13 minute read
Jimmy Church
JIMMY CHURCH
Jimmy Church has always wanted to be a part of something — something bigger than himself. When you consider the working life of this band leader, musician, and singer, you begin to understand he is just that.
Church is a part of an historic music scene, interwoven within a vibrant Nashville community — within the fabric of the town’s music memory — and the leader of a longstanding revue of his own making that is working well into its sixth decade.
At eighty-five years, he is a working musician’s working musician.
“I always wanted to be a part of something,” Church said recently, from his home in Brentwood. “Believe it or not, I never really wanted it all to myself, even when I was doing my own thing and dressing sharp and was getting the attention. I always wanted a revue with me. It’s kind of strange. Here you are, an artist, but yet you want to be with everybody else.
“Include everybody else. That’s just the way I looked at it. I didn’t look at is as if I was a great entertainer. Once I saw Jackie Wilson in ‘68, I knew that I had to do something else, other than just sing. You’ve got so many good singers out there, you have to be able to do other things … ”
And, as is so often the case with those who have made a real difference, Church emerged from humble beginnings and retains those lessons learned today. He was raised by his grandmother on Ninth Avenue North and Jefferson Street, a church-going household. His father had landed in prison for stealing, his mother had started a new life — and a new family — in Detroit. His earliest musical experience came through church.
He went to Los Angeles in 1959 to make it, and received a dose of hard reality. Church landed a spot on the popular weekly Johnny Otis Show on KTTV, competing in a talent contest.
“A bunch of us went to L.A. to try to change the music — to change what was going on,” he said. “That’s where I met Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, all the singers, and all the guys out there. I stayed out there for a minute, just to start a new realm of life. I didn’t have any money.
“I was on the Johnny Otis Show. He had a contest, and the winner would be whoever got the most applause — you would win a record deal with Johnny Otis. The Righteous Brothers were on that show, and another band. I won. I tied for first with the band. I met [R&B singer and dancer] Sugar Pie DeSanto … She was there, telling me different things, and I went to the restroom, and I heard them saying they could tie me up in a contract for five years and not give me anything. When I heard that, I just walked on out the door and never looked back. I didn't want to deal with it. It was a blessing for me, and a blessing for the Righteous Brothers they didn’t even know.”
There were other hard lessons for Church. Even though he made many connections and played with luminaries that would influence his musical growth — people like Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, and Little Richard — he was living hand-to-mouth. There were odd jobs, but nothing sustainable. In spite of the challenges, Church was committed and unafraid of risk. He drove cross-country to Detroit from Los Angeles, pretending to have an appointment at Motown. Berry Gordy, Jr., offered him a work-for-hire songwriting gig, and he managed to meet Martha Reeves, but the foray yielded little more than experience, and Church returned to Los Angeles.
There, he continued to play with the Crusaders, backing other stars primarily at Billy Berg’s 5-4 Ballroom, in the upstairs of a twostory building on Broadway which hosted blues and R&B heavyweights. Unfortunately, harder lessons awaited him there. The scene in which Church was immersed was loaded with drugs and other classic vices, including prostitution and gambling. He managed to avoid the pressure cleverly, but the lifestyle nearly pulled him under.
“They would say, ‘Jimmy, hey man, come on, get a hit, man,’” Church said. “I never took anything. Never. I’d say ‘I’ll be right back. Set them up. I’ll be right back.’ Sooner or later, they might catch on, and so I didn’t really like that lifestyle. When I came back home to Nashville, I was so happy to be away from that stuff. I didn’t want that kind of life.”
He returned to Nashville to attend the funeral of his favorite aunt, who had sung in a group that had included WVOL executive Noble Blackwell’s sisters. Blackwell, the storied creator and host of the groundbreaking television show Night Train, knew Church had the kind of experience he needed.
“He [Blackwell] said he wanted me to be on Night Train,” Church said. “He said we’d see how the audiences worked out. Well, I only had the clothes for the funeral because I planned on going right back to L.A. But, the more I thought about it … I found out Clifford Curry had left this great band out of Clarksville, the Bubba Suggs Combo. He had gotten a record deal. They wanted me to stay around and play with them. Johnny Jones was playing over at the Era, and they asked me to play with them. Then, here came Noble with the Night Train thing. That’s why I stayed.
“I mean, thank God, that wasn’t my life in L.A. That wasn’t my lifestyle. Probably sooner or later, there’s no telling what I might’ve done. You can’t keep fooling around like that. Noble said if he managed me, he’d put me on all the shows, so that’s how I wound up singing on Night Train.”
Of course, the show was a hit, making its debut in the fall of 1964, six years ahead of Chicago’s Soul Train, and was the nation’s first syndicated R&B television series. Hosted by Blackwell and filmed at Nashville’s WLAC-TV studio, the program featured guest stars like James Brown, B.B. King, and Joe Tex, and a house band led by Bob Holmes. That band included Church and leaned into old friend and guitarist Johnny Jones, and showcased Nashville performers such as the Spidells and the Hytones, and a fledgling Jimi Hendrix who had been knocking around town with bassist Billy Cox in the King Kasuals.
Church, who seemingly played with everyone in town, would fall in with the Kasuals as a vocalist, playing many of those local venues around Jefferson Street and the regional Black circuit that were still holding forth. The King Kasuals shape-shifted throughout the mid-1960s, providing live work, session work, and refuge for an evolving lineup that included Cox, Hendrix, Church, Johnny Jones, Larry Lee, Bob Wilson, and others.
“I was playing with Billy’s band, with Jimi Hendrix, and Larry Lee,” Church said. “Lee was the one that kept the rhythm going. Jimi Hendrix never played the song like it went. He always had these different ideas about stuff, so people back then — you had to play the song like the records. Larry Lee always kept the song like the record goes, and I always tell the story about Hendrix. Man, he was mellow and always stayed high, and we played in Clarksville one night, and he busted his speaker, and he said, ‘Church, this is that sound, man,’ and I said, ‘What are you talking about, Jimi? What you talking about, man? The speaker is busted.’ He said, ‘No, no.’ He was hearing the fuzztone before it was even out. That’s how way out he was. He was running a guitar all up the microphone stand, and making all kinds of noise. See, back then, the audiences didn’t know what to make of it … they thought he was crazy.”
Night Train played a midnight Friday/ early-Saturday a.m. slot and ran for roughly three years. The !!!! Beat, hosted by WLACradio’s Hoss Allen, came on the heels of Night Train, similarly presented and featured Nashville musicians in the house band led by Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. It was nationally syndicated and taped at WFFA-Dallas in color, and featured guests such as Otis Redding, Etta James, Lou Rawls, Freddie King, Joe Simon, Esther Phillips — a glittering list of R&B and blues royalty. Church played congas and sang, as they taped 26 episodes which ran for one season in 1966.
Church’s involvement in Nashville’s overall R&B scene, his broad experience, and contributions to so many records and bands made him an integral part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibit “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited.” The exhibit, which opened in the spring of this year, landed twenty years after the museum’s original major exhibition presented in 2004, “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970.” Church has been featured in the museum’s onstage interviews, performances, and panel discussions, expanding the narrative and documenting the potent and historic scene.
“I was like the all-around guy on The !!!! Beat,” Church said. “That’s how I sang so many songs on that show, because when people didn’t show up, or were late, Hoss would have me take that spot.”
Those years throughout the 1960s were intertwined with Church’s own work as a recording artist, and by touring with Jackie Wilson, a major influence in his life, in 1968. The experiences ultimately led to his forming his own revue in the 1970s — the popular and widely traveled Jimmy Church Band, his heart and soul.
Managed by Hoss Allen, he recorded “Find a Job” and “Fool No More” on Hickory Records in 1962, and released “The Hurt” on Okeh in 1963, a song credited to his cousin Freddie North, and recorded at Owen Bradley’s studio. He released “Right On Time” for Southern Artists in 1965, and landed with John Richbourg, the infamous disc jockey John R. of WLAC, recording “Soul Shack,” “Faith in Me,” and “I Don’t Care Who Knows,” among other singles for Rich Records and Sound Stage 7 (which re-released “Right On Time” in 1966). Several of Church’s unreleased recordings from that time, including “Soul Shack,” appeared much later in 2007 on The Rich Records Story on Sound Plus.
“I was with John Richbourg [on Sound Stage 7],” Church said. “He had Joe Simon on the same label, and my song, “I Don't Care Who Knows,” was the first song I ever put out that really made some noise. It was a hit in Mobile, it was a hit in Louisville, it was a hit in Charlotte, but it wasn’t a national hit.”
Church asked Richbourg to be released from his contract so he could join the Johnny Jones Band, who was backing a Jackie Wilson tour in 1968.
“He let me out of the contract,” Church said. “I had to give him my songs, and he let me out. I went ahead and recorded for Peachtree Records. Henry Wynn was over there, and then I went on tour with Jackie Wilson.”
He wrote and recorded two songs for Peachtree, “Thinking About the Good Times,” and “Shadow of Another Man’s Love.”
“I realized being with Jackie Wilson, I was going to have to do something other than just sing,” Church said. “Because if I was just singing, I would have been through over thirty years ago. He called me his little brother. I thought if I was going to make it in the music business, I would have to start playing an instrument and get my own band. That’s why I started picking up the bass. I got the idea for the band from a show Bone Holmes & Friends — they did the Supremes, all that Motown stuff.”
“That gave me the edge to still be doing it at eighty-five. I’ve got a band, and people need bands. You can’t beat Motown — you can add everything to it — but you can’t beat it. I made it more of a Tina Turner type show. That’s why I’m still doing it today. My band has taken me, I’ve played all different continents [all over the world], all because I have a band … I’ve played for the Royal Family. I’ve met people I would never dream of meeting.”
Church released a record, Straight Outta Old School, in 2017, adding further note to his vibrancy and longevity. He can be found Tuesday nights at Carol Ann’s on Murfreesboro Road in Nashville, providing music, introducing artists who have been working musicians, both locally and beyond, and honoring those who have given so much of themselves to live music.
“It’s a good thing,” Church said. “Honoring musicians that have kept music — live music — alive. I look at guys who’ve been playing at least twenty-five years, and give them a plaque for their music. It’s called ‘Keeping Live Music Alive.
“I’ve been blessed, man. My life. My grandmother prayed for me, and blessed me. I can see how God has blessed me … it’s just amazing.”
CHURCH’S RIG
“I picked up the bass because after touring in ‘68 with Jackie Wilson and seeing what a talent he was, I decided if I wanted to make it in the music business,I would have to get my own band and hire singers. I learned the bass because there weren’t many bass players who sang and played the bass. Most people played the guitar and sang. I thank God for giving me the wisdom to see that because it has really paid off. I’m still doing it at 85 and counting. If I just stuck to singing, I would have stopped years ago.”
At the moment Jimmy’s main axe is a Tobias 5-string.
