We are actively planning our 2011 show to be held on April 29 & 30. For the latest news check CD & Record Show Page.
Our meeting is January 16th. We gather at 2 pm for refreshments and music conversation. The business meeting is at 3 p.m. Visitors are welcome to drop by! We’re at the Homewood Library, located at 1721 Oxmoor Road, near Homewood Park. We meet in Room 110 in the lower level.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
ARCA Christmas Party
The 2010 ARCA Christmas party is being held at one of our favorite locations! Connie and Fred are hosting our party at the Mountain Lakes retreat north of Birmingham on Saturday, December 11th. Please check your member newsletter for full details.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
November Meeting
Our next meeting is Sunday, November 21st. We’ll follow our normal schedule with social time at 2 PM followed by our business meeting at 3 PM. We’ll need to finalize Christmas Party plans and talk about the 2011 Record Show.
Monday, October 11, 2010
October Meeting
Our October meeting (Sunday Oct. 17th) is at 2:00 PM for refreshments, socializing and trading. We’ll have a short business meeting at 3:00 PM. Afterward, Brother Fred (Dahlke) has promised a FUN music trivia contest!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Spectacular meeting with Jon Adair
ARCA very much wants to thank our special guest, Jon Adair, original member of the Ramrods, who spoke to us at this month's meeting. Like ARCA itself, Jon wants to see the musical heritage, especially in the Birmingham area, perserved for future generations to enjoy. His program was very entertaining and informative. Below, is a complete history of the Ramrods, and also be sure to check out their music in our player in the left column.
History of the Ramrods
The year was 1959. Rock and Roll had been around, officially, for about five years. Teenagers of the era had gotten hooked on this new form of music with thriving drum beats, pounding bass rhythms and up-lifting, fun lyrics as well as the sound of a fairly new instrument, the electric guitar, which had actually been around for several years, but was being more and more perfected in the 50s and also becoming the dominant instrument of Rock ‘n Roll.
However, by the fall of 1959, just as these young people were getting used to this brave music, still in its infancy, two of its biggest stars were out of the picture. Elvis Presley had gone into the Army
and Buddy Holly had died in a plane crash. Still, the music was there and teens like five guys from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham were no exception. Inspired by this music, Joe Lackey (lead guitar and vocals) had gotten together with Butch Fadely (piano), Jim McCulla (drums) and Larry Wooten (rhythm guitar) and decided to form a band of their own. Jon Adair, who was a friend of Joe’s, had al
ready been in two bands, ‘The Teen Beats’ and the ‘The Ray Royster Combo.’ None of the other guys had ever played in bands. Of course, all of them were in their mid-teens, 13 to 15 years old.
Joe asked Jon to come and sit in with them at a practice, which he did, playing rhythm guitar. Later, Joe and the other guys went to Jon’s house and asked him to join the band. When Jon joined, the rhythm guitar player, Wooten, was sick and couldn’t make the first gig, so Jon played rhythm alone. When Wooten returned, both he and Jon played rhythm, which the band really didn’t need two of, but the band had no bass player, which it did need, so they asked Jon to play the bass. He knew nothing about the bass and told them he definitely could not afford to buy another guitar, but wanting to be in the band, Jon compromised. He removed the two high strings from his 6-string electric and tuned the remaining four strings down one octave. It worked well enough to get by. In fact, this is what was used later on their first record, “Fire Tower.” This is how they played until Wooten left the band and Jon moved permanently to rhythm. It was also about this time that Butch Fadely left the band to join the Army.
The band took the name, the Ramrods, from the Duane Eddy tune and even adopted that song as their opening number on every show.
There were not many local bands around at this time. The Roulettes, the Premiers, The Epics and now the Ramrods were just a very few. That, of course, would soon change, especially after the Beatles hit America in 1964. Bands began to pop up everywhere, but, for now, the Ramrods and these other few had a corner on the market.
Many member changes would soon take place in the Ramrods, including addin
g Paul Newman on vocals. The Ramrods also decided to add a saxophone player, so Ronnie Eades joined the band. Ronnie would later move to Muscle Shoals and become a prominent member of the Muscle Shoals Sound as a session musician.
In 1961, a friend of a friend of a friend, met the Ramrods and wanted to record them. He, Wayne Bright, owned a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, “Bright Records.” The band agreed and laid down two tracks, “Fire Tower,” written by Paul Newman and “Sittin’ Alone,” written by Jon Adair. When the record was pressed, it had mistakenly listed the band as ‘Paul Newman and the Ramrod Combo’ instead of ‘The Ramrods.’
They soon followed with their second record, “Sleezy,” b/w “Slouchy,” both written by Joe Lackey. These were recorded at Homer Milan’s studio at 1st Avenue and 20th Street in Birmingham in 1962. It was released on Queen Records, which was a subsidiary of King Records.
Member changes continued with the addition of Fred Guarino on drums, Johnny Mulkey on lead guitar, Frank Bethea on bass, Bubba Lathem on piano, Durwood Bright on sax and Dwight Anderson on sax. Bright would later play with the Townsmen and Anderson with the Tikis.
In 1963, the Ramrods went into Baldwin Recording Studio in Woodlawn, which they did quite often after shows
to record various tunes. On this trip, they recorded two original songs, written by Johnny Mulkey, “Night Ride” and “Moonlight Surf,” both surf sounding instrumentals. They took the tracks to Rick Hall, who ran Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals. He liked them and agreed to press the songs. The band had thought that their songs would be on the Fame label, which, although still a local label, was fairly well known. However, Rick was starting a new label, R and H, and released the Ramrods on it. Theirs was the first record on this label, the label number being RH-1001. This was an obvious disappointment to the band not to have been on Fame, but Hall had done a good job of mixing and producing the record and the band was happy with the result.
“Night Ride” started as a ‘Pick Hit’ on WSGN in Birmingham in 1963, but soon made it to WSGN’s Top 40 where it remained for thirteen weeks, reaching as high as #5.
During the band’s tenure, they toured all over the southeast, playing the college circuit and other venues and either opened for or backed up major national artists. A short list includes Del Shannon, the Four Seasons, Arthur Alexander, Tommy Roe, Chris Montez, Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich, but there were many, many more.
Also during this time, they had played shows with another Alabama band, the Webs, from Dothan. One member of the Webs was a guy named Bobby Goldsboro. By 1963, the Webs were traveling with Roy Orbison as his backing band, which had been arranged by another Dothan guy, Buddy Buie. Of course, Buddy was becoming a well-known songwriter and record producer. He had also become Orbison’s tour manager as a bonus for getting the Webs with Roy.
However, by the fall of 1959, just as these young people were getting used to this brave music, still in its infancy, two of its biggest stars were out of the picture. Elvis Presley had gone into the Army
and Buddy Holly had died in a plane crash. Still, the music was there and teens like five guys from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham were no exception. Inspired by this music, Joe Lackey (lead guitar and vocals) had gotten together with Butch Fadely (piano), Jim McCulla (drums) and Larry Wooten (rhythm guitar) and decided to form a band of their own. Jon Adair, who was a friend of Joe’s, had al
ready been in two bands, ‘The Teen Beats’ and the ‘The Ray Royster Combo.’ None of the other guys had ever played in bands. Of course, all of them were in their mid-teens, 13 to 15 years old.Joe asked Jon to come and sit in with them at a practice, which he did, playing rhythm guitar. Later, Joe and the other guys went to Jon’s house and asked him to join the band. When Jon joined, the rhythm guitar player, Wooten, was sick and couldn’t make the first gig, so Jon played rhythm alone. When Wooten returned, both he and Jon played rhythm, which the band really didn’t need two of, but the band had no bass player, which it did need, so they asked Jon to play the bass. He knew nothing about the bass and told them he definitely could not afford to buy another guitar, but wanting to be in the band, Jon compromised. He removed the two high strings from his 6-string electric and tuned the remaining four strings down one octave. It worked well enough to get by. In fact, this is what was used later on their first record, “Fire Tower.” This is how they played until Wooten left the band and Jon moved permanently to rhythm. It was also about this time that Butch Fadely left the band to join the Army.
The band took the name, the Ramrods, from the Duane Eddy tune and even adopted that song as their opening number on every show.
There were not many local bands around at this time. The Roulettes, the Premiers, The Epics and now the Ramrods were just a very few. That, of course, would soon change, especially after the Beatles hit America in 1964. Bands began to pop up everywhere, but, for now, the Ramrods and these other few had a corner on the market.
Many member changes would soon take place in the Ramrods, including addin
g Paul Newman on vocals. The Ramrods also decided to add a saxophone player, so Ronnie Eades joined the band. Ronnie would later move to Muscle Shoals and become a prominent member of the Muscle Shoals Sound as a session musician.In 1961, a friend of a friend of a friend, met the Ramrods and wanted to record them. He, Wayne Bright, owned a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, “Bright Records.” The band agreed and laid down two tracks, “Fire Tower,” written by Paul Newman and “Sittin’ Alone,” written by Jon Adair. When the record was pressed, it had mistakenly listed the band as ‘Paul Newman and the Ramrod Combo’ instead of ‘The Ramrods.’
They soon followed with their second record, “Sleezy,” b/w “Slouchy,” both written by Joe Lackey. These were recorded at Homer Milan’s studio at 1st Avenue and 20th Street in Birmingham in 1962. It was released on Queen Records, which was a subsidiary of King Records.
Member changes continued with the addition of Fred Guarino on drums, Johnny Mulkey on lead guitar, Frank Bethea on bass, Bubba Lathem on piano, Durwood Bright on sax and Dwight Anderson on sax. Bright would later play with the Townsmen and Anderson with the Tikis.
In 1963, the Ramrods went into Baldwin Recording Studio in Woodlawn, which they did quite often after shows
to record various tunes. On this trip, they recorded two original songs, written by Johnny Mulkey, “Night Ride” and “Moonlight Surf,” both surf sounding instrumentals. They took the tracks to Rick Hall, who ran Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals. He liked them and agreed to press the songs. The band had thought that their songs would be on the Fame label, which, although still a local label, was fairly well known. However, Rick was starting a new label, R and H, and released the Ramrods on it. Theirs was the first record on this label, the label number being RH-1001. This was an obvious disappointment to the band not to have been on Fame, but Hall had done a good job of mixing and producing the record and the band was happy with the result.“Night Ride” started as a ‘Pick Hit’ on WSGN in Birmingham in 1963, but soon made it to WSGN’s Top 40 where it remained for thirteen weeks, reaching as high as #5.
During the band’s tenure, they toured all over the southeast, playing the college circuit and other venues and either opened for or backed up major national artists. A short list includes Del Shannon, the Four Seasons, Arthur Alexander, Tommy Roe, Chris Montez, Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich, but there were many, many more.
Also during this time, they had played shows with another Alabama band, the Webs, from Dothan. One member of the Webs was a guy named Bobby Goldsboro. By 1963, the Webs were traveling with Roy Orbison as his backing band, which had been arranged by another Dothan guy, Buddy Buie. Of course, Buddy was becoming a well-known songwriter and record producer. He had also become Orbison’s tour manager as a bonus for getting the Webs with Roy.
Jon Adair remembers fondly one concert both groups played together at the Cloud Room (Cascade Plunge) in Birmingham. After the show was over and the band was putting their instruments in the car, Bobby took out his acoustic guitar, sat on the hood of a car and told the guys that he was working on a song which he hoped to record as a solo. 
He played “See the Funny Little Clown,” written by Bobby. A short time later, it became Bobby’s break-out solo hit and reached #9 on Billboard in early 1964. Bobby was now a solo artist with many hits to follow.
By the time 1964 rolled around, the Ramrods had been together for almost five years. Only Jon Adair and Joe Lackey remained as the nucleus of the original band from 1959. Jon had joined the Navy on a deferred enlistment program as a senor in high school and when he graduated in 1963 had to go straight to boot camp. However, when he completed it, he returned home where he rejoined the band. In April of 1964, the Navy called him to active duty. It was only a few months later that the Ramrods decided to disband.
What had actually happened was that the Webs, minus Bobby Goldsboro, were now touring with Roy Orbison as his backing band. Roy renamed them the Candymen, after his song title, “Candy Man.” The Candymen would later form the nucleus of the Classics IV and then the Atlanta Rhythm Section. In late 1964, Buddy Buie, who was Roy’s tour manager, was itching to form a new band, one to help showcase his songs. He took three members of the Ramrods (Guarino, Mulkey and Latham) and members of the Webs, including Wilbur Walton and Jimmy Dean and formed the James Gang. They made several records, mostly written by Buddy, but their biggest song was “Georgia Pines,” co-written by Buie. This song was also recorded by the Candymen. Their version peaked at #81 on Billboard, but the James Gang version received more regional airplay.
As for the remaining members of the Ramrods, after finishing his stint in the Navy, Jon went into the business world, as did Joe Lackey and Frank Bethea. Other members, as already mentioned, played in various local bands for a while.
Sadly, we have lost a few of these guys over the years, Joe Lackey, Harry Looney and Fred Guarino. Who knows, maybe one day there will be a reunion of the remaining members.
The Ramrods can really be considered one of the pioneer bands in the Birmingham area, one who inspired many other young musicians who also began to form bands and become prominent artists in their own right.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Special Guest at the September Meeting is Jon Adair of The Ramrods
We have a very special and interesting guest lined up to speak to us at our September meeting. He is Jon Adair, a m
ember of the Birmingham band, the Ramrods. The Ramrods' story begins way back in 1959 when, along with the Premiers and The Epics, the Ramrods were among the first Rock 'n Roll bands from the city of Birmingham. Jon was originally the bass player, but soon moved to rhythm guitar. The Ramrods started as a five member band and later expanded to six, with several member changes along the way and adding horns. Jon remained with the band throughout its entire run. The Ramrods played the college circuit throughout the southeast and appeared with numerous national artists such as Arthur Alexander, the Four Seasons, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Tommy Roe.
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The Ramrods released several local records, but the most popular one, by far, was "Night Ride" b/w "Moonlight Surf," both great instrumentals. "Night Ride" remained on the WSGN charts in Birmingham for several weeks. "Night Ride" and "Fire Tower" (another record by the Ramrod members) are included on this blog's player.
After a wild, five-year run, the Ramrods called it quits in 1964. Three members joined with members of the Webs, a Dothan band, to form the James Gang (not the Joe Walsh band), which had several regional hits over the next few years. Other members got out of the music business altogether. Jon Adair joined the Navy.
Jon is looking forward to coming and sharing with us his experiences in the music business. He even still has one of his original stage suits that the band wore as well as his original guitar. I believe that he is going to bring them with him.
Visitors are always welcome and this is one you don't want to miss.
ember of the Birmingham band, the Ramrods. The Ramrods' story begins way back in 1959 when, along with the Premiers and The Epics, the Ramrods were among the first Rock 'n Roll bands from the city of Birmingham. Jon was originally the bass player, but soon moved to rhythm guitar. The Ramrods started as a five member band and later expanded to six, with several member changes along the way and adding horns. Jon remained with the band throughout its entire run. The Ramrods played the college circuit throughout the southeast and appeared with numerous national artists such as Arthur Alexander, the Four Seasons, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Tommy Roe..JPG)
The Ramrods released several local records, but the most popular one, by far, was "Night Ride" b/w "Moonlight Surf," both great instrumentals. "Night Ride" remained on the WSGN charts in Birmingham for several weeks. "Night Ride" and "Fire Tower" (another record by the Ramrod members) are included on this blog's player.After a wild, five-year run, the Ramrods called it quits in 1964. Three members joined with members of the Webs, a Dothan band, to form the James Gang (not the Joe Walsh band), which had several regional hits over the next few years. Other members got out of the music business altogether. Jon Adair joined the Navy.
Jon is looking forward to coming and sharing with us his experiences in the music business. He even still has one of his original stage suits that the band wore as well as his original guitar. I believe that he is going to bring them with him.
Visitors are always welcome and this is one you don't want to miss.
Friday, September 3, 2010
ARCA TIDBITS
A link (see Link section) has been added on this blog to a dealer page which lists some dealers that ARCA recommends you consider for your vinyl, CD and other memorabilia needs.
Our ARCA CD & Record Show page has preliminary information for the 2011 show.
Special thanks to Mike & Pam for hosting our August Picinc!
Our ARCA CD & Record Show page has preliminary information for the 2011 show.
Special thanks to Mike & Pam for hosting our August Picinc!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
ARCA Picnic
Instead of a normal meeting in August, we will have our annual picnic. There will be plenty of food, music & fellowship. Don’t forget your swimsuits! Please consult your member newsletter for details.
Our next regular monthly meeting will be on September 19, 2010.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Joey Roberts has been Cancelled
We are sorry to announce that our special guest for the July meeting, WSGN 'Good Guy' Joey Roberts has been cancelled. At this time, no rescheduling is on tap, but we will let you know if he is to appear in the future.
The meeting, as always, will proceed and we will have a good program to present. Please try to attend. Also, keep watching this blog for some special announcements coming soon.
The meeting, as always, will proceed and we will have a good program to present. Please try to attend. Also, keep watching this blog for some special announcements coming soon.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
A Genuine “Good Guy” To Speak at July Meeting
Joey Roberts, a WSGN Good Guy from the late sixties to early seventies, will be the speaker at our July 18 meeting. Joey will speak immediately after a short business meeting which starts at 3 P.M. The business meeting will be preceded by a social hour at 2 PM. Last month several visitors attended our meeting and we hope they and others will come hear Joey this month.
Friday, June 4, 2010
June Meeting
Jim Battan, Coyote J. (Calhoun), will be unable to speak at this month’s meeting. He will be rescheduled next year. We will instead have a normal meeting.
We will gather at 2 pm for refreshments and music conversation. There will be a short meeting at 3 p.m.
We will gather at 2 pm for refreshments and music conversation. There will be a short meeting at 3 p.m.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Vinyl Rarity #2 Beatles Penny Lane promo
Now that the 2010 ARCA show is history, it's time for another Record Rarity, this time from the Beatles. The promo for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever is on a greenish-yellow Capitol label marked P 5810. Penny Lane is clocked at 3:00 because of an extra trumpet flourish at the end. You'll know it even though it's only a couple of seconds. All the commercial releases have the 3:00 time on the label but the trumpet has been trimmed. This little oddity will set you back about $150 if you can find it. Look for an asterisk in the dead wax to be sure or just give it a listen. Watch for more Record Rarities on a semi-regular basis on the ARCA blog.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Thank You!
We’d like to express our gratitude to some individuals who have recently shared Alabama radio station music surveys with us. Fay Asher, Jon “Rock n’ Roll” Anthony, Howard Baer and Todd Jones have all submitted material in the last two weeks – THANKS! Our updated list of #1 songs is HERE. The full surveys are being entered in the ARSA data base. Please remember, if you have a music survey from any Alabama radio station for any time period please share a copy with us. You can either mail or email them to us, or even better deliver them by hand at our next meeting. We love visitors!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
May Meeting
Our next meeting is this Sunday, May 16th. We’ll follow our normal schedule with social time at 2 PM followed by our business meeting at 3 PM. If you acquired any item of special interest at the show bring it to the meeting (our version of “show and tell”). BTW pictures from the show are now on our CD & Record Show Page.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A Great Show!!!
The 29th Annual ARCA CD & Record Show is now in the books and, by all accounts, was a rousing success. Luckily, the threat of rain never materialized and attendance was up significantly from last year. Most dealers seemed very pleased with the way the show went and we would like to thank each and every dealer for coming and participating in the show. ARCA always prides itself in providing high quality dealers and this year was no exception in the least. Every dealer was very professional and provided only the best in product for the public to choose from.We would also very much like to thank those of you who came to the show. We didn’t see very many people leave without bags and bags of records and CDs. We sincerely hope that you will tell your friends about us. Anyone can be added to our mailing list to be notified of the next show. At this time, the final dates for the 2011 show have not been set, but as soon as they are, they will be posted on this website.
Lastly, our honored guests were simply terrific. Dave Roddy, Re
volver and Dollar Bill Lawson all appeared on Saturday and received their Honorary Member plaques. They then posed for photos and signed autographs and simply enjoyed talking with everyone. Tim Hollis came on Friday and signed several of his books. Thanks so very much to all of our special guests for appearing and being a vital part of ARCA.Fortunately, all of the hard work is done for this year, but it’s now time for us to start planning next year’s show. Keep checking this website for updates.
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