About Dickson St.

To any college student attending the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Dickson St. means beer and fun times.  It means that to me also, but because Fayetteville is my hometown, it means a bit more.  I got haircuts there at age three and four and jazz trumpet player and shoeshine man Buddy Hayes called me Dennis the Menace.  At age five, I went bowling for the first time with my Mom at the UARK Bowl on Dickson St.  Our church was on that street and I rented my first tux there.  I played guitar at the Library Club and partied there one hot summer night when there was a murder in the parking lot.  Lots more . . . . enough to dedicate these tunes to the characters and memories of Dickson St.

“Bluer Than That” was written by Irene Kelley and was a country hit sung by Alan Jackson in 2002.  Irene writes songs with my brother, David Starr, and is a bluegrass star in Nashville. “Where did we go wrong, I wish I knew . . . .”

“Bartender Blues” was written by James Taylor.  I dedicated this tune to my friend and business partner, Daryl.  We both worked the 10p to 4a shift at the infamous Gaslight Club – I played in the house band, he tended bar.  The song perfectly lays out the situation, “I could quit, but I need the security of a smoky bar to come home to.”   

“Carmelita” was written by the late Warren Zevon.  I dedicated this tune to Linda Ronstadt, a songbird for the ages.  Her cover of this song is as good as it gets and the great treat of my musical life was to have Dan Dugmore from Linda’s “Simple Dreams” album play steel guitar on my track. 

“Dock of the Bay”.  I nearly missed Otis Redding altogether – his voice and cadence was so unique, our young souls couldn’t really copy it.  Although we covered this song for years in our dance band, the best placement of the tune was in the movie “Top Gun”.  In what has become known as the “Top Gun House” in Oceanside, CA , there was a quiet revelry between Charlie and Maverick with “Dock of the Bay” playing in the background.  The house has been renovated and returned to it’s original location (just in time for “Top Gun II”).

“Ruby Baby” . . . . ah, Huntsville, AR native Ronnie “The Hawk” Hawkins was a rock ‘n roll original who passed through Fayetteville, took Levon Helm and The Band to Canada and cut a wide swath, as we liked to say on Dickson St.

When Elvis returned from military service in Italy, he brought with him an Italian standard, “O Sole Mio”.  His writers added new lyrics and he had his biggest selling single, “It’s Now or Never”.  Graceland is such a treasure – Elvis was such an influence – I miss him.

I never knew George Jones’s version of “She Thinks I Still Care”.  But James Taylor’s cover is a perfect torch song for lost romance on Dickson St. 

“Take It Easy”, written by Jackson Browne and the late Glenn Frey was the Eagles first hit in 1972.  A folk/country/rock blend with nice harmonies, “oohs for bucks” as Don Henley called it.  My other brother, Mr. S, is a big Eagles fan – this is for you, Kent.

Ken Burns’ excellent series on country music inspired this whole album of mine.  My wife, René, encouraged me to dig deep and do Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”.  My dad always said, “You boys need to play country, those guys have all the airplanes.”  He was referring to frequent sightings at Southern airports of Conway Twitty’s “Twitty Bird”.

“Crazy Chester followed me and he caught me in the fog. He said I’ll fix your rap if you’ll take Jack my dog . . . .”  Chester and his family mowed our yard on the Old Wire Road in Fayetteville.  He was known as the Sheriff of Dickson St. since he always wore a cowboy hat.  He did have a terrier named Jack as I recall.  What can you say about “The Weight”?  Sung by our late friend, Levon Helm, theme song from “Easy Rider”, Cate Brothers song list mainstay . . . . I guess if there could only be one song, this would be it.

Credits

Joe Starr – vocals and guitars
Mark Prentice – bass and piano
Matt  Bubel – drums
John Prentice – electric guitars
Dan Dugmore – steel guitar and mandolin
David Starr – vocals and drums (The Weight)
Tania Hancheroff – background vocals 

Engineers:  Doug Wayne, Mastermind Studios, Nashville and Ace Lutz, County Q, Nashville
Produced by Mark Prentice, Doug Wayne and Joe Starr for Starrfish, LLC 2019  All songs used by permission

The album cover is from the Fayetteville High School Class of ’72 reunion at the Elk’s Club in 1982.  The photo was taken by our late, great friend, Jimmy Miller. 

The back on the album cover is Dickson St. looking east from Arkansas Ave. in the spring of 1976.

Listen

About Ship of Fools

Dwight Yoakam’s “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere” is what I would describe as a mournful yet upbeat country blues number. I had to forego Dwight’s yodeling, but I think we captured the spirit of the song. Great Chris Issak-like guitar by John Prentice.

Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land”, at least according to Wikipedia, was written from his jail cell with the help of an atlas borrowed from a fellow prisoner. I’ve heard this song for over 50 years and always imagined that Chuck actually took the trip to the promised land himself.

My wife, René, and our friend, Kevin, first heard of Tom Waits in 1976 when we stumbled into the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, TX for a show. He is a true original and this wonderful tune, “Hold On”, paints a picture of a constant love on the outskirts of town. My longtime friend and fellow musician, David Ervin, adds a nice accordion. David plays the bagpipes each night at sunset at The Big Cedar Lodge near Branson.

“Choices” is a great country tune in the Nashville tradition originally done by George Jones. Our friend, Kimberly, brought this one to my attention. Michelle Prentice on background vocals and Wanda Vick Burchfield on fiddle round out Dan’s perfect steel guitar.

What guitar player in the last 75 years hasn’t been influenced by the great B.B. King? His “Thrill is Gone” follow-up album, “Indianola Seeds” (1970), hasn’t lost any of its blues flavor over the years. Leon Russell played with B.B. on the original track of “Don’t Ask Me No Questions”. Listen to Matt Bubel on drums – I could swear it’s Bernard Purdie, Hitmaker.

Joe Bonamassa’s “Drive” takes us on a blues adventure. You have to see his great road trip video. John Prentice handles the guitar solo and Dan adds an eerie steel guitar part that came outta nowhere.

All Arkansans that love great music know The Cate Brothers. Earl and Ernie have played all over the world, but I think they prefer Dickson St. It was a great honor to get Earl to add an ending solo to this tune that they wrote and recorded in LA in 1977. Little Rock native, and now Nashville songwriter-singer, Charlotte Leigh, sings a great background vocal that turns out to be more of a duet.

“Get Back”, remember that Beatles tune? Dan once again adds his own licks to this historic favorite from the 70’s. Mark Prentice makes it authentic with his Billy Preston piano.

“Friendship” was originally recorded by Pops Staples and the Staples Singers. Chris Stapleton brought it back in 2016. A wonderful sentiment and beautiful background vocals by Michelle Prentice.

We finish with another tune from “Indianola Seeds”, “Go Underground”. My brother, David, gets in on the action with a fine blues solo after the second verse. “I’m tired of you puttin’ me down, I think I’ll do like a mole and go underground . . . .” Really.

Credits

Joe Starr – Vocals and guitars
Dan Dugmore – Pedal steel guitar, lap steel, and electric guitar
Mark Prentice – Bass guitar, pianos, and Hammond B-3
Matt Bubel – Drums and percussion
John Prentice – Electric guitars on every tune!
David Starr – Guitar on “Go Underground”
Earl Cate – Guitar on “Can’t Change My Heart”
David Ervin – Accordion on “Hold On”
Wanda Vick Burchfield – Fiddle on “Choices”
Michelle Prentice – Background vocals on tracks 4, 6 & 9
Charlotte Leigh – Background vocals on tracks 1, 7, & 8

Produced by Mark Prentice, Doug Wayne and Joe Starr for Starrfish, LLC, 2021
Executive Producer – René V. Starr
Recorded at Addiction Sound Studios in Nashville by David Kalmusky
Assisted by Ethan Barrette and Alberto Sewald
Mastered at Mastermind Studio in Nashville by Doug Wayne
Cover art – “Ship of Fools” by Patrick McFarlin, Santa Fe, NM

Tracks

About One is Never Enough

After the January 2020 release of Dickson St., we just kept on going, playing and recording the songs that were important to us over a lifetime of music.

“Let’s Just Let It Be”, written by Earl and Ernie Cate.  This outstanding tune shows up on the Cate Brothers’ 1977 album release “In One Eye and Out the Other” produced by Memphis soul man, Steve Cropper, at the famous Clover Studio in Hollywood.  The original track features Donald “Duck” Dunn, Michael Baird, and a young up-and-coming superstar, David Foster.

“Price of Regret”, written by Vince Gill, speaks to every person – who doesn’t have regrets?  “ . . . . all the things you needed wind up in the yard”.  Whatta line, and so true. 

“Harbor Lights” is a beautiful ballad from Boz Scaggs’ 1976 “Silk Degrees”.  I listened to this song on a transistor radio on the beach in Oahu in 1977.

“You and Tequila”, written by Matraca Berg and Deana Carter has been around since 2001 but was made popular in a 2011 duet by Kenny Chesney and the lovely Grace Potter.  A torch song about too much Tequila and too much infatuation, certainly a crazy combination – “One is one too many, one more is never enough . . . . ”  says it all. 

“Together Again” is a 1964 release by Buck Owens that features a famous solo by steel guitarist, Tom Brumley.  My version, (after Ray Charles, Glen Campbell, Wanda Jackson, Kenny Rogers/Dottie West, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill and others) might not say anything new – but it is a true Nashville rendition with a steel guitar solo by the fabulous Dan Dugmore and Floyd Cramer-esque piano by Mark Prentice.

“Harvest Moon” is a dreamy love song by Neil Young.  I think Dan, Mark, Matt and John really captured the essence of Neil’s laidback feel to this epic tune. The percussion feel on the rhythm guitar is pure Elvis.

“Crazy”, written by Willie Nelson, was made famous by the wonderful Patsy Cline.  Patsy was recovering from a car accident in Nashville and really didn’t want to sing “Crazy”.  But she did, in one take, and what a classic.  The guitar solo is played on a WWII Gibson LG-2 manufactured in Kalamazoo, MI and is my homage to guitarist, Django Reinhardt.

Jackson Browne’s 1977 “Running on Empty” was certainly about his life on the road, but it was also a bit of an anthem to the boomer generation dealing with the aftermath of Viet Nam, Watergate, the oil embargo, recession, inflation, and well, disco.  “I don’t know where I’m running to, I’m just running on . . . . ”

Credits

Joe Starr – vocals and guitars
Mark Prentice – bass, piano and Hammond B-3
Matt Bubel – drums and percussion
John Prentice – electric guitars
Dan Dugmore – pedal steel and lap steel guitars

A special thanks to Michelle Prentice for the lovely background vocals.

Producers: Mark Prentice, Doug Wayne, and Joe Starr for Starrfish, LLC 2020

Executive Producer: René V. Starr

Engineers: Doug Wayne, Mastermind Studios, Nashville and Ace Lutz, County Q, Nashville

All songs used by permission.