Muscle Shoals Recordings

Muscle Shoals Recordings Muscle Shoals Alabama based Record Label

TONIGHT, TONIGHT: Hope you'll come out and join Reverend Jerry Reeves and the Skyliters for this evening's taping of the...
07/28/2022

TONIGHT, TONIGHT: Hope you'll come out and join Reverend Jerry Reeves and the Skyliters for this evening's taping of the Salt and Pepper Series at the Mane Room in Florence, AL. Tickets are still available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com.

Hope you enjoyed this look at a little bit of the history of the Skyliters, these past couple weeks. Look forward to seeing everyone on down the road!

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:Here's one of our last pictures before the pandemic that put everyone on the sidelines. We're so t...
07/28/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

Here's one of our last pictures before the pandemic that put everyone on the sidelines. We're so thankful to be back at it again. This will be heading into our 61st year together this-coming November. The Skyliters are more than friends, we're family. We were never a technically-great band, but we all played well together as a group.

I don't think you'll find another band anywhere that has more love and respect for each other than we do. We're looking forward to the taping of our Salt and Pepper show tomorrow night at the Mane Room in Florence, AL. The Reverend Jerry Reeves and his band is on the same ticket, and they are a great band, with all the gospel and soul you'd ever want to see.

Hope you can come out and join us! Tickets are available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com.

-Mike O'Rear

07/27/2022

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper Music Series (tickets available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com) we will also be sharing some pictures shared by other members of the band each day.

Pictured along with the group are: Foxy Griffin (our stage manager, bottom left,) and Jackie Cheatwood (radio station owner, bottom right.) (Photo credit: HoJo)

-Mike O'Rear

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper M...
07/27/2022

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper Music Series (tickets available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com) we will also be sharing some pictures shared by other members of the band each day.

Our reunion shows seem to somehow revolve around fellowship and food these days. (Photo credit: HoJo)

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:Here are the Skyliters doing an outside show at one of the vineyards in Tennessee. We always enjoy...
07/27/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

Here are the Skyliters doing an outside show at one of the vineyards in Tennessee. We always enjoyed these shows. Usually they were for high school reunions, but I'm not sure exactly which one this was for. For years, we have done the festival on the Tennessee River in Clifton, TN for Coty Smith, and the Mule Day Festival in Columbia, TN for our dear friends Willard and Donna Murphy.

Many thanks to all the city governments who have had us play street parties to help support our scholarship fund. These days, we still enjoy the festivals and theatre shows, and are looking forward to doing more in the future. The Skyliters' motto is "play 'til you can't play no more."

-Mike O'Rear

The picture below was from a show we did with George "Goober" Lindsay in the mid-2000s. What a character he was! Goober'...
07/26/2022

The picture below was from a show we did with George "Goober" Lindsay in the mid-2000s. What a character he was! Goober's friend Jimmy Moore, who had worked with George on Hee-Haw for several years, took this photo. They both have since passed away and are dearly missed by all their fans, including the Skyliters.

George absolutely mesmerized the audience with one of the best live performances I've ever seen anyone do. If you ever watched any of those clips from Hee-Haw of people jumping out of hay lofts, hopping on the back of hay wagons, throwing hay at each other, that was some of Jimmy Moore's high-speed footage. Great show, great people.

-Mike O'Rear

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper M...
07/25/2022

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper Music Series (tickets available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com) we will also be sharing some pictures shared by other members of the band each day.

Practicing at Dickey Mayberry's piano store in the 1980s. (Photo credit: HoJo)

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:As the new millennium began, we continued to play many charity events. Here's another picture from...
07/25/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

As the new millennium began, we continued to play many charity events. Here's another picture from HoJo at a charity event for the Loretto, TN High School Band in the mid-2000s. We did a once-a-month dance at the Loretto Civic Center to help the Loretto High School Band raise money. Their band director Darrell Boston was such a great inspiration to all those kids that came under his direction. Darrell is retiring this year, and will be dearly missed by all the folks in south-central Tennessee.

Many thanks go out to some of our past supporters in the radio business like Jackie Cheatwood (whose son, Taylor Cheatwood, a great musician, will be playing the upcoming show with us on the 28th,) Roger Wright (who has helped to promote us in south-central TN,) the Phillips family (who have helped to promote us in north AL,) and the Self family (who have helped to promote us in north AL, with a special remembrance of Mitch Self, who helped us get our start.)

-Mike O'Rear

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper M...
07/24/2022

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper Music Series (tickets available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com) we will also be sharing some pictures shared by other members of the band each day.

One of the first pictures ever taken of the Skyliters. (Photo credit: Jimmy Moore)

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:Many of the Skyliters shows from 1986 forward have been complemented by having our friends from th...
07/24/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

Many of the Skyliters shows from 1986 forward have been complemented by having our friends from the Muscle Shoals Horns back us. I first became friends with Harrison Calloway and Harvey Thompson back around 1970 and later became friends with Ronnie Eades, who will be playing with us Thursday, July 28th during WC Handy Week for the Salt and Pepper Music Series.

For the last several years, the Muscle Shoals Horns, under the direction of Charles Rose, have been kind enough to help a bunch of old guys feel the music. Charles is out with the Lyle Lovett tour again this year, and won't be able to do our upcoming show. We also send along good vibes to our friend Harvey Thompson, who has always been a big part of our gatherings. Pictured below is a live shot of Harvey at the McEwen, TN Fourth of July Celebration in 1999.

-Mike O'Rear

07/23/2022

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper Music Series (tickets available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com) we will also be sharing some pictures shared by other members of the band each day.

We didn't know we were a dance orchestra! (Photo credit: Jimmy Moore)

-Mike O'Rear

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper M...
07/23/2022

In addition to our Skyliters History posts leading up to our show at the Mane Room in Florence for the Salt and Pepper Music Series (tickets available at saltandpepperpresentsorearandreeves.eventbrite.com) we will also be sharing some pictures shared by other members of the band each day.

Left-to-right: Jim Messer, John Marston, Mike O'Rear, Gene Craig, Sonny Holley, Dickey Mayberry, and Jerry Brown. (Photo credit: Jimmy Moore)

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:Here's a picture of the Skyliters playing a charity event in the mid-'80s. We were always able to ...
07/23/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

Here's a picture of the Skyliters playing a charity event in the mid-'80s. We were always able to dress nice for our shows because our friend Chunky Moore, who ran Moore's Department Store, always furnished our outfits. Most of the photos made from the '80s onward have been done by Howard Johnson (HoJo.)

Our friends at the radio stations in both south-central Tennessee and north Alabama have always helped us to promote our charity events. At one of our gatherings not long ago, the subject was brought up about us not having a nationally-recognized record in the '60s, and we all agreed it would have probably been the death of us.

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:In the '80s, the Skyliters started doing shows for various charities and all the surviving origina...
07/22/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

In the '80s, the Skyliters started doing shows for various charities and all the surviving original members reunited to play shows again, and our main focus would be to enjoy being together and raising money for projects we really believed in. Our first big project was to make enough money to help restore the old Youth Center in Lawrenceburg, later raising money for high school bands, and installing Christmas lights for various communities.

In 1986, we started the Skyliters Scholarship Fund to secure scholarships for high school students, based not on musicianship or academics, but solely on need. This is still an ongoing project. You have somewhere you want us to play? We ain't cheap! Write a check to the Education Foundation and you've got our attention. We love playing festivals, corporate gatherings, and for city governments. One of our most dedicated mentors was a walking postman in Lawrenceburg, TN. W.D. Bud Webb will always be remembered for taking a bunch of teenage boys who were playing in beer joints to play before civic groups at luncheons and conventions. We all loved Mr. Webb.

Here's another rehearsal picture from around this time in the mid-'80s made in the back of Dickey Mayberry's piano store in Lawrenceburg, which became a meeting place and a hangout for most of us, if we ever got any loafing time.

-Mike O'Rear

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:In 1971, Bobby Joe Stults rebuilt 13 Club and asked if we would come back to the state line again....
07/21/2022

THE SKYLITERS HISTORY:

In 1971, Bobby Joe Stults rebuilt 13 Club and asked if we would come back to the state line again. We played a variety of clubs, fraternities, military bases during '71. Bobby's younger brother Gene Balentine was running 13 Club and sometime during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays, Bobby asked me if Gene wants to run the Stult's Package Store, would you like to have 13 Club, to which I responded "I don't have enough money to buy anything," and he said "who the hell said anything about money?" Hello, club operator! I'll never have anyone that I owe more to than Bobby Joe for giving me this break.

Once I became a club owner, the band kind of fragmented, and we all started playing with different groups, but we remained close friends and would get together from time to time. Gene Craig became the lead singer for the Stoned Rangers. Sonny Holley played lead guitar for many different groups, including the Ronnie Allen Group (who had a hit with "Juvenile Delinquent.") John Marston played bass with Moody's Goose and other groups. Unfortunately, Sonny Royal and Eric Doerflinger both passed away extremely young.

While I was running the club in 1972, my old friends Jimmy Johnson and Roger Hawkins approached me about becoming professional manager of Muscle Shoals Sound Publishing Company. As hard as it was, I tried to hold down both jobs, but as time went on, I committed to becoming a music publisher. With the help of a lady named Joni Rhodes, Roger Sovine, Francis Preston (BMI) and a book "This Business of Music" that Jimmy Johnson gave me, I became a publishing professional manager and later on, travelled all over the world to secure regional sub-publishing deals.

The below picture features just a few members of the great crew we had at Muscle Shoals Sound during the '70s, pictured are myself, Dianne Butler, Greg Hamm and Steve Melton. The rest of the crew included Carol Little, Jimmy, Roger, David and Barry, the rhythm section, and the engineering staff, headed by Jerry Masters, who all turned out some phenomenal music during the '70s.

-Mike O'Rear (The Skyliters)

Address

1920 Webster Street
Muscle Shoals, AL
35661

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