The Gentrys
Live @ Daniels Den
September 6th 1968
The Gentrys may have had little impact in the history of rock
& roll but they were one of my favorite bands in the sixties. They played
Daniels Den on several occasions and I just happened to see the last show of
their original lineup. It was a total gas. They had a few hits at the time.
Including their breakout million seller Keep On Dancing from there it went
pretty much downhill despite the release of several gems produced by the
legendary Chips Moman including Everyday I Have to Cry, Spread It On Thick,
Brown Paper Sack, You Make Me Feel Good (a great cover of a Zombies album
track), I Can’t Get Out of Denver, Woman of the World. They were hot for a New
York minute and their management finagled television spots on Hullabaloo,
Shindig, and Where the Action Is. They even managed to place them in the 1966
teen exploitation movie It’s Bikini World. They toured with the Beach Boys and
Sony & Cher (who hadn’t) and joined
Dick Clark’s package tours where the groups would play a couple hits and run
offstage to make room for the next band. After paying all the bills it wasn’t
much money yet it was needed exposure for the group.The band consisted of Larry
Raspberry (leader/singer), Jimmy Hart (vocalist/harmonies), Larry Wall (drums),
Bruce Bowles (vocals), and Pat Neal (Bass guitar).The newest member was Larry
Butler and extraordinary talent who went on to produce Kenny Rogers, Johnny
Cash, Crystal Gayle, Dottie West and BJ Thomas.
The Gentrys were a Memphis band and reveled in the richness
of the local scene. They were just high school kids when Keep On Dancing was
picked up by MGM which was a major label at the time. The rest is history.
Memphis is an extraordinary mecca for talented musicians. It is no wonder that
a city the eats, sleeps and drinks music could hoist such talents as Alex
Chilton, Booker T & the MGs, Issac Hayes to the top of the National charts.
There is no doubt that the Gentrys were cocooned by a golden web of talent and
innovation. They were the first Memphis rock band to make it to the top of the
Billboard charts ending up at # 4 with a bullet.
The original Larry Raspberry-led Gentrys performed at
Daniels Den on three occasions and I was lucky enough to see one of their last performances
before packing it in. Vocalist Jimmy Hart resurrected the Gentrys and played
the Den two more times between January and October 1969.
The show was a love fest from start to finish. Raspberry was
on top of his game, singing well, telling jokes and leaping from the dance
floor up to the first tier of seats left
of the stages. The girls swooned and the guys laughed. It was Raspberry who
held it all together. It didn’t matter that their new drummer missed the intro
to Keep on Dancing by half a beat. Raspberry just looked at him briefly, smiled
and laughed broadly. No harm, no foul. They performed their hits and the sound
was perfect. The harmonies on You Make Me Feel Good were exquisite with Hart accompanying
Raspberry’s solid lead. Everyday I Have to Cry Some was a poor boy’s anthem and
they nailed it. They performed a few covers including Dedicated to The One I
Love (the Shirelles’ version, not the lush Mamas & Papas version); I Can’t
Go Back To Denver. They even did Ain’t To Proud To Beg, a Motown masterpiece
resurrected through the lens of Raspberry and his Memphis cats and nailed the
high energy Latino rocker Let’s Dance. They performed a soulful Everyday I Have to
Cry Some that segued to Don’t Let It Be This Time (the B-side), a real
tearjerker sung perfectly by Jimmy Hart. Great pipes! The popish Woman of the
World sounded almost Beatlesque. Raspberry was developing his chops as a
songwriter and sang one of his originals entitled There Are Two Sides to Every
Story followed by Bye Bye Baby a high energy garage rocker!
I left the show with the firm conviction that Larry
Raspberry was the talent and focal point of the band. He could jump around, run
around the stage, climb to the second level and jump back down on the dance
floor. He was a great singer and a storyteller, the perfect front man. Years
later I saw him perform with his band Larry Raspberry & the High Steppers.
It was some tasty Memphis rockin’ soul. I loved his new songs especially Jive
Ass and Baby Get Out of Bed (Once is Enough For Me). Years later I saw Raspberry perform at Pine
Knob on a One Hit Wonders Tour. I wanted to stand up and shout that Raspberry
was not a One Hit Wonder that he had several modest hits with the Gentrys and
the High Steppers. But I didn’t; He might be remembered for Keep On Dancing but
there was so much more
No comments:
Post a Comment