Growing up, my brother and I were lucky enough to have my Dad’s stellar record collection. It was the kind of collection that you listen to and learn from. Shelves full of some of the best blues, jazz, country, early rock & roll and soul were at our disposal and we took full advantage of it.
My earliest memories of music were songs that included horns (sections and solos), prominent, if not heavy piano or Hammond Organ. Catchy lyrics and melodies were common in the songs that weren’t strictly instrumentals. I was an oddball of sorts when it came to current popular music. Not that I wasn’t aware of it or even disliked it, I just wasn’t buying it. I really didn’t feel the need.
That changed when I was about 8 years old. I was listening to the radio and heard a song that had some familiar even nostalgic sounds (if that’s possible for an 8 year old). It was Huey Lewis and the News’ “I Want a New Drug,” off of the album, ‘Sports.’ Between the organ stabs and the extremely contagious horn lines, there was a mix of guitar that was heavier than I was used to, but it worked and that bridged a gap for me.
I can remember my mother taking me to the store to make my first purchase. I came back out to the car, ‘Sports’ in hand, excited to get home and hear what else this record had to offer. As I got back in the car, my mother asked to see what I had bought. I handed it over to her and the first thing she saw was that song title, the very reason I bought the record. “Oh… Chad,” she gasped, “Nuh uh.” I guess she thought that her third grader was entering a “gateway.” After I explained to her that I was interested more in the music than the words, she breathed a little easier and stopped insisting that I take it back inside the store.
Chad Gamble is the drummer for Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit. A former Memphis musician, he now lives in Tuscumbia, Al. Check out their latest album, “Here We Rest” (Lightening Rod). Follow @thechadgamble on Twitter.
