General Southpaw discussion

by webmaster on Feb.11, 2007, under Southpaw

Post any comments you have about Southpaw here.

15 comments for this entry:

JohnnyPress
February 11th, 2007 on 11:25 pm
I had seen Southpaw only once. I thought they were an interesting band for the area. I didn’t particularly like the guitarist, but the overall sound was pretty cool. They were like country swing meets Lynard Skynard. After Leader Dog I just relaxed and wasn’t in a hurry to jump into the next band. I had heard through the grapevine that Southpaw was looking for a new guitarist. Now this was the complete opposite of what I had just got away from with Leader Dog. I went to the basment of Pilsudski Hall to audition for them. They looked like they just stepped out of a Civil War photo by Matthew Brady. I wheeled in my Marshal (you play country with a Marshall ?). It clicked right away. Though I played rock I grew up playing blues and country. Most of the guitarist I learned from were Chet Atkins pickers. I recommended Bobby Young, as they needed a bass player too. We fit right in and began playing 5/6 nights a week immediately. This was one hard working band. Charlie Dougherty(the front man singer) was also a very good writer and we did many of his originals. Nelson Checkoway played guitar and more importantly steel guitar. He gave us a uniqueness. Tommy Dion, who once was Kenny Rogers drummer was a true professional. Ron Sloane played harminica with us when I first joined. We ended backing up the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Johnny Paycheck, Molly Hatchett twice and wishbone Ash. We had been gigging steady for about 2 yrs and were super tight. Drinking became a problem in the band and the toll was starting to show. For some reason Charlie wanted Nelson gone. He had me go on a search for another guitarist. I found one. Nelson knew he was gone, but we had 1 more gig to do together. New Years Eve at the SHABOO. It was a great night we cooked. Lefty Foster got up and jammed with us. The new guitarist wanted to jam too, he was there. So in order to not cause problems, I left the stage and let him play with Nelson. I didn’t know Nelson had been going around to each member of the band and cursing them out. He was pissed off(I can’t blame him). I guess he saved me for last. I was sitting at a table very drunk (it was New Years Eve and I wasn’t driving). Nelson came up to me and started cursing me out. I mean he wouldn’t stop. I told him to stop and go away please 3 times. Well he didn’t listen and kept it up getting closer and closer to my face. I snapped and let loose with a hook right hook sending him over 3 tables. His ear was hanging off and he had to be taken to the hospital. Tommy Dion almost went after me he was so upset. Charlie was yelling at me. Funny thing though, when we got to the Truck, he was laughing saying he wished it was him that did it. SO ENDED SOUTHPAW>>>ENTER UNDER THE GUN.
JohnnyPress
March 25th, 2007 on 9:13 am
I went into Markemerick.com ( Mark is the guitarist from Southpaw before I was) and found that he had recorded Apache Rose on his new CD.Of course Charlie had no idea that Mark had done this. Charlie wrote most of this song except for a few chord changes. All the lyrics and the melody are Charlie’s. Her’s the big deal…Charlie also owns the copyright. We always felt that the ultimate Apache Rose was with Tom Dion (drums) Bobby Young ( bass) Nelson Checkoway(Steel Guitar) Charlie and myself. We have some live recordings that just kill. Hopefully soon, I will make these live recordings available online on this site..that band kicked serious butt…Johnny Press
Johnny Press
March 8th, 2008 on 9:03 pm
I’d like to say, after a considerable amount of time away from Southpaw, that Nelson Checkoway and Tommy Dion were 1st rate musicians. When they left the band it was never the same. Someday maybe we can all bury the hatchet and play a show together again. That would be a blast
dennis rines
April 25th, 2009 on 11:33 pm
hi john,
just heard about your website , nice job ill send you an email for an update with me . i had noticed the word southpaw and wondering hummm whats this well i have to correct you about the southpaw band and some of the personal in the group i beleive you had the opertunity to join a much later version of the southpaw band but umm i was the drummer for southpaw for a lengthy time which at the time brought or helped bring the group to its popularity in the ne area i had alot of fun with the group we tightened it up alot and at one point picked up so much work i was unabled to stay with the group any longer and work a full time job to support my family of 8 at the time so one had to go . i hated to leave the group but i had to go with stability for my family at that time so tommy came in to replace me at that time and um paul bonnette was there in the very beginning for a short time but had a hard time playing and it needed more drive so.. i came in then .thats the story on southpaw then it started to go thru personel changes like people change underware you know…lol so i was with them for oh i want to say a good year or more and it certainly was alot of fun back then playing all over and growing . so you see thats it and I also want to say good luck john with your new group and wish you much success.
your friend ,
Dennis John Rines
dennis rines
April 28th, 2009 on 7:35 pm
hi john,
what a great job on your sight, i love it. all the pics and stories are so good i remember most of it to the esquires and jerry and the stompers wow what days . it brings me back and at times wish it was back then well i just wanted to thank you john for the sight its so well put together with the history. the very best of luck on your new endeavor jee…. we been friends since junior high and your whole family also well please take care and again best of luck
best regards,
dennis john rines
Johnny Press
May 1st, 2009 on 8:04 am
Thanks Dennis
Yes I know the original Southpaw went through a lot of changes. I joined in 1978 and stayed with the band for 3 yrs. We had management and played a lot of concert venues along with 5 to 6 nights a week on one nighters. If you ask Charlie, he thinks that this was the definitive Southpaw. I’ll admit that it was a pain to follow Mark Emerick as he was a popular guitarist. He used to show up wrecked to the gills and make wise ass comments about the band. Too many times I had to walk away from him before I’d do something I’d regret later. I hope all is going well for you. Take care
Johnny
John Freeman
June 24th, 2009 on 7:47 pm
Hello Johnny;

We never met. I was the original bass player and co-founder of Southpaw.

I’d like to correct a few things about the history of Southpaw.

In 1974, Charlie Doherty and I met in the Florida Keys. We found that our voices harmonized well and we had similar musical interests – the result was a short-lived local band called “Charlie and the Driftwoods” and in fact some really intriguing tapes exist to this day. I may post them sometime on myspace or somewhere. We had common interests in stuff like Jimmy Buffett (predictably) the Eagles, The Byrds “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” – easily the most influential album in the history of Country Rock – New Riders, the Burrito Brothers, Grateful Dead as well as some R&B stuff.

Family emergencies forced me to move back home to northeast Connecticut; as it turned out other family situations prompted Charlie to move to Southbridge MA and unbeknownst to me at the time, he has told me that he was counting on reviving our collaboration. Unfortunately I had already committed to playing in another band (Connecticut’s “Water Witch” and again not knowing that Charlie was nearby and hoping to reconnect, a jazz-rock fusion band called “Orbit”). After jazz-rock failed to set the woods on fire in 1976, I finally got back in touch with Charlie.

At that time he was playing in a bluegrass band called “Rye Straw” which was really pretty good and actually got gigs (which I had been unable to score for Orbit’s fusion). We held one jam in Southbridge; a couple of weeks later had a backyard party at my house in CT (my then-girlfriend-eventually-wife was working with a guy named Nelson Checkoway, who claimed to play pedal steel, so he was invited) and when all of the neighbors who came around to complain about the noise decided to stay and have some fun, we realized we were on to a good thing. A week later Rye Straw was booked to play at a Contra-dance (that’s like square-dancing) and we decided to make it a split bill, acoustic and then the electric band; and Southpaw was a sealed deal.

Our lineup was Charlie on (mostly acoustic) guitar; me on bass; Steve Gottlieb on lead, Nelson Checkoway on steel, and Paul Bonnette on drums.

This band was an instant hit in the Worcester area. We immediately scored the regular Sunday night gig at the Blue Plate in Holden (much has been written, and still can be, about the significance of the Blue Plate and our late friend, benefactor and owner, Tiny Stacy) the miniscule but somehow well-known private Charter Club, and I guess a couple of other places in Worcester which escape my memory.

Ecstatic with the enthusiastic reception we were given at the ridiculously small venues and narrow region we had been playing, we created our first (and as far as I know, only) T-shirts (with BRILLIANT graphics contributed by Nelson Checkoway with baseball-styling proclaiming “SOUTHPAW – 1977 North American Tour.” Great shirts; not that much of a tour.

Somewhere in 1977 Paul left for reasons I don’t recall; Dennis Rines drummed for a while but I don’t think it lasted a year.

Steve Gottlieb had more family obligations to fill (he was also running a music store in Southbridge) so we had to reluctantly replace him. He dropped in again once in a while, as a real treat, to play 5-string banjo on songs like “Glendale Train.” Steve is a brilliant picker on the Tele; ain’t seen him for a long time but he was a dead ringer for Waylon too. I pisses me off sometimes that players as great as Steve Gottlieb drop off the map. I’d love to play with him again any time.

I should make a point here that Southpaw was, and had been, pretty clearly a “duopoly” of leadership. That continued until things disrupted it; Charlie Doherty is the only one who truly owns this franchise.

Found a guitar player who had been playing with Dave Pike in a straightforward country band in the area – Dave’s thing was very much Hank Jr. (at the time a little too traditional country for most of our tastes, but who the hell knew back then). His name was Mark Emerick. What he really liked was Southern Rock a la the Allman Bros, Marshall Tucker, Lynyrd Skinyrd, et al as well as a touch of Jerry Garcia, Billy Kirchen from Commander Cody, and some crazy-ass rock and roll. So the consensus was…DUHHHH!

My recall of the timeline may be failing me at this point because I think we went to the drummer choice after Getty.

btw, the explanation of Mark Emerick’s nickname “Mr. Getty” – there’s a very well known store in the Worcester area which features discount pricing on truckloads of surplus merchandise – everybody shops there – it’s called “Spag’s” Spag got his nickname as a young man because he was very thin; i.e. “spaghetti.” Mark, also skinny as a rail, somehow inherited the second part of that from his friends, since the first part was already taken. I think this is the only source on the internet as to the origin of that nickname. I will post it on wikipedia soon.

Here’s another spot where my memory fails re: timeline – one of the drummers we played with (most likely after Mark joined the band) was Mark’s immensely likable brother, Dave Emerick. A very qualified drummer – but he would probably acknowledge not in the same power squadron as the next guy.

back to history:

At a point which I can’t recall, we realized we needed a drummer who was simply a train. That’s Tommy Dion. I take it back; we were looking for a drummer and THEN we found the frickin’ locomotive.

The power unleashed by the combination of Emerick’s Southern Rock, Tommy Dion’s balls-to-the-wall style certainly cued me to push the rocking a lot further than it had been in the past.

(A quick footnote – Tommy’s brother Bobby Dion was also a fine drummer and on some rare occasions filled in…don’t think it was exactly his style but we always felt confident with him. Liked him a lot too).

1978 found us becoming real favorites around the Worcester area. We also played quite a bit in CT, as Nelson and I both lived in the area of Storrs (UConn) and Willimantic. We ended up sharing parts of a house. We were both well-connected with friends/owners of Shaboo (also worth a couple of pages) so many appearances around that area resulted; our new soundman (who is somewhat of a legend himself) Skip Weeks as well as Tommy Dion were living around there.

As is inevitable with bands, rivalry creates friction and in December of 1978, Mark’s desire for his cousin Mike Beausoleil to become the new bass player led to my exit from the band. A couple of weeks later I was working with an old friend from Florida on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, for a few months. Every moment I spent working on my tan was meant to be a poke in the eye of the infidels who had forced me out of a project I had helped spearhead.

I spent most of the next year trying to establish a new band.

At some point in 1980 (and again, I don’t recall dates) Charlie called me.

He said, “the band broke up last night. Mark, Bozey, and Tommy left. We have bookings. What are you doing?”

I told Charlie that I was still in the process of putting together a new band…it was a 7-piece horn band but we weren’t ready to gig yet. “Yes, of course I would be happy to fill; you know my guitar player Doug Moore…he knows enough of your stuff to fill.” Charlie had a drummer and Ron Sloane on harp to fill in. “Can I bring my horn section, just for the hell of it?”

So we did at a large outdoor concert in Worcester. Didn’t miss a beat. Kicked some serious ass, particularly for a band that had broken up a couple of nights ago.

We spent a couple of months in that pattern, with Doug Moore on guitar, me on bass, Ron Sloane on harp (and there’s some question on that matter about how Ron – great guy and a fine harp player – simply muscled his way into the band by showing up all the time to jam, or if he was ever invited). The drummer was Bill Nadeau. He also went under the nom de guerre for some reason as “Art Deco” which might have been Charlie’s invention. Bill told us he was formerly the drummer with Asleep at the Wheel. I live near Austin TX these days and that doesn’t show up in the huge list of AOTW alumni, but it doesn’t mean it’s not so. There is a Bill Nadeau with drumming credits with Austin artist (and a great one, too) Junior Brown so quite possibly it’s the same guy, who currently lists current credits in New England.

Might have continued with Southpaw, but Charlie wasn’t satisfied with Doug Moore on guitar. I was! Plus, I was intent on forming a new band.

Anyway, by some point in 1980 (and I would have to confer with former colleagues to confirm) the end of the merger with Southpaw, me, Doug Moore, and the “Wormtown Winds” had ended and Tornado Alley emerged. Doug and I were the new collaborators.

Tornado Alley became a pretty substantial force in the Worcester area’s music scene. I left it in 1981.

As rivals, I kind of lost contact with Charlie for a while so I really don’t know what went on with Southpaw or its personnel changes. Evidently Tommy Dion came back for a while; then there was the name change and I don’t think Charlie was too happy after that.

After my second enlistment with Southpaw, I was completely out of the loop, except that I was Charlie’s landlord for a while but we didn’t talk about music. Lost touch for many years but have reconnected. He lives with his beautiful and talented artist wife Nancy Calcutt in Paducah KY. He’s written a lot of great songs since.

Charlie Doherty is one of the most talented people I will ever have the privilege to have known. Southpaw is his legacy and his alone, no matter how many of us have contributed to its story.

I still hope to get a good CD of Charlie’s work in the can and available for those who appreciate his songs.

Mark Emerick has been Commander Cody’s guitarist and right-hand man for quite a few years.

I play bass in Texas with Big John Mills and the Texas Road Dawgs.

Hope this has been informational to anyone interested in the story of Southpaw, from my perspective.
John Freeman
June 24th, 2009 on 7:53 pm
Forgot to mention the time that we were double-booked, one show in Rhode Island and one in MA. Realized that we had enough alumni to pull of both shows at the same time; we fielded two teams that night.

Considered the idea of franchising the Southpaw name. Why we passed on that thought, I still don’t know.
Johnny Press
November 14th, 2009 on 8:21 am
Hello JF,
Nice History lesson on Southpaw. I believe your timeline is a little off. Bobby Young and I joined Southpaw in 1978 and stayed with Charlie for 3 yrs. I remember jamming with the Tornado Alley horns at some clubs and got to know Doug Moore and Steve Going. I don’t believe I ever met you. When Bobby and I joined the band Tommy, Nelson, Ron and Charlie were in it. Ron left after about 3 months of heavy playing. Skip was a fully invested member as a soundman. Steve Gottlieb and myself were good friends and Paul Bonnette had our 1st band together in High School.
Charlie had wanted to change personell in the early 80′s. Some of the people that were changed were just wrong for the band. We recieved good reviews for the concerts we managed to play, but..hey nut cases are nut cases. Charlie and I talk almost every week and I am also in touch with Nelson, Tommy and Bobby. If you want to talk with Charlie give me a call and I’ll give you his number. For the last 2 yrs we have been trying to figure out (because of where everyone now lives)how to get back together again. The only other version that I had seen of Southpaw, before I joined them, was with Getty and Bosie. I didn’t particularly care for it. Getty would show at some shows and talk a lot of smack. You can ask Charlie, he’s lucky to have walked out of the green rooms in one piece. My cousin from the Charlie Daniels band has the same low opinion of Getty.
Having played 6 nights a week for about 3 years with Charlie ( not including riding with him to every gig)I’m surprised I haven’t met you. Your name comes up a lot though. I appreciate your history of the band but your dates are way off

Johnny
Johnny Press
November 14th, 2009 on 8:31 am
JF,
If you want to see pictures of Charlie and Nancy doing an outdoor concert in Kentucky a couple of years ago..go to myspace.co/johnnypress and once hin hit pics. I tend to use Myspace all the time now because of quick respnce. You could contact me there and I’ll get whatever info you want. i check it everyday
Johnny Press
November 14th, 2009 on 8:31 am
that was myspace.com/johnnypress…sorry
Nancy Aho
January 1st, 2010 on 1:28 pm
I was a fan of Southpaw in the seventies. I believe the John Freeman time line was more precise. No one mentions George Lilly as the guitarist after Getty. So that seems to throw off your timing Johnny Press. Can’t say I ever saw you. Nadeau and another bass player Steve Morawiec played during the George Lilly formation of the band. Southpaw could pack em in. Great band with many fans. Charlie Doherty had a great voice and was a great songwriter.
Maybe all the members still breathing could get together someday. Worth a try for sure.
Johnny Press
January 4th, 2010 on 6:01 pm
no my timeline is precise and i’ve checked it with Charlie, Tommy and the others. I remember George Lilly playing with them for a very short time. George has been a friend of mine for years even way back before Southpaw. He also helped me with my Velocity contract. If you didn’t see me with Southpaw..well then fine. I played with Charlie for close to 3 years. You can see some of the photos in my PIC site. Charlie, Nelson, Tommy, Bobby and myself have discussed getting back together. We all live so far apart it is going to be difficult. I agree tha Southpaw had many fans. We played 5 to 6 one nighters a week to packed houses. A lot of fun. I must also say that Skip Weeks had as much input about how we sounded than anyone. He was the 6th Southpaw member. After Skip left, it went pretty much downhill
Bill Gascoyne
May 6th, 2011 on 7:00 pm
Wow, cool blog! I just happened to be Googling old memories and here it is. Steve LeClaire and I were the original Tornado Alley horns, and (to the best of my recollection) we were with the band for most of 1980. The personnel that I remember playing with were Charlie, John Freeman, Tommy Dion on drums during my whole tenure, Nelson, Ron Sloan on harp, Doug Moore, Steve, and myself. Eight musicians, plus Skip, and Paul B. was running lights for a time. Pretty much five or six nights a week, regular gigs at the Blue Plate (with Tiny the owner), Sir Morgan’s Cove, and other venues. This incarnation ended shortly after Labor Day, 1980. Huge gig on Martha’s Vinyard that weekend at a place called Lou’s Worry (two nights, the second night with only word-of-mouth advertising was the first time they’d ever had a line out the door to get in), then getting in line most all night to make it onto the ferry and back in time to play at the Blue Plate; John was late for that gig, being distracted enough on the Vinyard (“she had no tits”) that he didn’t get in line for the ferry soon enough. One more gig in the Goat’s Head Pub at WPI, my alma mater, and that was pretty much it for me.
Johnny Press
May 14th, 2011 on 8:28 pm
Hi Bill. I was already in the band for over a year before the Lou’s Worry Gig on the Vineyard. Bobby Young was the Bass player and Ron left about 4 months before.If you were with the TA horns than maybe you remember showing up and jamming with us at various gigs