Dave Rowland, of Dave & Sugar, passes away

Dave Rowland

Press release from 2911 Media

Nashville, Tenn. – Dave Rowland, born Jan. 26, 1944, known to many in the music business as the founder and lead singer of hit-making group Dave & Sugar, died Nov. 1, 2018, in Nashville, due to complications from a stroke.

Before forming Dave & Sugar, Rowland was part of J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet (who was touring with Elvis Presley at the time), and later the Four Guys. The Stamps Quartet was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1988. He also was a prominent member of Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride’s road show.

By 1975, with Pride looking for a backup band, Rowland hired Jackie Frantz and Vicki Hackeman, and Dave & Sugar was formed.

After signing on with Pride’s management team, Dave & Sugar signed with RCA Records and recorded their first album. The trio’s first single, “Queen of the Silver Dollar” (written by Shel Silverstein) broke into the Top 25 of Billboard magazine’s country singles chart in early 1976. Their second single “The Door Is Always Open,” shot straight to the number one spot on the country charts, a driving, lushly produced track which expertly combined Rowland’s resonant baritone with soaring harmonies.

Two successive singles, “I’m Gonna Love You,” and “Don’t Throw It All Away,” used the same basic formula as “The Door Is Always Open,” and also became huge hits in 1976-77. Their peak run garnered nearly one dozen Top 10 singles, including two more No. 1 hits – “Tear Time” (1978) and “Golden Tears” (1979). Overall, Dave & Sugar charted 16 times on the Billboard country charts.

Dave & Sugar was a slick sounding, soulful vocal trio that, during their heyday, was labeled “the country ABBA.” Although their career was much shorter lived than that of Bjorn and crew, Dave & Sugar did share the Swedish group’s knack for catchy tunes, sparkling production, and full, rich, male/female vocal arrangements. Their touring took them throughout North America, Europe, New Zealand and Italy, where the group played a command performance for the Mayor of Rome.

Rowland also toured with Conway Twitty, Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and Barbara Mandrell and was an opening act for Kenny Rogers for two years.

Rowland disbanded the trio briefly during the early 1980s to try a solo career, releasing an album entitled (appropriately) Sugar Free and charting two singles of his own. Rowland later reformed the trio with two new sets of “Sugar” partners.

Surviving Dave Rowland are his wife Terri Rowland, mother Ruby Rowland and sister Donna Fort and her husband Bob, of Palm Desert, Calif.; sister-in-law Angie Billis of Nashville, Tenn.; niece Vicki Martinka and husband John in Pennsylvania; and nephew Bobby Fowler, his wife Belen and their two children in Argentina.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in the name of Dave Rowland be sent to the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville. In 2014, Rowland was honored by the Music City Tennis Invitational in recognition of four decades of event participation with proceeds to benefit the hospital.

Arrangements are pending for a Celebration-of-Life service.

Turnpike Troubadours cancels immediate tour

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This from the Turnpike Troubadours and from Billy Bob’s Texas:

Turnpike Troubadours

Turnpike Troubadours was to have played at Billy Bob’s Texas the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 23. They have had to cancel. They will be playing at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Okla., in February.

First and foremost, you are the reason we get to do what we do every single day, and we want you to know how much that means to us. There have been many discussions on what to say publicly, and it is our unanimous opinion that our fans are our family, and there is no need to sugar coat anything. Living this life on the road has so many ups, but, like in all life situations, there are also battles and struggles with which you learn to deal.

The one core thing our band has always had is a tight family unit. The love we share with our entire team: our band members, road crew, business team and fan base feels very much like family. When one of us is down, we are there to lift them up and help them down the road. Right now, we have a situation that needs our complete attention.

For the time being, we need to put our tour on hold through November 29th, and make sure our family member is able to address something much more important than our ability to perform live. We do NOT take this incredible blessing of playing our music for our fans all over the world for granted. As much as we would all would love to keep touring, we love our family member more and need to be there to make sure he is able to conquer the issues with which he is struggling. He has our support 100% and we will be here to walk beside him and carry him if needed, no matter the outcome. We love all of you from the bottom of our heart and hope to get back to doing what we all love, which is making and performing our music for you – Our extended family – as soon as possible. As our good friends always say, “family first,” and we have to be there to make sure that this family is taken care of before getting back to business.

Thank you for understanding, and we are so thankful for the support you have shown us and continue to show us while we take some time to heal.

NOTE: Their Website manager has already removed all the concerts between now and November 30, when they will be at the ACL Live at the Moody Theater in Austin, that and the following Saturday night, December 1.

But, Billy Bob’s Texas, where they were to have appeared on Friday, November 23, has issued a statement explaining that they have enlisted William Clark Green to play November 23 in Turnpike Troubadour’s place. They also have explained to pre-show ticket buyers how to get a refund on their money. Here is Billy Bob’s Texas’ statement:

 Refunds will be available at original point of purchase. Credit cards will be automatically refunded. Cash refunds must be made in person at the Billy Bob’s Texas box office. For additional questions, please email tickets@billybobstexas.com.

Photography is… No. 2 stimulates imagination

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What a difference black and white makes.

These are of the same barn. Color converted to black and white.

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Click here, on this link, to see a few more of my “challenge” photos.

No. 2 — Photography requires imagination

Each year, lately, I have gone on my own photographic journey, calling it my “Challenge.” I’ll pick a topic and do what I can to photograph items, people, events, even faces if they show a chosen emotion. And they are actually not ‘journeys’ as such, more like short treks here and yonder. Still gotta work!

A musician with Alice Cooper band, framed in the stage ‘smoke’.

For instance, I may go on a quest in search of interesting items in colors of the rainbow. (Do you have any clue how hard it is to find indigo items?) Or study ‘framing’ the subject, or starting with the letters of the alphabet. Seasonal, such as budding flowers in the spring or lighted decorations at Christmas time; people loving one another- or not, such as the middle-school-age boys who broke into fisticuffs at an outdoor concert; black and white, sometimes working in color and converting to b/w, and sometimes using the monochrome setting. And there is a a difference in how the same photo can turn out.

I started in the 1980s, while at Kerrville Festivals, with inspiration from MerriLu Park and Brian Kanoff, who were always there. But then, it was pricey, well the film and development was costly, and so I didn’t really experiment much. Mostly pre-programmed settings, if I even had a camera with that option. Musicians gave way to exotic wildlife, since I was also surrounded by zebras, giraffes, cervidae and such in that Texas Hill Country. Nowadays, I’m lucky to get a good shot of an armadillo.

One challenge, in the 1980s, was to match all the wildflowers in Texas that were shown in the book of that name, “Wildflowers of Texas.” It divided flora by color, and told in which part of the state they were indigenous. Was raising a granddaughter then, a pre-schooler, and she and I would get in the pickup and hit the highways. Her job, once the roll of film was developed, was to go through the book and match them. She did a hot-dang good job of it.

Sunset through the trees.

I may just have to start over on that challenge. Springtime? Trip to the Texas Hill Country? The Panhandle? Have you ever seen cactus blooming after a rain in the El Paso area desert?

Sometimes the challenge is to find something new as a challenge.

Many, not all, of my “Challenge” photos are shown in this and other Flickr files.

Photography is… No. 1-Immortality

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First in a series about photography and why I (Mary Jane Farmer) love it so much. Some of this is ‘borrowed’ from another source, most  is uniquely my own.

Photography creates immortality — Every Thanksgiving, my family is at my house. It’s tradition. The grandkids take out the old photo albums and go through them, again and again. It’s different somehow than seeing photos on a cell phone or social media. They laugh and they remember and relive those good times. And they also remember those gone on before them with just seeing the smiling faces of their loved ones preserved in a photo.

Robert Shaw, photo by Mary Jane Farmer

The four photos I am posting with this article are not family by origin, but all musicians, family by choice, who have all gone on ahead of me, of us. They played Kerrville Folk Festival when I was there as assistant to Producer Rod Kennedy, and as staff coordinator.

Robert Shaw. Robert was a powerhouse of a blues and boogie-woogie piano player. He was 77 when he passed away in 1985. Besides his talent that he shared not only on stage, but around the grounds, he enhanced everyone around him with that incredible, loving grin. The last time he left Quiet Valley Ranch, he pulled his car over to me and said, “I’m fixing to do something the devil hasn’t even done yet, Mary Jane.” “What’s that, Robert?” I asked. “I’m going to leave you now.” And with that his driver went on out the gate and I could hear him laughing as hard as I w

  • Townes Van Zandt photo by Mary Jane Farmer

    Townes Van Zandt. Townes had talent far ahead of his time and his peers, and people sat mesmerized every time he stepped on the Kerrville Folk Festival stage. He was 53 at the time of his passing in 1997. I and Kennedy drove him to Austin, years before that, following one of his stays at a treatment center, trying to get away from the addictions that consumed him. That night, he was to appear on “Austin City Limits” then filmed on University of Texas property. We walked into the green room with him, and it was filled with the smoke, smells, and availability of illegal/dangerous drugs, the very poison that he had been running from. Someone may hate me for saying this, but even his band members, his musician friends, didn’t care enough to help keep temptation away from him.

    Stan Rogers photo by Mary Jane Farmer

  • Stan Rogers. Stan and I became instant good friends during the days he, his brother Garnet, and fellow Canadians Al Simmons and Connie Kaldor were at Kerrville Festival in 1983. We laughed together and with others. At The Inn of the Hills over dinner, we danced, we ate escargot, and later he sang me the last song he was writing at the time, one commissioned of him for a movie. The others flew back to Canada on schedule, Stan stayed one extra night, because he wanted one more night of campfire pickin’.
  • I always got a hotel room during festivals because my cabin became the green room for performers. Middle of the night it was when the phone rang, an AP reporter wanting a comment from me about the Canadian who had died in a plane that night. “What Canadian?” I asked. “Well, I can’t say, but can you make a statement?” What? She began to tell me the story of how the plane made an emergency landing, and as she talked I figured out it was Stan. I spent the next day having to tell others, starting with Chief of Security and Kennedy himself, one new friend of Stan’s at a time

    Wayne Kennemer, Photo by Mary Jane Farmer

    about his demise. Also had to work with Pedro Gutierrez, who had recorded all of Stan’s set, to get it mixed and mastered and quickly sent to BBC TV, being as Canada is under British government and they called from across the big pond asking for our help. No chance to cry, to mourn, to grieve, to talk about him. Business as usual, hoping and helping to keep staff together. It was a year after that festival before I could even listen to his music, it was that hard. He was 34 and had already made a positive impact on the world. He will remain with me always.

  • Wayne Kennemer. Wayne was a friend who lived in Kerrville. And one heckuva good musician. He and I would meet for breakfast mornings. He taught me to add some mustard to my ketchup for even more flavor. He was involved in the filming of “The Alamo-ThePrice of Freedom” for the Imax Theater in San Antonio. It was quite a treat to interview my own good friend about the filming and all the intrinsic pleasures and lessons he had gotten out of being involved. His name isn’t on the credits anywhere, but he was there, involved, and important in his assigned way to its success.

 

Natalie Rose cracks Top 15 on Texas chart

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Natalie Rose, Courtesy photo

Press Release from CDA Publicity & Marketing

NASHVILLE – Natalie Rose’s latest single, “My South,” is proving itself against songs from some of the biggest stars in the Texas music scene and radio programmers are quick to express their strong support for her. Currently the only female inside the Top 15 of the Texas Regional Radio Report, Rose is competing alongside Josh Abbott, Wade Bowen, Pat Green, and other major artists in a format with few women artists.
“My South” and Rose also have garnered strong support from influential radio programmers, including Austin Daniels of KFTX/Corpus Christi, who raves: “Natalie Rose’s ‘My South‘ has crisp, clear vocals with a fiery finale that is smoking hot! This young lady is someone to watch, and someone your listeners will identify with…she’s ‘Real,’ she’s ‘Country,’ she’s ‘Texas’… enough said!”
No stranger to the Texas music scene, over the course of 6 singles, Rose has earned the distinction of being one of the top female vocalists in the marketplace, an honor that she has earned by releasing great songs and maintaining a busy touring schedule. “My South” is the sixth single release from Rose since 2014, with each successive song climbing higher on the charts than the previous one. Rose’s last single, “Conformity,” peaked at #7.
Texas print and Internet media outlets have also recognized Rose’s accomplishments. She is currently the cover feature story in the October/November edition of Texas Life Magazine and recently graced the cover of Action Magazine.
Ken Murray, another well-known Texas radio tastemaker who programs KTTX/KWHI/Brenham, sums it up quite well: “Natalie Rose possesses one of the finest voices in Country music and when she sings about ‘My South’ she hits the nail on the head.”
ABOUT NATALIE ROSE:
Raised in Seguin, Rose made her professional singing debut at the age of 8. Drawing from early musical influences that included Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, and Patsy Cline, the young talent soon began to forge her own musical identity and with that her self-confidence grew. In her early teens, Rose formed a band and honed her talent at local bars. Since that time, she has performed at venues across the region and opened shows for Randy Rogers, Ray Price, Gary Allan, The Band Perry, Kevin Fowler, Wade Bowen, Aaron Watson and many others.
For more information about Natalie Rose, connect with her online: