Decade of Difference

Mary Chapin Carpenter grew up in New Jersey, cultivating her musical tastes in pretty typical ways including listening to her sister’s record collection, which was heavy on the Mamas and Papas and  the Beatles. Although she played guitar  and sang in high school, she never considered performing in public until her father suggested she try an open mic night.

After spending time playing in the DC folk scene, Carpenter landed a recording contract and released her first album in 1987. In 1992 she had her most successful album. “Come On, Come On” spawned three top five singles and established her as a country artist. Her following album produced a number one song and a Grammy.

Mary Chapin Carpenter has released 15 albums, and her first album of new material just came out. “The Dirt and the Stars” was mostly written at her Virginia farmhouse and draws from her personal experiences. Having won 5 Grammys as well as CMA and AMA awards, Carpenter has plenty on which to reflect.

Since 2008, the Judy Chops have brought a high energy blend of music possibly best described as modern country swing. The seven piece band blends a variety of genres from swing, to country, to jazz, and rock all designed to bring you out of your seat.

A true product of the Commonwealth, the band wrote their first song together after meeting at Natural Chimneys Park in Mt. Solon, now the site of the Red Wing Roots Music Festival. The band of family and friends spent their first few years playing in the Shenandoah Valley before expanding their reach through the mid Atlantic.

The Judy Chops have found an audience on the festival scene. In 2018 they were one of the winning acts in the ‘Rockin’ to Lockin’ competition, securing a spot at the following years Lockin’ Festival. This past year the group played Floyd Fest and you can see them around the Commonwealth in their frequent live shows.

As for how the band has stayed together for so long, William ‘Reverend Bill’ Howard says that the fact that some members are related and that now after 15 or 16 years together the rest all feel like family aids their longevity. Molly Murphy adds that she feels they are doing the coolest thing they can do – play music together with a bunch of people.

Melvin Jackson appeared on the blues music scene right after World War 2. Born to a father who loved blues music and a mother who was a gospel singer steered Jackson toward the music. His first performing experience was with a Texas gospel group before the war. While in the Army, Jackson learned to be a mechanic and his plan was to do that after the war, until he decided to give music a try.

In 1946 he sent a demo to Houston’s Gold Star Records and they were impressed, scoring a national R&B hit with Jackson in 1948. It was his only national hit, although he recorded consistently through the mid 1950s. The best known song from Jackson was not recorded by himself in the form it is best remembered. Jackson recorded his Rockin’ and Rollin’ in 1951 and later versions recorded by B.B. King and Muddy Waters changed the title to Rock Me Baby. The latter has become a blues standard based on the Jackson original.

Melvin Jackson dropped out of music in 1956 after a car accident and returned to work as a mechanic. He was ‘discovered’ in 1960 and returned to record two more records, but the blues music renaissance that brought fame to many of his contemporaries passed him by.

Melvin ‘lil son’ Jackson died in 1976 from cancer in Dallas.

The Afghan Whigs’ on again, off again career started in 1986 when the quartet fronted by Greg Dulli rose from the Cincinnati, Ohio grunge scene to form a rock band. A love of Motown and R&B drew the four together and influenced the sound of the new group. Their self released first record came in 1988 and one of the thousand copies pressed found its way to Sub Pop Records, which originally planned to release only a single from the group.

Sub Pop embraced the group – only their second band from outside the Pacific Northwest released two albums which saw significant airplay on MTV. It was not until 1993 that the R&B and soul influences began to emerge, giving the Afghan Whigs their own distinctive sound. Their Gentlemen release that year was the groups biggest seller and received widespread praise.

Despite the success of 1993’s Gentlemen, the Afghan Whigs were never able to grow from their cult following. In fact, the critical and commercial success had its backlash, including an anti Afghan Whigs fanzine called Fat Greg Dulli.

By 2001 the group had broken up after its members moved to different parts of the country. A brief reunion came in 2006 with a pair of new songs and a best of album and then a longer lived reunion started in 2011.

The reformed group minus original drummer Steve Earle went on tour, then recorded their first new record in 16 years. Despite health problems, the group has remained together with new material released this year.

Ricky Skaggs had proven himself in both country and bluegrass music for years before forming Kentucky Thunder in 1997. Skaggs began performing on mandolin in elementary school, wowing local crowds in his native Kentucky. When Bill Monroe came to perform the crowd demanded ‘Little Ricky Skaggs’ join him onstage.

Soon after the seven year old Skaggs was on TV with Flatt and Skruggs and at seventeen he was on tour in Ralph Stanley’s band. Later he played with Emmylou Harris before turning his attention to a solo country career. He excelled, scoring 12 number 1 hits in the 80s and becoming the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry. After winning four Grammys and a CMA Entertainer of the Year Award, Skaggs returned to bluegrass.

In 1997 he formed his own record label and with the new Kentucky Thunder band released his first record, Bluegrass Rules!. Skaggs and the band won their first Grammy with the record in 1998.

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder have maintained a remarkable streak of receiving twelve consecutive Grammy nominations for their albums, winning eight awards. Not limited to bluegrass only, Kentucky Thunder has won awards for their gospel and collaborative albums.

Kentucky Thunder is in their 25th year with Ricky Skaggs who himself is working on his seventh decade as a professional musician. “This group of guys meets my approval every night,” Ricky has this to say about the Kentucky Thunder lineup,  “Each and every one of the pickers in Kentucky Thunder totally amazes me in every show…and that, to me, outweighs any award we could ever win.”

Being the son of Willie Nelson could make it difficult for a musician to establish his own identity, but that has not seemed to be the case for Lukas Nelson. In fact with his band Promise of the Real, Lucas Nelson has had some major success and simultaneously he has been able to support his fathers continuing career.

Lukas  says he has never shied away from the family connection, noting that sounding a bit like his famous father can’t be all bad,.“You know, it’s not,” Lukas says. “I’ve never tried to run away from who I am. I’m so proud of my dad I can’t even express it in words.

“He’s one of the great musicians ever, and he’s one of the great fathers. He’s just one of the great human beings out there, and I feel really grateful to be close to him.

After dropping out of college in 2008, Lukas Nelson put together his band in southern California and recorded the first record in 2010. A couple of years later he and Promise of the Real opened shows for his father and then were able to jam with Neil Young at Farm Aid 2014. This lead to POTR along with brother Micah Nelson serving as Youngs’ backing band.

For ten years Nelson spent most of his time on the road and says he never stayed in one place for more than three months. The pandemic changed that and left Lukas and his brother Micah at the family ranch in Texas for a full year. Lukas found that he enjoyed the time so much with his family and having a home base that inspired him to purchase a home of his own for the first time on Maui.

After a few false starts, Swindons’ XTC emerged from the UK punk scene to become of of the smartest and most enduring pop bands of the 70s and 80s. Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding met in the early 70s but it was not till 1975 that they settled into the group known as XTC.

It took the band a few years to gain traction, but from 1979 through 1992 the group had 10 albums and 6 singles chart in the UK top 40. While not as popular in the US, XTC did place several songs on the charts, especially in the late 80s.

Unfortunately, a series of management missteps left XTC in debt and with little earnings from their record sales and tours.

Andy Partridge suffered from mental health issues that ultimately forced the band to retire from live performances in 1992. Partridges’ erratic behavior resulted in shows being stopped when he abruptly left the stage and finally, the cancellation of a sold out Hollywood Bowl show due to his inability to perform. Rumors swirled that Partridge had died, which was not the case.

The creative partnership between Partridge and Colin Moulding deteriorated over the years and XTC shifted from being a band to a brand, with each releasing separate material. In 2008 Partridge announced that he felt the creative work with Moulding had come to an end.

From a historical perspective, XTC has gained much credit for their musical influence and has elevated their status as a post punk leader. Never satisfied with the simple music from that era, XTC was one of only two bands to emerge from the UK scene with a keyboardist.

California native Chuck Prophet had his first music success with the 80s band Green on Red appearing on their last six releases before the group disbanded in 1992. Around 1990, Prophet started work on a solo record but it was not released in the US until 1997.

In 1996 Prophet moved to Nashville for a job as a staff songwriter, contributing songs and co-writes to a wide variety of artists. His connections to Kelly Willis from this period led to his co-writing, guitar playing and production work for her. Along with Kim Richey he wrote a top-40 country song.

Prophets’ 2002 record No Other Love was popular in the UK and Europe, but did not do as well into the US until much later when the single Summertime Thing caught on. That along with an endorsement from and tour opening slot with Lucinda Williams raised his domestic profile.

Chuck Prophet’s first exposure to music came from his older sister’s collection of records, a rich mix of classic rock. Inspired, Prophet began studying guitar and playing in local southern California bands. After Green on Red disbanded, Prophet moved on to a broad career of songwriting, producing, performing and collaborating.

Now with almost two dozen records to his credit, Prophet shows no signs of slowing down. Not even a recent cancer diagnosis will be a problem. He says the doctors tell him his prognosis is good and for the few shows he has had to cancel he promises ‘one helluva make-up tour”.

Happy 80th birthday Jerry Garcia, singer, guitarist and songwriter for the Grateful Dead. His musical and technical ability on a wide variety of instruments drove his interest in improvisation, a technique that he felt took away the stress of performing.

Music was an influence from birth when his parents named him for composer Jerome Kern. His father was a bar owning former professional musician and when he died in a tragic fishing accident, Garcia’s mother bought out the bars’ partner and ran it herself.

In 1961 Jerry Garcia met Robert Hunter, starting a long lasting songwriting partnership responsible for many of the greatest Dead songs. After a few years around San Francisco, he and friends formed the Grateful Dead, a group that would last until his death.

Jerry Garcia was active in many other projects during his Grateful Dead years. The Jerry Garcia band ran for 20 years featuring a changing lineup playing rock and rhythm and blues in the improvisational style preferred by Garcia. The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band and his participation in Old And In The Way highlighted Garcia’s interest in old-time and bluegrass music. Garcia was also a founding member of New Riders of the Purple Sage, a group that would occasionally open for the Dead in the late 60s.

Jerry Garcia also released four solo records over a ten year period.

Growing up in north Mississippi, Junior Kimbrough learned guitar from his father and then took influences from early blues music recordings. His unique style would later be identified as one of the defining sounds of the blues sub genre called hill country blues.

Kimbrough traveled to Memphis in 1966 for his first recording session. The results were released decades later because at the time the recording company deemed the sound ‘too country’. When he did release his first record in 1968, both his name and the song title were spelled incorrectly.

Kimbrough spent the 70s and 80s playing in regional juke joints with infrequent opportunities to record. Occasionally he and his band the Soul Blues Boys played outside their area, debuting at the Lincoln Center in New York in 1987.

Junior Kimbrough came into the national spotlight in the 1992 film Deep Blues. Music journalist Robert Palmer heard Kimbrough in a juke joint show and included him in the film, which led to a recording contract and a first album in 1992. After a flurry of touring after the release, Kimbrough settled back into his old routine in juke joints. This included his own club in Mississippi.

After the film, his Junior’s Place club attracted star visitors including U2, Keith Richards and Iggy Pop.

Kimbrough died in1998 of a heart attack and was survived by 36 children. Two sons kept the club open, attracting large crowds until it burned to the ground in 2000.