LINER
NOTES FOR
CHIP TAYLOR'S THIS SIDE OF THE BIG
RIVER
By
Richie Unterberger
Though
most famous for
writing or co-writing big pop and rock hits in the 1960s, Chip Taylor
has often devoted his solo albums to country music. When he released a
trio of such LPs on Warner Brothers in the early-to-mid-1970s, that
came as a big surprise to both his record label and to pop music fans,
who knew him mostly as the author of "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the
Morning." The last of these, 1975's This
Side of the Big River, made barely a commercial ripple in the US
upon its initial release, reaching #36 in the country charts—the only
LP release of his to enter that list. Nonetheless, it's one that he
remains proud of, particularly for the opportunity it gave him to
express some of the most personal sentiments he's ever conveyed in song.
Taylor had
recorded on his own and as part of groups before signing to Warner
Brothers in the early 1970s. But his move into country on his first LP
for the label, 1973's Last Chance,
wasn't what the company was expecting. "I was pursued by Mary Martin,
who was Leonard Cohen's manager back in the day," explains Chip today.
"She'd just taken over the East Coast representation for Warner
Brothers Records, and really went after me to sign with the label. I
had written a bunch of rock'n'roll things that were successful, and [my
first solo LP, 1971's] Gasoline
was a little rock'n'roll-oriented. When Mary signed me, she expected, I
think, I would go into that same thing."
However, he continues, "What I did was, I locked
myself away in Boston and recorded a country album, Last Chance. Mary didn't get to
hear what I was doing until I was finished. It was a labor of love,
because even though I was from Yonkers, New York, my real love was
country. I lived for country, and also the race records from down
South. When I had time to have my own band, my heart went right back to
my love of country music, like the early Elvis things and the Brown
family. Mary was, like, shocked when she heard it. The Warner Brothers
people flew me out to California and, after listening to it, said,
'Jesus, Chip, what the hell are we gonna do with this? We don’t have a
country division!' They quickly got a country division together, and
did their best to promote it. But they had no expertise in this area."
Though Last Chance
got a cult following (particularly in Europe), neither it nor its
follow-up, Some of Us, sold
well. "I had a two-album contract, and expected that I was gonna be
dropped," says Taylor. "Everybody had signed off on me. But they had a
promotion man that was a fan of mine. The following week, because the
promotion man [who] was told not to promote my record was promoting it
under the table late at night, a song called 'Me As I Am' from Some of Us became the first country
chart record ever on Warner Brothers. The guy in charge of the division
said, 'How the hell can we drop Chip Taylor? He's our first country hit
artist.' So now, they asked me if I would please stay," he laughs.
This Side of the
Big River, he continues, "was really a labor of love record. I
started recording in a little recording studio, Minot, up in White
Plains [New York]." Backing him was the band he used when playing
locally in New York, with overdubs being done in Nashville by fiddler
Buddy Spiker, famed pedal steel player Pete Drake, and esteemed backup
vocalists the Jordanaires, noted for working on Nashville sessions by
everyone from Elvis Presley on down. Sandy Bull, the eclectic
multi-instrumentalist who'd recorded innovative albums blending folk,
jazz, and world music in the 1960s, added oud to a couple songs, he and
Taylor having become friendly when Chip was recording in Boston.
Unusually, three of the tracks—"Big River," "John Tucker," and "You're
Alright, Charlie"—were taken from a live radio show broadcast on the
New Hampshire radio station WHNW-FM, although they were overdubbed and
remixed at Minot Sound.
Several of the songs were based on real-life
characters in Taylor's orbit. "'John Tucker' was actually a true story,
about this guy that came into the bar and I didn't know who the heck he
was," he confirms. "He used to come in with a suitcase in his hand,
just sit there and drink. I didn't know if he was going someplace or
coming. But I knew he was a fan. I talked to him after the shows, and
he would sing all the songs we were playing at a place called JT's in
New York. 'You're Alright Charlie' was written about a friend of mine,
Charlie Knoblock. We still remain the best of friends; Charlie runs my
record company now! I was separated from my wife at the time, and did a
bunch of songs for her, including 'Sleepy Eyes,' 'Circle the Tears,'
and 'Holding Me Together.'" "My God Be with Me" was inspired by "a
little incident that I saw on a train; it's one of those story-songs
that I don't often write, but I liked it. I loved the fact that I had
George [lead acoustic guitarist George Kiriakis] sing it. He was a very
religious, warm fellow. He's a preacher now, and I was glad to turn
that song over to him."
The leadoff track, "Same Ol' Story," went into
unusually political territory for country music with its
references to the then-winding-down Vietnam War. It would become an
unexpected smash for Taylor—but only in a very unexpected place. "By
that time, I had proven to Warner Brothers I wasn't gonna sell a ton of
records," he chuckles. "All of a sudden, I got a phone call from Warner
Brothers Holland. He said, 'There's something going on for you
here that we don't understand. You're selling more records than we
would expect you to sell, and we have no idea why. Do you want to come
over here and play a couple of shows, and maybe we'll see why?'"
Resumes Taylor, "So I get there, and the band had
had an argument with the owners, and they had left. It was some little
jazz cafe, and I was left there by myself. The Warner Brothers people
said, 'We're not gonna put you through this, we'll do another show,
we'll build up.' And I said, 'I can't do that.' The line was around the
block; I couldn't believe how many people were gonna be showing up for
this show. It turned out that there was a little country band sitting
back there that was supposed to open for me. I said, 'Let me go back
there and talk to these boys. Maybe we can do a few songs together.' I
went back there and went over a Merle Haggard song with 'em, 'Big
River,' 'Long Black Veil,' and a couple of other things; just any
country songs that I knew. I said, 'Well, okay, we got three songs we
could do. Let me see if we can do some of mine.' 'The Real Thing' [from
Last Chance] isn't too hard, I
started to play that for 'em, and all of a sudden, they started to sing
with me in the chorus. 'You know this song?!' He said, 'Yeah, yeah, we
know this song. We know all your songs. We know every song that you
got. That's what we do. We do your songs.' So we went out and did a
two-hour show or something like that. It was unbelievable. It was among
my favorite moments in my life."
Finishes Chip, "When I did that, the record company
released 'Same Old Story,' and it went to #2 in the charts in Holland. This Side of the Big River became a
big success in Holland, and I was thrilled. I went back over and played
a tour, and every show was sold out." That couldn't save Taylor from
being dropped by Warner Brothers US, despite Johnny Cash himself (whose
mid-'50s hit "Big River" was the sole cover tune on the LP) writing a
letter to radio DJs praising Chip's version and asking them to give the
album a listen. By the beginning of the '80s, Taylor had wound down his
musical activities in favor of professional gambling, though in the
last ten years he's redevoted himself to his music with frequent
recording and touring.
"There's so much passion in this record that's so
real and warm to me," summarizes Chip of This Side of the Big River. "These
aren't your typical commercial songs, but boy, if you really want to
know me, this is the album that will get you to know me. All the
feelings I have for family and friends, the people that mean the most
to me, are in here, and a little bit of what I stand for."
unless otherwise specified.
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