Page 14 - aruba-today-20201231

a14 people & arts
Thursday 31 december 2020
A low-key Memphis guitar legend builds on a musical legacy

By ADRIAN SAINZ pestered Al Jackson to ask
Associated Press Cropper to hear him sing.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — It’s “He starts singing, ‘These
1966 and a thunderstorm Arms of Mine.’ And I went
illuminates the night sky in ‘Holy s---,’” Cropper said.
Memphis, Tennessee. Two “My hair stood up on my
Stax Records musicians, arms. I said, ‘Stop right
guitarist Steve Cropper and there.’ He said, ‘What you
singer Eddie Floyd, sit in a don’t like it?’ I said, ‘No, I
room inside the Lorraine love it.”
Motel, struggling to fashion The song became Red-
a song about love and su- ding’s first hit for Stax, and
perstition. The pair try many the beginning a string of
references to good and hits. In 1967, Cropper and
bad luck — rubbing rabbit’s Redding sat down to write
feet, breaking mirrors — but “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of
nothing fits. Then, as the the Bay.” As they worked,
lightning flashes and the Cropper decided the song
thunder roars, Cropper asks needed something. He
Floyd: “What do people went to a Memphis studio
usually do for good luck?’” known for producing jin-
“And Eddie goes, knock, gles and recorded sound
knock, knock,” Cropper effects of sea gulls and
told The Associated Press. Guitarist, songwriter and record producer Steve Cropper poses Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in ocean waves. The song
“I said, ‘There’s our song, Nashville, Tenn. became Redding’s biggest
‘Knock on Wood.’” Associated Press hit. Cropper left Stax in Sep-
At a time when it was com- an indelible imprint on the “Soul Man,” and “Time is catalog at age 14. tember 1970. He has has
mon for white musicians to American songbook. Tight” feature irresistible in- Formed by Jim Stewart lived in Nashville for more
co-opt the work of Black Missouri-born and Mem- tros. Cropper mastered the and Estelle Axton, Stax Re- than 30 years. He still cuts
artists and make more mon- phis-raised, Cropper joined art of filling gaps with an cords became a soulful, guitar dubs at RCA Studio
ey from their songs, Crop- the Stax Records team as essential lick or two, then gritty counterpoint to De- 3, and has a new album set
per was that rare white art- a 20-year-old. Working as stepping aside as organ- troit’s Motown. Booker T. for release in April.
ist willing to keep a lower a songwriter, producer, ist Booker T. Jones, bassist and the MGs, with Crop- The last time he saw Red-
profile and collaborate. and guitarist in the bi-racial Donald “Duck” Dunn and per, Dunn, Al Jackson and ding was on a Friday at the
That may explain why now, house band Booker T. and others led the way. Jones, became the lead studio as he was putting
more than half a century the MGs, Cropper laid the “I listen to the other mu- house band. When trum- the finishing touches on
later and still making mu- foundation for songs that sicians and the singer,” peter Wayne Jackson and “Dock of the Bay.”
sic at 79 years old, he can have outlasted the studio Cropper said. “I’m not lis- saxophonist Andrew Love “He popped his head into
walk through an airport or a that created them. tening to just me.” joined them, they called the control room. At the
grocery store without being “Knock on Wood” featured On a YouTube instructional themselves the Mar-Keys. time, I was setting up to
recognized, while the origi- Cropper’s catchy, hip- video, guitar virtuoso Joe Cropper, Dunn and Wayne do the guitar licks,” said
nal songs he co-wrote — moving guitar and rousing Bonamassa says Cropper’s Jackson were white. Jones, Cropper. “Otis said, ‘I’ll see
played on sound systems in horns, setting the stage for moves are often copied. Al Jackson and Love were you Monday. I said, ‘Ok, I’ll
those same public spaces lines still heard heard in TV “If you haven’t heard the Black. “When you walked see you Monday.’ That’s

— remain instantly familiar. commercials and mov- name Steve Cropper, in the door at Stax, there the last word I heard from
From “In the Midnight Hour” ies: “It’s like thunder and you’ve heard him in song,” was absolutely no color,” him.’” Redding, 26, and
to “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of lightning, the way you love Bonamassa said. Cropper said. In 1962, four members of his band
the Bay” to “Soul Man,” me is frightening. I better As a teenager new to when Johnny Jenkins and died in a plane crash on
Cropper worked alongside knock, on wood, baby.” Memphis, Cropper fell in the Pinetoppers arrived Sunday, Dec. 10, 1967. They
the likes of Otis Redding, Cropper draws a lean, pre- love with music emanat- at Stax to record, a valet were headed to a show in
Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes, cise, understated-yet-sig- ing from churches, clubs named Otis Redding was Madison, Wisconsin, when
Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd nature sound from his gui- and car radios. He bought with them. their plane plummeted into
and many others to leave tar. “In the Midnight Hour,” his first guitar from a Sears As Cropper tells it, Redding a frigid lake. q

‘Gilligan’s Island’ star Dawn Wells dies,

COVID-19 cited

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harlan Boll said. “There is so in the 1959 Miss America
Dawn Wells, who played much more to Dawn Wells” pageant and quickly piv-
the wholesome Mary Ann than the “Gilligan’s Island” oted to an acting career.
among a misfit band of character that brought her Her early TV roles came on
shipwrecked castaways on fame, Boll said in a state- shows including “77 Sunset
the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s ment. Besides TV, film and Strip,” “Maverick” and “Bo-
Island,” died Wednesday stage acting credits, her nanza.”
of causes related to CO- other real-life roles included Then came “Gilligan’s Is-
VID-19, her publicist said. teacher and motivational land,” a goofy, good-na-
She was 82. Wells died speaker, Boll said. tured show that became
In this June 8, 2008 file photo, actress Dawn Wells arrives at the peacefully at a living facil- Born in Reno, Nevada, an unlikely but indelible
TV Land Awards in Santa Monica, Calif.
Associated Press ity in Los Angeles, publicist Wells represented her state part of popular culture.q