Moses Dillard And Tex-Town Revue Band

[Windlesoul]

Any Dillard fans know anything about these guys from SC? I need to know who the individual band members were, which will help dispel a widely and long held belief about a particular well known Carolina track.

Cheers Mark

Edited November 18, 2012 by Windlesoul

[Roburt]

Moses back in the 60's was part of Moses & Joshua Dillard who had big soul 45's on Amy / Mala / Bell.

In 1972 he had a duet out on Shout with Martha Starr. Also in the 70's he led the Tex-Town Review in Sth Carolina that included Peabo Bryson in their line-up.

Next came Moses Dillard & LoveJoy on 1-2-3 Records (1975).

In 78 he was Bill Brandon's manager & supervised his Piedmont tracks ("Streets Got My Lady" etc.).

In 79 he was hooked up with Prelude, working with Jesse Boyce (Saturday Night Band. Constellation Orchestra, Lorraine Johnson).

After that he got more into the admin side of things and helped run the Nashville Music Assocs Black Music Committee for a while.

In the 80's he was running his own Dillard Music Pub (based in Nashville) plus recording & performing with Jesse Boyce.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Roburt

[Roburt]

More on what Moses was up to in 1970 (he relocated from SC to Atlanta for a time to work with Rod Kinder ) ...............

[Steve Foran]

Any idea who were his Dynamic Showmen??

[Roburt]

Moses & Joshua's big US & UK 45 back in Nov 67 .....

[Roburt]

Any idea who were his Dynamic Showmen??

They pre dated his Moses & Joshua recordings ( around 1964). About that time he was employed on sessions as a studio musician in Muscle Shoals (Fame, etc.).

Wasn't he really James Moore who was responsible for the Sons of Moses stuff a bit later on.

I'd guess the Ace / Kent guys who have been working on the Fame reissues should know more about him & maybe about the 'Dynamic Showmen' (might they have been some Shoals recording studio guys ?).

Edited November 18, 2012 by Roburt

[Steve Foran]

Good call. Yes he was connected to Sons of Moses I think. Oh to have a time machine.

[Roburt]

Well the Fame studio guys were Spooners Crowd ("2 in the Morning") and so I guess those guys could easly have made up the numbers in the Dynamic Showmen as well.

Didn't Moses D work with Papa Don Schroader as well back then .......... which musicians did Papa Don use on his studio sesssions ?

Edited November 18, 2012 by Roburt

[Steve Foran]

Dont know!

[Roburt]

Perhaps the Dynamic Showmen date from before Moses D was working in the Muscle Shoals / Fame studios ..........

.. .. where's a Fame expert when you need one ?!?!?!

[Steve Foran]

Mark V was Carolina based though I think?

[Windlesoul]

Mark V Studio was in Greenville SC. As were MD and the TexTown band.

Thanks for info guys on the Dillard story but still curious re the TexTown Band from the late sixties - I know from a very reliable source that they recorded in 1967 as studio musicians, anybody know their line up at the time?

Edited November 18, 2012 by Windlesoul

[Roburt]

But where did they record in 67 ??

I'm sure 67 was when Moses had teamed up with Otis Redding and was down in Muscle Shoals working on Arthur Conley tracks.

It was at Fame that Moses teamed up with Fame studio musician Jesse Boyce (aka Joshua Dillard).

By 68, Moses had teamed up with Papa Don & was down in Florida.

[Windlesoul]

They were definately session musicians in 1967 on at least one track for a well known vocal group at least to soulies in Charlotte NC. But that's as much as I'm telling you! Lol

Edited November 18, 2012 by Windlesoul

[Roburt]

By June / July 68 Moses was definitely down in Florida with Papa Don .... after having been in Muscle Shoals some months before that ...

Moses must have started cutting his own tracks with Jesse Boyce (Joshua Dillard) around September 67 ... where were those cut (MS I think) ....

Edited November 19, 2012 by Roburt

[Roburt]

In 1981, Moses Dillard & Jesse Boyce were producing C M Lord for Montage (her LP tracks were big plays for Mr. Searling back in the 80's),

In 71, Jesse Boyce was still down in Miami working with a guy out of Jesse (Lee) Ferguson's group ............

........ Jesse has a long & distinguished CV .......

He was a top session musician at various studios -- he was at Papa Don's Pensacola (Florida) studio from 1968-1970.

A member of the Fame Gang studio band at Fame in Muscle Shoals in 1973 ... and one of the top rated (& utilised) session musicians working in Nashville studios from 1972 to 1985.

In addition to all that (& the stuff I listed above), from 1973 to 76 he was leader of Bottom & Co (he still has a web site if anyone's interested in learning more).

Edited November 19, 2012 by Roburt

[Roburt]

Jesse Boyce “The Musician” ............ Jesse Boyce is a phenomenal musician and North Carolina native, whose musical odyssey began with classical vocal training in his elementary and high school years, has studied classical piano, organ, electric bass, guitar, and drums at Sterling High in Greenville, South Carolina.

…......... lifted from …..... https://www.nashville...file/JesseBoyce

........... He's also on Facebook

Spartanburg, South Carolina is at the centre of the Tex(tile) town area of the Carolinas (being at the very north end of Sth Carolina State). It's the next town along from Greenville (where Jesse got his musical education).

... so I'd guess it's a fair bet that Jesse was in the early versions of the Tex Town Review (& maybe in the Dynamic Showmen as well).

Edited November 19, 2012 by Roburt

[Windlesoul]

The '67 Tex Town Review band were all black if that adds anything

[phillyDaveG]

I've got an LP from Moses Dillard & the Tex-Town Display from '69 on Tex Town records. Superb stuff, and with the lead vocals of a young Peabo Bryson of course;

Bryson stayed with them for a few years and can be heard on the excellent "I Promise To Love You" on Shout.

[boba]

don't they have 2 LPs?

i have an 8x10 somewhere i can dig out and scan.

[Kris Holmes]

Now is the only LP on them I have had, it's tough to get too. Maybe you're thinking of some stuff he had a hand in producing? Or maybe there's some super common one which I've totally glassed over??

[boba]

Now is the only LP on them I have had, it's tough to get too. Maybe you're thinking of some stuff he had a hand in producing? Or maybe there's some super common one which I've totally glassed over??

I'm not an LP guy so I was wrong -- popsike only has one LP and some other things produced by him. It's confusing when groups like the Family Circle and Brief Encounter have multiple ultra-rare Lps.

[Roburt]

............. info from Jesse Boyce ............ about his early work with Moses Dillard .....

The Dynamic Showmen; the band was founded by Moses Dillard, Leo Adams, and Jesse Boyce.

As the first keyboard and organ player and the second original bass player (taught by Moses Dillard) for the Showmen. I was replacement bassist but was pretty clueless about the business at age fifteen. It was all about the music and the dream of being successful. We were all still in high school and just happy to be accepted.

For the record, I wrote most of the songs attributed to Moses Dillard ................

Pretty As a Picture; Go Away Baby; Soul Symphony - (Jesse Boyce-Piano); I Feel It Coming - (Bobby Marchan); Punchinella - (Peabo Bryson), I'll Pay The Price, and Bring Your Dreams to Me - (Peabo Bryson)

It was not until after I left the band and then returned to join Moses in Pensacola, Florida (where I met Poppa Don) that I realized that I had not been given credit for my music nor did I get paid.

But I stayed with Poppa Don because he educated me as a writer and he treated me with fairness and respect. We cut a lot of hit records together.

[Chalky]

What exactly did Moses Dillard have to do with Pic and Bill?

They pre dated his Moses & Joshua recordings ( around 1964). About that time he was employed on sessions as a studio musician in Muscle Shoals (Fame, etc.).

Wasn't he really James Moore who was responsible for the Sons of Moses stuff a bit later on.

I'd guess the Ace / Kent guys who have been working on the Fame reissues should know more about him & maybe about the 'Dynamic Showmen' (might they have been some Shoals recording studio guys ?).

James Moore was Joshua wasn't he not Moses?

[Chalky]

They were definately session musicians in 1967 on at least one track for a well known vocal group at least to soulies in Charlotte NC. But that's as much as I'm telling you! Lol

What was Moses Dillard's involvement with Pic and Bill? I downloaded their anthology from iTunes and he has a credit on most of the tracks but there is no liner notes unfortunately so couldn't read about his involvement.

[Guest Dave Turner]

What was Moses Dillard's involvement with Pic and Bill? I downloaded their anthology from iTunes and he has a credit on most of the tracks but there is no liner notes unfortunately so couldn't read about his involvement.

Moses Dillard did a lot of work with Major Bill Smith and his labels (Charay etc) down in Texas hence the Pic & Bill connection

[Windlesoul]

What was Moses Dillard's involvement with Pic and Bill? I downloaded their anthology from iTunes and he has a credit on most of the tracks but there is no liner notes unfortunately so couldn't read about his involvement.

Dont know this bit Chalky. But didn't Pic and Bill record Gonna give it to you at Mark V studio in Greenville SC? Can't remember where I heard this rumour, was definately a 'Mark V production' but may have meant just the musicians rather than the studio (recorded in Texas?) etc. What year was this recorded?

Edited November 30, 2012 by Windlesoul

[John Reed]

Gonna Give It To You, as you said was a Mark V production, but so too were their 3 Smash singles. The Smash releases were from around 67/68 and the Blue Rock number puts it later than the Smash releases, so I would assume it was around 69. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blue Rock & Smash Stuff were recorded at the same session as they were both Mercury labels, with Just A Tear & Sad World Without You specifically crediting Moses Dillard as the arranger.

Edited November 30, 2012 by John Reed

[Chalky]

I realise Moses Dillard did work for BilL Smith but on the Anthology CD the title has at the end (feat. Moses Dillard), for example "Sad World Without You (feat. Moses Dillard)". I was wondering if he had more to do with the track other than arranging? Was he singing on them as well?

[Windlesoul]

Right, major cat out of the bag here now. Regards the Appreciations' 'It's better to cry' - it wasn't the Tempests backing them as previously thought. Was actually Moses Dillard and the Tex Town Revue. Kind of from the horse's mouth (ish).

Edited February 22, 2013 by Windlesoul

[Kev Cane]

Check out the brilliant "I,ve Gotta Find a way" Parts 1 and 2 on Curtom records, personally prefer this to the brilliant "I,ll pay the price" Curtom release is by the Texas Town Display

Kev

[Kev Cane]

In 1981, Moses Dillard & Jesse Boyce were producing C M Lord for Montage (her LP tracks were big plays for Mr. Searling back in the 80's),

In 71, Jesse Boyce was still down in Miami working with a guy out of Jesse (Lee) Ferguson's group ............

........ Jesse has a long & distinguished CV .......

He was a top session musician at various studios -- he was at Papa Don's Pensacola (Florida) studio from 1968-1970.

A member of the Fame Gang studio band at Fame in Muscle Shoals in 1973 ... and one of the top rated (& utilised) session musicians working in Nashville studios from 1972 to 1985.

In addition to all that (& the stuff I listed above), from 1973 to 76 he was leader of Bottom & Co (he still has a web site if anyone's interested in learning more).

Just been digging around Roburt and pulled out IMO the brilliant Bill Brandon LP on Prelude, all produced by Mosses Dillard and Jesse Boyce, 3 great ballads and a couple of decent movers, this was in 1977, Moses is on guitar in the session while Jesse is on Bass, talented guys indeed

Kev