I’ve been writing Timmy’s Midweek Music Break for five years; it started with a paragraph about Johnny Rivers, with an attachment of “Mountain of Love” that I sent to a few friends. It’s grown considerably since then…I have over 80 people on my email list, and a number of them forward it to their friends, and on it goes. For Year Six, I thought I’d revisit some of our past artists. In some cases, I had difficulty deciding which of their songs to feature (and, would often receive email telling me that some other song was a correspondent’s favorite). Also, in some cases, we could update or round out the information on the featured artist. With that in mind, let’s begin a year of Encores and Other Choices. Johnny Rivers is an interesting figure in the history of rock and roll music. On one hand, he was a star of the 1960s and a rarity as a white American singer/guitarist who made a name for himself in the middle of the decade. On the other hand- and, equally important—is that behind the scenes his recordings and their success led to the launching (directly or indirectly) of three record labels and a dozen other careers whose influence extended into the next few decades. Born John Henry Ramistella in Brooklyn in 1942, his family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1948; it was there that Rivers’ musical sensibilities were shaped. His father, who played mandolin and guitar, introduced Johnny to the guitar at an early age—and, the boy proved to be a natural with the instrument. As a teen, Ramistella began absorbing the R&B sounds that were on the airwaves of the 1950s. Geographic proximity allowed him to see performers like Fats Domino and Jimmy Reed in person; by the time he entered his teens, he was immersed in rhythm and blues and good enough to start playing guitar in local groups. In junior high, Johnny sat in with a band called The Rockets, led by Dick Holler (who would later write “Abraham, Martin, and John” and “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron”). At age 13, he formed his own group—The Spades—and began playing New Orleans-flavored R&B. In 1956, he made his recording debut with the Spades, releasing “Hey Little Girl” on the Suede Records label. In 1957, Ramistella went to New York and was able to wrangle a meeting with Alan Freed. At Freed’s suggestion, a name change to the less ethnic/more “American” style of Johnny Rivers ensued (there is some speculation that the idea came from the Elvis character “Deke Rivers” in the movie, Loving You). Early releases as Johnny Rivers were not successful, and the singer returned to Baton Rouge, performing with the Spades. He toured the south, eventually staying in Nashville, where he found work as a songwriter and cutting demos of songs for record companies. It was as a composer that Rivers experienced his first taste of success; a chance meeting with guitarist James Burton let to one of his songs, “I’ll Make Believe”, finding its way to Ricky Nelson. By 1961, 18-year old Rivers had little to show for his efforts but experience, and decided to move to Los Angeles in hopes of working as a songwriter and producer. Fate stepped in in 1963; a friend who managed a Los Angeles nightclub appealed to Rivers when his house band suddenly quit. Rivers reluctantly agreed to perform for a few nights with a stripped down version of his rock and roll act—just his electric guitar and drummer Eddie Rubin. Audiences couldn’t get enough, and crowds began to grow. The stint turned into an open-ended engagement, and bassist Joe Osborn was hired to fill out the combo. It was at those gigs that Rivers met songwriter/producer Lou Adler, who was planning to start his own record label. Rivers took on Adler as his manager, and got a contract in early 1964 to play at a new LA club, the Whisky a Go-Go. It was at the Whisky that Rivers’ act and reputation caught on, resulting in turn-away crowds at the nightspot. The act was so strong that Adler decided to try recording him live at the club; to do so, he and Rivers had to borrow money to rent the necessary equipment. The tape of Rivers’ performance was rejected by a number of companies, until Adler struck a deal with Liberty Records. Johnny Rivers at the Whisky a Go-Go, released in May of 1964, was a hit. Boosted by its first single, a cover of the Chuck Berry tune “Memphis” (which went to number two on the charts), Rivers made a dent in the British Invasion’s domination of American record sales. The second single was a cover of Berry’s “Maybelline”, followed a few months later by a second live album, Here We Go-Go Again. Our inaugural TMMB featured my favorite Rivers single, “Mountain of Love”. This time, I thought we’d spin one of his most famous non-live recordings from 1966--“Secret Agent Man”
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:35:56 +0000
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