BROTHERS OF THE SOUTHLAND
''BROTHERS OF THE SOUTHLAND''
2009
64:25
1/Rock and Roll Survivor
George McCorkie / George McCorkle / D. Scott Miller / Jim Weatherly/3:52
2/Can't You See
Toy Caldwell/7:30
3/Brothers of the Southland
Henry Paul / Jim Peterick / Dave Robbins/6:56
4/Travlin' Light These Days
Steve Grisham / George McCorkie / George McCorkle / D. Scott Miller/3:45
5/Dreams
Gregg Allman/5:37
6/Blue Sunrise
Charles English / Jaime Hanna / Alan Miller/3:41
7/Love Don't Care
Dallas Davidson / Jim McCormick/2:54
8/Dixie Highway
Chuck Glass / Henry Paul/4:28
9/Pray for Me
Steve Grisham / D. Scott Miller/3:34
10/Back in the Day
D. Scott Miller / Henry Paul/3:52
11/Change a Comin'
Jimmy Hall / Mark Selby/3:39
12/Long Goodbye
Jimmy Hall / Jeff Silbar/5:56
13/Can't You See
Toy Caldwell/3:57
14/THE RENEGADES OF SOUTHERN ROCK - Fire On The Mountain (Bonus Track)/4:18
Bo Bice/Vocals, Guitar
Jimmy Hall/Vocals, Sax, Harmonica
Henry Paul/Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
Jay Boy Adams/Lead Guitar
Steve Grisham/Guitar, Vocals
Dan Toler/Guitar
Mike Brignardello/Bass
Steve Gorman/Drums
Additional musicians:
D. Scott Miller/Guitar
Mark Selby/Guitar
Charlie South/Guitar
Pat Buchanan/Guitar
Reece Wynans/Keyboards
Mike Rojas/Keyboards
Mark Beckett/Drums
Derek Wolford/Percussion
George McCorkle/Vocals
Charity White/Vocals
Mona Lisa French/Vocals
Russell Terrell/Vocals
David Herrera/Horns
Rufus Long/Horns
Alan Javorky/Horns
Quitman Dennis/Horns
REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger
So many musicians are involved in Brothers of the Southland that it seems more like a project than a band. Going by the back cover, at any rate, there seem to be eight core members, including musicians who've done time with the Outlaws, Wet Willie, and the Black Crowes, as well as -- and it's not a misprint -- Bo Bice, the 2005 American Idol runner-up. Over half of the tracks were written or co-written by bandmembers and/or associates, though there's a smattering of outside contributions, as well as a nod to their influences with a cover of the Allman Brothers' "Dreams." Given their pedigrees, it's no surprise that Brothers of the Southland play classic-style Southern rock, enough so that at times they sound like a Southern rock tribute band that happens to play mostly original material. In addition to the fusion of blues-rock and hard rock so typical of the form, there are touches of soul (and occasional horns), gospel, and heavy metal braggadocio. If that brings to mind strutting boogies with overlong solos, yeah, there are a few such things here. Those are balanced out, however, by a good number of more reflective, at times sadness-tinged slower tunes; very occasionally, it even sounds a bit, though just a bit, like early-'70s Van Morrison.
"DANGEROUS" DAN TOLER
reflects on his spectacular career in music.....
I started playing guitar in my hometown of Connersville, Indiana at age 12. I had many influences ranging from Johnny Smith to Chet Atkins. After seeing Chet play once on the Grand Ole Opry, I set about attempting to learn his style of play. Lonnie Mack was another early influence. His instrumental version of Memphis was a guitar player"s dream song and when I finally learned how to play the solo I was ecstatic. R&B was also the thing in those days and I loved that music.
Bill Lakes and the Playboys, a local band, was one of my first bands in which I had the opportunity to grow as a young player. We played a lot of R&B and Blues, which was a great training ground for any guitar player. I also enjoyed playing country music, as long as they had a decent pedal steel player. I got pretty adept at picking out the chord formations and playing along in harmony.
The first National act that I joined was The Melting Pot Band on Capricorn Records in 1969 replacing the guitar player who had been injured. In late 1975 I was living in St. Petersburg, Florida and making three-dollars a night playing for the door. Two guys from the band I was playing with got a call from Dickey Betts and went to join him to start the Dickey Betts and Great Southern Band. They said he was looking for a guitar player and that they would try to get me an audition. I didn't feel I had a chance at an audition, let alone the gig. But a few days later, I was coming in from the pool and the phone was ringing from a booth just outside our apartment door, it kept ringing and ringing. Finally I'd had enough and answered it. A voice on the other end said, "I am looking for Dan Toler, this is Dickey Betts calling" and I said "yeah right" and hung up the phone. Fortunately, he called back. We talked for a while and during the conversation, he offered to fly me to Macon, Georgia for a look see.
I gave 'em my best stuff at the audition and it must've paid off because a few days later, I was part of the band. Over the next few years I played with Dickey and the band on two Great Southern records, "Dangerous" and "Atlanta's Burning Down". In 1979 the Allman Brothers Band was auditioning players in Macon at the Capricorn Records Picnic. I was asked to play. When I got home the next day Dickey called me and said they wanted to make me be an Allman Brother. I was with the Brothers for the next three Allman Brothers records. "Enlightened Rogues" in 1979, "Reach For The Sky" in 1980 and "Brothers Of The Road" the next year. In 1982, Gregg Allman was starting to sour on his contract with Arista Records. That January Gregg, myself and my brother Frankie left the Allman Brothers and formed the Gregg Allman Band. After five years of gigging, writing and recording the band was able to land a deal with Epic Records. In 1987 we recorded the album, "I'm No Angel" In 1988 we recorded the album "Just Before The Bullets Fly". The success of those two records propelled us through 1989 with "I'm no Angel" going gold.. In 1990 when Gregg reformed the Allman Brothers Band, my brother and I decided to do our own project, The Toler Brothers Band. We toured extensively with acts like Black Oak Arkansas, Southern Rock All-Stars, Radio Tokyo and Molly Hatchet. In '95 Gregg approached me about playing with him again as Gregg Allman and Friends.
It was during this time I reconnected with Johnny Townsend. Johnny, my brother David (Frankie) Toler and I had been playing with the Gregg and Friends band in California. In no time Johnny and I hit it off and we started writing songs together. Even after the tour ended, I would send tapes to John and he would write lyrics to my music. Very soon we had composed a number of great tunes. I first met Johnny Townsend when I was working with Gregg's band, playing on the West Coast in the 1980s. Johnny would come sit-in with us and sing tunes like "Stormy Monday Blues" and he would absolutely mesmerize the audiences and get standing ovations. He just blew us all away. I think Johnny Townsend is a powerful vocalist with a great talent for lyrics and chord changes and I'm proud to stand on stage with him.
Writing music with Johnny and playing in a band together... it doesn't get any better than that for me. My Brother David and I had been doing some recording in Sarasota Florida at Telstar Studio with our friend and engineer Bud Snyder. We recorded four of five instrumental tracks and decided to send them to Johnny. The lyrics Johnny came up with were absolutely incredible and Johnny's vocals were exactly what we needed to make our band complete. We continued to work on the music on and off for several years. This project would eventually become our first CD, "The Toler/Townsend Band". I continued to play with other bands periodically like The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Hiland, Nick Moroch, Lonnie Mack, Matt Guitar Murphy, Warren Haynes, Derrick Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Altar Bridge, Three Doors Down and Steve Gorman of The Black Crows, doing some touring and guest appearances.
In 2002 I was approached by Dicky Betts again to play with Great Southern. During this time we recorded an acoustic album called "The Collectors # 1". I stayed with Dickey until I got a call from my old friend George McCorkle from Marshal Tucker Band. George wanted to put together Southern Rock Legends band. We called that band "The Renegades". We were joined by Johnny Townsend and Jack Hall from Wet Willie. We toured the U.S. with acts like Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat and The Outlaws. It was a lot of fun but the whole time that band was together, all me and Johnny could talk about was the music we had been making as The Toler/Townsend Band.
When The Renegades went their separate ways, Johnny and I revived our music and started posting it in selected places online and within forty-eight hours we started getting interest from people in the European community. Reviews and magazine interviews followed and then interest from a European record company. We're very excited to announce that we've recently signed with Music Avenue and our CD, "The Toler/Townsend Band", was released overseas in march 2009.
Hope to see you down the road.....
''BROTHERS OF THE SOUTHLAND''
2009
64:25
1/Rock and Roll Survivor
George McCorkie / George McCorkle / D. Scott Miller / Jim Weatherly/3:52
2/Can't You See
Toy Caldwell/7:30
3/Brothers of the Southland
Henry Paul / Jim Peterick / Dave Robbins/6:56
4/Travlin' Light These Days
Steve Grisham / George McCorkie / George McCorkle / D. Scott Miller/3:45
5/Dreams
Gregg Allman/5:37
6/Blue Sunrise
Charles English / Jaime Hanna / Alan Miller/3:41
7/Love Don't Care
Dallas Davidson / Jim McCormick/2:54
8/Dixie Highway
Chuck Glass / Henry Paul/4:28
9/Pray for Me
Steve Grisham / D. Scott Miller/3:34
10/Back in the Day
D. Scott Miller / Henry Paul/3:52
11/Change a Comin'
Jimmy Hall / Mark Selby/3:39
12/Long Goodbye
Jimmy Hall / Jeff Silbar/5:56
13/Can't You See
Toy Caldwell/3:57
14/THE RENEGADES OF SOUTHERN ROCK - Fire On The Mountain (Bonus Track)/4:18
Bo Bice/Vocals, Guitar
Jimmy Hall/Vocals, Sax, Harmonica
Henry Paul/Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
Jay Boy Adams/Lead Guitar
Steve Grisham/Guitar, Vocals
Dan Toler/Guitar
Mike Brignardello/Bass
Steve Gorman/Drums
Additional musicians:
D. Scott Miller/Guitar
Mark Selby/Guitar
Charlie South/Guitar
Pat Buchanan/Guitar
Reece Wynans/Keyboards
Mike Rojas/Keyboards
Mark Beckett/Drums
Derek Wolford/Percussion
George McCorkle/Vocals
Charity White/Vocals
Mona Lisa French/Vocals
Russell Terrell/Vocals
David Herrera/Horns
Rufus Long/Horns
Alan Javorky/Horns
Quitman Dennis/Horns
REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger
So many musicians are involved in Brothers of the Southland that it seems more like a project than a band. Going by the back cover, at any rate, there seem to be eight core members, including musicians who've done time with the Outlaws, Wet Willie, and the Black Crowes, as well as -- and it's not a misprint -- Bo Bice, the 2005 American Idol runner-up. Over half of the tracks were written or co-written by bandmembers and/or associates, though there's a smattering of outside contributions, as well as a nod to their influences with a cover of the Allman Brothers' "Dreams." Given their pedigrees, it's no surprise that Brothers of the Southland play classic-style Southern rock, enough so that at times they sound like a Southern rock tribute band that happens to play mostly original material. In addition to the fusion of blues-rock and hard rock so typical of the form, there are touches of soul (and occasional horns), gospel, and heavy metal braggadocio. If that brings to mind strutting boogies with overlong solos, yeah, there are a few such things here. Those are balanced out, however, by a good number of more reflective, at times sadness-tinged slower tunes; very occasionally, it even sounds a bit, though just a bit, like early-'70s Van Morrison.
"DANGEROUS" DAN TOLER
reflects on his spectacular career in music.....
I started playing guitar in my hometown of Connersville, Indiana at age 12. I had many influences ranging from Johnny Smith to Chet Atkins. After seeing Chet play once on the Grand Ole Opry, I set about attempting to learn his style of play. Lonnie Mack was another early influence. His instrumental version of Memphis was a guitar player"s dream song and when I finally learned how to play the solo I was ecstatic. R&B was also the thing in those days and I loved that music.
Bill Lakes and the Playboys, a local band, was one of my first bands in which I had the opportunity to grow as a young player. We played a lot of R&B and Blues, which was a great training ground for any guitar player. I also enjoyed playing country music, as long as they had a decent pedal steel player. I got pretty adept at picking out the chord formations and playing along in harmony.
The first National act that I joined was The Melting Pot Band on Capricorn Records in 1969 replacing the guitar player who had been injured. In late 1975 I was living in St. Petersburg, Florida and making three-dollars a night playing for the door. Two guys from the band I was playing with got a call from Dickey Betts and went to join him to start the Dickey Betts and Great Southern Band. They said he was looking for a guitar player and that they would try to get me an audition. I didn't feel I had a chance at an audition, let alone the gig. But a few days later, I was coming in from the pool and the phone was ringing from a booth just outside our apartment door, it kept ringing and ringing. Finally I'd had enough and answered it. A voice on the other end said, "I am looking for Dan Toler, this is Dickey Betts calling" and I said "yeah right" and hung up the phone. Fortunately, he called back. We talked for a while and during the conversation, he offered to fly me to Macon, Georgia for a look see.
I gave 'em my best stuff at the audition and it must've paid off because a few days later, I was part of the band. Over the next few years I played with Dickey and the band on two Great Southern records, "Dangerous" and "Atlanta's Burning Down". In 1979 the Allman Brothers Band was auditioning players in Macon at the Capricorn Records Picnic. I was asked to play. When I got home the next day Dickey called me and said they wanted to make me be an Allman Brother. I was with the Brothers for the next three Allman Brothers records. "Enlightened Rogues" in 1979, "Reach For The Sky" in 1980 and "Brothers Of The Road" the next year. In 1982, Gregg Allman was starting to sour on his contract with Arista Records. That January Gregg, myself and my brother Frankie left the Allman Brothers and formed the Gregg Allman Band. After five years of gigging, writing and recording the band was able to land a deal with Epic Records. In 1987 we recorded the album, "I'm No Angel" In 1988 we recorded the album "Just Before The Bullets Fly". The success of those two records propelled us through 1989 with "I'm no Angel" going gold.. In 1990 when Gregg reformed the Allman Brothers Band, my brother and I decided to do our own project, The Toler Brothers Band. We toured extensively with acts like Black Oak Arkansas, Southern Rock All-Stars, Radio Tokyo and Molly Hatchet. In '95 Gregg approached me about playing with him again as Gregg Allman and Friends.
It was during this time I reconnected with Johnny Townsend. Johnny, my brother David (Frankie) Toler and I had been playing with the Gregg and Friends band in California. In no time Johnny and I hit it off and we started writing songs together. Even after the tour ended, I would send tapes to John and he would write lyrics to my music. Very soon we had composed a number of great tunes. I first met Johnny Townsend when I was working with Gregg's band, playing on the West Coast in the 1980s. Johnny would come sit-in with us and sing tunes like "Stormy Monday Blues" and he would absolutely mesmerize the audiences and get standing ovations. He just blew us all away. I think Johnny Townsend is a powerful vocalist with a great talent for lyrics and chord changes and I'm proud to stand on stage with him.
Writing music with Johnny and playing in a band together... it doesn't get any better than that for me. My Brother David and I had been doing some recording in Sarasota Florida at Telstar Studio with our friend and engineer Bud Snyder. We recorded four of five instrumental tracks and decided to send them to Johnny. The lyrics Johnny came up with were absolutely incredible and Johnny's vocals were exactly what we needed to make our band complete. We continued to work on the music on and off for several years. This project would eventually become our first CD, "The Toler/Townsend Band". I continued to play with other bands periodically like The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Hiland, Nick Moroch, Lonnie Mack, Matt Guitar Murphy, Warren Haynes, Derrick Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Altar Bridge, Three Doors Down and Steve Gorman of The Black Crows, doing some touring and guest appearances.
In 2002 I was approached by Dicky Betts again to play with Great Southern. During this time we recorded an acoustic album called "The Collectors # 1". I stayed with Dickey until I got a call from my old friend George McCorkle from Marshal Tucker Band. George wanted to put together Southern Rock Legends band. We called that band "The Renegades". We were joined by Johnny Townsend and Jack Hall from Wet Willie. We toured the U.S. with acts like Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat and The Outlaws. It was a lot of fun but the whole time that band was together, all me and Johnny could talk about was the music we had been making as The Toler/Townsend Band.
When The Renegades went their separate ways, Johnny and I revived our music and started posting it in selected places online and within forty-eight hours we started getting interest from people in the European community. Reviews and magazine interviews followed and then interest from a European record company. We're very excited to announce that we've recently signed with Music Avenue and our CD, "The Toler/Townsend Band", was released overseas in march 2009.
Hope to see you down the road.....