Roburt

Jim Stanton related gospel info ............ The Goldenaires were originally brought together in 1968 by Jesse Willingham, gathering at his grandmother's home on Windham Street in Cincinnati. The original members were Jesse Willingham, Booker Frost, Mike Rocker, Thomas Tobey, and Delbert and Chafois "Chappie"Â Gilliam. At the time of their first recording, for Style Wooten's Designer label around 1974, the group included key members George Russell, Rev. Leon Hamner, Willie Collins, and Keith Little. After a one-off 45 for the local ARC label, the group was introduced to Jim Stanton by a member of the Gospel Stirrers after playing a program in Nashville. Jim Stanton ran a recording studio on Church Street in Nashville, and produced records on his Champ label. From about 1976 to 1982 the group recorded four outstanding albums at Champ Studios, two released on Champ and the other two on Su-Ann and HSE, produced by Hoyt Sullivan who worked closely with Stanton. The group toured and performed extensively through those years. ---------------------------------------------- The offices and studio of Champ were right next door to HSE at 1705 Church Street in Nashville, Tennessee (no doubt many outfits paid for a recording session at his studio & then took the master tape straight into HSE Records). Champ owner Jim Stanton's hands on approach is evident when looking at label scans and albums covers. He is credited on many Champ productions as producer and / or engineer. With minimal budgets Stanton was able to make some of the most interesting gospel records of the time. Stanton wasn't only recording gospel, he was also involved in the recording of many country tunes. And for a time he even owned the country label Rich-R-Tone Records. Stanton was involved in the music business till his death in 1989. This 45 listing is far from complete. Champ 840 The Supreme Jubilees - Jesus, we don't never say no / Listen to the raindrops Champ 841 Rev. Ravenell & the Jeremiah Ensemble - Move Satan / Unknown Champ 842 Bill Young & the Marble City Singers — Listen / That's my mama Champ 843 Fabulous Friendly Four Gospel Singers - I had it hard / Unknown Champ 844 Sallie & the Fantastic Davis Sisters - Lord have mercy / 23rd Psalm Champ 845 Joe L. Carter - He Cares For Me / In The Morning Champ 848 Robert Chatman - Holy ghost trip / Ballad of Martin Luther King Champ 850 The Sacred Four - Lord I'll make it somehow / Somebody watching you Champ 851 Golden-Aires -- The story of Jesus / I've come a long way Champ 852 Rev. Robert Welch & the Twilight Gospel Singers of Alabama - He holds tomorrow / Let's get home Champ 853 The Fantastic BJ's - Gratitude and love / Best thing ever happened to me Champ 854 The White Singers - Tell the angels / When he spoke Champ 855 Helen McGiver & the McGiver Singers - I'm just a voice / Luke warm Champ 856 Gospel Trio of Birmingham - The man is alright with me / Don't turn away Champ 857 The Mighty Wonders - With His hands / Holy train Champ 858 The King Brothers - Crying Lord remember / Jesus loves me Champ 859 Evangelist Ruth C. Bell - It's well with my soul / Standing at the door Champ 860 Union Gospel Singers - Right road now / Oh yes He's been good to me Champ 861 Mighty Gospel Entertainers & Arthur Davis - He touched me / Somebody's callin my name Champ 862 Sensational Friendly Six - When trouble comes around / Resting with Jesus Champ 863 John Cooksey & the Southern Four - Jesus is my all and all / Bye and bye Champ 864 Bernard Harvey & the Fantastic Clouds of Harmony - We need love / God bless this world Champ 1201 Chuck Stuart - There's a tide raging on the sea / Something's on my mind Champ 1203 Michingan Nightingales & J.B. Wells - Do Lord remember me / The Lord will make a way Champ 1204 Golden Trumpets - There's been a change / God's wonderful gift Champ 1209 The Indiana Soul Searchers - Lord, don't move the mountain / Make old satan leave me alone Champ 1210 The Indiana Soul Searchers - I've found the Lord and I'm glad / In a little wooden chapel Champ 1213 Janie Swann - Sinner man / Going home Champ 1225 Oliver Cheatham — Celebrate / dub side ... ADDED IN ERROR Champ 1226 Rising Stars - Take time to pray / The Rising Star's Prayer Champ 1227 Truth & Devotion - To know Him / I'm so happy Champ 1229 Mighty Gospel Travelers - When the roll is called / Fire Champ 1231 Friendly Four - Somebody's gone / If it wasn't for the Lord Champ 1234 Northern Travelers - After awhile / The day I was converted Champ 1235 Sandy Jones - Love technician / Walkin' the back streets cryin' Champ 1236 Sermons Gospel Singers - Ban the baptism / Don't forget to pray Champ 1238 The Gospel Crusaders (feat. Bill Pratt) - Ride on a cloud / Pearly gates Champ 1238 New Gospel Stylistics - Someone who really loves you / Jesus love Champ 1243 Gospel Mello-Tones -- I've Been Changed / Fall Down On Your Knees And Pray Champ 1246 Hills of Zion - Heaven bound train / Standing on the promises Champ 1247 Music City Gospelaires - Step by step / He's alright Champ 1249 Lonnie Allen Lusby - I'm going over yonder / Because He lives Champ 1254 The New Hebron Echoes - I got heaven on my mind / By and by Champ 1255 The Dixieland Singers of Jackson - Go ahead / John the Revelator Champ 1703 The Kings of Joy - How can I sing without the Lord / Thank you Jesus Champ 1713 Adward Alston & the Treveletts - In memorial / Come on down Champ 1717 Gospel Crusaders (of Honestown, Mississippi) - My God is real / I'm on my journey Champ 1725 Bill Williams, Bill & the Gospel Jubilees - Been singing so long / I want to be in that meeting Champ 1731 Sensational Meadow Larks - Give me just enough / His love Champ 1736 The Supreme Wonders - Somebody's calling my name / Let Jesus lead you Champ 1739 Mighty Gospel Clouds - God is real in my soul / Jesus we love you Champ 1741 Sensational Monarchs - Judgment day / I just want to thank you Champ 1743 The Indiana Soul Searchers (& Rev. Mozel Davis) - How I got over / Living on mother's prayer Champ 2004 The Minors - Unchained melody / Lonely boy Champ 2030 Soul Impossibles —Interpretation; Soul power #1 / Souladelic (not gospel) ............ 1971 ..... Carolina Funk --- uses the same groove pioneered by James Brown. The band plays it hard, the roughshod production only serving to highlight the attack of each scratchy guitar chord or well-hit snare. This is a direct homages to Carolina's #1 soul brother (JB was born in South Carolina); ultra-gritty "Interpretation: Soul Power No. 1" which is essentially a modification of a similarly named Brown track.

Lets get back on track ..... Is there anything much on the net (even C&W related) about Jim Stanton and his Nashville Champ Sound Studios. Seems strange that there is loads about his early years cutting in radio stn studios, but not much about his work in his own studio (apart from details of many of the gospel tracks he produced / engineered).

By the 80's, Oliver no longer had a copy of any of the Gaslight 45's. I'd taken along my spare copy of one of them to get it signed. Needless to say, when we left Scotland, it remained with him.

Loads of recordings sample Oliver's "Get Down Saturday Night" plus of course Room 5 took it to the top of the charts with their 'remake'. He got to be on TV performing with them a lot at the time. When that track was in the charts, a cheap label UK CD was released that featured a lot of cover tracks (of old soul songs) that Oliver had recorded around the 1990's. I saw the CD cheap in a supermarket & turned my nose up at it. Later I wished I'd bought it as it contained some good songs which no doubt he had done decent versions of. Back in the mid 80's, the wife & I got to hang out with him for a day -- in his hotel room & at a club sound check / performance in Kirckaldy. One of the songs he was toying with the idea of recording at that time was "That's How Hearbreaks Are Made". He was singing the verse & playing along on his guitar and the wife & I came in on backing vocals on the chorus -- he was most impressed that we knew the song. I have copies of all his Move & Champion 45's around here somewhere; he cut some decent stuff that they put out in the 80's.

Oliver also sang on the tracks released by Mad Dog & the Pups (neither the kids or the dog that supposedly made up that group could sing a note). He was on Breakfast TV many years back as a guest & they asked for questions for him ..... so I rang in & got them to ask about it and he confirmed that he sang lead vocals on their sessions (can't remember exactly when it was but it was the morning of the day when John Benson had his 50th birthday party coz Johnny Vaughan chatted to me live 'on air' & asked me what I was doing later that day. He seemed very interested that I was going to a soul related birthday do). Got photos of Oliver from the mid 80's on an old computer, this is the only one I copied across from that night in Scotland ..............

Anything soulful happen down Bezier way ? My mates place down there is now finished & ready for occupation; so should be heading that way for a break (or two) next year. .... ALSO .... when are the Perpignan weekenders held ?

............... . I only know of a couple of copies, Guy's and Shane from London. Ultra rare ................ ............. I actually have two copies with different label variations ............. You can't tell people that Bob !! You've just devalued that 45 by about 1000% !!!!! Guess that turns it from rare soul to just ordinary soul, many NSers will have no interest in it anymore now. The strange world of NS .... who found the 1st copy, who played it 1st & at which youth club ............. WHO CARES; well not me at least.

Well, as Zoot Money was doing the song in the mid 60's, it was a 'mod' tune back then. Mind you, I was a mod then as well.... AND ..... I never knew of the Earl Grant version. Don't forget that back in the mid 60's, we were still busy chasing UK 45's & US imports were quite exotic items (unless you were from Liverpool or a similar port).

New thread on Pete Terrace on 'Look At Your Box' There's also a thread on the New York (RCA) / Swedish King George.

See thread on 'All About The Soul'

MORE on Jim 'Hobie' Stanton -- the engineer (& probably producer) of many of the United Records soul tracks .............. In the 1940s, Hobe Stanton of Johnson City (Tennessee) pioneered some of the earliest recordings of what today are recognized as "bluegrass" recordings. Jim Hobart (Hobe) Stanton was a distributor who installed records in local jukeboxes in 1946. His ear for music and knowledge of local tastes helped him earn more by producing records himself. Much as Victor Records' Ralph Peer had done in 1927-1928, Stanton sought local talent, finding as much as he needed. His initial investment was minimal. Performers were eager to record, and regional radio stations had studios and equipment available for making master recordings on acetate discs (tape mastering was still a few years in the future). Prominent among those stations was WOPI in Bristol, Va. but other artists were cut at WWNC (Asheville, N. C.) and WWVA (Wheeling, W.Va). Masters were processed and records were pressed at Palda Records in Philadelphia, another independent producer. Payments to artists were minimal, but most were glad simply to be on record. A few even paid Stanton for the privilege. Several addresses for his Rich-R'-Tone Records appeared in contemporary trade journals: Rich-R'-Tone Record Co., 113 W. Main Street, Johnson City, Tennessee (January 1949); Rich-R'-Tone and Acme Record Record Co., Inc., Campbellsville, Ky., (August 1952); Rich-R'-Tone Record Co., 407 W. Main St., Morristown, Tenn., (December 1953). I have no idea when Jim relocated to Nashville, no doubt that info can be found on some C&W site on the internet. He seemed to open his own studio (Champ Sound Studios) around the mid 1970's.

Mike Johnson terms himself as Country Music's No. 1 'Black' Yodeler. Born in DC to parents who came from SC, he's been singing C&W songs since the mid 60's (he was always a big 'cowboy' fan). After cutting some earlier songs in Nashville, he eventually met up with Jim Stanton in 1983 & started recording at Champ Recording Studio on Church Street. Jim mentored Mile who continued to record his songs at Champ Studio until Jim Stanton's untimely death in 1989. Mike says "Jim taught me how the Nashville clique thought and worked..." So it seems that Jim Staton's heart was more into C&W than soul or gospel but he cut the later music styles to keep his studio busy.

This youtube clip of Zoot Money's Big Roll Band doing the song says that Percy Mayfield did the 1st version in 1960 ... Zoot first cut a version of this back in 1966 >> Zoot Money's Big Roll Band "Ž— 'Were You There? Live 1966'

Herbert Hunter (1962) ........

Ray Charles ..................

Just looked and the Linzy Washington 45 was also engineered by Jim Stanton; so I guess he was responsible for most of the initial 4/5 soul singles released on the label. Is the "Sitting In The Park" that was released on the label a cover of the old Billy Stewart song ?

The engineer on the Black Exotics 45 was Jim Stanton as well; so guess both thIs & the United Sounds were cut in Nashville; probably at his Champ Sound Studios. With regard to it sounding earlier than 1975 ....... most stuff that Jim Staton did was gospel tracks (+ country tracks I am led to believe -- stuff that came out on Rich-R-Tone Records). Most gospel acts in the 70's & 80's were going for a retro sound; so a male gospel quartet in 1973 would have been aiming to sound more like the late 60's Four Tops or O'Jays than to copy the current tracks those groups were recording. With most of his work having a retro sound, perhaps both these groups wanted a similar retro sound when they worked with him (or maybe that's the type of sound he always aimed for).

We discussed this guy's output on the "Boogaloo Investigator" thread.

If you plan to visit New York next year, be sure not to miss this Broadway show .............

YEP, been 'biggin' you up for too long. It's time to cut you down to size !!

Well the engineer on this 45 track was Jim Stanton. That must be the same Jim Stanton that ran Champ Records and Champ Sound Studio (of 1705 Church St. Nashville). Don't think the studio itself was up & running untill sometime into the 70's, but Staton was known as a producer & engineer on country, blues & gospel tracks before that. He produced / engineered loads of gospel tracks in the 1970's, most being custom recordings commisioned by the group / singer or their manager. Maybe this was a 'one off' session for this group that he was paid to work on (maybe he produced the track as well, no producer being credited on the label). Some of the gospel sessions he worked on resulted in releases on the Champ label itself in the 70's, but many escaped on other labels such as HSE. He produced / engineered this track on the Speight Sisters that was released on HSE .............

Kegsy has always looked shady to me .... even in strong sunlight !!!

I've probably already got it on a UK issue. No idea where to start looking to check though. I'll have to find the time to sort everything into some sort of order in my record boxes. I spend way more time looking for some 45's than actually playing em.

National & Regional Breakouts on this list .......

If you were a 13 year old kid, running a makeshift radio station out of your bedroom on 'Mickey Mouse' equipment, you must have been blown away when you saw this record company ad placed in Billboard ........... I bet Walt(er) was the 'big' guy in school all that year !!!