He worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Allsup was touring with Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson when he lost a fateful coin toss with Valens for a seat on the plane that crashed killing Valens, Holly and Richardson on February 3, 1959. Allsup moved to Los Angeles, played with local bands, and did session work, including writing credit for the Ventures', "Guitar Twist".
If you ask John David where he's from, he may say without hesitation; "I'm from Amarillo." But depending on who's asking, he may shrug and say: "I'm from everywhere, I guess." He would be mostly right either way.
"Hanging out in the bar at the Troubadour with Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne and playing open mike Mondays, then opening for Poco and The Flying Burrito Brothers --- it was the best study in songwriting I can imagine. So many great songwriters came through - Laura Nyro, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman, Elton John, James Taylor, Tim Hardin, Carole King, Rick Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, Tim Buckley, Gordon Lightfoot, Taj Mahal and more. It seems impossible now to imagine that much music in a year and a half or so, but that was my life and the Troubadour was our university. It's also where I met Linda Ronstadt and where Don Henley and Glenn Frey met to form this little country rock band called Eagles that would go on to make musical history."
It was during that time that Glen and John David made Longbranch/Pennywhistle, with Jimmy Bowen's new label, Amos Records. The band included Ry Cooder, Jim Gordon, Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw and James Burton.
Mark Farner IS the engine that took the original Grand Funk Railroad, one of rock music's most successful groups, to the top of the charts. As their lead vocalist, lead guitarist and principle songwriter the group made a beeline to rock stardom following their show-stealing performance before 180,000 people at the Atlanta International Pop Festival in 1969. Capitol Records was soon on board releasing the band's appropriately titled first album, On Time, which included such timeless Mark Farner compositions as Time Machine, High On A Horse, Heartbreaker, Into The Sun and Can't Be Too Long. Within weeks it was certified RIAA Gold.
Since its beginnings in the late 1990s, Hot Club of Cowtown’s star has continued to rise as its reputation for jaw-dropping virtuosity and unforgettable live shows has become the band’s global brand. Lauded for its “down-home melodies and exuberant improvisation” (The Times, London), the Hot Club has always woven a combination of seemingly disparate styles together to its own magical effect, setting up camp “at that crossroads where country meets jazz and chases the blues away” (The Independent), and “conscious always that above all else, the music is for dancing and an old-fashioned good time” (New York Times). The band’s musical alchemy has been described as “another breathless journey in the Texas tardis” (The Times, London), while American Songwriter observed that “The excellent three players of this band could be doing anything but have chosen to honor the greats of jazz and swing with their sound.” The Belfast Telegraph calls them “a pretty much perfect country trio at the very top of their game,” while the New York Times, reviewing a live performance in New York City in 2011, describes the trio as armed with “an arsenal full of technique and joy.”
Along with the Hot Club’s dedicated cult following worldwide — they have toured for the U.S. State Department as musical ambassadors to Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Republic of Georgia and the Sultanate of Oman — certain titans of the industry have also taken notice. Bob Dylan, with whom the band toured and with whom James has toured and recorded, is a continuing inspiration. The Hot Club has opened several shows for Willie Nelson, toured with Nelson and Dylan during a summer-long stadium tour, and recently opened seven nights of Roxy Music’s sold-out “For Your Pleasure” U.K. stadium tour in early 2011. In the U.K. the Hot Club of Cowtown continues to tour extensively and has been featured at the Glastonbury Festival and has also been a returning guest on Later With Jools Holland, the Cambridge Folk Festival, and BBC Radio 2’s Radcliffe and Maconie and Bob Harris Country shows.
Larry Gatlin: On the strength of his song writing talents and exceptional vocal ability, his life was changed by the legendary Dottie West who saw gold just under the unpolished surface of young Gatlin. Larry landed a solo deal with Monument Records through friend Kris Kristofferson and invited his siblings up to Nashville to sing backup on his first two albums—1974’s The Pilgrim and 1975’s Rain Rainbow. The release ofThe Pilgrim landed Gatlin his first hit with “Sweet Becky Walker,” and then found himself at #1 on the charts the next year with “Broken Lady,” a song that captured him a Grammy in 76′.
Blackwood Quartet: The Blackwood name is legendary in the gospel music industry. The Blackwood Brothers Quartet was formed in 1934. Roy Blackwood, Doyle Blackwood, their youngest brother, James, along with Roy's oldest son, R.W. Blackwood, founded the original quartet in the hills of Choctaw County, Mississippi.
The Blackwood Brothers were the first group to travel by bus. A replica of the Blackwood Brothers original bus is on display at the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
The Blackwood Brothers have recorded over 200 albums and toured 47 countries. They have won eight Grammy Awards, 27 Dove Awards and have been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Cecil Blackwood, James Blackwood, and J.D. Sumner were also founders of the National Quartet Convention.
Mark Blackwood now continues the legacy of the Blackwood Brothers through the Blackwood Quartet. Mark traveled with his dad, Cecil Blackwood, in the for many years. The Blackwood Quartet does not take their heritage in music lightly, nor the responsibility of integrity that goes with it.
One day, around 1972, Hugh Roche rode over to my house on his Bultaco motorcycle with a guitar strapped to the back fender and played “Desolation Row” and “Just Like a Woman” and “Girl of the North Country” and I was forever and irrevocably changed. After that, everything—I mean everything—was different. Especially me. That whole sensible linear cosmology I had embraced so naturally was transformed into a metaphoric island hub, where I stood with a thousand roads before me, spoking and forking and forking again into infinite space, challenging and confounding the grasp of my newly hatched imagination. The colors, the textures, the meanings of words were all now immediately subjective. It was revelatory to the point of vertigo. I saw ideas as the mortar mix of my inner identity, the defining components of my soul. Activities, actions, were the bricks this mortar held together, forming walls that separated the good from the bad, truth from lie, redemption from oblivion. I was fifteen years old. And in a word, what I felt was a budding responsibility—the cornerstone of artistic sensibility. But I wasn’t smiling like before.
Paul Oscher -blues singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist (harmonica, guitar, piano, bass harp and melodica) was the first white musician to become a member of the great Muddy Waters blues band (1967- 71). He was Muddy’s harp player and recorded with Muddy for the legendary Chess label. Paul lived in Muddy’s house on Chicago’s Southside and shared the basement with the great Otis Spann. His 2006 “Down in the Delta” cd won two (WC Handy) Blues Music Awards for “Acoustic Album of the Year” and “Acoustic Artist of the Year.” Paul’s Album Alone with the Blues on the Electro-Fi label was nominated for four W.C. Handy awards. Paul has just released new album “Bet on the Blues” which features Paul in solo, trio and ensemble settings. This album was recorded live and in the studio and contains performances from his acclaimed solo show “Alone with the Blues” which has garnered rave reviews from critics, fans, and promoters. “Bet on the Blues has just been nominated for 2011 Blues Music Awards in three categories Acoustic Album of the Year, Acoustic Artist of the year and Instrumentalist – harmonica. Paul Oscher’s been playing those low down blues for over four decades. Besides Muddy, Paul has performed and/or recorded with a who’s who in the world of blues including John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Big Mama Thornton, Otis Spann, Buddy Guy, Big Joe Turner, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Rogers, Hubert Sumlin, Johnny Young, Johnny Copeland, Keb Mo, Mos Def, Victoria Spivey, Louisiana Red, Levon Helm, the list goes on. In 2000, Paul Oscher moved to L.A. with his wife, playwright and novelist, Suzan-Lori Parks (the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer prize in the drama category, for her play Topdog/Underdog. Urged on by his wife, Paul is also trying his hand at writing down his experiences in the blues. Excerpts from his almost finished book “Alone with the Blues” have already been published in the companion book to the PBS series Martin Scorcese Presents the Blues. Paul Oscher has lived such a rich and adventurous life, yet he is humbled by those experiences. “I always try to thank the high power. The real gift of talent is not the ability to be able to play, it is the gift of the love you have for the music. That’s what takes you over the hurdles.
