Evoking images of the legendary Highwaymen, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson - EJ Wells and Bob Caunter rode towards Coopersville, Michigan from Toledo, Ohio intent upon playing their brand of music - rock and roll with an edge. For EJ Wells this was a personal triumph. The road to Coopersville lay straight ahead.
Singer/songwriter EJ Wells, drummer Bob Caunter and bassist Don Binkley, were scheduled to debut Wells’ Del Shannon tribute song “Coopersville” the next day at the Coopersville Summerfest 2001 and 10th Annual Del Shannon Memorial Car Show. They were primed and ready to go, and so were Del’s fans.
August 11, 2001 turned out to be a bright, sunny day. A mobile stage and several bleachers had been set up in the parking lot of the new Coopersville Farm Museum. Expectations were high for the first ever tribute concert performances at the annual Memorial Car show. And the musicians did not disappoint the crowd on hand.
Walking past the EJ Wells handbills posted throughout the area, Wells and Caunter nervously eyed the crowd while waiting for their bass player to arrive.
The legendary Max Crook (who co-wrote and played Musitron on the rock and roll classic “Runaway”) opened the show and entertained the crowd with some of the greatest piano playing ever. His fingers flew like lightning across the keyboards. [www.maxcrook.com]
Albany, New York’s Joe Glickman was up next. Glickman turned in a stellar performance singing Del Shannon’s “Jody”, "The Answer To Everything” (with Jamie Popenhagen and the Hi-Los) and “So Long Baby” (with Jamie and the Hi-Los and Max Crook). [Photos of the performers at the Coopersville concert can be found at Glickman’s www.crystalhorizon.com web site]
Jamie and the Hi-Los took the stage next with a Del Shannon set that really had the crowd rockin’. Jamie had the moves of a young Del Shannon and drew a thunderous applause for his rendition of the “Coopersville Yodel.”
At last it was Wells, Caunter and Binkley’s turn to perform, there was no turning back now. The EJ Wells trio stepped onto the stage to an enthusiastic round of applause.
Wells was in fine form. All signs of nervousness disappeared with the first several guitar licks of “I Told You (Not To Touch Me)”. When Wells broke into his second song of the set, the debut of “Coopersville”, Del Shannon fans in attendance immediately voiced their approval with whistles, shouts and a rousing, clapping ovation. His song was truly a hit with the crowd!
Wells then sang another favorite of the crowd, Del Shannon’s “Stranger In Town”, which was followed by a few of Wells’ other compositions “Downstairs (At The Funeral Home)”, “I Drive A Hearse”, “Rhyolite”, “Motherlode” and “Hangin’ Tree”. (Due to time limitations two more Wells songs, “Graveyard Moon” and “Short Stack And A Longneck”, had to be cut from the set.)
Wells, Caunter and Binkley had been fortunate to land the performance slot right before the presentation of trophies for the Del Shannon Memorial Car Show. A crowd of several hundred poured into the presentation area, and Wells had the entire crowd reelin’ and rockin’ with the last song of his set, a spirited rendition of Shannon’s “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun)”. The crowd gave Wells, Caunter and Binkley a standing ovation. The trip to Coopersville had been well worth all of the effort!
After the presentation of trophies the final tribute band, The Drysdales from Chicago, took the stage. Patrick Potts and company rocked on with Shannon’s “I Go To Pieces”and “Move It On Over”; as well as covers of other artists songs and some of their own compositions. It was a fitting finale to a great tribute concert.
We caught up with forty-five year old EJ Wells shortly after the successful debut of his “Coopersville” song, and had many questions to ask him about his involvement with the upcoming Del Shannon Tribute CD. Wells, besides working in the television industry, and as a part time film critic, had played music professionally up until the age of 32; and he has currently thrown himself wholeheartedly back into the music world that he loves.
EJ, I guess the most natural place to start the interview would be to ask how you happen to hear about the Del Shannon Tribute CD in the first place.
“My finding out about the Del Shannon Tribute CD was a happy accident. I had recorded a version (not the one I submitted) of ‘Keep Searchin' (We’ll Follow The Sun)’ about a year ago. One day I was net surfing, and ran across the www.DelShannon.com website. I went to the message board and posted that I had recorded a version of the song, and that I would be happy to send a free copy to any Del Shannon fan.
I then found the webmaster section of the website, and e-mailed about buying the mechanical license for the song, so I could include it on my soon-to-be-released CD.
It was Brian Young, the webmaster, who told me about the Tribute CD, and urged me to submit. I didn't feel I had the proverbial "Chinaman's chance," and expressed this to Brian, but he talked me into it.”
For those of us who are not in the music business, could you please explain what a mechanical license is?
“A mechanical license is the written permission to record and release a song. It's issued by the company that holds the publishing rights to a song. (In this case Bug Music out of Los Angeles). In addition to the permission, it involves paying an amount (in this instance 7.5 cents per unit to be initially manufactured), and an agreement to pay the per unit price for all copies that are sold after the initial pressing. I've paid enough to sell 1000 copies, after those sell it's 7.5 cents for each CD I sell that has the song on it.”
Out of all of the thousands and thousands of songs available by other songwriters, not to mention your own excellent songs, how did you happen to choose “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun)” to record for your next CD?
“Searchin'” was a song that I always loved, and was the first song I recorded on my new studio gear. I have no idea how I chose it out of all the songs I love, and why I decided to record someone else's song as the trial run of my new gear. Possibly fate was lending a hand?”
We understand that you recorded the latest version of “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun)” in your own recording studio. Do you find that is hard to do?
“I have a beautiful 18 track digital studio in my basement. I have about $20,000 invested in my basement, all totaled. That includes some guitars, so the actual studio equipment is somewhere in the ballpark of $15,000. I invested in the equipment figuring I would have spent nearly as much cutting 16 songs in a "real" studio. The drawback is this: when you record in a "real" studio, you're basically done at the end of the day. With my setup, I'm never done. I'm constantly resinging this, adding a guitar part to that, remixing something, and on and on and on. It never ends. Not a complaint, mind you, just a statement. I'm glad I made the move. My lovely wife Susan, on the other hand, sometimes feels differently.”
Do you record all of the different parts of a song by yourself, or do you have other musicians record at the same time as you?
“I generally record all parts for (at least) the demos of new songs. There's a couple on the new “6” EP CD (available at www.ruinrecords.com) that are all me, and some that are all me except the drummer.
This is the case with my version of “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun)”. I called John Wicker (a drummer I've worked with over the years, currently residing in Virginia Beach), and asked him if he'd be interested in recording the song with me. I had played the drums on my first recording of it, and while I consider myself a capable drummer, I'm humble enough to know that many others can perform the duty better than me. He graciously accepted, and came up a couple weeks later. We did the version of “Keep Searchin'” that is on the EP you have, and I submitted it immediately upon finishing it.
John Wicker plays on a few others, including “I Told You Not To Touch Me”. The drummer on “Downstairs (at the Funeral Home)” is Chris Arduser, who currently plays with Adrian Belew and The Bears. The other six songs on the upcoming CD are drummed by longtime friend Tim Gahagan, who plays in a local R and B band.”
Your “Coopersville” song was a big hit with the local folks and the Del Shannon fans at the Coopersville SummerFest 2001. Tell us about the writing of the song.
“I told Brian Young I was going to come to Coopersville, and he invited me to play a couple songs. It was at this moment that I got the idea of writing a song about the whole experience.
I toyed with writing a song simply called "Del Shannon." I actually wrote a verse and chorus, and will probably finish it sometime soon. I thought "Coopersville" had a nice ring to it. Many of my songs are named after towns, especially Nevada ghost towns. "Rhyolite," "Candelaria," and "Rising Sun" are a few examples.
I wrote and recorded "Coopersville" 10 days before my performance on August 11th, and introduced it to my band. They liked it. My wife liked it. My partner John from St. Petersburg liked it.
It's certainly my hope that everyone in the world will like it.”
How long did it take to actually write "Coopersville"? Where did you do the writing? Did you work it out on guitar?
“I wrote and recorded “Coopersville” in my basement studio in four hours. Using an acoustic guitar (which is how I write all my stuff), it took about one and a half-hours to write, and two and a half-hours to record the demo. I played three guitars, bass, drums and sang four vocals.”
We were on hand for the debut of “Coopersville” and it must have been personally gratifying to see the wonderful crowd response. Especially, since it has been suggested that “Coopersville” should become the official anthem for the annual Summerfest.
“I've gotten many requests for CD copies of it. It's my hope to record it again, with Bob Caunter on drums, and Don Binkley on bass and back-up vocals.
It is also my plan to have Max Crook play organ and piano on it. I am working out details to visit him in New Mexico, and have him play on a few songs of mine. I was quite impressed with Max's prowess as a keyboardist, and it would be my great pleasure to have him included on my second CD, which I plan to have available by next summer.”
We understand that good things are beginning to happen for you, and that American fans are not the only ones to have heard your version of “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun)”. According to the Ruin Records website: “E.J. Wells was interviewed live on BBC radio yesterday morning. E.J. appeared -via transcontinental telephone [from Toledo, Ohio] - on BBC Humbersides' "Afternoon Show" hosted by Steve Massam, who spun E.J.s' remake of Del Shannon's "Keep Searchin'" to open the segment. The two exchanged yet-to-be-heard-in-the-States banter for ten minutes or so, then segued into the Wells-penned "Short Stack (and a Long Neck)" to close it out. Apparently they like the twisted rockabilly sound of E.J.'s stuff over there across the pond.”
“When I finished the latest version of "Keep Searchin'", I had posted a message at DelShannon.com, offering to send the song to any fan for free. One of the people I sent it to in England really liked it, and we began writing each other. I wound up sending him 15 copies of “Searchin'/Short Stack”, postage money, and cover letters. He, in turn, sent them to 15 Radio Stations in the UK. Two weeks later I was contacted by the BBC.”
The 10th Annual Del Shannon Memorial Car Show and Coopersville Summerfest 2001 was a really fun weekend and well worth attending. Brian Young, Al LeFleur, and all of the others who brought everything together, certainly deserve recognition for all of their hard work in making the celebration a success. And last but not least, a special thanks should go out to you and all of the musicians who shared their many talents in memory of one of the greatest rock and roll legends of all time – Del Shannon!
“Coopersville was a blast. Actually being on stage and performing was my great honor, to share in the remembrance of Del, and to belt out a couple of his timeless classics in his hometown was an absolute thrill. I'll certainly be back next year.”
“Coopersville”
Mercy me, that's the Michigan line we'll be there in no time
Ooo-eee, the stereo's blastin' out "Cry Myself to Sleep"
Glory be, rollin' down the highway singin' "Stranger in Town"
Ooo-eee, I love that song with every fiber of me
Drivin' all night, feelin' alright, got the stereo playin' a little "Runaway"
50 more miles, it'll be such a thrill
Ridin' in to Coopersville
Lord above, ain't felt like this since the summer of love
Ooo-eee, the fellas and me gonna have us some fun
Drivin' all day, that's a small price to pay
Got the stereo playin' a little "Runaway"
20 more miles, I just can't sit still
Ridin' in to Coopersville
Drove 400 miles, forfeit the pay, I wanna say
I played my guitar on a stage in the hometown of Del Shannon
If I have my way I'll be back next year
I'll be right here
It's such a thrill
Ridin' in to Coopersville
Yesiree, the signpost up ahead says exit 16
Ooo-eee, I feel a chill comin' over me
