THE DAY JAMES BROWN TOOK ME TO CHURCH
The first musical influences I can remember came from my mother when I was a kid, she was always playing music (I don’t even know if we had a television); there was old R&B, 70’s country and rock, and lots of Elvis. She loved Elvis; later in life she had a room with nothing but Elvis memorabilia. My first public performance was as a 5 year old standing on a table in the bar she worked at performing my Elvis impersonation (complete with hip rows and arm swings) for candy tips. My mother also had several VHS tapes (remember those) with live music performances from Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Bob Seger, Eric Clapton, again lots of Elvis and others. Some of the performances were of R&B artist like Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett and the one that intrigued me the most, an old black and white live concert of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. I have always liked high energy performers like JB, Michael Jackson and Elvis. I used to sit and watch that tape over and over, until the tape would hardly play anymore (remember VHS tapes used to do that). I used to try to imitate him like I did Elvis, which was a little harder to do, but I did okay (for a 6 year old). Eventually that tape would not play at all and the moves faded.
Years later I started college in Nashville and was playing in my second band performing mostly covers of classic rock, blues and old R&B when I rediscovered my love for James Brown music and added “I Feel Good” to the song list. Around that time, I saw he was going to be performing at the historic Ryman Auditorium. I bought tickets with bandmates and went to my first show at the historic venue. It had stain glass windows and the old pews from when it was originally built in the 1890s to house huge church revivals. When the Godfather hit the stage, the energy was through the roof. He had gained a few pounds and didn’t move quite as quick as I remembered in the old video; but that voice, energy and moves were still there. I was mesmerized. I felt like I was at one of those old church revivals that the Ryman was so well known for, I felt something stirring in my soul and I knew what I had to do. I felt like John Belushi in The Blues Brothers, “I had seen the light!!!”.
The next day I went to the music store and bought a couple of James Brown CDs and a live performance DVD. The Godfather had spoken to me, he instructed me to entertain the people and up my dance game and performance skills. I talked the band into adding a couple more JB songs and some other upbeat tunes to the set lists. I don’t think some of the people around Nashville always 'got' or appreciated my dancing and stage shenanigans back then (lol, and some probably still don’t). But I have had fun and hope to be at least half as entertaining as the Godfather was to me.
You can hear JB’s musical inspiration on some of the songs on my “Groove Thang” album, especially the title song and “Get On Down” (which I perform live in the video below). You can also hear the classic rock and old R&B influences throughout the “Groove Thang” album. I hope to meet you on the road one day SOON to share and enjoy the energy of all these influences IN PERSON!
Thank you for being a listener and making it all matter!
Talk to you soon,
Stone
Stone White live performance of “Get On Down” from the “Groove Thang” album. If you would like to hear more of the music from my “Groove Thang” album click here!
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