Roburt

Ian, I have lots of info on local charts for Baltimore, St Louis (only for a certain time in the 60's) & Miami. Got odd bits of info on what was going on in Cleveland town as well .... early 68 breakouts ... ......... Tony Clarke, Timothy Carr, Jean Wells, etc.

Although many labels were still making good use of regional reps in the mid 70's, some record companies were so small & / or 'off the beaten track', that the guys there couldn't run to such a facility ........ ..... for them it was still the old 'tried & tested' (but not too effective) trade ad ...... still I suppose at least it got the word out, how many people seeing the ad actually followed up on things I have no idea ... ... Cobra Records of Marlboro (west of Boston) tried the method to promote their artist Arlene Bailey ...

Another show at the Village Gate .............

The James Brown package was down in Miami (again) in May 72. Wonder who the 'Soul Twins' were that featured on the bill ?

One from January 1966 here ........... Bit suprised that the Artistics were getting action in LA and Darrow Fletcher in Miami.

Robb, thanks for that info .... yes it makes a lot of sense that old 'vaulted' cuts would (at times) be used as a new 45 release's B side. It does make sorting out an artist's recording history a whole lot more difficult to pin down though. Wasn't the Major starting to get into record production (with 'new & young' artists) himself by the end of his 'Okeh years' .... I guess his studio work with these guys was back in Chicago even if his own sessions were no longer held there.

I know Major Lance cut for Okeh in cities other than Chcago, but after Carl Davis left Okeh, didn't Ted Cooper produce a lot of his tracks ?? Where (city) would Major have laid down his vocal tracks on those cuts (surely a few had to be done in Chicago ?). Perhaps I should have used the words .... lots of the classier sounds always came from Chicago artists !!

Two regional breakout 45's in March 65 ........

Some Boogaloo 45's were popular with the teens miles away from their home city ......

Of course, payola or appointing a regional rep to act as your promo man wasn't the only way to go for a little local label based off the beaten track. You could always place an ad in a trade paper .............. and hope ...........

This KATZ chart rundown from 1968 features a piccy of Donny (as he had returned to the St Louis stn by then).

I suggested to B&S back around 1970/71 that they should feature a series in the mag on little indie US soul labels. They never really took up the suggestion in any meaningful way .... BUT ... they did do an article on Ston-Roc. Only filled a page in the mag but it contained some (superficial) info on how the label worked plus photos of a couple of their artists (I think Cody was one of them).

As he classier sounds always came out of Chicago, I'd have to nominate the likes of Johnny Pate, Carl Davis and Ted Cooper.

Two good acts down at a Miami Beach club in 72 .... ...... Latimore was featured there a lot in 72.

Two good acts on at Lloyd Price's Turntable Club .........

............. A mid 60's WCHB Detroit ad ......... .... Donny Brooks was on their roster at the time .........

....... More (in Aug 64) from WSID's Fat Daddy ......... with the bottom 10 of WSID's Top 30 added in for good measure

Nella wasn't a breakout, just a record to watch ........ .. and Jerry Williams was there again ...

By February 1967, Donny Brooks had followed Jimmy Bishop to Philadelphia and he too was working as a DJ at radio stn WDAS, so it seems that the LP on Arctic (a August 67 release) may have been to cement Jimmy & Donny's friendship or it may have been 'payment in kind' in return for something that Donny had done for Jimmy. Whatever the case was, Donny was back in St Louis in 1968 in a higher grade job. Anyone know who owned Badfinger Records who released the 2nd Donny 'Soul Finger' Brooks LP (I'd make a guess that Donny himself was involved with the label in some sort of way).

Yes, regional reps did a lot of good for certain record labels. Motown used to hire people with local influence, Weldon McDougal & certain radio DJ's were put on the payroll to help plug / promote the company's releases. Then as Motown's major influence began to fall off a bit, some of those same guys were hired to help out at Philly International.

Already posted this one (in the Boogaloo thread) .... ... but it's worth another airing ..... Lou Courtney was big in Houston, Jimmy Robbins in Atlanta, & Don Gardner in Milwaukee ........

Locals Candy & the Kisses plus Arnold Mitchell were getting attention in Philly .... ... but so were 45's by Gus Jenkins & the Tams. Down in Baltimore, it was mainly 'out of town' artists who were getting a push. These included Little Jerry Williams & his Southern Sound label 45 (about to be picked up by Loma me thinks).

Local guy Kenny Hamber was doing well in Baltimore but why was the Wallace Bothers 45 so big in the city ?? Don't think I've ever heard the Butterflies or Terry & the Tyrants cuts at all !!! Up in Philly, a ska 45 was big but the WDAS DJ's were also getting behind the Carolyn Crawford & Eddie Holland 45's. Local Barbara Mason was showing well which was to be expected but why was Johnny Williams Kent 45 getting so much attention. ............. you tell me ........... October now but we're still in Philly & Baltimore ............. .. can't think why Jimmy Bishop should have helped pick the Tiffanys 45 as one to watch .........

"Funny" by Joe Hinton was also getting most attention up north (Boston, New York, Cleveland) rather than back down south (Houston or even Indiana). Here's a 2nd listing ..... this time Joe's 45 is being championed in Baltimore .... its popularity was spreading right across the country & it entered the national R&B charts in mid August & stayed on the charts for 3 months ....

Lots of times back in the 1960's (not so much later as individual radio DJ's had less scope to playlist tracks themselves) a record (45 or LP track that was then issued on 45) would be broken by just a single DJ (or a team who all worked at the same stn). Their choices would many times be straight forward, a local artist that they perhaps knew / liked with a 45 on a local label (or with a national major label deal) would be selected & with plays would hit the local charts. This success would then spread out across the States. If the artist was unknown, the spread of popularity of their track could be quite slow (it having dropped off the 1st city chart it entered whilst still had to enter a far flung location's charts). But on numerous occasions, an act would become friendly with a DJ from miles away & thus the record of a New York based act could be broken say in Miami; whilst it got no radio plays at all back in their home area (as was the case with the Steinways). Thought it would be a good idea to list a few 'breakout' rundowns & get the 'guys with the goods' to pass along their knowledge as to why say a 45 on a LA indie label should get better attention in Philly (or DC or Miami) than it ever got back in their home city. So here goes, the 1st 'breakout' listing ........ ... it's from August 64 but the question is ..... why was the Vows Tamara 45 getting so much attention in Philly & DC ... I for one have no idea at all, over to you (Robb?) .........