history?
JR: A moment that will forever burn is when Florence, Alabama native Sam Phillips heard something in Elvis, Scotty, and Bill's noodling around with Arthur Crudup's "That's Alright, Mama" and knew that was what he had been looking for: the artist that could stand at the intersection of black/white and hillbilly/r&b and make it work.
THE OA: Your favorite personal moment?
JR: A high-school senior on his first road trip with friends, on a school night, to Memorial Coliseum, in Tuscaloosa, May 1969, to see Jimi Hendrix. I had been to concerts before. Fifteen thousand came out of their seats on the first note of "Johnny B. Goode" and nobody was ever the same.
THE OA: What is your favorite performance ever by an Alabama artist?
JR: Sun Ra leading a "street strut" parade of children and fans through Linn Park during the City Stages Festival in Birmingham in 1989. I can't speak to whether or not the man born Herman Poole Blount was really from Saturn, but he expanded the musical universe outward from his home state of Alabama.
THE OA: What is your favorite lyric from an Alabama band?
JR: Hank, Sr., said so much, so simply. Here's a simple invitation:
I got a hot rod Ford and a two dollar bill,
and I know a place right over the hill,
there's soda pop and the dancin's free
if you want to have fun, come along with me.
Dick Cooper began as a journalist/photographer in the 1960s with the BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD. He moved to Muscle Shoals in 1972 to work at the local paper, and started a weekly column about the music business. He quit in 1975 to get into the music business, and in 1977, began a decade of work as road manager and production assistant for bands like LeBlanc Carr and The Rossington Band, and was professional manager of Muscle Shoals Sound Music. In 1989, he left the road and became the first curator of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Later, he was the co-producer of The Drive-By Truckers' SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA. Today, he's a member of the board of the Muscle Shoals Music Association and is on the Music Selection Committee of the W.C. Handy Music Festival. He recently created an exhibit on the History of Muscle Shoals Music that was a companion piece to the Smithsonian traveling exhibition NEW HARMONIES.
THE OA: What are the five best songs, in your opinion, ever written or performed by an Alabama artist?
DC: "I'll Take You There" by The Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section with The Staple Singers
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams
"Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett
"One of These Days" by Emmylou Harris
"Keep on Smiling" by Wet Willie
THE OA: Who, in your opinion, is the most talented musician/singer to come out of Alabama?
DC: Mac McAnally.
THE OA: What do you think is the best album of all time by an Alabama artist?
DC: SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA by Drive-By Truckers.
THE OA: Who is the best unheard-of Alabama artist?
DC: Eddie Hinton.
THE OA: What is your favorite historical moment or episode in Alabama musical history?
DC: Atlantic VP Jerry Wexler bringing Aretha Franklin to FAME Studio to record.
THE OA: What is your favorite personal moment?
DC: Working as project manager on Etta James's Grammy-nominated album, RIGHT TIME.
THE OA: What is your favorite performance ever by an Alabama artist?
DC: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham during Donnie Fritts Benefit Show in January 2000 at Norton Auditorium, University of North Alabama.
THE OA: What is your favorite lyric from an Alabama band?
DC: I'd have to say the chorus of "Sweet Home Alabama," because every time I cross the state line coming back to Alabama it runs through my head. But since Skynyrd isn't an Alabama band, I'd say it is probably a toss-up between Charlie and Ira Louvin's "Cash on the Barrelhead" or "Six Days on the Road" written by Earl Green and Carl Montgomery.
The "First Lady of Southern Soul" dishes on Alabama jams. (Read our full interview with Staton here).
THE OA: What are the five best songs, in your opinion, ever written or performed by an Alabama artist?
CS: "Knock on Wood" by Eddie Floyd
"Slip Away" by Clarence Carter
"Keep on Truckin'" by Eddie Kendricks
"Brick House" by The Commodores
"Three Times a Lady" by The Commodores
THE OA: Who, in your opinion, is the most talented musician to come out of Alabama?
CS: Eddie Lavert.
THE OA: What do you think is the best album of all time by an Alabama artist?
CS: STAND BY YOUR MAN by Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill.
THE OA: What is the best unheard-of Alabama artist or album?
CS: I probably haven't heard it either.
THE OA: What is your favorite historical moment or episode in Alabama musical history?
CS: Probably my favorite moment was when I walked out on the stage for the first time at the Legion Field in Birmingham. After I got my first big hit [1970's "I'd Rather Be an Old Man's Sweetheart (Than a Young Man's Fool)"], I was driven across the field in a white Cadillac. I was this little country girl that everybody said would never make it. And I walked up on that stage and sung my hit record. I think that was my favorite moment.
THE OA: What is your favorite performance ever by an Alabama artist?
CS: Dorothy Love Coates. When I was a little girl, I used to travel with her.
THE OA: Was there one show she played that sticks out in your memory?
CS: Every one of them was just about the same, but she was very emotional. Really, really emotional. There was a song called "That's Enough," and she'd tear the place up every time she played it. She was a dynamic singer.
Listen to one of Candi's new tracks on our Alternate Universe CD .
