My "friend of a friend of ..." series may have been interrupted a bit lately, but it's not done yet. Consider this more along the lines of "halftime" in that series. None of the "connections" I've taken a look at so far would have been made if I hadn't had the opportunity to meet legendary blues and soul musician Lester Chambers in person at a birthday party in Petaluma, California, on New Year's Eve 2011.
Now, Lester Chambers' time has come.
Lester Chambers
After teaming with Reddit.com co-founder Alexis Ohanian on a successful Kickstarter funding campaign last winter, Lester has released a new album of music, "Lester Chambers' Time Has Come." And, as of today, he also has a new website at www.lester-chambers.com. The website has photos, videos, biographies, links to song samples, contact information, and a link to order the CD.
The album features Lester and his five-piece band, The Mud Stompers -- David Aguilar on guitar, Kenneth Roy Berry on keyboards and percussion, Marcia Miget on saxophone, Kenny "Mo" Susan on drums, and Baron Chase on bass along with music director, engineering, and producing duties.
Not surprisingly, the album includes a mix of rock, soul, blues, and gospel-tinged classics that harken back to the days when Lester and his siblings, The Chambers Brothers, rode the top of the charts in the 1960s and '70s on songs like "People Get Ready" and the timeless classic "Time Has Come Today," both part of the new album with a crisp, modern sound.
The band also shines on classic tunes like "Are You Ready?", "Let's Get Funky," "I Got The Blues," "Hold On," and "Boogie Children," along with the Christmas "teaser" tunes that were released early to Kickstarter donors, "Merry Xmas Happy New Year" and "Jingle Bells."
Now, after the fund-raising campaign followed by recording sessions and engineering and working out copyright issues, the album is ready.
Lester and The Mud Stompers are more than ready themselves. The time has come.
Lester Chambers and Alexis Ohanian have reached a goal in a fundraising pledge drive that was launched less than two weeks ago in order for Lester and his band of Bay Area musicians, The Mud Stompers, to record a new album.
The goal was $39,000 to at least cover minimum expenses by January 9. They eclipsed that goal Monday afternoon. By Monday evening, Christmas Eve, the campaign had raised over $43,000. It doesn't have to stop there.
It helped to get an early Christmas present via a front page article on CNN.com. Click on the link below to read it yourself. The word is spreading. CNN.com: On Web, "Time Has Come" for '60s singer
It's rare that I have or will ever "cross channels" between this blog and my other personal blog, but in this case I can't resist because it does involve music, and it involves my musical friend Lester Chambers.
Lester Chambers and Alexis Ohanian
Lester -- a part of the iconic 1960s and early '70s rock/soul/psychedelic/gospel group The Chambers Brothers -- is part of an impressive drive to get some new music of his out there. It's even more impressive to know that internet entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of the social news and entertainment website Reddit and an activist who played a key role in stopping SOPA legislation in Congress earlier this year, is helping to back up Lester's effort.
They're doing it by kicking off a fundraising drive through the Kickstarter public funding platform online. The effort was launched Tuesday morning.
New music has already been recorded by Lester and his group The Mud Stompers. The funding is designed to cover the expenses of recording a new album by Lester and The Mud Stompers, featuring members of the legendary Tower of Power horns and others. Part of the proceeds from the new album will go toward the non-profit charity Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which has helped Lester himself through the years.
Organizers are hoping to raise at least $39,000 in order to record the album between now and January 9.
For more information, click on the link below to my article at the blog A View From The Middle (Class).
This is a week for music so powerful, it has a kind of force that can
knock you out just thinking about it. It's relentless. It can stick
with you for a lifetime.
There've been many country music songs and artists who've fit that description, and the lives some of those musicians have led have fit that mold. Steve Earle fits the mold pretty easily. He's been married several times, served some time behind bars, and when it comes to being outspoken ... well, Steve Earle isn't one to mince words. He'll tell you what's on his mind, in great detail. He believes what he says, says what he believes.
That makes for quite the activist.
Steve Earle's songs reflect that attitude of his. Whether it's doing someone else's songs, like The Chambers Brothers' powerful "Time Has Come Today," or one of his own (my favorite of his being "Copperhead Road"), it's music that has quite a bite to it.
I told you yesterday about a trip I made last New Year's Eve to help my old college roommate/good friend/brother Baron Chase celebrate his 52nd birthday with an annual birthday jam at his place in the Bay Area.
I told you about how Baron serves as music director for Lester Chambers, a musician with a long and colorful history to tell from the world of music with many stories coming from his days with the iconic 1960s soul/psychedelic/rock/gospel group The Chambers Brothers and songs like "Time Has Come Today," "People Get Ready," and "Love Peace and Happiness."
I told you about how Lester lived just a few houses down from Baron at the time. It was quite a rush to me to sit in Baron's kitchen that afternoon, look out the window, and see a part of music history walk up the sidewalk to Baron's front door.
After he came in, we were introduced and shook hands.
"Hi, I'm Lester Chambers."
"Oh, yeah, I know who you are," I responded. "It's an honor to meet you."
From there, we kicked back and watched some NBA on the television before more guests arrived and the jamming began.
Lester Chambers sings "Dock of the Bay" (Photo By John G. Miller)
I sat in an easy chair. Lester sat on a love seat less than five feet away from me. When the people who were there felt like getting into the music and they launched into the Otis Redding classic "(Sittin' On The) Dock of the Bay," and Lester Chambers was singing it five feet away from me, I felt the need to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. I grabbed my camera to record the moment.
It was a night to remember for sure. Lester is about the most decent, kind, gentle guy you'd ever want to meet. He's genuine. There's no "rock star aura" about him. Having him pull out a blues harp and start playing that is a treat all by itself. Vocally, he sings like a man who's traveled a few hard roads in his life and lived to tell the tales. He sang "Dock of the Bay" like he was telling a hard story about his life, and he sang it with love and care. When he sang Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," with the guest musicians jamming and singing along, it was like a prayer coming from Lester's heart. Everyone was captivated.
Dylan and Lester Chambers perform together.
Speaking of Dylan, there's Lester's son Dylan as well. Lester would love to come back strong in the music business himself, but he doesn't think so much of himself these days as he does promoting the career of Dylan Chambers.
Dylan's got some vocal talent himself, and he put it on display the night of the birthday jam. He's carrying on a family tradition. Dylan also rattled off tons of information about Lester and the rest of the Chambers Brothers for those more unfamiliar with them. He is an amazing historian when it comes to his famous father and uncles.
Lester and his brothers gave Dylan some great material of musically historic significance to work with. Songs like "Time Has Come Today" don't come around all that often and have the kind of lasting impact that tune has had.
Lester's still trying to leave his mark on the music world in his early 70s. He and Baron turned what was known as the Lester Chambers Blues Revue into a group called The Mud Stompers to note Lester's Mississippi roots, and they played two live shows online earlier this year on stageit.com. I tuned in to both of them and tried to help get the word out to anyone who wanted to tune in. Both stageit.com shows were top-notch in terms of musicianship and tightness, and Lester showed he still has the chops vocally and on that blues harp.
We can't forget Dylan Chambers either. He's determined to make people remember his father and uncles and the musical heritage they created. And he's working on doing something with his talents himself, with his group The Midnight Transit.
