the song is now run by folks from India, and they live in that particular room, so I can’t go back over there to try and write another song and see if history repeats itself.


How did you feel when you found out Eric Clapton was going to record it? I didn't believe it. Johnny Sandlin called me while I was living at Idlewild South and I was going through one of those times that musi- cians go through when you have nothing. Didn’t know where the next meal was coming from kind of thing, okay? I got a phone call from Johnny, and those guys at the studio in Macon were really practical jokers. Paul Hornsby had found out on my birthday one year that I had crab lice and he wrapped me up a nice package of 3 bottles of A-200 and a fine tooth comb. I opened that up in front of about 20 people on that birthday. (Laughs) We got Johnny a duckbill cane one year from his birthday. We just mess with each other. So one day I got a phone call from Johnny and he said, “man, you aren’t going to believe it, Eric Clapton is going to record your song “Please Be With Me!” I told him that wasn’t funny, because I was having a hard time. Johnny was having to convince me that he was not kidding and it was for real. It took him a minute or two to convince me it was not a practical joke. It was a year after that I got a check, but my line of credit improved immensely - and dramatically.


Was that on 461 Ocean Blvd album? Yeah, and I know it is the best-selling album he has to date. They have reissued it several times and I can tell a difference when it is re- released. That’s the songwriting business. I know the guy over here Don Von Tress who wrote “Achy, Breaky Heart.” He was hanging drywall. He cut the demo on that and about two years later it was recorded. In his de- fense, I would like to say to the people of the United States, who hate the song as much as I hate the song, his original title to that was


“Aching, Breaking Heart.” It was the producer who wanted to change it. Don is a very fine songwriter and he has had several other good songs recorded as well.


Tell me a little bit about The Decoys. That’s something I love doing. They are a band that I love. Johnny Sandlin called me up in 1988 when I was in The Convertibles with Topper Price - and Tommy Talton was in it for awhile. My wife and I were in the process of separating. I didn’t have anything holding me in Mobile, Alabama. Johnny called and told me he was putting a band together up here. I had been one of the primary guys in The Convertibles, doing a lot of the work in the band, driving the band, really at the fore- front of the band. So when Johnny called he says he needs a rhythm guitar player. I could just go up there and play the guitar, simple as that. So I was ready to go and brought the drummer from the Convertibles up with me. I was looking forward to not being the lead singer, just the rhythm guitar guy who sings some harmony parts, and doesn’t have to do all the set up and physical work. The people who were fronting the band separated from us after a few months. I was left at the fore- front. Johnny felt the band was going to break up. I felt like I couldn’t just give up after bringing everything up from Mobile and so I became the front guy in the band. That was 19 years ago and we have gone through a host of people, but there are two other mainstays, Kelvin Holly on guitar and N.C. Thurman on keyboards, and they have been in the band since 1990. We are the core of the band and we have had several drummers and several bass players but we have David Hood right now on bass, and I don’t think you can have anyone better there. We do basically R & B stuff that is classic - Al Green, Delbert Mc- Clinton, and David is just great on that stuff. He has played on so many of those classic records that he can’t remember. (laughs)


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62