|
| |
On a recent Sunday
night I got to go to the Starlight Concert series at Kennesaw State University.
The group that performed was the Persuasions out of Brooklyn, New York. They did
the entire concert acappella which means they didn't have a band. The street
corner do wop sound reminded me of the records that Mary Beth Hughes Thompson
used to have in the days when Elvis was in the U. S. Army in Germany and before
the Beatles had come to our shores.
Mary Beth, Ralph, Sonny, and Keith Hughes grew up just up the street from us and
I think their mother Dorothy was one of the finest people I ever knew. She
passed away a few years ago on Christmas Eve. When she would cook her famous
french fries in peanut oil the heavenly aroma could be enjoyed all the way to
Burford Pope's filling station.
The music in the Hughes household varied with the matriarch of the family loving
Southern gospel music. I recall her enjoying the Blackwood Brothers, the Stamps,
and the Statesmen. Dorothy Hughes heard me the first day I was ever on the radio
back in September of 1971 over WPID in Piedmont, Alabama. Mrs. Hughes along with
my mother and grandmother and a class mate from Civil War history at
Jacksonville State named Randy Owen heard me that first Sunday show I ever did.
Randy told me that I didn't stink too bad and appreciated the fact that I played
a couple of cuts off his Owen Family gospel album. Randy's family ties run quite
deep. Along with a couple of his Ft. Payne, Alabama cousins formed a band that
is the most successful group in the history of Country music. "Alabama" also is
in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Randy is now a solo act and his
voice is still as strong as when their first number one song "Tennessee River"
was released in the early '80's. Mary Beth, Ralph, and Sonny had all the hot
records of the day that takes me back when I hear them now. "Runaway" by Del
Shannon, "Good Timin'" by Jimmy Jones, "Blue Moon” by the Marcels and “Hundred
Pounds of Clay" by Gene McDaniels are forever in the Ipod of my heart because of
the Hughes kids. The youngest Keith and I found it hilarious to take the 45 rpm
recordings and speed them up to 78 rpm because it made every thing sound like
Alvin and the Chipmonks. Heck we were like 6 or 7 years old and we never did
that when Mary Beth was around because we would get yelled at. By the way,
everything old is new again with the release a few months ago of a new Alvin and
the Chipmonks movie. I had to buy the soundtrack for the kids because they loved
the movie. The soundtrack contains the orig inal versions of "Witch Doctor" and
"Christmas Time is Here" were among the first records I ever bought as a lad.
The do wop sound of the 1950's still lives today with groups like the
"Persuasions" still pa cking venues with older audiences that don't care to see
Kid Rock, Fifty Cent, or "Coldplay" in concert.
If I had the power I would love to have a concert at Taylor Stadium that was as
eclectic as my musical tastes. I'd bring Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Al Green,
Marty Stuart, Neil Sedaka, Reba McEntire, Charlie Daniels, Patti LaBelle, Ronnie
Milsap, Chaka Kahn, Stevie Wonder, and "Chicago". Would you buy a ticket? Okay,
we'll book Amy Winehouse too if she isn't in jail.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native.
He serves as a Director of University Development and Distinguished Lecturer at
Kennesaw State Univesity.
Comments and suggestions are welcomed at P.O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, Georgia,
30176 or via email at
Rhubarbjones@aol.com
| |
|
