September 11, 2020 —– Chart #56
Hello Musical Friends,
Happy Friday, music friends. Today is the 19th anniversary of the terror attach of September 11. While our remembrance is somber, it is important to remember that we prevailed as a country and prosper on even in the face of those who would do us harm. In that light I have chosen a fun 1974 song from a band that can claim only one top ten hit. The song is “Keep On Smiling” by Wet Willie. Wet Willie is an American band from Mobile, Alabama. Their best-known song, “Keep On Smilin'”, reached No. 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in August 1974. Several other of the group’s songs also appeared on the singles charts in the 1970s, which utilized their soulful brand of Southern rock.
Drummer Lewis Ross assembled the musicians for a group called “Fox” in the summer of 1969 and after relocating from Mobile, Alabama to Macon, Georgia, home of Capricorn Records, became known as “Wet Willie”. The band made its name playing Southern rock from 1971 until 1978, producing a number of albums and several charting singles, one of them achieving Top Ten success. They first became known to concertgoers as the opening act for the Allman Brothers Band in 1971, and still perform today. When Jimmy Hall is with the band, it is billed as Wet Willie, otherwise as The Wet Willie Band.
The core members of the band during that period were Jimmy Hall, vocals, harmonica, saxophone; Jimmy’s brother Jack Hall on bass; John David Anthony on keyboards; Ricky Hirsch on guitar, and Lewis Ross on drums and percussion. Wick Larsen was added as a second guitarist for a brief stay during the Wet Willie II album period. The duo of women singing background vocals dubbed “The Williettes” were staple of the classic Wet Willie sound that featured Jimmy & Jack’s sister, Donna Hall and Ella Brown Avery. For a short period of time in 1974 UK singer Elkie Brooks joined the band as a backing singer, as did future Honkette Leslie Hawkins. Michael Duke debuted on the album Dixie Rock adding keyboards and vocals, and stayed with the band through their tenure in the Southern Rock era. A period of personnel and record label changes followed and in 1978 with a new Epic Records contract the new line-up included Jimmy and Jack Hall, Mike Duke, drummer T.K. Lively, and guitarists Marshall Smith and Larry Berwald through the early 1980s. After a brief hiatus the band regrouped in the early 1990s featuring the siblings Jimmy, Jack, and Donna Hall along with original keyboardist John David Anthony, drummer T.K. Lively, and long-time members guitarists Ric Seymour and Ricky Chancey.
Keep rockin’,
Stan