Musicians Jan - 01 - Nashville Musicians Association

8 The Nashville Musician January-March 2009
We've entered the busiest time of year for
the front desk. Your patience and understanding
are appreciated more than ever, and we
thank you for minimizing calls, etc. when possible.
Over 2,000 members have already paid
their 2009 annual membership dues! Fewer than
600 members have yet to submit payments in
full.
Members are required to pay the following
items in their entirety to maintain active status
with Local 257: Local Dues, AFM Per Capita
Dues, Funeral Benefit Fee, Funeral Benefit
Assessment, and Vic Willis Emergency Relief
Fund. The only optional item was listed on the
postcard you received separately, and is for the
Legislative Action Fund (formerly TEMPO),
the money going to lobbying on behalf of musicians.
Please contribute generously to this
fund if you're able.
Although your membership cards expire
each year on Dec. 31st, we do allow you to pay
as late as Jan. 31st, before your membership
status is suspended and a reinstatement fee is
added to your account. If your membership and
reinstatement fees are not paid in full by March
31, your status will be expelled and an additional
reinstatement fee will be charged to you.
Finances are tight for most everyone, and if you
find yourself in a position where you're unable
to pay by the due dates, yet intend to maintain
your membership, please contact Secretary-
Treasurer Craig Krampf. He's happy to hear
from you and work with you.
If you choose to resign in good standing, it's
best if you do so before March 31, at which
time we will be sending in a per capita dues
payment to A.F.of M. for every member on our
roster. The last payment was sent for Dec. 31,
’08, so thank you to all who made the decision
to resign prior to Jan. 1. If you are contemplating
a change, but not quite sure which way to
go, please contact Secretary-Treasurer Krampf
or President Pomeroy. They can listen to your
concerns and advise you on your situation.
Collecting your Pension is not affected by
maintaining your membership in our Local. Resigning
does make you ineligible for applying
for assistance through our Emergency Relief
Fund. You also forfeit your Funeral Benefit
Fund if you resign. Your membership can be
reinstated within a year, but beyond that one
year you must sign up as a new member. In this
Office
Manager’s
Notes . . .
By
Sherri
Olson
case, your start date changes to the date you
come back in, and you lose the length of time
you had built up as a member in good standing.
Applicants for ERF must be members in good
standing for the past 12 months or more. The
Funeral Benefit is based on your length of time
as a member as well, ranging from $1,250.00
at the start of your membership, up to $8,000.00
after you've maintained your good standing
membership for 20 or more years. In order for
your benefit to be paid out, your membership
and all dues and obligations must be paid in
full.
Please remember us when you have a new
mailing address, e-mail address, name change,
or perhaps wish to change your beneficiary. As
members, you each contribute to the Funeral
Benefit Fund with your annual dues payments.
It's comforting for you to know the money will
go where you would like it to go at the time of
your death. The Fund was designed to help
cover the cost of your burial and funeral arrangements,
but it's really in the hands of whoever
you have designated. We are currently
printing your named beneficiary on your billing
statements. If you would like to re-assign
your benefit, please stop by or request that we
mail you a new Funeral Benefit Beneficiary
card. Having a new card on file, signed by you,
is the only way we can make these updates.
My personal thanks goes out to former President
Harold Bradley and former Secretary-Treasurer
Billy Linneman. These two gentlemen
always treated us with respect and love, and
their friendship and presence are greatly missed
around here. I'm thankful that my position is
not subject to an election! I don't think I could
deal with the uncertainty every three years.
Although a new administration can bring uncertainty
in and of itself, we can only continue
to do our jobs to the best of our ability and hope
that we are seen as a vital part of the organization,
someone who contributes to the success
of the purpose.
In my opinion, we have a great staff! I welcome
Dave Pomeroy and Craig Krampf, and
pray we will feel a similar friendship that comes
with time spent together. They generate a lot of
enthusiasm and energy, and I encourage you to
stop by and congratulate them. It's your
union…and your voice should be heard.
Sherri Olson
Local 257 members inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Fame last fall . .
Six legendary entertainers, including country
music star Joe Nichols, rock drummer
Ronnie Hawkins, the Opry’s brother duo The
Wilburn Brothers (Doyle & Teddy), noted
Memphis horn player Wayne Jackson, and the
late blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson were
inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of
Fame Nov. 15, in Hot Springs.
The late Doyle and Teddy Wilburn were born
in Hardy and were child performers in an act
called The Wilburn Family that were brought
to the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s. After the
brothers served stints in the Army during the
Korean War, Teddy and Doyle continued on in
country music as The Wilburn Brothers. They
had their first hit in 1954, “Sparkling Brown
Eyes.” Other hits include “Which One Is To
Blame,” “Trouble’s Back in Town” and “It’s
Another World.”
They operated a major music publishing firm
Sure-Fire and with Don Helms, Wil-Helm booking
agency. The Wilburn Brothers had a longrunning
syndicated TV show, 1963 to 1974, and
helped introduce Loretta Lynn to a wider audience.
Both Wilburns were in AFM Local 257.
Fellow member Jackson grew up in West
Memphis and his life took him across the Mississippi
River to Memphis, where he became a
legendary backup trumpeter in such groups as
the Mar-Keys and would go on to perform with
a who's who of artists from around the world
on over 300 gold and platinum records. Of
course, he was a founder of the legendary Memphis
backing band, The Memphis Horns.
Son says Rex Peer had ‘a remarkable life’
Rex Peer, one of the original musicians in
Danny Davis’ Nashville Brass, died Oct. 14, in
Chapel Hill, Tenn., following a lengthy fight
with cancer. He was 80.
The trombonist, a Lifetime member of Local
257, also performed big band sounds with
such notables as Benny Goodman and The
Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. He had recorded with
such acts as Davis, Goodman, Johnny Cash,
Eddie Fisher and Tennessee Ernie Ford, and was
on Pat Boone’s TV show for a year.
Born in Atlantic, Iowa, Rex Eugene Peer
grew up in a musical family. His father Willard
Ralph Peer, a cornet player and flautist, at one
time was introduced on ABC-TV’s You Asked
For It program as “The world’s greatest
Ocarina (sweet-potato flute) player.” Brother
Herb played jazz trombone in the Joe Ventuti
Orchestra. Rex’s sister Dorothy Zehr is still a
music and voice teacher in Ft. Dodge, Iowa.
“Dad dropped out of high school to play in
territory bands,” notes son Ryan Peer. “Then
he got a job with Jimmy Palmer’s band. During
a hiatus with that band, he finished high
school, and a couple of years he spent on the
road.”
Near the tail end of World War II, he served
in the Army Air Corps, part of which he played
in a military band at Lackland Air Base in Texas.
Peer decided to get out just two weeks before
they suspended all discharges (as the Korean
War loomed large).
“Under the GI Bill, my father went to
Morningside College in Sioux City to earn his
B.A. degree,” Ryan points out. “He obtained
his master’s (in music education) from Columbia
University in New York.”
Later, he was proprietor of the Peer Music
Store in Atlantic (originally founded by his father
Ralph), where Rex also taught aspiring
music students for $1 per lesson.
Among other bandleaders he performed with
were Vincent Lopez and Woody Herman. It was
Goodman, however, who kept calling him back.
As early as 1952, he toured the U.S. with
Goodman; in 1955, he toured the Far East, a
highlight being a command performance for
King Aduljadet of Thailand (who jammed with
them on sax); they toured Europe in ’58, headlining
two weeks at the Brussels World Fair; in
1959 they toured Canada and New England; and
in the early 1960s, South America (including
some memorable dates in Mexico).
An incident during his Goodman gigs occurring
on a dual All-Star Farewell Band Tour
in conjunction with fellow legend Louis
Armstrong, also proved memorable, much to
Benny’s chagrin.
According to Ryan, Benny had a bit of ego:
“Theirs was a six-week tour and after a couple
weeks, Benny and Louie got into an argument
right there in front of their bandsmen. It started
when Benny wanted more stage time; then
Louie asked, ‘Who do you think I am? I’m not
your ***damn flunkie!’ So Benny left and his
drummer Gene Krupa took over the band for
the next four weeks. After that, everything was
fine and the guys remembered it as memorable.”
Despite all his time with Benny and the
Goodman Sextet, he confided to his son that
his very favorite band to work with was Sauter-
Finegan (whose co-leaders were Eddie Sauter
and Bill Finegan), explaining: “It’s the only
band where after three hours on stage and they
were packin’ up their horns, he wanted to play
more. He said that was his all-time high.”
Nonetheless, Rex is heard playing on such
acclaimed Benny Goodman albums as Benny’s
celebrated 1956 live effort cut in Bangkok, and
their set recorded in Belgium in 1958.
Changes in beneficiary?
Be sure to report changes in
your personal status
to the Union office!
Call (615) 244-9514, Ext. 240.
According to worksheets turned in by leader
Bill Walker, after the initial tracks for Bob
Dylan’s “Self Portrait” were done in ’69, some
overdubbing was accomplished in Nashville,
specifically the period March 11 - April 3, 1970,
including trombone playing by Rex Peer, Dennis
Good and Frank Smith. (Rex didn’t remember
that session.)
One of Rex’s best friends was multi-instrumentalist
Walker, an Australian who gained further
career renown as an arranger and conductor
based in Nashville.
“Bill was the reason my father came down
here,” explains the younger Peer. “In 1966 or
’67, when Dad was playing with Eddy Arnold,
he took his putter from his car trunk while awaiting
rehearsal, to practice his swing. Bill walked
by and said, ‘We’re looking for a fourth tomorrow.
Want to play?’ That was the start of a long
friendship.”
Walker worked with both the Johnny Cash
and Statler Brothers’ TV shows here in different
decades. Rex first came to town now and
then to work, but finally moved his family to
Nashville in 1969.
“He was pretty much first-call for anyone
wanting a trombone player. The list of artists
he played for is huge . . . He once played for
Nat (King) Cole, and later for his daughter
Natalie Cole,” notes Ryan. “I think he hit the
road with Danny in the early 1970s, and came
off the Brass like in ’77. The last musical thing
he did here was The Statler Brothers’ show on
TNN. He did a nice little thing with Leon Redbone
singing, while he had a fine little instrumental
solo.”
Some say for many years Peer was a regular
attraction at the old Cajun Wharf restaurant,
doing Dixieland. With former Iowa student
Roger Bissell, however, he founded a two-trombone
and rhythm band called The Hip Bones in
1977, also playing area clubs.
Two stand-out Peer arrangements were “The
St. Louis Blues March” for the Nashville Brass,
and “The National Anthem” for Benny. Rex
Peer also launched the Nashville Sound Plus
You, a singalong recording unit, sort of a predecessor
to today’s karaoke fad.
“He started that with a couple other guys,
but then he bought them out,” adds Ryan. “It
was something he worked on like one day a
week, until he let someone buy him out.”
Although Ryan’s mom - Barbara Benton
Peer - was creative as a clothing designer and
semi-professional photographer, he remembers
she was more a full-time Mom. She died in
January 2008. Ryan’s sister Rachel played bass
and during eight years with then-husband John
Prine, played bass and sang harmony for him.
“She also worked with the Everly Brothers
quite a bit,” he recalls, adding “My sister
Cindy’s a decent piano player, but she saw her
role more as being a mother and homemaker.”
While Ryan claims, “I was a pretty mean
high school trombone player,” he admits that
he enjoys his current job in the graphic arts division
of Lightning Source, a subsidiary of
Ingram Books, in LaVergne.
What characteristic did he most admire in
his father?
(Continued on page 31)
Rex Peer