17/01/2025

Music ae Amor

The Impeccable Music

Akira Otsuka’s 1978 photos of Southbound in the studio

Akira Otsuka’s 1978 photos of Southbound in the studio

Akira Otsuka, mentioned bluegrass mandolinist and photographer, has shared another of his archival picture galleries with us. This time we have his illustrations or photos taken in 1978 of Southbound recording at Monitor Recorders in Silver Spring, MD.

These two sessions (03/04/78 and 5/20/78) have been to have led to the band’s 2nd album, but they broke up prior to it could be launched.

Southbound was a well-liked young bluegrass group on the rise in ’78, with two members, guitarist Jimmy Haley and banjo player Lou Reid, who became part of the primary version of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver in 1979. In fact, these sessions facilitated Lawson’s introduction to the group, and their skills, when he co-made this ill-fated challenge.

In addition to Reid and Haley, Southbound included Dennis Severt on mandolin and Doug Campbell on bass. The group experienced been energetic because 1973.

Akira shared a quantity of recollections from this time.

When my Bluegrass 45 band from Japan toured the States in 1971, we achieved Lou Reid and Jimmy Haley. I consider they were 17 yrs aged and they experienced an excellent band referred to as Bluegrass Buddies in North Carolina. Lou really liked us (of program we preferred him also), and he was hanging out in our bus all the time. He was like a major sponge absorbing every little thing and studying banjo, guitar, and mandolin, even nevertheless he was an upright bass player in Bluegrass Buddies.

When Southbound was recording their to start with album, every time someone screwed up, the producer, Dick Freeland, would say, “If you never do it appropriate, I’ll contact Mike Auldridge and I know he would do it suitable!” – just to scare these young boys. Perfectly, he basically referred to as Mike devoid of telling them, so you can envision how amazed they had been when they noticed Mike strolling in. Dick was teasing but after all, the band appreciated that Dick employed Mike to be on their album. Lou truly preferred the sound of reso-guitar, and he purchased one and began practicing. A year afterwards (I feel) when they came back again to document their second album, he experienced mastered enough to place down a reso-guitar keep track of. An awesome musician.

A couple of years prior to that, recording engineer, Ronnie Freeland, and I went to see Jackson Browne at the Meriweather Publish Pavilion in Columbia, MD. The opening act was the Area, four associates of Jackson’s band. Their drummer, Russ Kunkel, produced a extremely bizarre sound and Ronnie and I straight away stood up (we ended up way in the again) to uncover out what it was. Later we observed out it was termed Pollard Syndrum. The most well-known track that characteristics that Syndrum is Linda Ronstadt’s Poor Lousy Pitiful Me – it is very exclusive. By the time Southbound came to history their second album, Ronnie experienced discovered out you could hire a Syndrum so we determined to set it on the Southbound album. 

1 night time I was in the studio when Doyle Lawson and Dick and Ronnie Freeland were wrapping up a Country Gentlemen mixing session. Dick requested, “Hey Ronnie, put that Southbound tape,” to look for Doyle’s impression. Ronnie place the tape on and this listening session guide Doyle to producing the fifty percent of the album – Eddie Adcock produced the other 50 percent. Doyle stated, “Obviously our solution to manufacturing was a bit distinct. I thought it turned out to be a fantastic document.”

One particular of the songs Doyle developed was an aged Gospel song, Jordan. By this time the bass player, Doug Campbell, experienced been replaced by Jimmy Smith, and Rick Allred (mandolin), replaced Dennis Severt. I was not in the studio for this track but this is what Ronnie explained to me later on on. Doyle showed Rick how the mandolin crack need to be. Doyle was a tenor singer with the State Gentlemen, but on this edition of Jordan, he sang baritone to Jimmy Haley’s lead vocal, Lou’s tenor, and Jimmy Smith’s fantastic bass vocal.

Doyle mentioned, “When I made the decision to stage away from the ‘Gents’ I remembered Jimmy Haley and his robust rhythm guitar, gave him a get in touch with, and the rest is background.” Rick Allred joined the Gentlemen to just take Doyle’s put, and with Jimmy Haley and Lou Reid long gone to Quicksilver, Southbound broke up and this next album was under no circumstances produced.

Possibly sometime this slice of Jordan will see the gentle of the working day because that is in which Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver commenced.