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In the following Q&A, you can catch up with Dion and enjoy some great memories from the 50’s music scene.

The Wall Street Journal: You came up when rock ‘n’ roll was still dawning on America, after Elvis and before the Beatles. You rocked the “The Ed Sullivan Show” in a tuxedo. Did you feel torn between two worlds?

Dion: I was the first rock ‘n’ roller signed by Columbia Records. Aretha Franklin was starting there at the same time. They were giving Aretha and me Al Jolson tunes; I was singing “Mammy;” she did “Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody”—they didn’t know what we were about. From the beginning, before I recruited the Belmonts to record with me, [managers] told me to put the guitar down—leaders of groups don’t play guitar. They wanted to give me a nightclub act and book me in the Copacabana. They wanted to put me with corny backing singers—Broadway-trained guys who were great singing “Oklahoma!” but didn’t know from rock and roll. The show business era was — “Hey! How’s everybody doin’ tonight? Hope everybody’s fine!” The rock and roll attitude was —we don’t care how you feel about it; we’re taking you on a trip. “Let’s go!”

[The Wall Street Journal] Your new album, “Tank Full of Blues,” showcases your love for that music. When did you start filling your tank?

Way back at Columbia, John Hammond [the legendary producer who helped launch the careers of greats from Billie Holiday and Count Basie to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen] pulled me into his office. He had this big grin and said “Dion, you seem to have a flair for the blues.” I left there with an armload of albums by Furry Lewis, Leroy Carr, Fred McDowell—and Robert Johnson. I never wanted to imitate those guys like Mick Jagger did—”I followed her to da stay-shun.” I thought if I did that I’d get killed at the Brooklyn Fox where Howlin’ Wolf and all the greats used to play. I met Bo Diddley at the Fox. He scowled at me and said “Where’d you learn to play blues like that?” I thought he was going to kill me. I said, “I listen to records.” He said, “Me, too.”

Finish reading the Q&A with Dion by clicking here.

After discussing with Debbie, Dion’s mention of Muddy Waters, she proudly noted, “I never saw Dion in person, but I did get to see Muddy, Chuck, Bo, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee.” Great remembrances for sure. Enjoy!

Warm regards,

Dick

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Red played the melody with his right hand. With his left, he played four-note chords that simultaneously beat out the same rhythm as the right-hand melody. Occasionally he’d leave out the root of a chord, a style associated with Bill Evans.

Red became famous upon joining Miles Davis in 1955. With Miles, Red played piano on the great Prestige Records series, including the albums Walkin’, Workin’, Steamin’, Cookin’, and Relaxin’. He was also featured on my own favorite Red and Miles effort, Round About Midnight (1957). With his own group, Red recorded a wide array of albums, including my favorites, It’s a Blue World, Groovy, and All Kinds of Weather. Red Garland died of a heart attack in 1984 at age 60.

See number 21.

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To make the list, an artist must not only have a substantial catalog, but also, in most cases, have held my interest for years. There was a period in the ’50s when Bo, Chuck, Bill Haley, and Little Richard dominated my turntable., but because this hasn’t been the case for decades, none of these artists appears on my list. My pick for #21, the Grateful Dead, is unusual in that even though they’ve been around for ages, I only started listening to them recently.

I can appreciate how Debbie and others may have little interest in a group that began its 30-year run as a ragtag contingent of not very good musicians. The original Dead back in the mid-’60s featured Ron “Pigpen” McKernan on vocals and keyboards. “Strained” is too kind a word to describe Pig’s contributions. In the early days, Phil Lesh was just getting started on the bass, Jerry Garcia was still running on his bluegrass groove, Bobby Weir was a clueless punk with strictly limited guitar skills, and super rhythm drummer Mickey Hart had yet to make an appearance. For my money, only Bill Kreutzmann came out of the gates swinging.

From their inauspicious beginning, I didn’t get the Dead and stayed clear of them for years. It was not until a year ago that I finally began to pay attention to their work.  Since then, I have spent a good part of every day and a pile of money catching up on all the Dead music I have missed. I would be remiss in not noting a fair amount of off-key playing, forgotten lyrics, mind wandering, and dropped beat efforts. Discipline, form and focus just never found their way into the Dead‘s repertoire. One can only imagine how a long history of abusive mind-expanding enhancers might addle the brains. So the music of the Dead includes the good, the truly great, and the sloppy.

With the alcohol-induced final departure of Pigpen in 1973, all things musical began to look up for the Dead. By then Mickey had formed a strong bond with the more conventional Billy to produce a powerhouse backbeat. Phil had morphed into one of the most original bass players on the American music scene. Jerry Garcia had become a distinctive and dominant guitar voice and a unique, if somewhat thin, lead vocal. Bobby Weir had no place to go but up as rhythm guitar and second lead vocal, and up he climbed. Finally, the keyboard chair was filled first by the capable Keith Godchaux (RIP 1980), then Brent Mydland (RIP 1990), and finally Vince Welnick (RIP 1996). All made substantial contributions to a cohesive group effort. Also making a distinctive contribution on background vocals during her husband’s tenure with the band was Donna Godchaux. Her time with the Dead helped to form a distinctive sound for the group that was absent without her.

Not surprising, never in their 30-year history were the Dead much of a studio band. Getting everyone to show up on time, deal with “the suits” at the record labels, and focus enough to assemble an album of three-minute tunes was usually not in the cards. From day one, the Dead was a stretching-out jam band best heard live. Few bands have as extensive a live music catalog (I’d mention the Dick’s Picks series of discs available from Rhino).

Over the last year I have assembled a substantial collection of Dead records and CDs, as well as books. The long tenure of the group and its evolution from basically a garage band to a finely tuned (if you can call it that) contingent is an amazing story. I recently spent time comparing some of my other top-rated self-contained musical outfits to the Dead. This musical experiment matched the power of the Dead against Weather Report, the Allman Brothers, and the Band. I was initially prepared to rank the Dead behind all the other contenders. After repeated listening, I ended up with the Dead on top—despite my slight bias against them going into the musical face-off.

The end of the road for America’s greatest rock ’n’ roll jam band arrived without notice with the passing of Jerry Garcia on August 9, 1995. I distinctly remember where Debbie and I were when we got the news. I’m sad to have missed out on the Dead in their heyday, never having seen so much as a single Dead concert. Never in my five decades of being immersed in music have I missed out on a great group for so long. If you feel about the Dead as I originally did, I hope my introduction here will help motivate you to give them a listen. To get started, pick up the two-CD, one-DVD package Crimson, White & Indigo and the July 1987 two-CD set Truckin’ up to Buffalo featuring “Bertha” and “Cold Rain and Snow.” Enjoy!

Warm regards,

Dick

See number 20.

See number 22.

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Not only is Daniel a commanding vocalist and pianist, but he also has a warm and engaging personality that allows for an instant bond with his audience. Debbie and I had an opportunity to get together with Daniel after several of his evening performances, as well as for breakfast one morning. Daniel’s knowledge of U.S. history and his interest in our politics were impressive. What an enormous amount of presence for a 24-year-old.

There is no doubt in my mind that a talent like Daniel Santos is going to draw the attention of a promotional heavyweight who will help him kick-start his already blossoming career. Andrew Loog Oldham (today living in Bogotá, Colombia), the original force behind the Rolling Stones, comes quickly to mind. Enjoy Daniel’s YouTube videos. And for the record, the French jazz group backing Daniel was super.

Moondance – Daniel Santos

High and Dry – Daniel Santos

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We see Jimmy around from time to time at his studio at Shrimp Boat Sound and in the small restaurants and clubs in town. Locals never fail to give Jimmy his well-deserved privacy. And everyone is always happy to welcome him back to the place he began.

See number 21.

See number 23.

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The list does not take into account either the popularity of specific artists or the number of records they sold. Rather, the main criterion is playing time in my own house. There are a number of artists I might have considered for this list who I just don’t play enough for some reason, or whose catalog is simply too small. The larger an artist’s catalog, the more options I have had to play over the years. The top 15 or 20 names on my Essential Music list were no-brainers for me, and as the list advances toward #1, such is increasingly the case. The top names on my list are artists whose music I am most likely to play in any given week, and have over the last four decades. No essential artist on my list began a career as late as the ’70s. For my well-spent money, the most fertile musical period was the ’60s and in certain cases the ’50s. Of all the featured albums by the artists on my list, few were recorded after 1969.

With that background in place, let’s talk about artist #23 on my list, the late King Curtis. King’s 45s—“Soul Serenade,” “Soul Twist,” “Twisting with the King,” and “Wobble Twist”—have dominated my Wurlitzer jukebox for decades. And King’s now hard-to-find and mucho expensive album Soul Serenade (Capitol Records) has been played to exhaustion. Two good albums to start with are Instant Soul and King of the Sax (Fuel 2000 Records). Both are actually CDs, not records. The King is no doubt best known for all his solos on the Coasters records, including “Yakety Yak” and his ’60s single “Memphis Soul Stew.” Like Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond, King Curtis rose to the top of my list with a complementary voice, guitarist Billy Butler (a cowriter of and soloist on “Honky Tonk”).

See number 22.

See number 24.

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Stax Records, the phenomenal studio behind this week’s featured band, Booker T. and The MG’s—and countless other soul-defining artists—was based on McLemore Avenue in Memphis. Stax sadly had the “S” taken out of its soul with two tragedies: First, Otis Redding, a buddy of the MG’s, died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. Then, just months later, on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was shot in Memphis. In 1970, Booker T. left for California, and a vital era in American music came to a close.

I’d begin your introduction to Booker T. & The MG’s with “Green Onions,” “Hip Hug-Her” (Booker’s first contribution with the B3 organ; previous Hammond organ contributions had been with the less powerful Hammond M3 spinet model), and “Soul Dressing.” As always, record albums are preferable to CDs. I own the complete MG’s 180-gram record collection produced by Sundazed Music of Coxsackie, New York. I also own the complete collection of original Stax LPs, as well as all the Stax and Atlantic 45s of the MG’s, including the ultrarare Volt pressing of “Green Onions.” The album Soul Dressing includes the 1963 release “Chinese Checkers,” Booker’s first effort with an electric piano instead of an organ. Booker is also featured on trombone on “Chinese Checkers” with drummer Al Jackson calling out the words “your move” midway through the record. After “Green Onions,” it’s my favorite MG’s single.

You will find Booker pictured with me at About Dick Young and all the singles I feature at my R&B Juke Box. By far, the finest book ever written on Stax including Booker T. & The MG’s is Rob Bowman’s Soulsville, U.S.A. Absolutely essential. I spoke to Mr. Bowman on one of my many Stax research projects through the years. There is not another non-Stax insider alive with the Stax knowledge Rob Bowman has accumulated.

See number 23.

See number 25.

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Number 25 on my list of 25 essential musical artists is the group I rate as America’s second-best rock-and-roll band, Little Feat, founded by the very underrated, very undisciplined, and very dead Lowell George. I’d start your Little Feat collection with the live Waiting for Columbus and the 2008 release Join The Band, which features collaborations with other artists.

Waiting for Columbus

Join the Band

See number 24.

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