FFF's Rare Music & Music History & Memorials! The "Southern Fix @ 6" Lives On!

 

This thread has been a long time coming. And now that I am fully retired maybe I can open up a little bit about some of the behind the scenes stories from over 40 years in the music business.

 

In this thread I would like to accomplish 2 things primarily. One, I would like to share with all of you -who might find an interest in this sort of thing- that I would like to share with you some very rare music that most of you have more than likely never heard before, and possibly did not even know existed. Some released music and unreleased music.

 

The second and most important thing to me for the memorial part of this thread is that most of the famous musicians, bands, and rock stars and independent artists and engineers and producers and other I got to work with- and even get to know some very well- over those 40+ years are mostly all dead and gone now. And for many of them being independent artists, you never got to hear any of their music on radio stations across America. Independents got lost between the cracks and forgotten.

 

So it is really important to me to try and keep their memories alive, and their music, and hopefully I can share some of that here in this thread. I carry their burden of music and legacies with me every single day always wondering what to do with it all. So this is one way to keep them alive!

 

Hopefully some of you will discover some new music here to add into your own playlists, and maybe learn about some new musicians, bands, and artists you never heard of before and might want to check out all their music.

 

I want this thread to be informative above all else, but mainly to keep alive their music and their legacies.

 

A point I am trying to get at is that from my perspective, the music will be primarily from Florida and the SouthEastern USA. You won't hear me talking about New York bands, or Los Angeles bands. I specialize in what was closest to me- mostly Southern rock, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and even some big bands and other- including an Orlando boy band I'll probably skip. I mixed audio for live concerts and recorded some of them and even have some published albums out there most of which are now long out of print.

 

So if you will let me, please allow me to keep the memories of some of my brothers and sisters alive for them. And, let me try and keep some of their music alive as well.

 

I plan on posting more artists and music than what I was associated with over the years. There are a ton of great artists out there. Florida has produced some fine music over the years so I would like to bring some of that here. Specialized Florida music. And Georgia, and other Southern states will be included. I have a lot of great music to share.

 

A lot of you may have lived through the 1970's Southern rock wave. And many famous bands came out of that era. But I want you know that those famous bands were just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Underneath those famous well known bands and artists are even more that never made it. More that you more than likely never heard of.

 

And it is a darn shame the mainstream music system was closed off to many of them because some of them surely had music that could have scored some hit songs if only the world could have heard them. In this thread you will get to hear some of that. The other good stuff that was kept from us because of a closed loop system that worked against us in many ways. The internet has fortunately changed that game for independents and its still tough to make it out there for sure. But at least the independents can control and own their own music as well as now control their own distribution and marketing to some degree.

 

So I would like to start off this thread with some Florida artists I never got to meet or even see perform live. At least one of these artists, Lonesome Bert & The Skinny Lizards, if you listen to the lyrics of his song he says he worked on building the Rodman dam. And he wrote a song about it not too pleased about what he had done, and is now spending the rest of his life singing about it. The other man Frank Thomas is a Florida folk legend who was an incredible songwriter. I will also include Florida's HERO troubadour Gamble Rogers to start this thread off.

 

I hope some of you will enjoy this music- a time traveling trip through the pages of Southern and Florida music history.

 

 

I find it hard to believe that this incredible song "Spanish Gold" written and performed by Frank & his wife Ann Thomas has only received 732 views in 9 years.

 

Rest in peace Florida folk legend Frank Thomas! We remember you and your songs. Hopefully some of you will enjoy this one as well.

 

 

 

I would be remiss if I left out Florida's famous HERO troubadour Gamble Rogers! We have a park named after him. He died a hero! Rest in peace Florida hero Gamble Rogers!

 

 

Gamble Rogers - Wikipedia

 

James Gamble Rogers IV (January 31, 1937 – October 10, 1991) was an American folk artist musician and storyteller known for the recurring theme in his songs and stories about characters and places in a fictional Florida county. He was a 1998 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

 

"While Rogers was camping at Flagler Beach, a frightened young girl ran to him, begging him to help her father, who was in trouble in rough surf. Compromised by spinal arthritis that had been worsening since childhood, Rogers nevertheless grabbed an air mattress and headed into the ocean in a rescue attempt. Both men died in the surf. In honor of his heroism, the Florida Legislature renamed the state park Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach. In St. Augustine, Florida, there is a middle school, Gamble Rogers Middle School, named after him."

One of the awesome Florida blues artists I got to work with and know over the years is Floyd Miles. I am also sitting on an untold number of hours of unreleased live recordings of both audio and video of Floyd Miles from our work together over the years.

 

I got to know Floyd through founder and owner and CEO of King Snake Records label out of Sanford, Florida. Bob Greenlee and Floyd grew up together in Daytona Beach and went to school with Gregg and Duane Allman. In fact, all 4 of these men played music together and influenced each other during their school years. Each went their separate ways, but in some ways kept their friendships and musical collaborations going to all of their graves. All 4 are now gone. But let them and their incredible music live on!

 

 

Floyd Miles - Wikipedia

 

Floyd Miles (April 13, 1943 – January 25, 2018) was an American electric blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released four solo albums from 1992 onwards.^[1]

Life and career

Miles was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida, growing up as the youngest of eleven children.^[2] He left home at the age of 15.^[3]

His musical career really started when playing with The Universals, a soul band which were locally popular in the early 1960s.^[1] At the time Miles was a singing drummer for the band, and he befriended both Gregg and Duane Allman, who lived nearby and jammed with the band.^[4][2]

After playing drums and singing with several other local groups, Miles founded his own band, which backed musicians such as Arthur Conley, Erma Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Eddie Floyd and Percy Sledge. Through his friendship of the Allmans, Miles moved on to supply guitar backing for Clarence Carter.^[1][3] He later performed with the London Symphony Orchestra.^[3]

His debut solo album was Crazy Man (1992), which included musical assistance from Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts.^[5] Goin' Back to Daytona was released in 1994. Miles gained greater national prominence when he played on tour with the ensemble Gregg Allman & Friends.^[1]

His third album, Mountain to Climb (1999), was released by Beloved Records. His last recording, Another Man Will, produced by Roy Roberts, was released in 2002.^[1][6] Miles performed at the Boundary Waters Blues Festival and, in 1996 and 2009, at the Sarasota Blues Fest.^[7]

Death

Miles died on January 25, 2018, at the age of 74.

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I'm kind of surprised wikipedia does not mention that most of Floyd's albums were recorded in Sanford, Florida at King Snake Records & studio. So I would like to play for you one of his best songs. A favorite of mine called "Going Back To Daytona!"

 

What makes this song so special to me in so many ways is that above I mention the 4 men who grew up together continued their friendships and music collaborations until their graves and that is what this song represents.

 

Now Duane Allman died in what 1971? So he was no longer around, but the 3 who lived on came back together at King Snake Records late one night to record this incredible song.

 

So you have Bob Greenlee on bass guitar, and Floyd singing it, but sneaking into the studio under cover of darkness was none other than Gregg Allman himself and Dickey Betts who drove to the Sanford, Florida studio to lay down their parts for this song. So first up will be the studio/album version.

 

This is Florida music history right here! Almost unknown incredible music that has slipped through the cracks fading into the dust bins of history. All of King Snake Records albums are now out of print and the record label now out of business since Bob Greenlee died in 2004. So what is out there is all that will ever be. And one by one these out of print albums are disappearing forever. And the music on them as well. This song is a Southern rocking blues masterpiece!

 

On this one you will hear Gregg Allman on vocals with Floyd, and playing the studio's hammond B3 organ. Dickey Betts is playing all the guitars here.

 

So turn it up loud! This one kicks!

 

 

On the live album recorded off the coast of Florida on a cruise ship, Floyd Miles performed and recorded this song with the label's house band of studio musicians- a band known as the MidNight Creepers. The same band who also recorded the studio version above.

 

So on bass would be Bob Greenlee, and on drums was Ronnie "Byrd" Foster who made a name for himself backing legendary bluesman Roy Buchanan, and on guitar here replacing Dickey Betts is Warren "Hurricane" King.

 

Bob Greenlee, Floyd Miles, Byrd Foster, and were my friends and brothers, and now they are all deceased. Let their music and memories live on!

 

Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts performing in Allman Brothers band. RIP!

 

 

 

It was really awesome driving up to the studio with the car windows rolled down and the sound of Bob Greenlee's hunting hound dogs howling in their pens as the music from the studio could be heard through the studio's open windows. It was awesome while it lasted.

 

One thing I remember about Floyd was he had this ability to shake his jowls while singing. He would turn his head fast from side to side and the weight of his cheek flesh would shake and he used this technique as part of his vocal delivery. You can hear some of it on the live version above.

 

One of my photos below of MidNight Creepers- Ace Moreland on left and Bob Greenlee on right.

 

 

 

One more Florida artist for today. Well, he's not really from Florida but we'll claim him!

 

I worked a lot of concerts with this man. Truly an unknown legend right here. And what an incredible history he has. Mostly unknown history too. Another artist I am sitting on untold number of hours of unreleased live audio and video. Ace and I were brothers to his bitter end when he died of esophageal cancer in his lungs and throat from years of smoking cigarettes. His last words to me just before he died was "I love you brother!"

 

James "Ace" Moreland, Jr. was a full blooded Cherokee Indian from a reservation in Oklahoma. His family had been forced out there by the Army and General Andrew Jackson in the trail of tears. He wrote a song about getting out of the reservation to find his life somewhere else but there.

 

So he traveled to Macon, Georgia and connected up with the Alan and brother Phil Walden music scene there, and their Capricorn Records. But Ace got caught up in that drug bust that went down up there. Ace was not arrested or anything, but the chaos from all that when it went down and Gregg Allman did wind up behind bars. Famous stories there.

 

Ace decided to leave Capricorn Records and relocate to my hometown of Jacksonville Florida where he played with just about anyone and everyone who was someone in music at the time.

 

Ace Moreland even mentored a 9 year old kid named Derek Trucks who would later go on to join the Allman Brothers band because of his famous uncle Butch Trucks who was the drummer for the Allman Brothers band. (Butch was another terrible tragedy in Southern rock history and he was also behind why Dickey Betts was fired from the Allman Brothers band but those stories are best left off this thread)

 

We called Ace Moreland "AceMo" was his common nickname among his peers.

 

After spending some years in north Florida, AceMo made his way down to Bob Greenlee's King Snake Records where Ace moved to and became a house engineer and producer recording numerous album the extent of which is all unknown and may never be fully known. AceMo even recorded I think 5 of his own there at King Snake and I think I am credited on 2 of those albums for various things.

 

AceMo was a left handed blues guitarist and singer. He had a unique style on guitar due to his left handed playing style. He was an incredible songwriter, arranger, guitar player, singer, engineer, producer... you name it. He did it.

 

Here is a young Derek Trucks on guitar... long before joining the Allman Brothers.

 

Here is Derek Trucks backing up Ace Moreland live on stage.

 

And here is all grown up Derek Trucks performing in the Allman Brothers band:

 

You gotta start somewhere! And this is how we do it in Florida. In the South music IS a passed down legacy from one generation to the next.

 

 

 

Here is Ace Moreland performing a live concert with a young kid on guitar Derek Trucks and backed up by not one, but TWO members of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band bassist Leon Wilkeson and drummer Artimus Pyle. Imagine that! Members of Allman Brothers and Skynyrd backing up Ace Moreland!

 

 

I'll keep this one short for now, and maybe add in more Ace Moreland later on including unreleased live recordings, but for now take a listen to some Ace Moreland and his King Snake Records albums...

 

Rest in peace legend!

 

 

 

 

I'll close this one for now. Lot's to add in for AceMo!

 

Did you know that the legendary album by Lynyrd Skynyrd called STREET SURVIVORS had music on it that Ace Moreland helped to create? Yep! Famous music we all know and love, but very few know Ace Moreland's connection. And I will make it right here...

 

AceMo was from Miami, Oklahoma area. Another man and his sister from the same town was none other than Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie Gaines both of whom were in the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band! More to come on this and the music!

 

The following interview was arranged by myself and a Nashville documentary videographer. Seen hanging on the wall behind AceMo was a photo of mine of Skynyrd guitarist Steve Gaines and I think an album cover was also tossed in for this interview.

 

This takes place inside the mixing console control room of King Snake Records studio. I was sitting right there for this interview of this legend who was nearly brought to tears recalling his memories of Steve and Cassie Gaines. Soon I will get into how myself and other legendary artists I worked for affected the music and albums of Ace Moreland.

 

 

 

All photos in this post are some I took or own.

 

The MidNight Creepers. Not sure who is in back left, but that is Michael Galloway on harmonica and vocals front left. Behind him is Warren "Hurricane" King. Ace Moreland front and center. And Bob Greenlee on bass on right. Ronnie Byrd Foster on drums in back.

 

At the same time I was doing live sound for King Snake Records artists I was also working for legendary hall of famer Jesse Stone who is 3 halls of fame. The songwriters hall of fame. The rhythm and blues hall of fame, and the rock and roll hall of fame.

 

Jesse Stone was a founder of Atlantic Records and former CEO from 1944 until 1964 when he left Atlantic Records and Ahmet Ertegun became CEO until his death. Jesse and his wife Evelyn lived in central Florida and I was their only band employee from when I met them in 1992 up until Jesse died in 1999 and Evelyn and few years later. I did it all for them. Sitting on unreleased audio, video, photos, documents and much more.

 

Jesse Stone wrote some 3000 songs with 180 certified hit songs according to Billboard. And you know some of them. Too many to list now. But I am the one who brought Jesse Stone and Ace Moreland together for an album collaboration. When Ace found out who I was working with he was excited to hear it and eagerly asked me to introduce them and AceMo wanted to do a tribute album to Jesse Stone. Here is a short article about some of it.

 

This photo I took from the walkway above the stage at House Of Blues in Orlando, Florida. Shows Bob Greenlee and Ace Moreland.

 

http://swampland.com/articles/view/title:ace_moreland_a_remembrance

 

Ace Moreland: A Remembrance

by Paul Doell
February 2003

Ace Moreland’s most recent album (Give It To Get It, released on the King Snake-Icehouse label in 2000) includes a 1998 photo of the lean, lanky guitarist with his friend Jesse Stone, who wrote the mischievous "Mama Don’t Allow No Guitar Playin’ ‘Round Here" for Gene Autry and the raucous "Shake Rattle & Roll" for Big Joe Turner. Ace didn’t look good in this shot: his thin frame barely supported a baggy tank top, his eyes were red at the rims, and the lines of sleepless nights and poor habits creased his face. The sad sense was that Ace Moreland was not to grow old.

On February 9, 2003, Ace Moreland died of lung cancer at his home in Miami, Oklahoma. He was 51. I didn’t know Ace personally, but I sure knew his music and his work at King Snake Records, where Moreland was in full-time demand as a songwriter, session player, producer, engineer and troubleshooter.

At King Snake, Ace had completed five of his own excellent albums and worked on projects by the late Alex Taylor, Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton and the Ingredients, Raful Neal, turban-topped Texas lap-steel bluesman Sonny Rhodes, Dru Lombar’s Dr. Hector and the Groove Injectors and Gregg Allman inspiration Floyd Miles (that’s Ace on the skillet-hot slide behind Allman and Miles on "Not Like I’ve Been Hurt By You").

I was also fortunate enough to have caught Ace Moreland in concert when he and the King Snake All-Stars (Warren King on guitar, King Snake owner Bob Greenlee on bass and former Groove Injector Denny Best on drums) held weekend court at a South Florida blues club in December 2000. It was during the Friday night show that I had a Moreland moment still fresh in this middle-aged memory.

As the band revved the grim rhythm of Son House’s "Death Letter Blues," Ace struck up the southpaw slide, carving through the crowd and nicking nerves as he tilted toward the microphone. "I got a letter this mornin’," he moaned in that familiar Ozark Mountain devil’s drawl. "How do you reckon it read?" The voice was raw and sweaty and exhausted, and Ace’s face was coiled in anguish. "I got a letter this mornin’" he repeated, this time with even greater urgency. "How do you reckon it read?" Silence swept the room as Moreland let loose with some more slide, sinister and strong, before answering the question. "It said ‘hurry hurry—that gal you love is dead.’" I watched and listened from across the room, rapt as everyone else was by the sheer power unleashed by this gifted man. I thought: "If this is not honest, gut-gripping blues, I don’t know what is."

Ace Moreland wasn’t the first bluesman to interpret the tune, and he won’t be the last. But I haven’t heard any other artist invest the song with as much emotion and intensity as Moreland summoned up that night. This was one of those enduring moments when everyone on hand (including those people who hadn’t set out to see Ace, and who had just wandered into the club by chance) understood the therapeutic value of the blues. We were so caught up in Moreland’s overwhelming despair that our own problems seemed petty, and we were able to put them aside for a time.

The blues: Ace Moreland was able to articulate the dichotomy of the genre (live it up, then try to live it down) in often bright and funny ways. He enjoyed a good time, but he understood the consequences of excess. "Ain’t Nothing But A Party" and "Let’s Have Some Fun" were Moreland philosophies as well as song titles, but Ace threw everyone a curve with the dark, ironic "I’m A d**n Good Time." The title suggested one thing, but the tone said another: The song was wrapped in the saddest slide guitar you’ve ever heard. The lyrics were bleak, and the delivery was morose: "I’m your mornin’ of blues," Ace sang. "I’m the holes in your shoes. I’m the money that you spent last night, and I’m your hangover too. I’m too far gone, but I’m doin’ just fine. I’m a cool glass of wine. I’m a d**n good time."

Great stuff, a stark reminder that pleasure is never without a price. Less subtle, but no less compelling, were these instructive Moreland classics: "Devils In The Head," "Devil In My Soul," "Too Far Gone," "Head In The Bottle," "Gates Of Hell," "Down To The Bottom," and "The Blues Gonna Get Me."

Ace once used another artists’s song (Lucky Peterson’s "Don’t Let The Devil Ride") to reinforce a point about weakness and temptation. "Don’t let him ride," Moreland warned. "No no no no don’t let him ride. ‘Cause if you let the devil ride, he’s gonna wanna drive." I’m sure Ace spent more than a few evenings in the passenger seat in his short life.

Moreland appeared to be at his most content on Give It To Get It, a collection of earthy Delta blues and meaty amplified funk that also offered two significant departures, two hints of new dimension and new direction from this versatile artist: "Homestead Mill," a celebration of irrepressible human spirit, and "Indian Giver," a haunting meditation on the indignities inflicted upon Native Americans. Moreland himself was of Cherokee heritage.

In his last weeks, Moreland was working on a new album. He was also helping his friend Bill Wharton launch a hunger relief project called Planet Gumbo (www.planetgumbo.org) . It is a measure of Moreland’s own humanity that rapidly failing health did not get in the way of a good cause.

Like all of us, Ace Moreland had his demons. But, unlike most of us, he was able to turn their torments into songs, which then provided catharsis for the rest of us. In that sense, Ace kept faith with the bluesman’s noble mission, and we will always be grateful for that.

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This one I snapped of AceMo looking for something inside of his tour bus. After this photo was taken I got an emergency phone call later on from AceMo asking me if I saw his biggest gold and diamond ring. Um no I haven't I said. He dropped it in the dirt right here when this photo was taken. We found it later with a metal detector.

 

 

 

It was a great privilege and honor to work for these musicians! And to be able to contribute to their careers in music.