Bobby Treetop and E Rodney Jones backing track

[Suinoz]

Is it possible these two artists are the same person? Seems the backing track to Bobby Treetop, wait till I get to know ya on Tuff is the same as E Rodney Jones R'N B time on same label.  Anyone got any ideas?  Apologies if this has been on here before.  Sue.

[Iggyplop]

Two different people

E. Rodney Jones was a DJ on WVON in Chicago, which was owned by the Chess Brothers.

as for Bobby Treetop no idea..

both played at the Cats ..

 

 

Copied over from website 45cat..

Good question. The late Bob Abrahamian once suggested in an old Soul Source discussion that Bobby Treetop might possibly be Bobby Copney....who of course also recorded for Tuff, and about whom, I believe, nothing is known.

If you listen to all the relevant sides other than "Wait Till I Get To Know Ya" [which, as I recall, is sung in a falsetto], you may well agree that it's a possibility.

And yeah, "R&B Time" is the instrumental track used on "Wait Till I Get To Know Ya". It appears on the b-side of Tuff 418 [not currently listed on site], credited to E. Rodney Jones, a powerful Chicago DJ.

Which actually points to the confusion over this release. There's a bootleg of "Wait Till I Get To Know Ya" [not an alt. issue], with "R&B Time" [taken from Tuff 418] on the flip.

417 is shown as the cat. number on that pressing.

[Roburt]

Lots of times, musicians gave backing tracks to radio DJ's to use as their theme tunes ... or just to butter them up ... letting them put their name on an old instrumental track in the hope they'd get in their good books & the DJ would then play your next record.

. . . . Artists would also do 'free' live shows for certain top radio DJ's ... ... these shows would be advertised as ....

'CERTAIN DJ' (say HOT ROD or FAT DADDY) hosts big gala night of stars ...  .... the DJ would then pocket all the ticket money.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Roburt

[Geeselad]

Wonder if they tried it with e Rodney's peace if mind, as good a backing imho. 

[Benji]

anyone know if there is any other record using the E. Rodney Jones Peace of mine backing?

[Blackpoolsoul]

What an interview this is

 

[Robbk]

6 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

What an interview this is

 

Great interview telling E. Rodney's story and about the start of WVON.  Now I know why Al Benson wasn't with them for a long time - he was too independent, and wouldn't do only what Rodney wanted.  A company couldn't run smoothly with 2 headstrong leaders going different ways.

[Robbk]

On 04/09/2018 at 05:20, Iggyplop said:

Two different people

E. Rodney Jones was a DJ on WVON in Chicago, which was owned by the Chess Brothers.

as for Bobby Treetop no idea..

both played at the Cats ..

 

 

Copied over from website 45cat..

Good question. The late Bob Abrahamian once suggested in an old Soul Source discussion that Bobby Treetop might possibly be Bobby Copney....who of course also recorded for Tuff, and about whom, I believe, nothing is known.

If you listen to all the relevant sides other than "Wait Till I Get To Know Ya" [which, as I recall, is sung in a falsetto], you may well agree that it's a possibility.

And yeah, "R&B Time" is the instrumental track used on "Wait Till I Get To Know Ya". It appears on the b-side of Tuff 418 [not currently listed on site], credited to E. Rodney Jones, a powerful Chicago DJ.

Which actually points to the confusion over this release. There's a bootleg of "Wait Till I Get To Know Ya" [not an alt. issue], with "R&B Time" [taken from Tuff 418] on the flip.

417 is shown as the cat. number on that pressing.

Tuff Records was run by Abner Spector out of Boston, with connections to Zell Sanders (owner of J&S, Dice, and Zell's Records in New York.  Chess Records (owner of WVON (Rodney's boss), distributed Tuff Records and J&S Records.  From Tuff's artist roster, as far as I know, only E. Rodney Jones, and Roscoe Robinson, were based in Chicago (and were signed to Tuff through the Chess connection.  Bobby Copney(who was rumoured to also be Bobby Treetop), and most of Tuff's other artists, were East Coast based.  I don't remember any of their non-Chicago artists,(other than the North Carolina bred Corsairs (who had a national following after their hit record, "Smokey Places", probably moved to New York), appearing in Chicago.  Most of their artists were New York, Boston, or remainder of The East Coast based.  Nobody I knew in Chicago knew who Bobby Treetop was.  Treetop is too weird a name to be a real surname.  It seems logical that it may have been Bobby Copney, who sang often, in falsetto.  "Treetop" could refer to his vocal range often going as "high as the treetops".  It's hard to feel confident that Treetop is Copney based on the voices on their two records.  But it is also impossible to rule that out.

[The Yank]

Bobby was a big winner on one Chicago station- hitting the Top 10. But, in St. Louis- E. Rodney Jones was the clear winner. It probably didn't help that the 2 records were released so close to each other. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by The Yank

[Guest]

I have a subscription to Ancestry.com which is where I got the following record.

Robert Louis Copney jr was born in Brooklyn, New York on 12 August 1946. His father also Robert Louis Copney was born in North Carolina. Copney jr died in New York on 2 March 2005. It might be possible to get more information from the family member who keeps the Copney records.   

Bobby Copney on 'Love au go-go' on Tuff and Bobby Treetop on 'So Sweet, So Satisfying ' also on Tuff sound very similar. Not confirmation though.