BOB HOWE MUSIC
Award Winning Vocal / Instrumental Performer
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  Bob Howe - My Musical Life

Chapter Ten – The Late Eighties

“Hello Frank, do you remember when I said I couldn’t come and work with you in the summer, because I was contracted to a theatre musical? Well…”

The previous time this situation had happened (Elvis – The Musical vs The Johnny Chester Show, 1981) I got lucky, very lucky, so I had my hopes up for a similar result. Frank Ifield said he was very sorry, but since his last call he had hired our good friends Ray & Ann Brett from Corby, their bass player Roly Wolstenholme and a new friend, John Death on piano. It was just a drummer that he needed now. Despite my recent percussive efforts in LENNON – The Musical of the Legend, I wasn’t going to put myself forward as a drummer. However Frank said he’d talk to the band, just in case there was anything that could be done. Before I knew it, he was phoning me back. It turned out that John was actually more keen on rekindling his drum skills than he was on playing piano, so if I thought that Ray and I could make the music work with two guitars instead of guitar and piano, I was in luck. I said that would be great and I’d be there in England by the start of April.

Lord Moyne in the centre

In the meantime, I did some more ‘extra’ work in Sydney. In the Captain James Cook TV mini-series starring Keith Michell, I can be seen prancing around in the background in full court dress (pictured right) as the character Lord Moyne. For recreation I saw the Eurythmics again and soon after, Jimmy Buffett in concert for the first time. The next week I was an extra in an advert for National Panasonic and then a different day, another advert, at The Lakes Golf Course, literally across the road from where I lived. There were dozens of extras there, all lined up to be golf-fans of the famous Ian Baker-Finch.

The sun was behind the clouds that day, so lots of lounging around on the grass waiting for the light, before the film crew gave up and shot the best take they could under the circumstances. I went home feeling a bit odd and when I looked in the mirror, my face was puffy. I took off my sunglasses to reveal a strip of white around my eyes and severe sunburn elsewhere. The next day I was due at Maizels casting agency as I was up for a feature part in a different ad. I had to make light of my situation, laughing my way through the interview, never expecting to get called back for the job. Luckily I had recovered two days later, in time to be in the background of a scene in the Great Hall at Sydney University for the film Everlasting Secret Family.

On the musical side, I played several Sunday afternoons at the Henson Park Hotel with the band ‘Four On The Floor’ that included Trevor Ford, Willie Fennell and Peter Johnson. I was filling in for guitarist and friend Mick Hamilton who was on tour with Val Doonican at the time. After one of those gigs I saw ZZ Top at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

The next day I flew to Melbourne and that night Donna Fisk took me to The Star in South Melbourne to see Guitars Au Go Go. The next thing I knew I was onstage holding a borrowed Gibson ‘Flying V’ guitar. Still in ZZ Top mode, I called for the band to play their song Tush. As I stepped forward to sing, I broke a string and the guitar went out of tune. I persevered while Donna light heartedly heckled me from the back of the room (“…don’t sing Bobby!”). During the week I caught up with more friends – Sharon, Marshall, Hat, and Faye from Lennon – then flew back to Sydney in time for the next Sunday gig.

A few more gigs around Sydney town before a visit from my English Uncle Bob and Aunty Ann, so I was in tour guide mode for a while. The following week I had just driven them and my Mum, 210 km (130 miles) north to Shoal Bay for a few days holiday when Maizels casting agency called to say I had got the job after all, despite my sunburn, because they liked my crazy attitude. Great, except I had to drive back to Sydney straight away as filming was the next day. Oh well, I actually got back in time to see Billy Bragg in concert that night at the Enmore Theatre.

Wedding Kiss Row article teaser

The following afternoon I had to present myself at Centennial Park for what I knew would be part of an Australian Bicentennial advert being made by advertising giants ‘Mojo’. I had to change clothes behind a tree into a grey wedding suit complete with top hat, kiss a bride in a full white gown, someone threw confetti over us and “cut!”, we were done. Off I went, thinking no more about it except how it paid better than an anonymous gig as an extra.

Later in the year, I would be in England unaware that I was on the front page of Sydney newspaper The Sun (27 August 1987) under the headline ‘WEDDING KISS ROW’. The story on page 2, complete with three screenshots of the advert, revealed that there had been a few isolated complaints about the number of people shown of varied ethnicity. The paper tried to sensationalise the story with pictures of “…an Asian woman…depicted marrying a white Australian man”. The irony was that at that time I wasn’t quite yet an Australian citizen, plus the chances were that the lovely woman was Australian-born and finally, my bride had only let me kiss her on the cheek! No wonder the marriage didn’t last. The ad, set to the jingle “Celebration of a Nation”, continued to air nationally on television and in movie theatres during that Bicentennial year.

I played one last Sunday gig and flew to Hong Kong the next day for a short stopover on my way back to the U.K. where Frank had a few shows lined up before we started the summer season in Blackpool. I went to see the LENNON directors – Clare in Sheffield for a while and then over to Manchester to catch up with Chris Monks. I needed somewhere to stay for a couple of months and luckily for me, Chris offered a room in his house that was often used by out-of-town actors. Manchester had a fantastic theatre scene at the time and I immersed myself in every play that was showing. I was thinking that the future of my career might lie more in the theatre, but time would prove otherwise.

Lee Monteverde @ Moonraker Studios 1987

While in Manchester, I also got to see my sister Rachel and meet my newly-born nephew Daniel. There was great music too and I saw jazz guitar legend Kenny Burrell at the ‘Band on the Wall’ and even a performance by Chris Monks and his legendary band Walter & the Softies. 

I looked around for a place to do some recording and ended up starting a couple of projects at Moonraker Studios with engineer Lee Monteverde. The following year, Lee would be involved in the recording the track “Voodoo Ray” by A Guy Called Gerald, often cited as the first British acid house record.

Notable amongst Frank’s pre-summer shows was a May 13th concert in Portsmouth. Earlier that day, Queen Elizabeth II  had launched a 200th birthday party for Australia by making a fleet review of the ships setting sail that day in The First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage. Sadly, Her Majesty didn’t stay in town long enough to see Frank, her mother’s favourite yodeller! The concert that night at Castle Field also included The Drifters, ‘Australian Folk Singers’ and fireworks. The following month we also had an excellent 3-night weekend engagement at (George) SAVVAS Club in the picturesque valley of Usk in South East Wales. Eventually it was time to move to Blackpool and we opened at The Sandcastle on July 6th and settled in for a season that would last until 31st October.

Frank Ifield at Blackpool’s Sandcastle, 1987

A self-styled “indoor wonderland of fun and entertainment”, The Sandcastle was a giant indoor leisure centre, that included swimming pools (one with a wave machine), terraced cafes, shops, bars and live entertainment, all the while at a constant warmth of 80°F. Fun-seekers would buy an all-day ticket, giving access to all the amusements and shows. Six nights a week, the evening show would start with host Cameron Scott introducing The Brett Band and they would be followed by Mike Terry, master of the boogie-woogie piano. During Mike’s act he would unveil an upright piano, formerly owned by Winifred Atwell and on it he would play tunes that Winnie had taught him. In contrast, Robert Anthony would play a (then) state-of-the-art Yamaha FX-1 organ (original price tag USD $43,628) and delight the audience with his rendition of the recent hit tune Phantom of the Opera.

 

Me with my sister Rachel – The Golden Mile and Blackpool Tower in the distance.

After the discipline of LENNON earlier in the year (8 shows a week of physical exertion), performing with Frank for a mere 50 minutes, 6 nights a week, seemed like a vacation. Not only that, we were in a holiday town with amusements galore. My sister Rachel came to visit and we enjoyed a day in the sun, riding the dodgems, merry-go-round and the log flume, and of course, fish and chips and a 99 ice cream!
 
I took a room in a boarding house (knocked on the door. The landlady opened an upstairs window and said, “What do you want?”…”I want to stay here”. She said, “Well stay there then!” – thank you Tommy Cooper). Frank moved into the room directly above me, on the top floor. It was just a short walk from there, through the famous Blackpool Pleasure Beach park each day to The Sandcastle, where my equipment was already set up from the night before. For the whole season I had free access to the venue – allowing me to swim whenever I desired and made me the fittest I’d ever been (or would be again) in my life. As an added diversion, the first week I hired an alto saxophone from the local music store. Frank asked if I would play it that night in the show to which I replied I would need a few days practice. The first weekend I managed to play a barely passable solo when he sang Blueberry Hill, but that was about as far as it went.Bob - cool sax man
 
The reason we played only 6 nights a week, was because Sundays at seaside venues were traditionally reserved for visiting celebrity performers. Frank’s wonderful manager, Ron Rowbottom came up with the idea that we might get bored staying in the one spot and also that there was an opportunity for Frank to be a ‘Sunday Star’ in another town. The first trip was easy enough, just a short hop to Whalley in Lancashire. The next weekend was something else! We were booked for a Sunday afternoon concert in Chichester, in South-East England…473 km (294 miles) away! The logistics of playing Saturday night in Blackpool, Sunday afternoon in Chichester and then Monday night back in Blackpool did not bode well, but somehow we managed it.
 

…on stage with Lyn Paul, 1987

On the other side of the coin, a regular Sunday visitor to The Sandcastle was Lyn Paul, formerly of The New Seekers. I was fortunate enough to be hired to play guitar for her on at least one of those shows. On another Sunday, October 11th 1987, a day off, I travelled to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to watch Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Roger McGuinn, and a mighty concert it was at that! The following Sunday we were in Bognor Regis (slightly further than Chichester!) for a Butlin’s Festival of the Sixties. We were on the bill with Herman’s Hermits, The Platters, the Swinging Blue Jeans, Mary Wilde etc.

another koalaDuring Frank’s show, he would introduce me as his Australian guitarist and he would make a big joke of how homesick I was, missing the kangaroos and koalas. This led to some of his regular fans throwing toy koalas onstage (pictured left) and I had amassed quite a collection by the end of the season (which all went to good homes).

Stage newspaper cuttingThe UK’s theatrical newspaper, The Stage and Television Today (see right), threw a reception party for all the Blackpool shows and we also received favourable press write-ups in the local publications. 

On another Sunday, I popped down to Manchester for a Beatles convention. There I met John Lennon’s Uncle Charlie and also Pete Best who signed a copy of his book, Beatle! The Pete Best Story for me.

Once the Blackpool season was over, I also managed to catch a performance of a new musical – Out With A Bang at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. It was was written and directed by Bob Eaton, who was also responsible for the original production of LENNON – The Musical. The songs he had written for this new musical were arranged by Chris Monks who also appeared in the show, along with other luminaries from the original LENNON production.

 The Brett Band

 

Pictured here: Robert Anthony, Roly Wolstenholme, John Death, Ray Brett, Mike’s roadie, and Ann Brett, backstage at The Sandcastle with one of the props.

It was a most enjoyable summer! After a handful more shows with the Bretts, Frank and I packed our suitcases and headed back to Australia within a couple of days of each other, both of us having a short Malaysia Airlines stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Arriving in Sydney I found that my clever Mum had booked me a ticket to see Stevie Wonder at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Thursday November 26, and it was a magical concert. Local legend John Farnham made a surprise appearance to sing a duet with Stevie. On the Saturday, Frank’s tour began in Merimbula on the southern coast of New South Wales and then we flew to the Gold Coast for five nights at Twin Towns Services Club. Gene Pitney and then Al Martino had been there the two previous weeks, and the week after we were followed by John Farnham (no shortage of big names back in those days). Twin Towns promoWe played a double-bill with Bobby & Laurie (Bobby Bright & Laurie Allen) as the opening act, and during Frank’s spot I was joined by the wonderful Maureen Mitchell on backing vocals.

The next two weeks we would tour Victoria and one of the bands who backed us, Koco, contained guitarist Michael Cristiano who would later be a powerhouse duet partner for Donna Fisk. Back to Sydney for more shows and eventually again to Victoria for the Snowy River Country Music Festival in Orbost. It was something of a reunion with five artists on the bill from my Melbourne years, including pedal-steeler Ray ‘The Hat’ Hasler’, Melinda Johnstone (the Girl from Snowy River), ex-Hawks steeler George Xanthos and singer Warwick Dean. In the middle of the afternoon, I did a short spot of my own at the Festival, before Frank came on and Donna Fisk afterwards.

The Tanglin Club, Singapore

Next we would fly to Tasmania to play at the Launceston Casino and then finish the tour with more trips backwards and forwards across the east coast, playing around 33 shows before the end of January. It was a gruelling tour and at the end we were in need of a rest. It was about then that The First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage, which we had seen off at Portsmouth back in May, was arriving in Australia to commemorate the historic arrival of the original First Fleet in 1788. We didn’t get to see them sail into Sydney Harbour on Australia Day though. Frank was appearing that day (26 January 1988) for an audience of expats at The Tanglin Club (one of the most prominent, prestigious social clubs in Singapore) so we had to be there the day before the show and then to London the day after.

Flag of England

I spent most of February in England visiting family and friends and finishing off the recordings I had started at Moonraker Studios. Along the way I also caught up with Jerry Arhelger who was touring the UK again. I accepted Jerry’s invitation to visit him and his family in America so, on the evening of 1st March 1988, I arrived in Mobile, Alabama. The next morning we drove to Nashville where Jerry had a meeting, staying overnight before heading back to Mobile the next day. The following two nights I gigged with Jerry across the bay at Gambino’s Italian Grill in Fairhope, Alabama. Thanks to Jerry and wife Linde’s generosity, I spent the rest of the month hanging out, making future plans, and enjoying Mobile and Pensacola.

Flag of Alabama

 

It was back to Sydney in April for what would be an intense year of gigs. While waiting for the word get around that I was back in town, I accepted a few more jobs as an ‘extra’. First role was as a journalist in the mini-series A Long Way Home, a dramatisation of the Barlow & Chambers saga starring Julie Christie. The next day was the movie Kokoda Crescent and I was a policeman – again. Kokoka Crescent DVD coverWarren Mitchell (otherwise well-known for his character Alf Garnett) and Ruth Cracknell played the grandparents, while Penne Hackforth-Jones portrayed the mother of a character who had just died (played by Patrick Thompson). The scene was shot at night in the old Eveleigh railway yards in Redfern under a rain machine. There was a walk-through first and then the master shot, which was planned to be made in one take. My only direction was to hold the ‘family’ back from the crime scene. On ‘action’, and completely unexpected by me, Ms Jones went into full-on emotional method acting, screaming distraughtly and beating on my chest whilst I blocked her way! Caught by surprise, I would have backed away but my policeman’s wet-weather gear got entangled with the umbrella that Warren Mitchell was now brandishing as a weapon. The ‘take’ was successful, but I retired bruised and battered.”

Melinda Johnstone, Bronwyn Stephens and me.

At the end of the week I spent three days on a shoot for Occidental Insurance and after the Saturday wrap, I headed to the Tollgate Hotel in Parramatta. Melinda Johnstone was in town doing a gig with the all-girl band Doris Dazed. They nicely let me sit in for Melinda’s spot.
 
By now I had begun a regular Sunday afternoon at the North Annandale Hotel with the band Four on the Floor (with Mick Hamilton, Trevor Ford & Willie Fennell). I was also hired to play guitar with Rockabilly Express for the Johnny O’Keefe Memorial Show. They were just two of many gigs that would soon lead to significant future engagements for me.
 
Around this time I also played band gigs with Ian B. MacLeod (the Rockabilly Cowboy), the Mike Payne Trio and an assortment of bands. There was plenty of inspiring music to see in Sydney then and I was thrilled to see Miles Davis at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and a wonderful show by ‘Tommy Emmanuel & Friends’.
 
screenshot
At the end of June I had two days filming for the TV Mini-Series  Tanamera – Lion of Singapore. One of the scenes was set at Christmas time with soldiers enjoying a drink at a party. On the spur of the moment, the director decided to call for anyone who could carry a tune, to sing ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’ to use in the background of a battle sequence. This earned us our names in the credit roll and a well-buried entry in the IMDb. In contrast at the start of another day, I somehow failed to be ‘seen’ by the camera in a ‘master shot’. Therefore I spent the rest of that day ‘not being seen’ by the camera in any of the various close-ups either. Soon after, I appeared at the Manly Courthouse, playing the part of a court reporter in an ABC TV educational show titled Living With The Law, narrated by James Valentine.

In July of 1988, my long-time friend Mick Hamilton invited me to check out his other band, The Mighty Guys with a view to joining them The original line-up of the band (Leon Isackson – vocals, drums, Mick Hamilton- vocals, guitar, Phil Eizenberg – bass, vocals) had recorded for Glenn A. Baker’s label and had a hit with ‘Be Cool, Be Smart’. By this stage, Phil had been replaced by Brian Dean on bass and now, Brian was moving on as well.

Off duty, but still acting Mighty: Phil, Bob, Mick, Leon

I sat in for a few songs after which, Mick and Leon officially asked if I would become their regular bass player. I was thrilled to join this line-up of top notch musicians. They had a regular Thursday night gig at Mosman RSL Club (every other week was a rowdy one as the local sailors got paid fortnightly) and every Sunday night at the City of Sydney RSL Club. Mick (ex Moods, The Vibrants) and Leon (ex-Dig Richards, Rajahs and Johnny O’Keefe) had a huge repertoire of 50s rock and 60s pop songs – practically anything that was a hit between 1954 and 1966. If they strayed past that cut-off date, the dancers who followed them from gig to gig would shout, “Stop playing that hippie music!”

As a trio, the sound was lean and punchy. Being authentic to the record was another of the band’s creeds. When any one of us sang the lead, they could count on the other two providing credible back-up vocals.  Sometimes Mick or Leon would launch into the next song without telling me the title or the key! They would grin if I picked it up quickly and once I figured out the song, I’d know it would be in the same key as the record. It was a steep learning curve, but barrels of fun. One night at Mosman we played for jazz singer Su Cruickshank’s birthday and the legendary Kerrie Biddell sang doo-wops and shoobie-doo-wah’s with us, declaring it was something she’d always wanted to do.

After a while we switched Sunday nights to the Western Suburbs Soccer Club which meant that Mick and I only had 45 minutes to pack-up at the North Annandale Hotel and whizz around to join Leon at the Soccer Club. Mick also introduced me to another band he played with, Cop It Sweet featuring The Ladybirds (Niki Dene & Margaret Young) and soon I would be playing many Saturday nights with them at West’s Leagues Club in Ashfield.

‘Four on the Floor’ at the North Annandale Hotel. L to R: Trevor, Willie, Allan Caswell (filling in for Mick), Bob

The next few months were a blur of gigs with so many bands – some now half-remembered names in the margins of my diaries. Other gigs were more notable; a run at Twin Towns with Lucky Starr (a double-bill with Herman’s Hermits), Tuesday nights with 3 Wheel Drive for a ‘Parents Without Partners’ dance (stop after every song for a change of partners!), and a support spot for Charley Pride at the Sydney Entertainment Centre (some sort of Union obligation which saw us playing in the first floor lobby). At that venue I also saw Mick Jagger on his solo tour (Joe Satriani on guitar!), David Lee Roth and, at the State Theatre, The Monkees (minus Mike Nesmith).

By now I had already been friends with Mick Hamilton for a decade; sharing similar tastes in music. With Leon, as well as the music, we also had a common interest in computers; each of us having a Commodore 64 that we pushed to the limit, until we both switched to the Atari ST. We used our computers mostly for writing – Leon had begun his memoirs way back then. We were also both keen on music arranging and chart-writing. Leon really helped me hone my arranging skills, particularly when it came to drum parts. In January 1989, Mick left The Mighty Guys and returned to his home town of Melbourne, where he would soon form the country band Glass Hamilton Young. In his absence we carried on with the band’s gigs – I switched to guitar and over time we brought back previous ‘Mighty’ bass players Phil, Brian and Owen Booth.

Bob, Leon, Phil

Phil, Leon. Bob

 

The Johnny O’Keefe Memorial Show now had The Bar-Studs band (Laurie Rebecchi, Tommy Callaghan, Warwick Reading) to back their concerts. Guest artists included Roland Storm, Alan Dale, Adam & the Rockin’ Chevys, Vicki Forrest, Barry Stanton, Ray Lance (Roy Orbison tribute) and Scott Crawford (Elvis tribute). Roland approached me with his idea that I should do a tribute to Buddy Holly. I was quite sceptical at first but he talked me into it. We debuted the Buddy Holly spot at Cabra-Vale Diggers Club on 4th March 1989 and repeated it soon afterwards at Harbord Diggers and Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club. The reaction from the audience was remarkable and it would be something to work on in the future.

 
doveFor now though, it was back to the USA, arriving in Mobile on 6th April. A week later Jerry Arhelger took me to the Andrew Jackson Theatre inside the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville to attend the 20th Annual GMA Dove Awards. The ‘Artist of the Year’ was Amy Grant. I must admit that until the Gala after-party at the Stouffer Hotel thrown by the Gospel Music Association, I hadn’t really thought about the ‘business’ side of Gospel music, but there was a lot of networking and intense wheelin’ & a-dealin’ going on after the show!
 

Darlington Baptist Church 1989

Back to Alabama, where Jerry & I played at the Southern Host Inn at Bay Minette. The next week it was grassroots Gospel as Jerry was preaching for five days at the North Walton Crusade, being held in the Darlington Community Center in Florida. Good folks came from all around for fellowship and music. One day the Methodist ladies would invite us to their church for lunch with all the trimmings; fried chicken, catfish, black-eyed peas, fried okra, cornbread etc. The next day it would be the ladies from the Baptist Church, and so on. Jerry helped to nourish their souls and they reciprocated with fine Southern hospitality. Pictured here, the Darlington Baptist Church with our hosts Pastor C.W. Stevenson and Miss Myrtle next to him.
 
Saturday night it was back to Mobile Civic Center for something altogether different – watching the great Hank Williams Jr in concert, supported by Miss Tanya Tucker. Redneck bliss! The following week, I played Gospel tunes with Jerry when he preached at the United Methodist Church in Pondtown, Alabama and then we prepared for a series of trips to Maryland. Our friend Ricky accompanied us, to work the sound system, and the original plan was for him and me to travel together in his pick-up truck. As we pulled out of Jerry’s drive, I asked Ricky why he had the heating on. It turned out there was a hole in the floor near the engine. As we drove away I leaned out and shouted to Jerry in my best Southern drawl, “Tell my momma I love her!” which broke him up. As it turned out we only got a few miles before the engine stopped for good. Jerry rescued us and we all travelled together for the rest of the journey.
 

Hey Jerry, I told all y’all that we should have taken the buggy!

Each time we would pass through Nashville, we stayed at Miss Ruth’s house on the South side of Nashville, just off the Nolensville Pike (near where the Zoo is today). At night we would seek out Billy Bob Shane & The Overtime Band and sit in with them at the Hall of Fame Inn.

Billy Murray and Ricky at Mercy Chapel

 
Eventually we would drive across the hills of Kentucky and West Virginia until we got to Oakland, Maryland. From there we would travel to La Vale Chapel (Assembly of God) in Cumberland, and Mercy Chapel at Mill Run, the historic 1847 Carpenter Gothic-style church located at Selbysport, Garrett County, Maryland. At Frostburg State University’s Compton Hall, we supported popular Gospel Quartet ‘Gold City’ at a benefit show for the local Family Crisis Center. Later we crossed the border to be joined by Gospel singer ‘Karen’ when we played the High School at Altoona in Pennsylvania, without any inkling that in a few years time, my cousin Lynne would be living there in Altoona.
 
Returning to Nashville, Jerry took me backstage at The Grand Ole Opry where, apart from the celebrities (I finally got to shake the hand of Ricky Skaggs), it was great to see how the musicians interacted and casually strolled on and off stage as and when they were needed. We also took a trip to investigate both Ruskin Cave and Jewel Cave in Dickson, Tennessee. Originally home to a Utopian socialist colony, it gained country music infamy when David Allan Coe purchased Ruskin in 1982. He lived there until 1985, when a flash flood completely covered the property leaving him bankrupt. The following year it was taken over by a non-profit rehab organisation known as Touchstone, run by Paul and Silvia Richey. Paul was the brother of George Richey who was married to Tammy Wynette. The caves were fascinating, Ruskin with its cool spring water and Jewel Cave with its  ceiling of stalactites.
 

Ruskin Cave, 1989

Jerry and I were on our way down the interstate (I-65) one day to play at Fountain Square Mall in Nashville, when it was his turn to have a ‘vee-hickle’ failure. Some friendly Police officers drove up and gave us a ride to the nearest service station and we sat in the back seat of the Police car where I noticed you couldn’t open the doors from the inside! We eventually managed to make it to the show. The next day we played at a ‘Singer’s Night’ held at Moxie’s Bar, which was organised by Chuck Seals and Carolyn Holloran – Chuck co-wrote the classic song Crazy Arms.
 
We had three weeks off so I popped across the Atlantic to see family and friends, sat in with St Louis Union at Rugby Worker’s Club (why are so many English bands named after American places?), collected my master tapes from Moonraker Studios and saw the Sarah Jory Band play at Little Kimble in Buckinghamshire.
 

It was now mid-July in Nashville and Jerry’s long-standing plan of having his own all-British band in America, was coming to fruition. Barbary Coast drummer Cozy Dixon had flown over to join us and Jerry had found bassist Nigel Paul living in Nashville. Originally from London, Nigel had previously played with Donovan and also the progressive rock group England, so it must have amused him to now be in Jerry’s band named U.K. We played for three nights in a row at The Cannery, originally a food factory but which later evolved into one of Nashville’s primary music venues. The third night was a special showcase and was filmed for bookers/agents. On the same bill was the unusual Hank Wangford Band, also British, and some of their footage ended up in one of Hank Wangford’s UK television series.

At The Cannery, Nashville 1989 - Nigel, Jerry, Cozy, Bob


The next night I played at Moxie’s Bar, this time with singer Jenny Barnett, and later in the week with Jerry and Jenny at Shoney’s Inn Ballroom on Music Valley Drive for Grand Opening of the Tennessee Hay Ride show. The U.K. trio also played at Innovative Techniques Film Studio for a party celebrating someone’s TV pilot. On my own, I did a little recording at Redwood Studio and that, along with the tune from a jingle I had recorded for Ricky’s Dove Studios in Alabama, would appear on one of my future independent releases.

 
Like something out of a sitcom, we were mostly all living at Miss Ruth’s house and it was largely due to her hospitality that the band lasted as long as it did. Miss Ruth would disappear each day into a small room where she would sell hard Bibles over the phone and her generosity and belief in us was immense. Jerry and I wrote quite a few songs there, at what we now poetically refer to as The House of Ruth. (N.B. Much later, in 2022, I would release a song titled The House of Ruth based on these times)
 

Me, Miss Ruth, Jerry, ?, Clytee

At the same time, Jerry’s music manager Clytee, was chasing multi-million deals (the ‘American Dream’) which would one-day bankroll our shot at the big time! One plan involved bottling the pure spring water from Ruskin Cave.
 
I saw quite a few inspirational concerts around this time; on two consecutive days at the Starwood Amphitheatre I saw a triple bill of Clint Black, Dwight Yoakam and (headliners) The Judds, followed the next day by Bob Dylan with opening act Steve Earle & The Dukes. At Center Stage I saw guitar-god Steve Morse with his former Dixie Dregs bandmate T. Lavitz on piano, while at the other end of the spectrum I saw the legendary ‘Father of Bluegrass’ Bill Monroe perform on his 78th birthday. Brien Fisher had taken me out to the Bell Cove Club in Hendersonville and I was amazed to watch Mr Monroe playing mandolin and singing that high lonesome sound in the same key as he did when he was a young man.
 

Mr Bill Monroe performing on his 78th birthday!

 
Good reader, if you have been waiting for the tag line to the 1985 Doris Patrol story, here it is now…
Cozy and me are in a honky-tonk in Nashville and Cozy says, “Look over there, it’s Wayne Jackson, we should say hello.” I reply, “Do you mean Wayne Jackson, trumpet player from The Memphis Horns (arguably the greatest soul horn section ever)? How do you know him?” To my amazement Cozy says, “He played with us at the King Billy pub in Northampton!” Shock, horror, embarrassment!
 

L to R: Cozy Dixon, Mr Roy Acuff, Bob Howe –
backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee 1989

The gigs had slowed down now and, although at the time I fully intended to return on a more permanent basis, I was obliged to head back to Australia where I knew the last quarter of the year would be financially rewarding. Indeed, I arrived back at the start of October and straight away I was back onstage with the Johnny O’Keefe Memorial Show. At the Sydney Town Hall the show included Alan Dale, Adam (Ian B. MacLeod), Roland Storm, Vicki Forrest, Barry Stanton, Ray Lance, Scott Crawford, Warren Williams and my Buddy Holly tribute, which now included a video introduction and a new suit that I brought back from Nashville.

Soon afterwards, the powerful and energetic Del Juliana became a regular part of the show. While I was getting back in the swing of this, there were some more jobs as an ‘extra’ – fleeting appearances in Come In Spinner, Fletcher Jones and Amway ads, G.P., The Paper Man, Ring of Scorpio and more, before I was once more back to gigging almost every day. As well as the regular shows, there were one-off engagements with artists such as Jay Justin (Melbourne Cup Day at NSW Leagues Club), Maria Venuti (at the new Sydney Fish Market!), and duo gigs with Allan Caswell. I also re-joined some of my LENNON friends back in the Martin Place Amphitheatre, filling in for their regular guitarist. Lance Strauss had followed up on his desire to create an Elton John show and he was now in full flight as ELTON JACK and would go on to be one of the earliest and most successful tribute shows in Australia.

The ELTON JACK band at the Martin Place Amphitheatre, 10th November 1989

 
On Christmas Eve of 1989, drummer Leon Isackson introduced me to bandleader Raddy Ferreira and we played a most enjoyable gig as Mind, Body & Soul (with Gavin Pitt-Ware rounding out the quartet on bass) at the iconic Hydro-Majestic Hotel in the Blue Mountains. It would be the first of many shows with Raddy and the start of a friendship that would last for the next two decades…
 
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The Musical of the Legend
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