Trop Rockin’

Trop Rockin’

Salt Springs resident Carl Page discovers that life can take unexpected turns into a new chapter, leading to a never-imagined music career.

By Joann Guidry

Listen to singer/songwriter Carl Page’s “Somewhere East of A1A” and you’ll want to jump in your car and head to Daytona Beach. Can’t do that? Then just watch the song’s YouTube video and Carl, actually singing and playing his guitar on the beach, can be your surrogate. Either way, you’ve been smitten by the tropical rock vibe.

“Trop rock” as defined by the Tropical Rock Music Association is a genre of popular music that “incorporates elements of rock and roll, country, Caribbean, reggae, and other musical genres to create a laid-back or escapist state of mind.” The genre’s roots trace to the 1980s, led by Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band, the Beach Boys, and Bertie Higgins. The prevalence of the Parrot Head clubs, formed by Buffett fans, spurred the growth of trop rock into the thriving genre it is today.

Carl’s “Somewhere East of A1A” was a 2017 Top 5 hit on a weekly top 40 countdown of independent internet radio stations. In August 2018, Carl scored a #1 trop rock internet radio hit with his “Key Lime Wine.” The latter is also the title of Carl’s first trop rock CD, released this past July.

ALL OF THIS IS A BIT AMAZING considering that before he became a charting tropical rock artist, Carl displayed scant musical aptitude. “My family was not musical at all,” says Carl, 63, who spent his early years in Massachusetts and New Hampshire before moving to Miami when he was 10. “I played the trumpet in junior high, but wasn’t very good at it. I tried to play the guitar a couple of times, but could never get the hang of it. So that was the end of me trying to do anything with music.”

It wasn’t that Carl didn’t like music. During his growing-up years in Miami, K.C. and The Sunshine Band was one of his favorites. Then Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine caught his attention, particularly their Caribbean music.

“I’ve always liked all kinds of music, from rock to country to any music with that Caribbean vibe,” says Carl, who served four years in the United States Marines and then owned a pest control business for 20 years. “But I most certainly never thought I’d ever have any kind of a career in music.”

In 1999, Carl and his wife Mel moved from Jacksonville to Salt Springs to care for her ill father. When Mel’s father died in 2000, he left her his home and property and the Pages became Salt Springs residents. Mel’s father also left her his guitar, a Gibson made in the 1940s, along with his harmonica.

“Not long after Mel’s dad passed, I kept looking at that Gibson guitar. Then one day, I just picked it up and started playing,” recalls Carl, who began a lawn service business when the couple moved to Salt Springs. “I used an auto tune machine to hear what a chord should sound like and then would play it by ear. And that’s how I finally learned to play guitar. I’ve been playing ever since.”

Carl was soon singing along to his guitar playing and began going to jam sessions in the area.

“I’m an okay singer, at least good enough that people don’t throw things at me,” says Carl with a laugh. “I sang and played a lot of bluegrass and country at those sessions. So at one jam session, I performed my own version of The Eagles’ ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ and most people seemed to like it. But one lady came up to me and said, ‘That’s not how the song goes.’ I told her it was my own take on the song.”

And that was Carl’s epiphany to start writing songs. He can be inspired by daily life, a word, or a phrase he hears or by meeting a special person. “Jordan King, who is the best guitar player I have ever heard, was my inspiration to write “Somewhere East of A1A”,” notes Carl. “And I traded lawn service for Jordan giving me actual formal guitar lessons just this year.” To date, Carl has written some 400 songs. Whenever inspiration strikes, he usually writes on the couch or outside on the porch. A high school class reunion led to “Key Lime Wine.”

“Mel grew up in Salt Springs and went to North Marion High School,” explains Carl. “So we went to a class reunion and one of her classmates tells us that he makes key lime wine. I loved that and it inspired me to write the song.”

Key Lime Wine would soon also become the name of the Pages’ duo. “We were at a jam session and a woman was playing the harmonica,” recounts Carl. “I looked at Mel, whose father had played the harmonica, and said, ‘You could do that.’” “Although I grew up listening to my father playing the harmonica,” Mel adds, “I never did try it. But I just loved the sound of the harmonica the woman was playing. Next thing I know, Carl comes home with a harmonica that he bought for me and I decided to give it a try.”

Just like her husband of 28 years learned to play the guitar by ear, Mel did the same with the harmonica. She currently owns 11 harmonicas and now plays the bongos, too. Whenever possible, the Pages perform as Key Lime Wine. “I really love playing music and watching people react to Carl’s songs. He is an amazing songwriter,” says Mel. “We’re a good team and we have a lot of fun doing the shows.”

Carl & Mel Page

Shortly after he released “Somewhere East of A1A”, Carl met Lyle Wilson, an internet DJ who specializes in promoting trop rock. Wilson’s weekly “Weekdays With Wilson” airs on Radio A1A, which is based in Islamorada, Florida. “Lyle was kind enough to interview me on his radio show in June 2017 and my song really took off from there. I will forever be grateful to Lyle for that exposure. He does so much for original trop rock artists,” says Carl. “If people are curious about trop rock, I recommend listening to the independent internet radio stations that play it. But the best thing to do is go to a live show.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic abating, Carl is back to playing gigs whenever and wherever he can. His venues range from the Ocala Downtown Market and local taverns to regional musical festivals and large cruise ships. Favorite Ocala spots include The Keep, The Off Duty Tavern, and The Hawk’s Nest. Carl, who is an ambassador for the Tropical Rock Music Association, promotes the trop rock genre wherever he goes.

“There’s nothing like playing before a live audience and having them respond to your music,” says Carl, who is currently an escort driver for a mobile home transport company. “I like to say that I’m a part-time escort driver and a full-time musician.”

Full time enough to now have his own home studio, aka Key Lime Wine Studio. It’s where he recorded his latest CD, “Driftin’ On The Gulf,” due to be released this September.

“I love writing and playing music. It’s amazing to me that my songs can be downloaded on any streaming service and I can earn royalties while sitting here on my porch in Salt Springs with one of my grandkids,” says Carl, a grandfather of five. “It just goes to show you that life is full of surprises.”

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Facebook: Follow Carl Page/Key Lime Wine Singer Songwriter Online: troprock.org