JOHN HALL 'ORLEANS' LEGENDARY SINGER-SONGWRITER AND GUITARIST IS 'STILL THE ONE'

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW WELCOMES JOHN HALL OF 'ORLEANS'

John Hall’s path is optimistic. As a professional performer/singer-songwriter/guitarist, he found himself wanting and needing to make changes to better the world around him. By advocacy through music, he segued into politics first on a local level, and then nationally as a member of the United States Congress. After making a difference for the environment, healthcare, and even more so for veterans, he returned to the music world.

John’s memoir STILL THE ONE:  A ROCK’N’ROLL JOURNEY TO CONGRESS AND BACK shares a variety of stories from his life in the musical and political worlds. 

Best known as a member of Orleans, a hit-making pop-rock group with multiple lead singers and hits “Still The One,” “Dance With Me,”(both co-written by John and still in heavy use on the radio, streamers, Broadway shows, and TV shows like Maya and Marty and Hallmark's Movie of the week). “Still” and “Dance” have been certified by BMI at over 12 million airplays in the US alone. Other Orleans hits include “Love Takes Time,” "Let There Be Music," and "Reach."

John Hall has written songs for music legends ranging from Janis Joplin (“Half Moon”) and Bonnie Raitt (Good Enough) and to Chet Atkins (Sails). Other folks that have covered John’s songs include: Bobby McFerrin (Dance with Me),the Doobie Brothers with James Taylor and Michael McDonald (Power), Bela Fleck with New Grass Revival (Reach), and Ricky Skaggs and James Taylor (New Star Shining). He wrote “Ms. Grace,” Number One in England by The Tymes in 1975, and listed in Rolling Stone's top five of all- time beach music hits.  

 John played guitar on record and/or on tour with Seals and Crofts, Taj Mahal, Carly Simon, Little Feat, and Christopher Cross.  

His environmental concerns led him into community activism, as one of the movers of the antinuclear movement. John cofounded the activist group MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Graham Nash in 1979. His song “Power” became the rallying song and a highlight at the five NO-NUKES concerts presented by MUSE in 1979. Among the artists that participated: Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, Crosby Still and Nash, Chaka Khan, Carly Simon, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne…

Starting in 1990 John served in the Ulster County New York legislature and the Saugerties, New York Board of Education. In 2006 he ran for Congress against an entrenched incumbent in a historically Republican district. John’s musical colleagues performing at fundraisers made it possible to finance his winning campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives, for whom he served until early 2011. 

In STILL THE ONE, John shares stories about moments that stand out from both his musical and political lives. 

John shares childhood memories of being raised to be an optimist, and finding himself at age 18 in the miles of the ‘60s’ Music Explosion. In STILL THE ONE shows the cresting of his passion for environmental issues and rolling up his sleeves to help build several environmental groups.  

From Janis Joplin's birthday party to conversations behind the closed-door caucus in the basement of the Capitol, from dialog with protesters to sharing elevator rides with fellow members of Congress, this captivating memoir offers viewpoints from an earnest and humorous voice.

 John Hall’s life path is jam-packed with intriguing stories, fascinating people and optimism. 

Titled after John’s best-known song, STILL THE ONE: A ROCK’N’ROLL JOURNEY TO CONGRESS AND BACK is ultimately an ode to engagement in creating a better world. –available now at amazon.com

LISTEN TO THE JOHN HALL INTERVIEW BELOW ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW AND BBS RADIO POSTED ON YOUTUBE

 Visit John’s Official website www.johnhallmusic.com

Visit John Hall on Facebook www.facebook.com/JohnHall.memoir/

Visit Orleans official website at www.orleansonline.com

Visit www.rockandromancecruise.com for more information

Purchase John Hall’s best-selling memoir entitled …

Still The One:

A Rock'n'Roll Journey to Congress and Back

at amazon.com

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'FIREFALL' LEGENDARY VOCALIST,MUSICIAN AND SONGWRITER RICK ROBERTS ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

R I C K  R O B E R T S 

 THE VOICE OF 'F I R E F A L L'

 ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

Rick Roberts started playing guitar at the age of fifteen, hoping to impress the girls at the beach in Clearwater, Florida, where he was born and raised. At the age of nineteen, he left college and hitch-hiked to California, ‘with the dream’ of making it in rock. He got his initial break about a year later, taking Gram Parsons’ spot in The Flying Burrito Brothers, with whom he did two albums, and then went on to do two critically acclaimed solo albums.

Winter Rose is the third band he has put together, following Firefall and The Roberts-Meisner Band. In between, he spent time with Stephen Stills’ band, Linda Ronstadt’s band, and A 20th Anniversary Tribute to the Byrds. Roberts toured as a member of Stephen Stills and Linda Ronstadt’s bands, and penned more than 60 compositions which were recorded and performed by leading musical entertainers.

Singer-songwriter Rick Roberts and guitarist Jock Bartley founded Firefall in the summer of 1974. Roberts had served as a spark for the Flying Burrito Brothers from 1970 to 1972, after Gram Parsons left the band. He contributed several compositions to the repertoire—the best-known being “Colorado”—before launching his own career as a solo artist. Bartley had started as a student of jazz guitar great Johnny Smith, a Colorado Springs resident. With a few band stints around the Denver/Boulder area under his belt, Bartley took over the lead guitar post of Tommy Bolin in Zephyr in 1971. The following year, he switched over to Gram Parsons’ band, the Fallen Angels (which also featured Emmylou Harris) and met Roberts, whose touring schedule with the Burritos often overlapped that of Parsons. Mark Andes, the founding bassist of the bands Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, joined with Bartley and Roberts, who began an informal series of jam sessions at his home in Boulder. Roberts thought of a fourth participant he’d met in Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter Larry Burnett. At Chris Hillman’s suggestion, they added drummer Michael Clarke, an original member of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.

The break came when Roberts, Bartley and Andes toured as Hillman’s backup band. Hillman fell ill during a date at the Other End in New York, and the club owner accepted a proposal to bring Burnett and Clarke into town. Firefall finished out the engagement, and Atlantic Records was sold on the band. By January 1976, the group had completed recording a debut album with producer Jim Mason, who blended the group’s acoustic guitars, mellow pop melodies and vocal harmonies. A sixth member, David Muse, joined the ranks on keyboards, synthesizers, flute, tenor sax and harmonica.

Firefall reached platinum status, and the singles “You Are the Woman,” “Livin’ Ain’t Livin’” and “Cinderella” together sold in excess of one million copies. Firefall notched more hits—“Just Remember I Love You” and “Strange Way”—and two more best-selling albums in the late 1970s, Luna Sea and Elan. The band’s heady time culminated in an opening slot for Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” tour in 1977, including a hometown Folsom Stadium gig before 61,500 Coloradans. 

RAY SHASHO INTERVIEWS 

RICK ROBERTS ON BBS RADIO/ 

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CLICK BELOW 

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Visit Rick Robert's official website at http://rickrobertsmusic.com/

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You can purchase Rick Roberts …

Song Stories and Other 

Left Handed –Recollections

and

‘Lame Brain’

 My Journey Back to Real Life

at amazon.com

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

Bi-weekly Monday Afternoon at 3 pm Pacific/6 pm Eastern

On the BBS Radio 1 Network

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

 IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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We Shine Only When 

We Make You Shine

Website http://www.publicityworksagency.com/

Contact Ray Shasho at 941-877-1552

Email us at ray@publicityworksagency.com

http://bbsradio.com/therayshashoshow

And don’t forget to purchase a copy of my book entitled Check the Gs -the true story of an eclectic American family and their Wacky family business … or the second edition entitled … Wacky Shenanigans on F Street- ‘Proud to be Politically Incorrect in Washington DC’ ... available now at amazon.com. You’ll live it!!!

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW WELCOMES 'ED KING' STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK & LYNYRD SKYNYRD LEGENDARY GUITARIST AND SONGWRITER

E D  K I N G INTERVIEW 

ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

 BBS RADIO

“I am the luckiest guitar player on Earth,” Ed King declares.

King caught lightning in a bottle twice: First as a co-founder of the hit-making Strawberry Alarm Clock and then as a member
 of Southern rock giants Lynyrd Skynyrd.

As a teenager, King was a founding member of Thee Sixpence, the high school group that transformed itself into the Strawberry Alarm Clock. He and keyboardist Mark Weitz wrote the music for the smash hit “Incense and Peppermints,” starting with a memorable riff dreamed up by Weitz. King contributed the bridge to the then-instrumental.

Weitz tells the story: “I couldn’t figure out a bridge for the song. Ed King lived pretty close. I called him and told him I need a bridge for this new song idea I’m working on. He drove over, and about 45 minutes later we had it.”

The single’s songwriting credits notoriously failed to note their role in creating the song, but “Incense and Peppermints” hit No. 1 in 1967 and remains a rock-pop radio staple to this day.

Credit for “Incense and Peppermints” went to a songwriting team that worked with the publisher. He and Weitz collaborated again on “Tomorrow,” which charted at No. 23 in early 1968. Once again, King came to the rescue with a bridge.

King continued to write songs with Weitz as well as guitarist Lee Freeman. Strawberry Alarm Clock songs that King co-wrote include “Sit with the Guru,” “The Black Butter Trilogy,” “Pretty Song from Psych-Out,” and “Soft Skies No Lies.”

King says, “The Strawberry Alarm Clock tours with the Beach Boys in ’67 and ’68 outshine any other period in my life. Carl Wilson coming over to my room to show me the chords to ‘God Only Knows’ far outweighs any Skynyrd experience.”

King stayed with the band until 1972, when he took a flyer and joined a Southern rock band that had opened for the Strawberry Alarm Clock on a regional tour. That band was Lynyrd Skynyrd, which was heading into the studio to record its first album with producer Al Kooper.

King started out playing bass and then switched to guitar.

He formed a songwriting partnership with singer Ronnie Van Zant, which produced “Poison Whisky” on that album and then later “Sweet Home Alabama,” one of the band’s two signature songs.

Other Skynyrd songs co-written by King include “Saturday Night Special,” “Swamp Music,” “I Need You,” “Workin’ for MCA” and “Railroad Song.”

King’s guitar playing and songwriting skills were an essential element to the band's first three albums: Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, Second Helping, and Nuthin' Fancy.

King decided to leave the band in 1975 during the "Torture Tour."

He was replaced in 1976 by Steve Gaines, who was killed in a plane crash along with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, backup singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray. Other band members (Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins), tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew suffered serious injuries.

Ironically Gaines and King share the same birthdate.

In 1987, King joined the Lynyrd Skynyrd survivor’s reunion tour and played with the band until his retirement from music in 1996.

In 2006, King entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of

 Lynyrd Skynyrd.

ED KING INTERVIEWED ON 

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

 POSTED ON YOUTUBE

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Visit Ed King on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ed.king.52687

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

Bi-weekly Monday Afternoon at 3 pm Pacific/6 pm Eastern

On the BBS Radio 1 Network

THE RAY SHASHO SHOW

 IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY

‘THE PUBLICITY WORKS AGENCY’

We Shine Only When 

We Make You Shine

Website http://www.publicityworksagency.com/

Contact Ray Shasho at 941-877-1552

Email us at ray@publicityworksagency.com

http://bbsradio.com/therayshashoshow

And don’t forget to purchase a copy of my book entitled Check the Gs -the true story of an eclectic American family and their Wacky family business … or the second edition entitled … Wacky Shenanigans on F Street- ‘Proud to be Politically Incorrect in Washington DC’ ... available now at amazon.com. You’ll live it!!!