Pioneers of Sun Radio

09/25/2021

INTRO-CAN’T TURN YOU LOOSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xEvsJtrl60
Soul Music. A genre of American Music that evolved from Rhythm and Blues. And one of the most influential singers of what became synonymous with “Soul” was Otis Redding.
Born on September 9, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, the fourth of six children and the first son of Otis Redding Senior, a sharecropper and Fannie Roseman.
When he was two, his family moved to Macon, Georgia, where, at an early age, he learned to play guitar and piano, as well as taking drum and singing lessons
Singing was his passion and he idolized Sam Cooke and Little Richard, who he would later say was his true inspiration for entering the music business
He quit school at 15 to find work and help support his family when his father became ill.
At 17, he joined Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers as a guitarist and was also a member of Pat T. Cake and the Mighty Panthers.
In 1962, he drove Jenkins to a recording session in the Stax studio in Memphis, where Jenkins was backed up by Booker T and the MG’s.
The session didn’t go so well, and it ended early, allowing Otis to perform two songs, “Hey Hey Baby” and “These Arms of Mine”, which featured Steve Cropper on guitar, who would become a friend and co-writer of some of Otis’s hit songs.
“These Arms of Mine” was released the same year, and became the first of many hit singles for Otis, including “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, “Try a Little Tenderness”, “I Can’t Turn You Loose and this one:
RESPECT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvC9V_lBnDQ
Although most of his songs turned to out to be hits within the next few years, it was RESPECT that turned into a huge pop smash by Aretha Franklin.
The Rolling Stones covered Otis’s songs “That’s How Strong My Love Is” and “Pain In My Heart”, and Otis returned the favor by recording their song, “Satisfaction”.
In 1967, Otis recorded one of his biggest hits, a duet with fellow Stax star Carla Thomas, "Tramp".
That was the same year he began to show signs of making major inroads into the white audience, particularly with a well-received performance at the Monterey Pop Festival.
His biggest triumph, however, came just days after his death.
Here’s the story of the song “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay”:
Otis had started writing the lyrics to the song in August of 1967, while sitting on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California.
In November of the same year, Steve Cropper helped Otis finish the lyrics, music and arrangement, and they recorded the song.
On December 7, Steve added some overdubs including sounds of ocean waves and seagulls.
Three days later, Otis and his back up band, the Barkays, were traveling in his twin-engine Beechcraft, when it crashed into Lake Monona in Madison Wisconsin, where they all lost their lives.
The song was released less than a month later in January 1968 and skyrocketed to the top of the charts.
Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay has been recorded by countless artists, from his peers such as Glen Campbell, Cher, Sam & Dave and Bob Dylan, to artists of other genres like T. Rex, Pearl Jam, Widespread Panic and a version by Willie and Waylon.
The name “Otis Redding” is synonymous with the term “soul”, and to this day he embodies the essence of Soul Music in its purest form.
And to this day, Otis Redding is a Pioneer of Sun Radio.
OUTRO-SITTIN’ ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVjnBo96Ug

Watch the official video for (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding. The video features video clips and photos of Otis Redding in the prime of his ...

05/12/2021

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."- Bob Marley

Lively up yourself and listen to the latest episode of Pioneers o Sun Radio brought to you by Pioneer Bank

This week: Hear Pioneers of Sun Radio with David Arnsberger with a biographical piece on Jamaican singer/songwriter/musician Bob Marley! Supported by Pioneer Bank.

Listen worldwide at SunRadio.com and on the free app for iPhone & Android.

You can hear Pioneers Of Sun Radio every Monday/Wednesday/Sunday at noon and Fridays at 7pm CT.

📷: Getty Images

04/12/2021

The “British invasion” in THE MID 1960’S was an exciting time in music that brought fame and fortune to rock bands from England to America.
It was during this time period that a young man from Newcastle said:
“They tell me I was born shouting the blues. I know that I was kicked out of the school choir because my voice was drowning out the others. As a teen, I would go to the jazz and blues clubs around Newcastle and beg for a chance to sing. Finally, one evening, I was asked to take the singer’s seat with a jazz outfit when I was 17, and as soon as I grabbed the microphone, I knew the power of my own voice.”
And that deep, powerful blues-rock voice he refers to belongs to Eric Victor Burdon.
Eric was born May 11, 1941 in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
While young, he was greatly influenced by jazz and the blues, which played a big part in his music.
Eric spoke of his musical influences including Louis Armstrong who he first saw on a TV, which began his love for blues music.
He was also influenced by Buddy Holly, who he happened to meet on a street in England as a teenager.
He thought he would learn the trombone. Realizing that he was not that good of a player, however, he took up singing and went to Newcastle Art College.
Eric describes his early school years as a "dark nightmare" that "should've been penned by Charles Dickens.”
Due to the river pollution and humidity in Newcastle he suffered asthma attacks daily. During primary school, he was harassed by fellow students and some of his teachers.
By the time he got to secondary school, a teacher by the name of Bertie Brown was responsible for getting him into art school and changing his life forever.
There he met a lot of other "young rebels" who shared his interest in jazz, folk, and movies.
As a young adult Eric hung out with a bunch of people who hung out at the local jazz club, The Downbeat.
He describes his friends as "like a motorcycle gang... without the motorcycles" – they were tough, hard-drinking, and listened to American music.
It was there he started singing with the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo and in 1962, shortly after he joined the band, they became the Animals.
The Animals combined electric blues with rock; in the US they were considered one of the leading bands of the British Invasion, along with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Hollies and the Kinks, they introduced contemporary British music and fashion to American audiences.
Eric’s powerful voice can be heard on singles “I’m Cryin’”, “Boom Boom”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “We Gotta Get Out of this Place”, “Its My Life”, “Don’t Bring Me Down” as well as the one he would have to sing at every gig he played the rest of his life.
This one:
“THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN”

Eric also had hits with the singles BRING IT ON HOME TO ME, SEE SEE RIDER, MONTEREY, AND SKY PILOT.
And the Band became known as Eric Burdon and the Animals.
But real triumphs as a solo artist came at the beginning of the '70s when he hooked up with a bunch of L.A. funksters who became his backup band, War.
They recorded three albums' worth of material in the year or two that they were together, the Burdon/War records could ramble on forever and would have benefited from a lot of editing.
But they had some spacy funkadelia of real quality, especially their number three hit single "SPILL THE WINE," which was recorded in the midst of some exploratory jam sessions. Eric Burdon & War were already big stars on record and stage when Eric, for reasons unclear to almost everyone, quit the band in 1971.
Eric recorded an album with Blues legend Jimmy Witherspoon, followed by a string of solo albums.
He recorded off and on with the Animals, but nothing that compared to his early work with the early Animals and with WAR.
In 1986, Burdon published his autobiography entitled “I Used To Be An Animal, But I'm Alright Now”.
In 1988, he put together a band with 15 musicians and four backing vocalists in Malibu to record the album I Used To Be An Animal.
Later in 1990, he had a small line-up of an Eric Burdon Band before he began a tour with the Doors guitarist Robby Krieger.
When John Lee Ho**er died in 2001, Eric had written the song "CAN'T KILL THE BOOGIEMAN" sounding a lot like ZZ Top.
On 13 April 2004, he released a "comeback" album, My Secret Life, which was his first album with new recordings for 16 years.
Rolling Stone Brian Jones called Eric the best blues singer to ever come out of England;
Eric toured with Chuck Berry, partied with Jim Morrison and Keith Richards, rode motorcycles with Steve McQueen, and was one of the last people to see Jimi Hendrix alive.
His work has influenced artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen, while his words helped shape an entire generation’s ideas on war, race relations, and social justice.
And today, Eric Burdon officially becomes a Pioneer of Sun Radio.

06/17/2019

Recorded an episode to run this week on Roky. This article by Bill Bentley is great!

Every 15-year-old needs a hero. It's a year when the world really starts turning at a faster rate: a lot of the old toys of childhood become meaningless and a

05/14/2019

The voice of the Texas Playboys for 60 years, a Giant of Western Swing and a Pioneer of Texas Music! RIP Leon!

Just about a month before the annual Legends of Western Swing Festival opens in Wichita Falls, a bona fide legend of western swing himself has passed away at age 91.

05/14/2019

RIP Leon! (Thanks for the heads up Jim Gibson!)

Just about a month before the annual Legends of Western Swing Festival opens in Wichita Falls, a bona fide legend of western swing himself has passed away at age 91.

01/07/2019

WILSON PICKETT

Of all the stars of the soul music genre, there was one that still stands out as a favorite to those who like Southern soul on the raw side. And although he never achieved the high esteem of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, his recordings are still popular today. This man was Wilson Pickett.
Born in 1941 in Prattville, Alabama, Wilson had an unhappy childhood.
He was the youngest of ten children with an abusive mother, causing him to run away from home several times, and to move to Detroit when he was 14, to live with his Father
Wilson began his musical career performing in Baptist church choirs and in Detroit, he sang on street corners with other singers.
In the 1950s, Wilson put together the Violinaires, a gospel group.
He believed in the evolution of gospel into soul/R&B partly because he felt he could make more money with that emerging style of music.
In 1959, Pickett was asked to join the Falcons, an R&B group that already had a hit single with "YOU'RE SO FINE,".
They had another successful single in 1962 with a song Wilson wrote called , "I FOUND LOVE" which became their biggest hit, and spent sixteen weeks on the R&B chart, peaking at Number Six.
He then left the group to strike out as a solo artist.
He had some success with a song he co-wrote, "IF YOU NEED ME," in 1963, which was then a bigger success after Solomon Burke who recorded it around the same time.
The success of that record eventually led to Wilson signing with Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, who produced many of the biggest acts of all time, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits and Bob Dylan.
Wexler sent him to record in the STAX studio with Booker T and the MG’s, which included guitarist and part time co-writer Steve Cropper and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, as his back up band.
His years with Atlantic proved to be the most fruitful of his career.
In the mid- to late 1960s, he had a string of hit singles including "MUSTANG SALLY," "634-5789," "EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEBODY TO LOVE," "FUNKY BROADWAY,"and "LAND OF 1,000 DANCES."
But Wilson became most identified with a song which he which he co-wrote with Steve Cropper. This one:

"IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rixhkdO_IdU

"In the Midnight Hour" and most of the other Stax songs, were frequently adapted by other bands as dance-ready numbers.
The most popular of those, and his biggest pop hit was his cover of Chris Kenner’s "LAND OF 1000 DANCES”.
(The famous "na na na na na" hook, was added by Cannibal & the Headhunters in their 1965 version, which mentioned 16 of the 1,000 dances: the Pony, the Mashed Potato, the Alligator, the Watusi, the Twist, the Fly, the Jerk, the Tango, the Yo-Yo, the Sweet Pea, the Hand jive, the Slop, the Bop, the Fish, the Popeye and the Chicken, which is the only one I could even attempt to do.
Soon Wilson was also cutting tracks at Muscle Shoals, where he used Duane Allman as a session guitarist on a hit cover of the Beatles' "HEY JUDE."
He even had a hit version of the Archies' "SUGAR, SUGAR."
And he kept the hits rolling through the early '70s, including "DON'T KNOCK MY LOVE" and "GET ME BACK ON TIME, ENGINE NUMBER 9."
His last big hit was "FIRE AND WATER," in 1972.
Wilson remained active on the touring and recording fronts into the twenty-first Century.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and he also received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
Wilson spent the early part of the 2000s performing, before retiring in late 2004 due to ill health.
He passed away on January 19, 2006, following a heart attack.
Wilson Pickett was one of the most intense of all the soul singers, recording some of the most popular dance songs of a decade filled with funky dancefloor grooves that live on today.
And Wilson Pickett lives on today as a soulful Pioneer of Sun Radio.
OUTRO-IF YOU NEED ME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnK4k_EnXSo
POSSIBLE SONGS TO PLAY AFTER OR BEFORE AN EPISODE (could even vary daily. All will work for our sound, I think, and will help promote Pioneers): MUSTANG SALLY, MIDNIGHT HOUR, FUNKY BROADWAY, EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME BODY TO LOVE, HEY JUDE. LAND OF 1,000 DANCES. RESPECT, MIDNIGHT HOUR, HEY JUDE

01/07/2019

OTIS REDDING

Soul Music. A genre of American Music that evolved from Rhythm and Blues. And one of the most influential singers of what became synonymous with “Soul” was Otis Redding.
Born on September 9, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, the fourth of six children and the first son of Otis Redding Senior, a sharecropper and Fannie Roseman.
When he was two, his family moved to Macon, Georgia, where, at an early age, he learned to play guitar and piano, as well as taking drum and singing lessons
Singing was his passion and he idolized Sam Cooke and Little Richard, who he would later say was his true inspiration for entering the music business
He quit school at 15 to find work and help support his family when his father became ill.
At 17, he joined Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers as a guitarist and was also a member of Pat T. Cake and the Mighty Panthers.
In 1962, he drove Jenkins to a recording session in the Stax studio in Memphis, where Jenkins was backed up by Booker T and the MG’s.
The session didn’t go so well, and it ended early, allowing Otis to perform two songs, “Hey Hey Baby” and “These Arms of Mine”, which featured Steve Cropper on guitar, who would become a friend and co-writer of some of Otis’s hit songs.
“These Arms of Mine” was released the same year, and became the first of many hit singles for Otis, including “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, “Try a Little Tenderness”, “I Can’t Turn You Loose and this one:

RESPECT-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvC9V_lBnDQ

Although most of his songs turned to out to be hits within the next few years, it was RESPECT that turned into a huge pop smash by Aretha Franklin.
The Rolling Stones covered Otis’s songs “That’s How Strong My Love Is” and “Pain In My Heart”, and Otis returned the favor by recording their song, “Satisfaction”.
In 1967, Otis recorded one of his biggest hits, a duet with fellow Stax star Carla Thomas, "Tramp".
That was the same year he began to show signs of making major inroads into the white audience, particularly with a well-received performance at the Monterey Pop Festival.
His biggest triumph, however, came just days after his death.
Here’s the story of the song “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay”:
Otis had started writing the lyrics to the song in August of 1967, while sitting on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California.
In November of the same year, Steve Cropper helped Otis finish the lyrics, music and arrangement, and they recorded the song.
On December 7, Steve added some overdubs including sounds of ocean waves and seagulls.
Three days later, Otis and his back up band, the Barkays, were traveling in his twin-engine Beechcraft, when it crashed into Lake Monona in Madison Wisconsin, where they all lost their lives.
The song was released less than a month later in January 1968 and skyrocketed to the top of the charts.
Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay has been recorded by countless artists, from his peers such as Glen Campbell, Cher, Sam & Dave and Bob Dylan, to artists of other genres like T. Rex, Pearl Jam, Widespread Panic and a version by Willie and Waylon.
The name “Otis Redding” is synonymous with the term “soul”, and to this day he embodies the essence of Soul Music in its purest form.
And to this day, Otis Redding is a Pioneer of Sun Radio.
OUTRO-SITTIN’ ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVjnBo96Ug

01/01/2019

JOHNNY WINTER

There can be many different reasons that an individual decides to become a professional musician and entertainer. Many start down that path when young, after taking music lessons on some particular instrument , then stick with it until it becomes something they enjoy the rest of their lives. A few of those decide to try to make a living as a musician, and a few of those actually do. John Dawson Winter III was one of those few.

Johnny was born crosseyed and albino on February 23, 1944 in Beaumont, Texas.
His father sang in a barbershop quartet and in a church choir and by the age of 5, Johnny began playing clarinet, and not much longer after that, his grandfather gave him a guitar.
While growing up, he listened religiously to a certain local dj by the name of J. P. Richardson, also known as the Big Bopper ,(of “Chantilly Lace” fame) and was heavily influenced by the songs he played on the radio.

In 1959, Johnny formed his first band called Johnny Macaroni and the Jammers. It was also the year he started drinking and smoking.
Johnny won a melody contest held by a Beaumont radio station, KTRM and got a chance to make good in the record world. The band recorded 2 songs that both rated high on the charts in Beaumont.
Johnny continued to play and record throughout the 60’s in quite a few Texas R and B outfits. He recorded many records under fictitious group names like: Neal and the Newcomers, the Crystaliers, It and Them, Black Plague, and Texas Guitar Slim.
Johnny’s official “debut album”, was titled Progressive Blues Experiment (with his band that included Tommy Shannon (who later played with SRV in Double Trouble) on bass: Here’s a song from that release: “Bad Luck and Trouble” :

“BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvhrUScDcvQ

The songs on that record were mostly ones they had been playing live in Houston at the Love Street Light Circus and in Austin at Vulcan Gas Company. It was the first album that Johnny recorded that really took off, largely due to an article in rolling stone about the Austin hippie scene at that time that described a Johnny Winter performance:
“Imagine a 130-pound cross-eyed albino bluesman with long fleecy hair playing some of the gutsiest blues guitar you have ever heard.” Well, that article catapulted Johnny from local hero in Texas to headline status at the Fillmore East in NYC. It also caught the attention of John Lennon and the Rolling Stones, who even opened their famous Hyde Park concert with Johnny’s song, “I’m Hers and I’m Yours”.
It also caught the attention of representatives of Columbia Records saw Johnny at the Fillmore East, and, within a few days, he was signed to what was reportedly the largest advance in the history of the recording industry at that time—$600,000
A big year for Johnny was 1969, when he played at the Woodstock Festival.
Bassist Tommy Shannon said: "One week we're playing clubs for about 20 people and in a matter of a few months we're playing Woodstock,"
He also helped to introduce blues giant Muddy Waters to another generation of listeners by producing and playing guitar on three Grammy-nominated albums and a Grammy-award winning “Hard Again” LP in 1977.
From T-bone Walker on through Albert Collins and Freddie King, Billy Gibbons and Stevie Ray Vaughan, the tradition of the Texas guitar slinger has lived on. The one name that ranks at the top of that exclusive list is Johnny Winter, an international ambassador for rocking Texas blues and a Pioneer of Sun Radio.

12/14/2018

HOWLIN' WOLF
In the history of American Music, there have been very many artists of many eras in many genres that have had profound influence on many others.
One of the ALL TIME greatest blues singers has had a musical influence that extends from the 1950s to the present day This man was a 6 foot 3 inch, 300 pound Howlin’ Wolf.
Chester Arthur Burnett was born to Leon “Dock” Burnett and Gertrude Jones on June 10, 1910, in White Station, Mississippi . His nickname came from the story his grandfather told him that if he misbehaved, he would have to answer to the “howlin’ wolves”.
Wolf helped work on his Father’s farm until his 18th birthday, when a chance meeting with Delta blues legend Charley Patton changed his life forever.
Though he never came close to learning the subtleties of Patton's complex guitar technique, he did learn to growl and to be entertaining from the Delta blues master.
He first started playing in the early '30s as a strict Patton imitator, while others remember him rockin’ one of the first electric guitars anyone had ever seen. After a four-year stretch in the Army, he settled down as a farmer and weekend player in West Memphis, AR, and it was here that his career in music really began.
By 1948, he had established himself within the community as a radio personality. Wolf had a 15 minute radio show on KWEM in West Memphis , where he would play some down home blues followed by a few farm reports.
But soon, his listening audience noticed a new sound. Wolf had put his first band together which not only featured electric guitars, it also featured WILLIE JOHNSON ‘S explosive electric guitar playing, which complimented Wolf’s growling vocals and became very much a part of his early sound and success.
THEN, IN 1951, Sam Phillips, owner of the Memphis Recording Service heard Burnet and appreciated his intensity.
PHILLIPS MADE his MUSIC AVAILABLE TO LEONARD CHESS IN CHICAGO AND THE BIHARI BROTHERS IN LOS ANGELES and suddenly, Howlin' Wolf had two hits at the same time on the R&B charts with two record companies claiming to have him exclusively under contract. Chess finally won him over and as Wolf would proudly relate years later, "I had a 4,000 dollar car and 3,900 dollars in my pocket. I'm the onliest one drove out of the South like a gentleman."
Then, Hubert Sumlin joined the band as lead guitarist, and would prove to be the Wolf's longest-running band mate.
By 1956, Wolf was in the R&B charts again with"Evil" and this one:
"SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTDjD_UdJYs

The magic combination of Wolf's voice, Sumlin's guitar, and Willie Dixon's tunes sold a lot of records.
The mid-'60s saw him touring Europe regularly with "Smokestack Lightnin'" becoming a hit in England
Then the Rolling Stones did “Little Red Rooster” and Led Zepplin recorded "Killing Floor”.
By the end of the decade, Wolf's material was being recorded by artists including the Doors, the Electric Flag, the Blues Project, Cream, and Jeff Beck.
His last big payday came when Chess sent him over to England in 1970 to record with Eric Clapton and other British superstars.
Wolf's health began to falter, and as the '70s moved on, he became a very sick man; having survived numerous heart attacks and kidney damage.
He entered the Veterans Administration Hospital in 1976 to be operated on, but never survived it, finally passing away on January 10th of that year.
In the history of the blues, there has never been anyone quite like the Howlin' Wolf who was also another Pioneer of Sun Radio.