One : The Life and Music of James Brown (9781101561102) (55 page)

Johnny Terry: Bobby Roach interview; Roach interview, Hays; Brown and Tucker,
Godfather of Soul
; Brown,
The Life of James Brown
.

Toccoa:
Stephens County, Georgia: Its People,
vol. 1 (Stephens County Historical Society, 1996); Wilber W. Caldwell,
The Courthouse and the Depot: A Narrative Guide to Railroad Expansion and Its Impact on Public Architecture in Georgia, 1833-1910
(Mercer University Press, 2001); Fred J. Hay, “Music Box Meets the Toccoa Band: The Godfather of Soul in Appalachia,”
Black Music Research Journal
, vol. 23, no. 1-2 (Spring-Autumn, 2003); “Another Large Liquor Still Cut in Gum Log Last Friday,”
Toccoa Record
, June 12, 1952; “Liquor Car Nabbed By Officers Yields Over 100 Gallons in Wild Chase,”
Toccoa Record
, May 7, 1953; “Godfather of Soul Attends Local Funeral,”
Toccoa Record
, January 6, 2004; “Georgia (Mountains) On My Mind,”
Washington Post
, May 16, 1993.

Music in Toccoa: The entire issue of
Black Music Research Journal
volume 23, no. 1-2, 2003, is devoted to African American music of the region, and has shaped my thinking about the music made in Toccoa.

James Brown in Toccoa: Hay, “Music Box Meets the Toccoa Band.” Fred J. Hay captures the time and place that Brown entered upon his release from prison. It’s a region he knows better than most. Brown,
The Life of James Brown
; Cliff White, “The Roots of James Brown, Part One,”
Now Dig This
, May 1993; interview with James Shaw, Sarah Byrd Giglio, Willie Mae Keels; interviews with Bobby Byrd conducted by Hay, Howard Burchette, and Portia Maultsby were invaluable. Much of what we know of Brown’s musical progress in Toccoa, and of the groups he joined, comes from Byrd. He was generous with his time and stories of Toccoa times, and, sometimes, the stories and dates changed. Memories are fungible.

Velma Brown: interviews by Hay; Rhodes,
Say It Loud!

“At the time we didn’t really care,” Byrd Giglio interview.

“They didn’t have no band, they was just patting their legs.” James Shaw, aka The Mighty Hannibal, interview.

Chapter Five:
A NEW ORLEANS CHOO-CHOO

Macon: Candice Dyer,
Street Singers, Soul Shakers, Rebels With a Cause: Music From Macon
(Indigo, 2008); Andrew M. Manis,
Macon Black and White: An Unutterable Separation in the American Century
(Mercer University Press, 2004);
Macon’s Black Heritage: The Untold Story
(Tubman African American Museum, 1997); Preston Lauterbach,
The Chitlin Circuit: And the Road to Rock ’n’ Roll
(W. W. Norton & Company, 2011); Scott Freeman,
Otis! The Otis Redding Story
(St. Martin’s, 2001); Douglass Theatre collection, Middle Georgia Regional Library, Macon; James Brown folder, Middle Georgia Regional Library.

Clint Brantley: Clint Brantley folder, Middle Georgia Regional Library; Scott Freeman, “James Brown: Soul Brother No. 1,”
Creative Loafing Atlanta
, Jan. 10, 2007; Scott Freeman, Newton Collier interview.

Charles Connor: unpublished manuscript, the Charles Connor Collection, Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC), Indiana University; Connor interview.

The Upsetters:
Home of the Groove
blog, posted April 20, 2008 (“Tracking Lee Diamond”), and December 3, 2004; Connor interview; Grady Gaines interview, Alan B. Govenar,
Texas Blues: the Rise of a Contemporary Sound
(TAMU Press, 2008).

Little Richard: David Kirby,
Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll
(Continuum, 2009); Charles White,
The Life and Times of Little Richard
(Da Capo Press, 1994); “Little Richard Penniman” folder, Middle Georgia Regional Library, booklet to
Little Richard: The Specialty Records Sessions
(Specialty, 1990); “I’ve Quit Show Business,”
Puget Sound Observer
, Dec. 25, 1957; “Rappin’ With a Rock ’n Roll Pioneer,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, January 19, 1985; “Little Richard Touched Macon,”
Charlotte Observer
, Sept. 4, 2005; Connor interview.

Tent show queen tradition: Esquerita interview,
Kicks
(1983); Marybeth Hamilton, “Sexual Politics and African-American Music; or, Placing Little Richard in History,”
History Workshop
46, Autumn 1998.

Billy Wright: The Hound Blog, entry posted June 15, 2009; liner notes and interview found in
Billy Wright: Stacked Deck
(Route 66, 1980); Tommy Brown interview.

“I’ve never seen a man work so hard in my whole life.” Brown,
The Life of James Brown
.

Funk: Tony Scherman,
Back Beat: Earl Palmer’s Story
(Da Capo, 2000); Robert Farris Thompson,
Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy
(Vintage, 1984); Connor interview.

“Please, Please, Please” in Macon: “James Brown” file, Middle Georgia Regional Library; “Radio History ‘Pioneer’ WIBB,” and “WIBB Founders Faced Uphill Battle,”
Macon Telegraph
, May 31, 1998; Hamp Swain, Satellite Papa interview.

“Oh man, that’s more like it.” Byrd interview, AAAMC.

“A sort of seventh son, born with a veil.” David Levering Lewis, ed.,
W.E.B. Du Bois: A Reader
(Holt, 1995).

The conjure woman: Terry interview, Hay; Brown,
The Life of James Brown.

Ralph Bass and the signing of the Flames: Lauterbach,
The Chitlin Circuit
; Michael Lydon,
Boogie Lightning
(Dial Press, 1974); Norbert Hess, “I Didn’t Give a Damn If Whites Bought It!,”
Blues Unlimited
119, May/June 1976; Brantley file, Middle Georgia Regional Library; Henry Stone, Gwen Kesler interviews.

The first recording session: Jon Hartley Fox,
King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records
(University of Illinois Press, 2009); Hal Neely interview, conducted by Jeff Yaw; Philip Paul interview; Sylvester Keels, Nafloyd Scott interviews, Hay.

“It took so long for it to finally come out.” Byrd interview, Burchette.

Chapter Six:
TOP BANANA

King Records: Fox,
King of the Queen City
; Richard Kennedy and Randy McNutt,
Little Labels, Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music
(Indiana University Press, 2001); John Broven,
Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock ’n’ Roll Pioneers
(University of Illinois Press, 2010); Brian F. X. Powers,
A King Records Scrapbook
(Terra Incognita Press, 2008); Steven C. Tracy,
Going to Cincinnati: A History of the Blues in the Queen City
(University of Illinois Press, 1993); Darren Blase,
King Records: The Story
(undated, Cincinnati Public Library); Colin Escott,
Tattooed On Their Tongues: A Journey Through the Backrooms of American Music
(Schirmer Trade Books, 2000); John W. Rumble, “Roots of Rock & Roll: Henry Glover at King Records,”
Journal of Country Music
, vol. 14, no. 2 (1992); Larry Nager, “The King is Dead, Long Live the King,”
Cincinnati
, March, 2008; Billy Vera, “The Henry Glover Story,”
Blues & Rhythm
, Oct. 2008; “Cincinnati
Manufacturer Proves that Integration Will Work,” Cincinnati Ed. of
Cleveland Call and Post
, Dec. 13, 1947; “Records Are Biscuits,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, June 19, 1948; “Strummin’ ‘Geetar’ is Music to Millions,”
Cincinnati Enquirer
, Nov. 27, 1948; “Standout – In Business,”
Cleveland Call and Post,
March 26, 1949; “King, Apollo Denounce Wax Race Tags,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, May 14, 1949; private files of Steve Halper; Cincinnati Music file, Cincinnati Public Library; oral histories of Henry Glover and Colonel Jim Wilson, conducted by John Rumble, Country Music Hall of Fame; interviews with Darren Blase, Steve Halper, Lee Hay, Orangie Ray Hubbard, Leroy Jones, Philip Paul, Ralph Stanley, Marion Thomson, Otis Williams; several publications on King by Brian Powers at the Cincinnati Public Library, and Powers’s ongoing research and advice, have been indispensable.

Syd Nathan: Nelson Burton,
My Life in Jazz
(Clifton Hills Press, 2000); Tommy Scott,
Snake Oil, Superstars and Me
(Author House, 2007); Darren Blase, “The Man Who Was King,”
CityBeat
, March 19, 1997; “King of King’s 25th Year,”
Cincinnati Post and Times-Star
, July 21, 1967; “Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Syd Nathan Brought R&B, Country to Cincinnati,”
The American Israelite
, July 25, 2002; Seymour Stein interview.

“This morning I was a kike, tonight I’m an elegant Jew.” Interview with Hank Penny,
JEMF Quarterly
, Spring/Summer 1982.

The chitlin circuit: I have adopted the colloquial “chitlin,” rather than the formal “chitterling.” Lauterbach,
The Chitlin Circuit
; Steven Roby and Brad Schreiber,
Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London
(Da Capo, 2010). A circuit story waiting to be told is the rise and fall of Charles Sullivan, sold into servitude in his Depression boyhood, only to become a West Coast nightclub kingpin until his mysterious death in the late 1960s.

James Brown and the Famous Flames on the chitlin circuit: Cliff White, “The Roots of James Brown Part Two,”
Now Dig This
, June 1993; Opal Louis Nations, “Louis Madison and the Famous Flames,”
Now Dig This
, March 2004; Dante Carfagna, “The Journeyman: Saxman J. C. Davis,”
Wax Poetics
28, 2008; Bobby Roach, J. C. Davis interviews. For an indelible picture of the sometimes complicated racial politics of these clubs in Brown’s South Carolina backyard, see Frank Beachum’s
Whitewash: A Southern Journey Through Music, Mayhem and Murder
(Beacham Story Studio, 2007).

“I knew the struggle.” Byrd interview, AAAMC.

“I done been through it.” Liner notes,
The Singles Volume One: The Federal Years 1956-1960
(Hip-O Select, 2006).

Nat Kendrick:
Davis, Lee interviews. “He is an OG,” Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson says of Kendrick. “He was highly effective in those songs. Deceptive, awesome swing.”

“Oh that was devastating.” Byrd interview, Hay.

“James was different from us.” Scott interview, Hay.

“The best time we
ever
had.” Byrd interview, Hay.

“He didn’t record anyone’s songs unless he got a rate.” Glover interview, Rumble.

“Give me the
song.
” Bootlegged recording of in-house sales staff meeting at King.

“Playing behind Sam Cooke was like playin’ for people in a convalescent home.” Connor manuscript, AAAMC.

The Apollo debut: Frank Schiffman Apollo Theater Collection, Smithsonian; Bobby Bennett, Davis, Connor interviews; Byrd interview, AAAMC. The fable of Brown’s talent show triumph in the mid-1950s seems to have first emerged in articles in the New York press lauding the Apollo’s significance, decades after Brown and the Famous Flames’ real debut.

Chapter Seven:
THE TRAVELER

Birmingham Trailways station: Tucker,
The Godfather of Soul
; Raymond Arsenault,
Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
(Oxford University Press, 2006); David J. Garrow,
Birmingham Alabama 1956-1963: The Black Struggle for Civil Rights
(Carlson, 1989); Bobby Roach interview. For a thoughtful examination of black mobility and how it was contested on the open road, see Cotten Seiler, “‘So That We as a Race Might Have Something Authentic to Travel By’: African American Automobility and Cold-War Liberalism,”
American Quarterly
, vol. 58, no. 4 (December 2006). At a time when whites used restrictions on black mobility as a way to curtail other freedoms, it is possible to view Brown’s travel through the South, with his name emblazoned on the side of the car or bus, as a symbolic challenge to impediments placed on African American freedom.

Tough times for black musicians traveling the South: Peter Guralnick,
Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke
(Little, Brown & Co., 2005); Brian Ward,
Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations
(University of California Press, 1998); “How Dixie Race Tension is Killing Mixed Shows,”
Jet
, Dec. 22, 1960, and June 8, 1961; “The Strange, Flaming Death of Jesse Belvin,”
Sepia
, June 1960.

The role of the black DJ: Magnificent Montague with Bob Baker,
Burn, Baby! Burn! The Autobiography of Magnificent Montague
(University of Illinois Press, 2009); Richard E. Stamz and Patrick A. Roberts,
Give ’Em Soul, Richard! Race Radio and Rhythm and Blues in Chicago
(University of Illinois Press, 2010); Shelley Stewart with Nathan Hale Turner,
The Road South: A Memoir
(Grand Central Publishing, 2002); Lee, Bob Patton, Swain, Satellite Papa interviews.

Ben Bart and Universal Productions: “Tiny Bradshaw’s New Ork Hailed as Season’s Greatest Swing Find,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, June 19, 1937; “Four Scottsboro Boys Starting Theatre Tour,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, August 21, 1937; “They Traveled 10,000 Miles in Eight Weeks,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, April 2, 1938; “‘Nevermore,’ Quoth Ravens,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, July 26, 1947; “One Night Stands Get Barnum Touch,”
New York Amsterdam News
, Feb. 26, 1949; “Packages Among the Things Fans Liked Best,”
Chicago Defender
, Jan. 24, 1953; “Well, Oh Well! Tiny Bradshaw Very Much Alive,”
Pittsburgh Courier
, March 12, 1955; Jack Bart, Steve Alaimo, Stone, Patton interviews.

“An older white guy who, with a big .45 on his hip.” Etta James and David Ritz,
Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story
(Da Capo, 2003).

“Jimmie is dying!”
Jet
, Nov. 16, 1961.

“Another Jackie Wilson incident.”
Pittsburgh Courier
, Nov. 4, 1961.

The 5-4 Ballroom incident: 1995 interview with Brown, AAAMC; Taylor Branch,
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65
(Simon & Schuster, 1998).