Soul Men

Until Soul, Inc. walked onto the stage of Assumption High School's gym to play a Sunday night "mixer" in the Fall of 1966, I had never seen a rock 'n' roll band whose members needed a shave -- and who obviously didn't give a damn about looking like teen idols.

Over the past two years I had seen quite a few local bands, mostly across the parking lot from Assumption at the SaRa Teen club in the auditorium of St. Raphael School. Most of them wore tux jackets and bowties, had a horn section, and did dance steps while playing songs from the 1950s. They were clean-shaven, kept their hair in place with Brylcreme, and seemed oblivious to the fact that the Beatles had changed everything when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan show in February, 1964.

Then there were the new-generation bands such as the Oxfords and Rugbys. These groups were clearly influenced by the "British Invasion" and played a lot of the current top-40 songs listed on radio station WAKY's weekly Boss Survey and rival WKLO's Tunedex. But their longer hair and casual clothing had as much to do with the boy-next-door charm of the Beach Boys as with the influence of the Beatles. Most of these musicians were still in high school, and they probably didn't need to shave.

The guys in Soul, Inc. were men, not boys, and as they took the stage with the swagger of a street gang claiming its territory, they didn't look like the kind of chaps you'd want to invite home to meet your sister. Even their guitars looked dangerous -- matching black Baldwin "Bison" models with sharp, double-cutaway horns that made the ubiquitous cherry-red Gibson 335s and sunburst Fender Stratocasters that most bands were using look extremely conservative. Soul, Inc. was still wearing uniforms at that point, but the boots and jeans combined with vests and flowered, puffy-sleeved shirts gave the band an aura of elegant decadence.

Like the younger bands, Soul, Inc.'s repertoire was drawn from what was currently on the radio. But whereas the sound of most of the bands that played the newer music reflected time spent practicing in the garage, Soul, Inc. played with an authority earned from extensive live performance. The band assaulted its audiences with sheer conviction, aggressiveness, and a lot of attitude, blasted through the biggest P.A. system in town.

Guitarists Wayne Young and Frank Bugbee, bassist/lead vocalist Jim Settle and drummer Marvin Maxwell knew they were good, and they made everyone else know it, too, led by Young and Bugbee's twin-guitar heroics backed by Maxwell's deep, driving groove and capped with Settle's in-your-face vocal delivery.

What I didn't know that night at Assumption High School was that this was the second lineup of a group that had started out as a rhythm & blues based horn band, with roots in some of Louisville's first rock 'n' roll bands. Nor did I know that the members had refined their musicianship through countless hours in a local recording studio, cutting tracks of their own and serving as studio musicians for a variety of other artists. The raw power that Soul, Inc. projected on stage was built on extremely disciplined professionalism.

Original recordings by Soul, Inc. and a number of other prominent Louisville bands from the 1960s have been stored for years at Allen-Martin studios. Last week, as the first of a series devoted to Louisville music, "Soul, Inc. Volume 1" was released on the Gear Fab label, combining songs that received airplay on local radio with previously unreleased material. The 20 CD tracks not only span Soul, Inc.'s history from 1965 to 1969, they also document an important chapter of Louisville's music legacy and trace how rock 'n' roll itself changed during a memorable, musical decade.

1954, a couple of Southern High School students named Floyd Lewellyn and Hardy Martin were in a band called Floyd, Sam & the Black Mountain Boys. They cut a record called "Big Bad Moon," and after getting advice from local country-music legend Pee Wee King, they were able to get airplay on country radio stations in the region.

Three years later, Lewellyn (who had changed his name to Ray Allen) and Martin started one of Louisville's first rock 'n' roll bands, the Carnations.

They joined forces with a vocal group called the Tren-dells, and soon they were making records and getting airplay. One of the stations that played their records was WAKY, a station that had achieved instant infamy by broadcasting "Purple People Eater" non-stop for 24 hours on its first day of operation in 1959.

"That was the beginning of an era," Martin says. "We immediately went down to WAKY and promoted ourselves. The station would sponsor dances that the Carnations played at, and we developed close relationships with Jack Sanders and the other disc jockeys."

When other local bands such as the Monarchs and Sultans saw the success that the Carnations were having, they came to Martin and Allen asking for help.

Allen and Martin joined with WAKY's Sanders to form Sambo: Sanders Allen Martin Booking Office. In addition to booking gigs for its bands, Sambo also sent them to recording studios in Nashville and Cincinnati, as Louisville didn't have a professional studio of its own. The records were issued on Sambo's own labels, and many made it to the local top-20 lists. Some did so well that they attracted national attention. The Tren-dells' "Nite Owl" was re-released by Capitol Records, and the Monarchs' "Look Homeward Angel" was issued nationally on Monument.

After working from a rented office on Bardstown Road, Sambo bought a white frame house on Taylorsville Road in Jeffersontown. "The house had a large living room," Martin recalls, "so we bought a couple of tape recorders and some microphones, put up some insulation to deaden it, and started using it for practice recording. We liked doing that so much that we added on to the building and made it into an actual recording studio."

Although the 2-track tape machines were primitive by today's standards, the original Sambo studio turned out quality material as a result of Allen and Martin's emerging skills as engineers, as well as through a sense of adventure and experimentation. Whereas today just about any type of sound is available with the push of a button, in those days audio effects were a matter of ingenuity.

"In those days, even the Los Angeles studios were using sewer tunnels and stuff for echo chambers," Marvin Maxwell says. "At Sambo, it was the garage outside, where they had plastered the walls, ceiling and floor so the sound would bounce around. They put a speaker at one end and a microphone at the other end. When we were cutting late at night, we would sometimes have to stop a session and go out to kill the crickets that had gotten inside the garage, because they'd be chirping all over that echo chamber and you could hear them in the headphones."

Gradually, a "house band" formed that was composed of the best musicians from a variety of Sambo's bands. Wayne Young, who had been in the Carnations and then played with Cosmo & the Counts, often played guitar. Tom Jolly, who played trumpet in Cosmo & the Counts, and Eddie Humphries, a saxophonist in the Carnations, were also members of the studio band.

Early in 1965, Hardy Martin got word of an audition for an upcoming Dick Clark Caravan of Stars tour, which needed a backup band to play behind several artists. Martin told Young of the audition, and he recruited Jolly and Humphries, along with singer/bass player Jimmie Orten and drummer Marvin Maxwell. Orten, who had replaced Tommy "Cosmo" Cosdon in the Sultans when Cosdon left that group to form Cosmo & the Counts, had previously led Jimmy & the Emeralds, of which Maxwell was the drummer. Young's new band worked up some R&B songs and did the audition.

A week later, Maxwell was at his job on the assembly line at the Conn Organ factory in Madison, Indiana when he was summoned to the foreman's office to take a phone call. It was Young calling to say that they had been hired for the Caravan of Stars tour. The band was expected to start work that very night.

"I hung up the phone, turned to the foreman and said, 'I quit'," Maxwell remembers. "I went home, threw some clothes in a sack and told my honey, 'See ya later. I'm goin' on the road with Dick Clark!'"

That night, Soul, Inc. (a name Orten came up with) made its debut in front of several thousand people. They opened the show and then served as the backup band for Lou Christi, Round Robin, the Tradewinds, Reparata & the Delrons and Louise Harrison (sister of Beatle George Harrison).

The Dick Clark tour lasted a month. Afterward, the group started gigging around Louisville and frequently traveled to Florida to play in a club at Coco Beach. Soul, Inc. was also hired to back such artists as Billy Joe Royal and Ian Whitcomb when they played in Louisville.

The group wasted no time going into the studio, and soon released a single, "Don't You Go," which perfectly captured the group's soulful R&B sound. It was backed with a novelty number called "The Alligator," inspired by a popular dance of the day.

The band got significant airplay in Louisville with their next single, "Who Do You Love," but shortly after it was recorded, Orten left Soul, Inc. to fulfil his military duty. After getting out of the service, Orten returned home and hooked up with two other Louisville musicians, guitarist Steve Ferguson and keyboardist Terry Adams. The three moved to Florida and started NRBQ, but Orten didn't stay with the group very long.

Jim Settle, a former vocalist with the Tren-dells, was hired to replace Orten. "When I played my first gig with Soul, Inc., I had been playing bass for two weeks," Settle recalls. "So we used another singer as a safety valve while I got used to handling bass and lead vocals at the same time."

The first singer to help out was "Cosmo" Cosdon, who did a two-week club gig in Florida with the band. Afterward, singer Wayne McDonald performed live with the group for a few months.

Soul, Inc. did a second Dick Clark tour in November of 1965, rushing back from Florida to meet the tour in Louisville. "But we got there late and missed the show," Young recalls. "So we never got to play with the Dick Clark tour in our own hometown."

The second Caravan of Stars tour included the Byrds, We Five, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and Bo Diddley. Whereas Soul, Inc. had backed up all of the artists on the first Dick Clark tour, the second tour was composed primarily of self-contained bands. Soul, Inc. again opened the shows, and then served as backup group for The Results -- two female singers who worked in Dick Clark's Cincinnati office.

Shortly after the second Dick Clark tour, Humphries and Jolly landed a gig with country star Brenda Lee. With musical trends changing, Young elected to replace the horn section with another guitarist and invited Frank Bugbee to join Soul, Inc. With Settle now comfortable handling both bass and lead vocals, the group settled into its best-remembered lineup: Wayne Young, Jim Settle, Frank Bugbee and Marvin Maxwell.

Bugbee had been making a name for himself with the Chateaus. In fact, the flowered shirts Soul, Inc. wore had originally been purchased for the Chateaus by Bugbee while on a trip to California. But on his return he was invited to join Soul, Inc., and so he gave the shirts to his new band. When he first joined Soul, Inc., Bugbee primarily played rhythm guitar behind Wayne Young's lead. But soon the two were sharing lead guitar duties equally.

The first single to feature the new lineup was "Midnight Hour." That song was done in the straight-ahead R&B style that originally characterized the band, but the B-side, "Leaves of Grass," showed the influence of the English groups.

Soul, Inc.'s English influence had more to do with the Rolling Stones than the Beatles. "The Beatles sounded too white to us," Young says. "We had always tried to sound black, which is where the Stones were coming from, too."

Maxwell adds that Soul, Inc. identified strongly with the Rolling Stones' "bad boy" image. "They were outcasts in the music business," he says. "We considered ourselves outcasts too, and we were pretty cocky about it."

Indeed, Soul, Inc.'s version of the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together," which was performed live as "Let's Go to Bed Together," got the group banned from several Louisville teen clubs.

Soul, Inc. claims to be the first Louisville band to hire roadies. "We found out about roadies on the Dick Clark tours," Maxwell recalls. "So when we got home, we hired some guys to set up our gear. I remember other bands asking if we thought we were too damn good to set up our own stuff."

"And we probably said, 'Yeah'," Bugbee admits, laughing.

"That's right," Maxwell agrees. "We were a bunch of smartasses."

"Still are," Young says.

Soul, Inc.'s aggressive attitude was evident on their next single, "Stronger Than Dirt," a song inspired by a TV commercial for Ajax featuring a white knight. The record did quite well on the Louisville charts, reaching number one in the summer of 1967. The song was backed with "60 Miles High," which reflected the emerging "psychedelic" influence.

The band's next single, "I Belong to Nobody," was the group's most successful record, featuring superbly harmonized background vocals that included members of the Rugbys along with Soul, Inc. The record quickly went to number one on both WKLO and WAKY in early 1968, and was soon picked up by the Laurie label and re-released nationally, where it charted in several cities.

Soul, Inc.'s biggest hit was also the beginning of the end of the band's best-remembered lineup. Within months, a trio called Maxwell, Settle and Bugbee made its debut in Louisville, looking to pursue a more pop-oriented direction than the hard rock approach of Soul, Inc. With the release of "Kind of Man" on Imperial Records, the band changed its name to Elysian Field.

Bugbee soon left the group, and with the addition of new personnel, Maxwell and Settle were turning out the same style of aggressive, guitar-driven power rock with Elysian Field that had characterized their tenure in Soul, Inc.

Meanwhile, Wayne Young kept Soul, Inc. going with a variety of members and released two more singles. Chi Howerton was the group's drummer for the rest of its existence, and bassist Wes Scott was a mainstay during most of that period. Another member was guitarist Tim Krekel, who later played in Jimmy Buffett's band and also become a successful songwriter whose songs have been recorded by such artists as Crystal Gayle, Kathy Mattea and Delbert McLinton. Guitarist Denny Lyle was also in the band, but then left to join Elysian Field.

Toward the end, Young hired saxophonist Steve "Mabel" Ulrich and trumpet player Frank Brentzel, bringing the group full circle back to a horn band.

Young disbanded Soul, Inc. in 1969. Throughout the '80s he led the popular club band Midnight Special, which had a lot of the old Soul, Inc. sound and attitude. Last month, Young released a solo album on the ear X-tacy label titled "Charcoal Soul," which features a new version of "I Belong to Nobody."

Many other former members of Soul, Inc. remain active in music. Jimmie Orten performs and runs a recording studio in Florida. Tom Jolly and Eddie Humphries are both still active in the Louisville music scene. Marvin Maxwell owns Mom's Musicians General Store on Frankfort Ave., where Frank Bugbee teaches guitar.

Sambo's name and white frame house are long gone, but the booking agency became Triangle Talent and the recording studio evolved into Allen-Martin Productions. Both companies thrive to this day.

On occasion throughout the '90s, Maxwell and Young have performed together along with Cosmo Cosdon as the nucleus of The Shufflin' Grand Dads, who issued a CD in 1997. And at the recent "Dylan for Dollars" benefit, organized to raise money for public radio station WFPL, Young, Maxwell, Orten and Bugbee performed "Subterranean Homesick Blues" together as Soul, Inc., afterward going into the studio to record new tracks for an upcoming release, which Maxwell claims will be titled "Soul, Inc. 2001: A Spaced Odyssey."

The night before the benefit, while rehearsing at Mom's, Maxwell looked like a kid at Christmas as the band ran down their song. "Let's start a band and go on the road," he shouted out at one point, and the others all smiled. But Maxwell was obviously ready to run home, throw some clothes in a sack, and do it all again.

While surfing the 'Net a few months ago, Ed Amick found a British Web site devoted to '60s rock 'n' roll. A CD that was available through the site included Soul, Inc.'s "I Belong to Nobody."

Amick, who had booked Soul, Inc. in the '60s for dances in Scottsburg, Indiana, called Marvin Maxwell to ask him if he knew about the CD. Maxwell didn't, and neither did anyone else associated with the band. The CD track had been bootlegged from an old single.

As Amick and Maxwell started researching the situation, they found that there was a big market in Europe for rare American rock 'n' roll from the '60s and '70s. At one point, they learned that a mint copy of "I Belong to Nobody" had sold for $600.

Knowing that Ray Allen and Hardy Martin had literally a roomful of master tapes of Louisville bands from that era, Maxwell approached them about making that music available. He promised that he and Amick, who had formed a business together called Groovy Music, inc. would take care of all the legalities and clearances. Allen suggested that if there were any profits, a portion should be given to charity. Maxwell and Amick agreed, with MERF (Musicians Emergency Relief Fund) being the logical choice.

The next step was finding distribution, which led Maxwell and Amick to Roger Maglio, who runs Gear Fab records in Orlando, Florida. A former rock 'n' roll musician who now works in the aerospace industry, Maglio starting releasing CDs in 1997, mostly of "psychedelic" era bands. "I had always been a collector of records from the '60s and '70s," Maglio says. "When the CD era came along, I started seeing all these bootlegs coming out that were badly done. So I decided to go to the bands, license the master tapes, and put out quality material legally."

Gear Fab CDs are sold in many of the major chain stores around the country, including Tower Records and Borders, and are also available on the 'Net through Amazon.com. Maglio says that several of his releases have received airplay on stations around the country that specialize in classic rock.

Once all the pieces were in place, Maxwell visited the Allen-Martin archives, emerging with 13 master tapes of Soul, Inc. and Elysian Field material. He took them back to Mom's Recording Studio where engineer Howie Gano transferred the music to CD.

"Those tapes were literally falling apart as he was making the transfers," Maxwell says. "There was so much iron oxide coming off the tapes that there was a cloud over the consol, and Howie had to stop and clean the tape heads about every ten minutes. He had one chance to get this stuff, and he got it!"

"Soul, Inc. Volume 1" was released last week, and is available at several local record shops and bookstores. A second volume is scheduled for release in October, with an Elysian Field CD set to follow by the end of the year.

Next year, Groovy Music and Gear Fab hope to release CDs by other prominent Louisville bands that recorded at Sambo.

In addition to all of the songs that were released as singles, the Soul, Inc. CDs contain alternate versions of some of the material, as well as songs that were never released. Volume 1 includes an instrumental track called "Poppin' Good," which was part of a local promotion for Southern Star hotdogs, as well as the band's original recording of "Subterranean Homesick Blues," which they performed live at the "Dylan for Dollars" concert in July.

Volume 2 will include a track featuring Tommy "Cosmo" Cosdon on vocals, made during the two weeks he filled in on vocals with the band, along with "Connection," a Rolling Stones song that Soul, Inc. frequently performed live.

"I want to thank Hardy and Ray for having the insight to build the studio, and for hanging on to all this stuff," Maxwell says. "We could put out an album a month for years with the stuff that's been in that room for 30 to 40 years. I feel real honored that we had the chance to work with it. It's truly a labor of love for the music."

Amick agrees. "We're not in it for the money," he says, noting that they'll be lucky to break even after all of the songwriters and publishers are paid. "We're preserving Louisville music history; that's the cool thing."

Tim Tyler, a former disc jockey at WAKY, was delighted to hear that Soul, Inc.'s music is being re-released. "As one of the disc jockeys who played the music of Soul, Inc. the first time around in the '60s, I feel redeemed that this great group is getting well-deserved appreciation thirty years later," says Tyler. "The '90s are proving the depth of their music and the depth of their white 'soul'."