About Me
The band, Mama's Pride, was originally from St. Louis, Missouri USA. In their hometown, they were fondly referred to as "The Pride of St. Louis". The group was formed by brothers Pat and Danny Liston and Max Baker. Members from the first album were: Pat Liston - vocals, slide guitar, acoustic guitars, and organ, Danny Liston - vocals, guitars, Kevin Sanders - drums, background vocals, Max Baker - lead guitar, background vocals, Joe Turek - bass, background vocals, Frank Gagliano - keyboards.Atlantic Records and the whole staff flew down to Tampa, Florida to see the group at a night club. They offered us a major deal after the first show!! We actually met Ahmet Ertugen the CEO of Atlantic and he offered us a deal we couldn't refuse! Mama's Pride signed with Atco Records (a division of Atlantic Records) in 1974. They recorded and released their first album a short time later.The group recorded their second album, "Uptown and Lowdown" in 1976. One interesting fact about this album is that Timothy B. Schmidt (of The Eagles) sang backup vocals on the song "Merry-Go-Round" and their manager forgot to give him a credit.In 1977 the group was dropped by the label after recording and releasing that second album. Originally, the record label tried to push the group as a southern rock band and paired them with groups like The Outlaws and others on concert bills. However, the members of Mama's Pride never were really comfortable with this label and many audiences, after hearing the group, did not consider them a southern rock group when comparing them to groups like Charlie Daniels and Marshall Tucker.One tragic irony was that Ronnie Van Zandt approached Atlantic records and asked if he could produce the group for a third album. He believed they had something special and wanted to try his hand at producing. Mama's pride did one concert with Ronnie and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ronnie wanted to set Mama's Pride up with an opening slot for the upcoming Lynyrd Skynyrd tour. Sadly, less than two weeks later, the plane went down and Ronnie was gone. Atlantic dropped Mama's Pride an week later.In 1978 Mama's Pride toured with Gregg Allman as his back-up band. They would open the show as Mama's Pride and then come back out as the Gregg Allman Band. When Gregg left to rejoin the Allman Brothers Band he told The Pride that he'd never had so much fun on the road!.......Finally, in 1982, the group disbanded. There were a number of reasons for the breakup besides being dropped by their record label. Pat and Dan had both gotten married and started to raise families. They decided the Rock n Roll lifestyle didn't mix well with these things.In 1992, Mama's Pride decided to have another go at writing and recording some new material. Initially, Pat Liston was not in favor of reforming the band. His younger brother Dan, was the driving force behind making it happen. They wrote and worked on new music with the idea of recording another album. At the time, the idea of playing bars and clubs didn't seem like the thing to do. The resulting album "Guard Your Heart" was released in 1992."Guard Your Heart" was much different in sound from their two previous albums. Even though Pat and Dan Liston are each born again Christians, the album is not what would be categorized as "Christian rock". The songs are about real life situations and the lives of the songwriters. The album was produced by Jim Gaines, who has also produced Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana, and Steve Miller.Mama's Pride released a total of three albums and each is described in the Mama's Pride Discography pages. Their first two albums are out of print and have not been re-released on compact disc. However, they have just recorded and released an 18 song double "live" CD called "Still A"live" and Well"....... it was recorded live at the Pageant Theatre in St. Louis, MO.Some of Mama's Pride's best known songs include: "Blue Mist", "In the Morning", "She's a Stranger to Me Now", "Merry-Go-Round", and "Can I Call You A Cab". The original Mama's Pride, with members, Pat Liston, Danny Liston, Max Baker, Kevin Sanders, Dickie Steltenpohl and Paul Willett, are currently doing two concerts a year with sell-out crowds at The Pageant Theater in St. Louis. The individual members also continue to play and perform with their own bands and musical projects.Pat and Danny Liston have both done solo CDs, Kevin Sanders has done CD projects with the Steve Pacaro Band , and Max Baker has done the same with his band, the Baker McClarren Band.
