MEET STONE STREET REVIVAL
Click on each photo to read their stories.
I’ve had an appreciation for music as far back as I can remember, though I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a musician. In fact, I ended up playing the guitar almost by default. I don’t think I really noticed the guitar much until seeing Terry Kath play on television with Chicago. That completely blew my mind! A year or two later I told my parents I wanted to play guitar. My father said I would start out on acoustic guitar and take lessons, and if I showed any diligence, they would help me buy an electric. I was having fun, so things just kind of came together as I went along. I’ve learned most of what I know about playing an instrument and being a musician on the job playing with other musicians.
How many years have you been playing ?
Although I started playing guitar when I was in middle school, I really didn’t play gigs with any regularity until after I graduated from high school in the early 80s.
What are some of your former bands?
Scene of the Crime, Blues Report, Soul Xpress, sharrie Williams and the wiseguys, as well as the Music Doctors to name a few. Currently, I still play with the Claimjumpers, Barbarossa Brothers and Straight Eights as well as SSR.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
It’s difficult to choose a favorite. Playing the Attucks Theater in Norfolk, Virginia comes to mind.
Tell us about your brush with fame.
Having the opportunity to play and record with my dear friend Donny Brown and the Verve Pipe. Warming up for Bobby “Blue” Bland and Johnny Taylor with Sharrie Willams at the Flint IMA also comes to mind.
I came from a musical family. Started learning guitar from my grandfather and two uncles. got my first guitar at age six. And I have always loved singing. It was just a natural thing.
How many years have you been playing?
I started playing in 1972, and never looked back. So I have been performing for 48 years!
What are some of your former bands?
There's quite a list. My first band was The Wagoneers at 14. Blackwater. The Congregation. Westwood. Borderline.The Shakers. Koriala. Romeo Ridge. The Tennessee Fat Cats. The Music Doctors. The Claimjumpers.Yesterdays Country.SSR
Tell us about your favorite gig.
I guess my favorite gig was with the Tennessee Fat Cats. It was a touring gig with country Artist Joe Stampley. Did it for about 15 years.
Tell us about your brush with fame.
I guess 2 things. first was with Romeo Ridge where we were national champions of the True Value Country Showdown in 1989, And Second was my first time to play on the Grand Ole Opry.
There was always music in my house. We had a big record room and my folks let both of my older brothers’ bands practice at our home. So, naturally, I played their instruments as soon as they left.
How many years have you been playing?
Played in clubs in my teens so nearly 40 years.
What are some of your former bands?
The Verve Pipe, Robertson Brothers, Water 4 The Pool, Mirage, the Mick Furlo Band, Quotient.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
Too many- let’s see…. State Theatre Kalamazoo, Pine Knob – nothing quite like being on a stage you watched some of your favorites perform on.
Tell us about your brush with fame.
Lots!! Recording at Ocean Way LA, Playing Letterman and the Tonight Show. Could also be almost knocking Billy Joel over or watching Gene Simmons crack his head on a doorway because of his KISS boots! Ask me about these!!
I came from a very musical family. We sang all the time! We also listened to a large variety of music on the stereo- orchestral, marching band, vocal music from the Hi-Lo's to the Beatles. The first time I heard Peter, Paul and Mary at age 9, I knew right then that I wanted to play guitar. The rest is history!
How many years have you been playing?
Pretty much all my life. I started piano at age 5, guitar at 9 and flute at 11, and was singing rounds and harmonies almost from when I started talking (my mom said I sang before I talked)!
What are some of your former bands?
I started out in junior high school as a duo with my sister. We were "The Rinker Sisters". I moved to Hawaii after high school and started my first real band called "Wish". We played all over Maui and then moved to Truckee, California, Lake Tahoe area and played all around that area. Then "Flyin' Bayou" in Northern California, "Fallen Angels" in NYC, "Longshot" in Mid-Michigan and "The Catbird Seat" in Michigan as well.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
Lots of fun times, but nothing really stands out. My days in Hawaii were probably my favorite!
Tell us about your brush with fame.
The closest "brush with fame" I had was when Jimmy Hodder, the drummer from Steely Dan told me I had "star potential". I used to play in his club in Northern California and he'd sit in with us occasionally. Another was when I played in Hawaii, the drummer of Paul Revere and the Raiders, Mike "Smitty" Smith played with us most of the time. And we can't forget, Donny Brown!!
My mom thought it might a good idea because I was so shy in school, and it worked!
How many years have you been playing?
Performing for over 40 years.
What are some of your former bands?
Sweet Energy, Northwind, and Life Support.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
Being Entertainment Director at Mission Point Resort on Mackinac Island for six years. I had a show featuring my “Singing Waitstaff”.
Tell us about your brush with fame.
Opened for Doobie Brothers, Starship, Uriah Heep, Mitch Ryder, April Wine, Montrose, Rare Earth.
My earliest aspiration in life was to be a professional baseball player. I guess my Dad could see that I wasn’t very good and started to cajole me into trying music. I played the accordion briefly and quit and Dad’s response was to simply find me a different instrument. I started playing the clarinet to humor him but, to me, it felt like a death sentence. If the cool kids found out I played the clarinet I figured I’d never be admitted to their club and maybe get beat up too.
Dad persisted and for reasons I can’t explain, I started to practice for enough hours that I found success with the clarinet and then the saxophone. Once that happened, I could join dance/rock bands and forge my own brand of cool. Having a girlfriend was the ultimate objective for some years and I met my wife of 40 years through music in high school. I guess my Dad deserves a big thank you for persisting in his quest to find some ‘craft’ that would make me happy and overcome the fact that I was a lousy ball player.
How many years have you been playing?
From a factual viewpoint this is an easy one to answer: I started when I was in the Fourth grade and I’m now 63. Running the math, I figure that I’ve been at it for about 55 years. From a philosophical viewpoint this question is hard to respond simply because the truth makes me feel SOOOO OLD!
What are some of your former bands?
The names of those bands won’t mean much to anyone except the guys who happened to be part of them. Some of the names seem pretty silly now but, at the time I was starting out, the biggest source of gigs was wedding receptions…so ‘gentle’ names (and, to some extent, ‘gentle’ music) made sense: The New Generation Brass, The Satin Flame, Lowdown, Steeplechase, Radio Flyer. Since moving to the tri-city area, I’ve played with the Blues Controversy, The Chromatic Effect, DoS (i.e. the Spanish word for ‘two’) and The Hit Men. None of the members of those groups found fame or fortune in the music biz but the guys and gals I worked with were great players and great people.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
One night our drummer, Tim and I, drove to a gig together at the University of Detroit. The dental school was having a party we were booked to play. Their parties were always a blast. As luck would have it, the University’s basketball team had a home game on the same night. (At that time, the University of Detroit had some awesome basketball teams.) As we drove around trying to find the exact location of the gig, Tim and I got lost on the campus which is really just part of one of the city’s east side neighborhoods. The basketball fans were everywhere: the streets were packed. We ventured down some sidestreet and found it was a dead end. A ton of cars had followed us; maybe they all thought we knew where we were going (in any case we were NOT going to the basketball game). We stopped the car and got out to ask for help….Tim was driving. We both got out and we shut the two car doors…unfortunately, the keys were still in the car, it was still running and we both locked our doors. SH%* !!! I recall that the gig went super-well once we got there! What a night!
Tell us about your brush with fame.
Truly, I got nothin’. One of the bands I played in had 8 members and we played a lot of songs by Chicago….we thought we’d be just like them but our status on the music scene was smaller than it was in our own minds. I had high hopes for a blues band I played in for some years but opportunities for commercial success with the blues have always been pretty hard to find. I’d hasten to point out that music makes me happy: I’ve written most of the music on four CD recordings that were never intended to be profitable but I’m proud of them and I had fun making them. I guess that’s as good as it can get.
I started singing at a very young age. My father was a music teacher and I had 3 older sisters that were all classically trained. I heard many different styles of music growing up and got my first trumpet when I was 9 years old. I sang in choirs, played in concert bands, orchestras and was involved with theater productions.
I started performing professionally in clubs as a lead singer in a rock band when I was 15.
How many years have you been playing?
About 45 years now.
What are some of your former bands?
Lead singer for Summit and Airplay, trumpet and vocals for Bodacious, lead vocals and trumpet for Westwood, lead vocals for the Motor City Dance Band (while living in Boston), lead singer/percussion/keys & brass for the Perpetrators, background vocals/percussion/brass in the Dick Wagner Raw Emotion Orchestra, lead vocalist for Ovation, lead vocalist for Soul Xpress then switched to lead trumpet after our trumpet player left to play for a Cruise Ship company, and trumpet for the Saginaw Elite Big Band.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
My favorite gig was singing in the rock band Airplay in Council Bluffs, Iowa at a club called The Joker. We were all treated like rock stars and I was celebrating my 18th birthday at the gig. Another favorite was opening up for Cub Koda of Brownsville Station in my hometown Midland.
Tell us about your brush with fame.
Getting the chance to play trumpet with Dennis Najoom (principal trumpet for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) while performing with a choir in Athens, Greece.
Dennis told me I was a good trumpet player and gave me a lot of good advice.
Meeting my favorite trumpeter in London, Art Farmer, and spending time with him at one of his gigs in Soho. We talked about trumpets, equipment, etc.. on his breaks, 9 months before he died. Also working with the late Dick Wagner (guitarist/songwriter) and hearing all the stories of his time with Alice Cooper.
As a preschooler, my first instrument was a pint-sized violin I think my grandmother gave me. I tried to play back ideas I heard in my head… Apparently, I wasn’t too awfully good at that, because the only two things I remember about that violin is that it was a pale maple color, and that my parents kept it on top of the refrigerator, where I couldn’t reach it. My siblings and I had the obligatory short-lived piano lessons, which I could kick myself for quitting. In fifth grade, I started playing trombone, mostly because I had long arms. It’s a miracle I kept playing, due to the director’s tendency to holler, throw things, and kick shins! I guess I was just stubborn enough to try to outlast her! In middle school, I really got drawn into it, because my best friend and I continued switching back and forth for first chair, all the way through high school. I won the auditions for principal trombone in the symphony and lead in the top jazz band at Michigan State University my freshman year. Quite full of myself, I transferred to North Texas State University (now UNT) the next summer and was awakened to discover just how many better players there were out there! Humility was served. I’ve been on a mission, ever since.
How many years have you been playing?
I’ve been trying to figure out how to play this thing since 1968 … so that makes it 52 years!
What are some of your former bands?
Outside of school bands, my first rock ‘n roll band was a cover band called The Golden Charity Band, so named because all we played were charity gigs. There weren’t a lot of paying gigs for low brass players, so I’ve played in more pit orchestras than I could count since about 1974. In college, I played in big bands, wind ensembles, orchestras, and marching bands. I played briefly with the Dallas Symphony and the Midland Symphony. I did some “Play-to-Stay” hotel gigs at the Supergroup hotels in Jamaica in the early 80’s. After taking some time off to start my family and my business, I played some more pit orchestras and played lead in The Hall-Mighty Big Band for its brief life span. In more recent years, I’ve played in Blast From the Past (big band), Cool Lemon (variety band), 23 North (R&B cover band), Soul Xpress (soul cover band) and, of course, Stone Street Revival.
Tell us about your favorite gig.
My favorite gig was a short series of gigs in Jamaica. As our band began setting up for our first night of the engagement, there was a quiet, smiling, middle-aged guitar player already setting up on stage in the middle of our band! The hotel manager informed us that we would be joined for the duration of our stay by “the third best guitar player in the world!” Turns out, this guy was Jamaican studio legend (and co-inventer of SKA), Ernest Ranglin! He’d listen and noodle quietly to a chorus of anything we played, and then join in, playing even our own originals better than any of us ever did! That was an unexpected 10-day rush!
Tell us about your brush with fame.
I’ve played college big band gigs with big-time (jazz) guest artists like Eddie Harris, Louie Bellson, Eddie Russ, and Marcus Belgrave. I played in bands with future jazz standouts like Conrad Herwig, Chris Seiter, Steve Rentschler, Carey Deadman, and Eric Swanson. I played in pops orchestras backing the likes of Robert Merrill, Anna Moffo, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jodi Benson, and Robert Goulet. And then, there’s that 10-day gig I just described with Ernest Ranglin!