RINGO STARR CHIPS MOMAN send Pete Drake video message PLUS Moman Pickets Commercial Appeal Over Ringo Defamation [1987]
this little gem was found unmarked by a wonderful Memphis videographer, and lo and behold, through persistent viewing through reams of b-roll, i discovered this never-before-seen personal video message from Ringo Starr and Chips Moman to Pete Drake, wishing him the best for an unnamed award circa 1987. [Ringo and Chips were in Memphis preparing to record Ringo's Memphis album, which would soon be aborted and end in legal problems.]
the 'Pete' Ringo refers to, regarding finding country tapes in his car, is indeed, Pete Drake, who was the Nashville record producer responsible for convincing Ringo to cut a country record in Nashville with Nashville players, all on the basis of his coincidental discovery of Ringo's country music collection, discovered while picking him up at the airport. [their record became Beaucoup of Blues, winning more than a few top 10s, as well as critical accolades.]
"HIS NAME IS PETE Drake. He got the brilliant idea one time to make his steel guitar talk and he actually does it, right now, with a beautiful song, Forever."
You may also recall from a few previous posts, Pete Drake's own otherworldly contributions as top session man and inventor of the talking steel guitar [eg. Forever], played with his talkbox, connected to his pedal steel guitar.
Born in Augusta, Georgia in 1932, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, Pete Drake worked as a record producer and sought-after session musician in the ’60s in country music mecca Nashville, Tennessee (it's his pedal steel guitar you can hear on Charlie Rich’s Behind Closed Doors and Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay).
However, he is also one of the little-known heroes in the history and development of the voice synthesizer most commonly known as the Vocoder, as outlined in Dave Tompkins' beautiful and meticulous 2011 history of said voice-altering tool, How To Wreck A Nice Beach.
Drake was not the first to modulate a steel guitar sound with the human voice. That honour goes to Alvino Rey and his wife Luise in 1939, who used a carbon microphone placed against the throat (a prototype version of the Sonovox).
But Drake successfully modified and updated the technique, hooking an eight-inch paper-cone speaker-driver and funnel to his guitar amp, the guitar sound travelling to Drake's mouth via a clear plastic tube on the end of the funnel.
Drake first used the device on Roger Miller's 1963 hit, Lock, Stock And Teardrops before recording three albums worth of "talking steel guitar" records between 1964 and 1965.
George Harrison was a fan. Drake's talking pedal steel appears on All Things Must Pass and the Nashville producer's skills were subsequently employed on Ringo’s 1970 C&W tribute, Beaucoups Of Blues.
Oh, and in in case you were wondering who was responsible for Pete Frampton picking up the voice box for his mega-million selling double live album, Frampton Comes Alive, well that would be Pete Drake. But don't hold that against him. The man was an innovator.
Just listen to him here in the studio with George, Ringo and Phil Spector during the ATMP sessions and tell me that you're not hearing the sonic birth of Roger Troutman's Golden Throat Talk Box.
the remainder of the clips document the shitstorm that a Memphis commercial appeal writer caused when she denigrated Starr in one of her columns just as the famous Beatle was arriving to give the dying Memphis music scene a shot in the arm, causing Chips in disgust [Memphis musician and studio genius from the '60s and '70s] to picket in front of the CA's office.
tpa
Video sent by mrjyn
In 1987, after the The Commercial Appeal ran a column about Ringo Starr, whose album Moman was producing, Moman fought back.
The Commercial Appeal column disparaged Starr (saying "the aging Beatle was yesterday's news...least talented of all the Beatles").
Moman retaliated by staging a protest in front of the newspaper's offices.
Despite recording, Starr eventually abandoned the project and sued Moman to stop the album's release.
One place he doesn't visit is Memphis. "I've stayed away," says Moman, in an easy drawl.
MOMAN AND STAX:
Moman and Jim Stewart hit it off, and decided to join forces to start what would become Satellite, and eventually, Stax Records. Moman played a pivotal role in Stax's development. He recorded the label's initial hits, and turned Stax from a white country music company into a Soul label.
Stewart and Estelle Axton brought that to an end in 1962. Axton and Stewart suggested Moman was seeking credits and money he didn't deserve.
MOMAN'S AMERICAN SOUND STUDIOS:
A few thousand dollars was enough to start at 827 Thomas--American Sound Studios.
Moman struggled producing & playing guitar @ Muscle Shoals, writing songs with Dan Penn [Dark End of the Street]...
The studio hit its stride when Moman wooed members of Hi Records and Phillips to form American Studios group: Reggie Young, Gene Chrisman, Bobby Wood, Bobby Emmons, Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill. A succession of hits like the Box Tops' ("The Letter"), and, most famously, Elvis Presley's ("Suspicious Minds") brought fame.
Between 1967 and 1972, American cut 122 chart records.
thanks to the original poster for this unusual and obscure document, and i'll try and backtrack to let you know who it was, as there are many more very rare Memphis video artifacts contained on his channel.