Our Era - Movies, Music, Radio and TV, 6th Edition

Our Era - Movies, Music, Radio & TV, 1950‟s and 1960‟s. 1965/68Courtesy http://garagehangover.com/?q=UsFourUS—The Us FourDuke Freeman, bassist and vocalist wrote about how he became involved in music and his bands, including the UsFour:If I remember correctly our group didn't want a flashy name. We wanted to keep it simple and easy to remember. Alsothere wasn't anything flashy about us so our music spoke for us, "US FOUR" that is.At that time the Oxfords were working for the Joni Agency (Gene & Vi Snyder). Our guitar player had worked for thembefore so were were going to audition for the agency during the Oxfords breaks at a local teen club. We'd been rehearsingfor several months to get everything tight. I remembered that we had no extra money for clothing so we all wore jeans andyellow short sleeved sweatshirts with the name of the ban written in black magic marker on the front (real classy).I remember when we stepped up on stage for that first 15 minute set. I was so nervous and we could hear some of thecrowd laughing at the way we dressed. Anyway we played about 5 numbers and the crowd went wild. The Oxfords weregreat at what they did, but this crowd wanted to dance and they didn't play a lot of top 40 dance music. Needless to say wesigned with the agency and wound up on the circuit. We thanked the Oxfords for allowing us to share the stage with themand apologized for all the commotion. They were great guys and understood because they had all been there before.We played the Kentuckiana area regularly with occasional trips to Lexington. One of our regular stops was the GoldenHorseshoe which was located around Lebanon, Kentucky. I'd say our main competition were the Oxfords before their splitand reorganization. If you would have asked me back then who was the best group, I would have said the old Oxfords [withSteve McNicol] / the Rugbys and I still believe that to this very day.[We met Buzz Cason] through Gene Snyder (Joni Agency). He was friends with Richard Williams who was Brenda Lee'spiano player. Richard and Buzz were great friends. Richard was looking for a group to record for him. He'd noticed the thedance "The Alligator" was sweeping the colleges across the US and he thought it would be a great idea to have some relativelyunknown midwestern group record it.He called Gene with the idea and asked if he knew of a group that would fit the idea. We were asked to show up at theagency to meet someone who had something we may be interested in. that's when we meet Richard for the first time and heshared his idea with us. He wanted us to come up with the song and he'd fly us to Nashville for a session and we'd record 4sides. That meant we needed 4 songs.You'll notice that Richard Williams and Donnie Keeling are credited with writing the song, but actually Donnie and I wrotethe lyrics, the band as a whole penned the music, and Richard merely came up with the idea. Since Richard was paying thebill, who could argue? Donnie also wrote "By My Side" and "She Loves It". I wrote "Opposite Ends of the World" in aNashville hotel room the night before our recording session.Time became a constraint and we ended up only having enough time to record the two sides. As you know "She Loves It"was eventually recorded in Louisville, and "Opposite Ends of the World" never made it to the studio.It was in 1968 that Donnie and I had a disagreement and I thought it would be best for me to leave. I was immediatelypicked up by the Keyes, Jim and Tom Owen had been playing for quite a while and when Jim gave up playing I was recruited.Tom had worked with his brother for so long that it was difficult for me to really fit in.With the Keyes I was more of a sideman and didn't have that influence that I had in Us Four, even though I carried a lot ofthe vocal duties. I'd been with them less than a year when Tom announced that Jim was coming back and I wouldn't beneeded any longer.It wasn't long after that their drummer Charlie Jones, keyboardist Bob Ernspiker, contacted me about wanting to leave theKeyes and form a new group, We ended up hiring Denny Enzer (Inzer?) to play lead and "Justice" was formed. If thisgroup would have survived it may have topped everything that every came out of Louisville. The musicianship, vocals, andrich harmonies were unbelievable. We played for only about 6 months and booked ourselves, but we made strides that ittook most groups years to make.Uncle Sam was wanting me badly and the group was short lived. It was just after that group's demise that the Rugbys werelooking for a bass player and I was asked if I'd be interested in the job. I had to turn it down due to the draft. A year or solater I saw them on TV and thought that could have been me.Duke Freeman, December 2008