The A Side

This is a podcast about the history of Alabama music, past, present and future interviews with singers song writers, musicians and artist of all genres. The A Side explores their influences and accomplishments, and goes behind the scenes to hear stories that have never been told before ranging from the inspiration of a song to their life on and off the road.

The A Side 27: Wayne Perkins

This weeks guest on The A Side is Wayne Perkins. During the interview we explore Wayne's career as a legendary guitarist playing with artists such as Leon Russell, Bob Marley, and The Rolling Stones just to name a few. Check it out!

10-08
43:35

The A Side 26: Tommy Calton

We are starting an exciting new 2nd season of “The A Side”. This is our 26th episode. This weeks guest is the incomparable Tommy Calton. Tommy was one of the guitarist for the band “Hotel” and he has also been a life long friend of mine as well as my partner in music for over 40 years. In this show our conversation explores Tommy’s life and career in the music business, history of “Hotel” its members and different incarnations, from its inception to the very end. We also taIk about his involvement in future projects. Thanks for listening and I hope you will enjoy this brand new chapter of “The A Side”.

10-08
01:15:46

The A Side 25: Mark Harrelson

This weeks guest on The A Side is Mark Harrelson. Mark has been in the music business for a number of years working as a front house sound man for different live acts or behind the console of some studio recording great acts like Bobby Whitlock. Locus Fork, Telluride, Buddy Causey, Eddy Hinton, Taj Mahal, and and Gregg Allman just to name a few. Mark talks about his years as head engineer a Boutwell Recording Studios and much more. Check out this new show wth Mark Harrelson.

04-30
46:34

The A Side 24: Tony Wachter

This weeks guest on The A Side is Tony Wachter. He is an engineer, a singer, a composer of songs and Television and Radio commercials such as Bart Starr and Dales Steak Sauce. He grew up in Cullman, Alabama and played in bands most of his life. He owns his own recording studio called Audio Czar and also runs the Studios at WorkPlay. Tony has recently recorded the new Dogwood project as well the new Damon Johnson solo project.

10-31
41:09

The A Side 23: Scott McDavid

This weeks guest on The A Side is Scott McDavid. Scott is an Alabama native but is now living in San Diego, California. With influencers from the Beatles to jazz great Chick Corea, Scott has become a very accomplished piano player. He also is an excellent producer, engineer, arranger and songwriter with several solo projects to his credit. He is also a composer scoring sound tracks for films and documentaries.

10-02
35:24

The A Side 22: Doug Lee

This weeks guest on The A Side is Doug Lee. Doug is one of the founding members of the band Dogwood. He has a fascinating career starting with the very first song he ever wrote becoming a national success and recorded by Herb Albert. Dogwood was one of the first bands that had a country/rock sound to come out of the state of Alabama. The band was never signed to a major label and never released an album of their own. But now after many years of playing together they are finally releasing a new album for their many loyal fans simply titled "Dogwood".

08-08
42:30

The A Side 21: Sean Michael Ray

This weeks guest on The A Side is Sean Michael Ray. Sean is an Alabama native and has been one of the states finest bass players for years. His amazing talent shows up in many types of music ranging from gospel, soul, jazz and funk to pop and rock. He has worked with great jazz artist such as Gerald Albright and Eric Essix, soul and RnB artist Maxwell to rock artist like John Waite. Sean is a true professional in every sense of the word!

06-13
37:23

The A Side 20: Rock Killough

This weeks guest on The A Side is Rock Killough. I consider Rock to be a master at the art of songwriting. As a matter of fact I think he is one of the best songwriters I have ever heard. Not only does he have 8 solo projects under his belt he also has written songs for such artist as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Mickey Newbury, Sammy Kershaw, Randy Travis and many more.

04-10
40:56

The A Side 19: Mart Avant

This weeks guest on The A Side is Mart Avant. Mart is a Trumpet player who has now been inducted into the Alabama Music Hall Of Fame. He is also a founding member of The Tuscaloosa Horns. As an arranger and a performer he now regularly plays with such groups as The Temptations and The Four Tops just to name a few.

03-20
39:43

The A Side 18: Wes Hampton

This weeks guest on The A Side is Wes Hampton. Wes is by far one of the best vocalists I think I have ever heard. From show choirs to church choirs he now has one of the most coveted jobs in the world of Southern Gospel Music as one of the lead singers of the very famous"Gaither Vocal Band". Now working with other great singers such as Bill Gaither himself, David Phelps, Michael English, Russ Taff, Todd Suttles and Adam Crabb just to name a few, in this podcast he tells us how he landed the job with this amazing group. Wes now tours America and the world witnessing and singing praises to our God. It is my honor to have Wes Hampton as part of The A Side.

02-06
41:05

The A Side 17: Paul Hornsby

This weeks guest on "The A Side" is Paul Hornsby. He is a part of the history of Southern Rock. He was there at the beginning of Capricorn Records working with such artist as Duane and Greg Allman, Charlie Daniels, The Marshall Tucker Band, Elvin Bishop and Wet Willie just to name a few. Paul also produced some of Southern Rocks greatest hit songs like Fire On The Mountain, The South's Gonna Do It Again and Long Haired Country Boy.

01-24
50:53

The A Side 16: David Hood

This weeks guest on The A Side is David Hood. David talks about his career as the bass player for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section also known as The Swampers. David has had a fascinating life as a musician. From his very first recording session he has been  making hit records ever since. The list of artist that he has recorded and performed with is amazing. From Percy Sledge, Boz Skaggs, Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, and The Staple Singers just to name a few. A real legend in the history of Alabama Music!

12-19
54:16

The A Side 15: Oteil Burbridge

This weeks guest on The A Side is Oteil Burbridge. Born in Washington DC and spending 18 years in Alabama, Oteil has had an amazing life from acting to dancing to music and also in the visual arts as well. He has been in the Allman Brothers band longer than any of the other other bass players combined. Now playing with the Grateful Dead with John Mayer as the guitarist, Oteil has had quite an illustrious career.

12-06
46:54

The A Side 14: Scott Boyer

This weeks guest on The A Side is singer/songwriter Scott Boyer. Scott was born in New York but has spent most of his life in Alabama. Give a listen as Scott talks about his band "The Decoys" and writing songs for such artist as Gregg Allman and Eric Clapton.

11-29
39:15

The A Side 13: Ona Watson

This week on The A Side is Jazz and RnB vocalist Ona Watson. Ona has been involved in the Alabama music scene around the State for quite sometime. He has been inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall Of Fame and is very much involved in the entertainment and night club business in the city of Birmingham and around the Southeast.  He also owns and runs Ona's Music Room which has received many accolades as being one of the finest music venues in the country.

11-15
35:17

The A Side 12: Alan Barnette

This weeks guest on The A Side is Marc Alan Barnette. His band, 24 Karat, was chosen as the top band in the country in the 1984 Miller High Life battle of the bands out of 30,000 applicants. He now lives in Nashville where he has written or been a co-writer of over 3000 songs for himself and other artist. He spends most of his time now teaching the art of song writing to young and upcoming artist while still maintaining a presence as and artist himself. 

11-08
37:20

The A Side 11: Kevin Derryberry

This weeks guest on The A Side is Kevin Derryberry. Lead singer of "Telluride" one of Alabama's most loved bands. Kevin talks about his journey from playing rock music and writing songs to becoming a worship leader and what took him to his knees.

11-01
38:42

The A Side 10: Kelvin Holly

This weeks guest on The A Side is Kelvin Holly. Kelvin has lived all around the world and has many musical influences. He currently lives near the Muscle Shoals area and is a big part of the music scene there. For quite some time now he has been playing guitar for artist like The Amazing Rhythm Aces and one of the founding fathers of Rock "N" Roll Little Richard!

10-24
39:23

The A Side 9: Michael Dulin

This weeks guest on The A Side is Classical piano player extraordinaire Michael Dulin. In his younger years he wanted to play like Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake And Palmer. Now this amazing talented artist has written and produced a number of solo projects including the number one New Age CD in the world!

10-18
32:26

The A Side 8: Buck Johnson

Buck Johnson is this weeks guest on The A Side. From singing in Gospel groups with his family to playing in local cover bands, He eventually moved from Alabama to L.A. to further his career as an artist, he later moved to Nashville to hone his skills as a singer, keyboard player, song writer, producer and arranger. Co-writing with some of Nashville's finest he has released a brand new solo project called "Enjoy The Ride". Currently he has one of the most coveted jobs in the Rock industry today. Buck is the keyboard player and background vocalist for Aerosmith! 

10-10
51:13

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