I know it's really difficult for some of my guests to get up at the hour of 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. I mean, I've been getting up at early hours since I was in high school because I always got stuck with 8 a.m. classes. Since I've been working a temp job for the last couple of weeks, I've had to get used to the whole routine again. But I know it's not the norm for a musician. So I do appreciate those guests who make the extra effort and wake up and come on down to my little show on Sunday morning.
My guests today were Rick and Janis Carnes, singer/songwriters with a number of hits to their credit by Reba McEntire, the Whites and many others...and Janis has a new CD out, "Hoagy and Me" which is a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael. It was way unusual for Rick and Janis to be up at this hour and Janis wondered if her voice would be up for some live songs. But they ended up doing two songs live in studio and it was.
Opening theme: So What's New - Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass
Segment 1: Record Box
I was at a concert out at Pegram Park last night where my fellow DJ and good buddy TJ Kirby emceed a fun segment during the band break. Of course he got me in on the act—we played some music, we danced and had some kids doing their thing with hula hoops and just having a blast. Here's one of the songs we played:
Beatles – Twist and Shout
Grass Roots – Things I Should Have Said
Lovin Spoonful – Younger Girl
Verdelle Smith – Tar and Cement
Chiffons – I Have A Boyfriend
Lesley Gore – Look of Love (last two songs were a tribute to Ellie Greenwich, who with her partner Jeff Barry was one of the great writers of the Brill Building. Ellie passed away this week of a heart attack.)
Guests: Rick and Janis Carnes
Some of their writing credits from their bios:
In 1983, Rick wrote Reba McEntire’s first number one hit "I Can’t Even Get the Blues No More" and co-wrote with Janis and Chip Harding three top ten hits for the Whites; "You Put the Blue In Me", "Hangin’ Around" and "Pins And Needles". Rick also had success with album cuts on such artists as Conway Twitty, Karen brooks, Loretta Lynn, Lacy J. Dalton, Johnny Rodriguez, Janie Fricke, Ronnie McDowell, T.G. Sheppard, Pam Tillis and many others including three more Reba McEntire cuts.
Janis, along with Rick and Chip Harding, co-wrote three top ten singles by the Whites; You Put the Blue In Me, Hangin’ Around and Pins And Needles. She also had numerous album cuts by Reba McEntire and Eddy Raven, Lacy J. Dalton, the Kendalls, Karen Brooks, J.C. Jones, Steve Wariner and others.
Rick and Janis talked a lot about their writing process in general. I asked them about what it was like to hear songs they wrote on the radio for the first time. Rick recalls hearing his song which was Reba's #1 on the radio: he was driving down the road and heard the song come on, but his car radio conked out at that moment!
We focused a lot on Janis' project "Hoagy and Me" with covers of Hoagy Carmichael songs woven seamlessly with songs Janis wrote in the same style. It's a two disc CD with the vocals on one disc and all instrumentals of the songs on the other. Most of the tracks were done in one day, and in one take!
Songs played:
After Dark (live in studio)
Up With Love (Track from "Hoagy and Me")
Am I Naive (live in studio)
Plugs:
website: www.janiscarnes.com
Upcoming appearances:
Round at the Bluebird Café September 16, 9 p.m.
Commodore Grille September 6 (evening starts 7 p.m.)
Frequency To The Heart
Another one of those job questions is "what would your co-workers say about you?" Think about it: what do you think people around you would say about you? Sometimes we're pleasantly shocked when we find out, and sometimes we wince and say ouch. Have you treated those around you in a way that would make people speak well of you? The good you give comes back to you. Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
Closing theme: Soul Serenade - King Curtis
I thought it was a good interview with some fun comments and good insights on writing with Rick and Janis. I was a bit sloppy this morning, though...my timing was off in spots and I forgot to get the camera and take a picture of Rick and Janis for the blog, so I do apologize for that. (Update: I snapped a shot of them performing at the Commodore Grille on September 6.)
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