Rich Mountain Tower was a band from Tennessee. They put out three album, this one being their debut. Released in 1971, this is Southern Rock avant la lettre, really. The album has more similarities with Crosby, Stills & Nash than any Allman Brothers album. People that enjoy The Ozark Mountain Daredevils may very well enjoy this too. Some great harmonies and, if you can look past the hippie sensibilities of this album, some wonderful songs, that are sure to grow on you. Since there is hardly any information about this band to be found on the web, I will give you all the information provided to me by Pete, who sent this rip. Thanks Pete!
Rich MOuntain Tower - Rich Mountain Tower (Ovation Records - 1971 OV/14-12 Quadraphonic LP)
Side 1:
Uncle Bob White (Paul) 5:11
Circle Sky Moon Mix (Haspel, McNamee) 4:19
Thank You Maggie (Paul) 3:48
If You Dont Look Back (Haspel) 3:16
Our Passage Home (Paul) 3:40
Side 2:
He Ain't Got No Color, Boys (Carr, Paul, Tuccillo, Garrett) 4:09
Song of the Sea (Paul) 2:55
The Same Thing Applies to Me That Applies to You (Paul) 3:50
One Last Farewell (Paul) 2:42
Marie (Paul) 2:36
The band: David Carr - Lead /Rhythm Guitar; Sandy Garrett - Bass/Acoustic Guitar, Lead & Backing Vocals; Doug "Red Buddy" Moisson - Lead Guitar, Pedal Steel, Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Vocals; Dana Paul - Lead Vocals 12 Str Guitar, Mandolin , Keyboards, Harmonica; Bob Tucillo - Drums, Percussion
Guesting: Randy Haspel - Guitars, Vocals; Lamonte "skip" Ousley - Conga, Persussion; Charlie McCoy - Harmonica; Weldon Myrick - Peal Steel Guitar; Don Tweedy - Moog on "Maggie"; Sonny Pittman - Bass on "Maggie & the Sea"; John 'Hoffy" Hoffman - Banjo
It's a very fine album, so check out Rich Mountain Tower.
14 comments:
Just wanted to know what happened to the band. they played a party I gave and three other girls on a farm in Farragut, (Knoxville) I met Maggie from the song Thank you Maggie from an old friend. Just curious where they all were. I digitized their first album and listen on my ipod now. It was a good recording, especially for the time.
Doug "Red Buddy" Moisson is alive and well and living in Florida, where he still plays music.
This note comes from Dana Paul, one of the original members of RMT. While it has been over 30 years since Rich Mountain Tower played music throughout the Southeast, it's very gratifying that the band and its music are remembered on this site. Thank you for keeping our music out there. Regrettably, our lead guitar player,David Carr, and our drummer, Bob Tucillo, have passed away. Randy Haspel, Sandy Garrett, Doug Moisson and I are still around, though scattered across the Southeast. I've stayed in touch with Randy and Sandy but have lost touch with Red Buddy and hope that Lucille might let him know I send my best.
Hi Dana, and thanks a lot for your comment. I love the music and am about to post the "Playin' To The Radio" album. I'm a little confused as to when it was released. Most sites state it to be from 1978, though somewhere I read it would be from 1976. Listening to the record (again very good), I reckon 1976 would be more likely. Thanks again,
Harley
The second Ovation album has an interesting history which may account for the question as to the release date. Ovation Records sat on the recorded tracks (most were recorded in a Chicago studio during several months that the band was living in the suburbs)for a couple of years before releasing "Can You Feel It?" I remember David [Carr] coming to my house sometime in 1978(I was no longer in the band by that point) and telling me the second Ovation album had been released. It was a complete surprise to me because we'd been given no advance notice. We think Ovation put the album together and released it as a tax write off. Still, I'm glad they released it and I'm knocked out that you've posted it because there are, to my way of thinking, some good songs on the album. Thanks, Harley.--Dana
The Playin' to the Radio Album, produced by Jesse Winchester and recorded in Montreal, Canada, was an independent release. Because we had no record company support at that point, it took a while to get the mastering, cover art, and pressing done. You're right, Harley, in that the release date was in 1976 rather than '78 if I remember, correctly. The second Ovation album, Can't You Feel It?, was actually released later per my previous note.--Dana
Thanks for the information Dana. People should come to this blog for detailed info on Rich mountain Tower. But this information generates a new question: when was the "Can't You Feel It" album, released in 1976 (that's what every site I found states) actually recorded? And are there any other recordings which were never released? Maybe some stuff on cassette stashed in your attic?
Hi, Harley. My memory isn't precise but I believe the sessions for the Can't You Feel It? album took place in the summer after the release of the first album. RMT went to Chicago to help promote the release and do some gigs in the mid west. Ovation Records bought us several weeks of studio time in the city while we were there. The second [Ovation] album was released so long after we had recorded the songs featured on it that I had given up on the idea of ever hearing them again. Yes, there are a couple of studio recordings we never released but I'll have to dig them up to see if the audio remains good enough to render them listenable. Thanks for asking!
When was Scott McClure playing Bass with RMT? I went to school with him @ Alabama. I know he is a psychiatrist in Colorado Springs these days.
Great band! I have one question - what was the middle name of David Carr? Who knows?
Wow, first let me apologize for the time that has elapsed since last I posted. Regarding Sonny's question, Scott attended Maryville College with me starting in fall of1967. He transferred out in 1969 I believe. My memory is a little hazy but as I recall Scott played bass first in the Collection (the name of the band until Bob Tucillo and David Carr came up with RMT)and continued on in Rich Mountain Tower until he left in late 1969 or early 1970. My good friend Sandy Garrett replaced Scott as our bass player and continued as bass player/singer/songwriter with RMT from that point forward except for a brief hiatus during which time Sonny Pittman was our bass player. Sonny is pictured on the cover of the "Can You Feel It" album cover.--DP
Regarding Jerzy's question about David's middle name, I believe (again, my memory is a little hazy after all this time) it was Louis. For a while, David liked to go by the alternate stage name "Dwayne Carswell". This was during RMT"s cowboy period. At that time, David (aka "Dwayne") almost never appeared on stage without his white cowboy boots, which he kept meticulously clean regardless of the weather or the gig--DP
Nice to see the response from Dana Paul! I ripped the 3 RMT lps for Harley... and an so happy he was able to share it and in turn reach Dana Paul... I have enjoyed thise lps for over 20 years..... thanks Dana and RMT and Harley for such a great blog.... peace
This album is one of the most treasured items in my collection. As a Knoxville native and contemporary of the band's members, I feel a special interest in this quite unique music but moreso in the lives of the members of a band that first drew me into what has come to be known as 'country rock'. Knoxville certainly had and still has a fundemental place in C&W (viz. Johnny Cash, Flatt & Scruggs, Johnny Knoxville) but as the genre has developed over the years it seems clear RMT was ahead of it's time in instrumentation and content.
AH, well, I could go on and on, but I especially want to mention the technical aspects of the first RMT album. Many readers today may not understand the implications of the dual reproduction capacity Ovation was able to infuse here. At the time RMT (1) was released the big splash in the audio world was "Quadraphonic" sound--precursor to today's surround sound--and Ovation wisely took the precaution of pressing RMT (1) in a medium compatible with both 2-channel stereo and "Quad" such that you could play this album on either format with no loss of sonic content. Believe me, to produce a vinyl record with both streams was an understated miracle of the time. So, if you own this record, by all means, clean it up and play it on a SOTA audio system and you will feel like you have heard it for the first time; it is an outstanding reproduction !
(There is one regretable and unfixable flaw this pressing abd that is the vinyl itself is very thin so it absolutely must be weighted down on the turntable in order to extract the best sound)
Post a Comment