Unfortunately, that taste wouldn’t last long, and before the turn of the decade, Green’s luck looked to have run out.ĭuring a stint in Midland, Texas, Green met Memphian Willie Mitchell at a nightclub. In 1967, the group recorded a single, “Back Up Train,” which hit No. While the late ‘60s were proving to be lean years for Rich down South, Al Green and the Soul Mates got their first taste of success. Rich dropped the Elvis impersonation and, with Sherrill’s direction, found his sound in a winning countrypolitan formula. Music producers like Sherrill hoped that, with the help of talents like Rich, that smooth new sound would allow them to capture the attention of pop music listeners. With Sherrill, not only would Rich embark on a new chapter of his career, but he would also solidify the burgeoning new musical genre known as countrypolitan.Ĭountrypolitan, often referred to at the time as that “Nashville sound,” steered away from the rough honky-tonk sounds of traditional country music and introduced smoother strings and choruses, orchestras and background vocals. His life would never be the same.Īt the time, Sherrill was known for having helped propel the careers of Tammy Wynette and George Jones. As he rounded out the decade, Rich left Sun and signed on with Epic Records, teaming up with producer Billy Sherill. During that time, he experimented with styles that ranged from boogie-woogie to novelties to honky-tonk. 3 on the pop charts.īut real, sustained success would elude him for a few more years, as the 1960s proved to be pretty lean years. That wasn’t Rich, but he played along and saw some more success in the mid-1960s with the release of “Mohair Sam,” which made it to No. The folks at Sun Records were looking to shape the young singer into something that more resembled another one of the more recent successful signings: Elvis Presley. 22 on the pop charts.Ĭountry fans familiar with Rich’s iconic sound would find that initial record almost unrecognizable. And the year after that, his “Lonely Weekends” would hit No. ![]() While having signed on as a session pianist and songwriter, Rich managed to cut his first record the following year. Greene became Green, and the Creations became Al Green and the Soul Mates.īack in Memphis, Rich’s passion for music finally became a career when, in 1957, he signed on with the legendary Sun Records in Memphis after his wife secretly took a recording of his music to the studio. Once out on his own, the teenage Greene was recruited by a band called the Creations. But when he took a liking to more secular music, Greene’s father kicked him out of the group and out of the family home. He was a key member of the family group as young as age 9, touring and performing, and at one point even moving to Michigan. Greene was born in 1946 to a sharecropper family known for their gospel group, the Greene Brothers. Meanwhile, 45 miles west in Forrest City, a young Al Greene (he would later drop the “e”) was also being steeped in the soulful sounds of gospel music produced by his family. He was only in his 20s, but his feathered mane of hair had already begun to turn white, earning him the nickname that would stick with him for life: Silver Fox. He tried his hand at farming, playing the few local bars at night. His wife, whom he married right after high school, was the lead singer.Īfter four years in the Air Force, Rich came home to east Arkansas. ![]() During his time in the military, he helped start a blues group called the Velvetones. But after only one year of higher education, he left and joined the U.S. ![]() Rich would join the high school band, too, and play his way up to the University of Arkansas Razorback marching band. ![]() Country music played on radios outside the gas station church family practiced gospel music in the evenings after supper and Forrest City Mustang band members played through sheets of jazz music outside the schoolhouse.īut it was on the family farm that Rich would receive the most inspiration, where he would learn blues licks and piano from a farmhand named C.J., who also joined the family during some of those Saturday night jam sessions at home. His parents were salt-of-the-earth Missionary Baptists, both members of the church quartet, and his mother played the piano during Sunday service.įor Rich, music was everywhere. Rich was born in 1932 in the town of Colt, home to fewer than 300 people at the time. They climbed to the tops of two very different charts, traveled two very different paths after their ascension, but both were shaped, influenced and inspired by the same row crops and religion of St. His feathered mane of hair had already begun to turn white, earning him the nickname that would stick with him for life: Silver Fox.īorn more than a decade but just eight miles apart, the two musicians shot to stardom almost in lockstep.
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