THIS JUST IN: MY LATEST CONCOCTION, TITLED "DWIGHT", ON MEMPHIS RECORDS, CAN BE SAMPLED, AND HOPEFULLY PURCHASED ONLINE AT WWW.MEMPHISRECORDSONLINE.COM.
Please now excuse me while I do the full-on name drop.Some history: Fresh out of college (class of '83, University of Memphis, BM in Music Composition), joined Gerard Harris' Fine Line....got to meet an unusually lucid Phineas Newborn Jr., who was very nice to me, and became my all time favorite pianist, joined super funk-rock group Fingerprint, members of which went on to work w/ Prince, Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis, Eric Gales, and Jimmie Vaughn ....got to back up Rev. Al Green on the Nat'l anthem at a kickboxing match....almost signed to Motown Record after an eye-opening month working with Kerry (son of Berry) Gordy and Norman Whitfield, thank God that didn't happen, ended up in the Coolers (for 2 years) with Duck Dunn (Booker T & MG's, Stax house rythym section), as well as the some of the best R&B players in Memphis....this resulted in many fine celeb jams at the Peabody....Charlie Rich, Albert King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rufus (Oh My God) Thomas, Ron Wood, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tony Joe White to name a few ....got to play Green Onions @ 7 times w/ Duck, Steve Cropper and Steve Potts (present drummer for the MG's, and one of the very best).....so that means I can stop any time I want to, y'all....
After Duck quit, so did I, helping start FreeWorld, which has continued on to become a Memphis institution (still every Sun. night at Blues City), then deciding to make my big statement with the band Human Radio (see www.rossrice.net for the detailed story on THAT), long story short: quickly rose through the Memphis bar scene, got signed to Columbia Records, William Morris Agency, had a minor hit "Me & Elvis", did a coast-to-coast tour, a NE residency for a month, finally seen by the president of the label who reportedly said "who the f*** are these guys?", got dropped, stuck it out a bit longer, riding around Mississippi trying to get re-discovered, moved en masse to Nashville, where we had a publishing deal (Sony/Tree) that allowed us free studio time, made a second CD's worth of stuff, showcased to a room fulla A&R guys that didn't hear a single, and decided that staying together wasn't worth the poverty and humiliation, and broke up....
I kept trying to justify my publishing ceal, co-writing and getting cuts with Susannah Hoffs (Bangles....just about as lovely a person as you could meet), and Adrian Belew (also lovely, just in a different way. Wanted to produce Human Radio 2, and we woulda loved it.), met and worked with the incomparable Brad Jones, who became my demo buddy. Made a bunch of demos that got to Steve Earle, who signed me to his fledgling label E-Squared. Mixed those demos into a record called "Umpteen", which got some pretty good reviews and some international airplay....maxed out some credit cards trying to keep a band on the road before deciding to get into the contract labor side of the bizness.....I've produced (or co-produced) Memphis groups Big Ass Truck, The Gamble Bros, FreeWorld, Yamagata, Delta Queens, Retrospect, Rusty Lemon......played on CD's with Steve Earle, Jill Sobule, Steve Forbert, Tim Easton, Amy Rigby, Swandive, Tommy Womack, Banyan w/ Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Bloodthirsty Lovers....toured with the likes of Banyan, Rob Wasserman's Space Island, Todd Snider, Scott Miller & the Commonwealth, Kim Richey, Jamie O'Neal, Willie Waldman Project, Mark Farner (Grand Funk RR), Peter Frampton, Jim Wieder, Daryl Jenifer's Blackvova, 420 Funk Mob (w/ George Clinton), and Isaac Hayes. Recently, I've been out and about with Voodelic, a psychedelic funk group I've been in the studio with. If you would like more information about who all I've worked with (who are slipping my mind at present), check out my profile at artistdirect.com. Just started a new arts magazine with Jamaine for the Hudson Valley area called "Roll", and look forward to exploring the amazing talent that surrounds me in this fertile valley. Check in at www.rollmagazine.com.
The CricketSoda Myspace Editor!
