MudBoy in 1987.. MudBoy and the Neutrons.. from left
Sid Selvidge, Jim Dickinson, Jimmy Crosswaithe, Lee Baker

A Happy Holidays greeting to all. We love the holidays at Playground Recording Studio... cause everybody is doing something else while we are recording. The grandchildren are running around here waiting on Christmas morning.. gumbo on the stove.. fish in the bayou.. and tunes on ProTools.. these are things we are thankful for. I do miss my weekly calls from Dickinson and still expect him to call up one day from the grave to discuss the state of the music business and what we have been recording and how nothing we record will ever make it to the pop charts and both being proud of that fact.. The we agree that neither will disclose the fact that we had this conversation. BigWater is going strong...we are finally recording a few of the old Playground songs and presenting them to the public in a little different light. God Bless all who might read this and Happy Holidays

Thanks and Giving

Eleven months ago.. I couldn't see forward to Thanksgiving 2009. Needless to say, I am thankful that we made it. It's been a difficult but productive and revealing year. Since our last post to the Playground blog a lot has been going on. Our band "BigWater" has been playing quite a bit. We have finally gone into the studio and recorded some of the songs we do. A few are posted on myspace at www.myspace.com/bigwater1 Steve Fisher's album is now, after 2 years ready for manufacture. The CD will be called "Nothing But Hope". I am proud of the CD. Clayton has played some iconic electric guitar and has done some great Pro Tools arrangements. All of Steve's songs are relevant and timely. Wilbur Walton Jr. was in this month to record a new song "Folk Blues #5 The Americana Taliban". Although Wilbur is pushing septuagenarian.. it's the hippest, most original thing that has come into the studio in a year or so. Ms. Amy Hart has been in and has penned a tune called "Birdcage", which is a dynamite R&B number that we plan to record very soon. Local panhandle arteest Rip Wright has begun a project to be completed soon. His songs are unique and original... much better than anyone will expect. Two of the songs we recorded were released on Finley Duncan's Emerald Coast label back in the early 80's on green vinyl (there are only 5 releases total on Emerald Coast) and they are as pertinent today as ever. We will be recording our ass off during the holidays.. thanks for being a Playground fan.

Hog Heaven Music Hub

The Twin Cities... No not Minneapolis/ St. Paul... But Niceville/ Valparaiso....Florida now has up to 5 music venues within a 2 mile area, where you can experience live music on the weekends.. most always with no cover. With the tourist season over Niceville is becoming a live music hub for the panhandle. Woody's Hog Heaven, which by the way has great BBQ and full bar, musically is anchored by the "Boggy Bayou Band" BigWater. BigWater performs at Woody's generally one night every weekend. During the short time that Woody's has been open, they have become a musical center on Friday and Saturday nights. BigWater has had countless "special guests" perform with the band. These include, Jack Jernigan, Amy Hart, Bobby "Blues" Elmo, Kathy Lyon and Tom Lyon, Andy Durand, Steve Stokes, Duane Mays, Norris and Suzy and many more. Original and unique material sets these musical performances apart from the norm. Other local favs like the WaCo Ramblers, Coconut Radio, Common Thread, Suzy and Norris have also performed here with more to come in the future. Woody's is gearing up for Mullet Festival weekend which will be Oct. 16th-19th. BigWater will host during and after the Mullet Fest events. There will be some special events during this weekend that you won't want to miss.
Other Niceville venues.. The Bayou Blues, The Filling Station, The Edge, Tisa's. More on these later.. Come join us in Niceville for your next musical experience.

News from PRS

News from Playground

Our good buddy, Larry Tenor, formerly keyboard man with "Little Feat" has found true love and is leaving the panhandle for Tennessee and has graciously left us his 1966 Hammond B3. We have been putting the B3 on everything.

Special product "Georgia Pines" has officially escaped and is available at www.playgroundrecordingstudio.com. "Georgia Pines" was written by Buddy Buie and John Rainey Adkins.. originally made famous by Wilbur Walton Jr. and The James Gang, this Cd/EP is a track by Beaverteeth, sung by Charlie Silva, Jimmy "Orion" Ellis and Jimmy Louis PLUS has an instrumental track. Dothan's Jimmy Dean is playing on the tracks.


Muscle Shoals super group "The Decoys" were in the panhandle last week with Alabama Leaning Man Donnie Fritz. Scott Boyer (from the group "Cowboy") also with "The Decoys" was in the studio to assist with a Rip Wright session.

"Lost Soul" The Playground Series Vol. 2 has been compiled and will be available for single song download from CD Baby in a couple of weeks. "Lost Soul", the follow-up to "Soul Resurrection" has tracks by Count Willie, Connor Cagle, Johnny Dynamite, Len Wade, John Hamilton and Doris Allen, The Truths Inc., Reuben Howell and many more. Most all of these tracks are backed by the original PLayground Rhythm Section, which include Dothan Musicians, David Adkins, John Rainey Adkins, and Jimmy Dean. We'll post the CDBaby link as soon as it is available.

WE have also begun work on the compilation of a Wilbur Walton Jr. project (Unreleased) that was recorded in 1973. These are some tremendous WW Jr. performances and some great songs. Songs like "Eternity", "Are You Hiding" and "Simple People" anchor this project.. and Wilbur is rockin'!



"BigWater", the Boggy Bayou Band has been performing live in the panhandle quite a bit lately.. and has begun a recording project. The first 3 songs are Dan Penn's "Tiny Hiney's and Hogs", Reuben Howell's "Mr. Important Person" and Mason Arnold's "Clever Devils". www.myspace.com/bigwater1

We have recently begun studio projects on singer/songwriters Amy Hart and Duane Mays.

Pleased to Meet Me

In the fall of 1986, Jim Dickinson and I began a Sire/Warner Bros project on the Minneapolis band "The Replacements". All of the recording was done at John Fry's Ardent Studios in Memphis. This project would last well into 1987 and finally be released in July of 87. The Replacements at the time were Paul Westerberg,Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars. They had just canned Tommy's older brother Bob from the band after a notorious appearance on Saturday Night Live where Bob appeared in a diaper and .. I mean diaper only! SNL had to pull the plug on the performance.. the Mats (as we began to call them) were pressured by the record company to relieve themselves of Bob.. so that they could go on and make a more grown-up record. The Mats are a true rock and roll band. This story goes on and on, but now some 22 years later Bob Mehr is doing research on the band to write their biography. We spent a couple of hours on the phone with Bob yesterday, recollecting some events of the sessions that led to "PTMM" the Mats still have a large and loyal fan base and have a definite chronological niche carved out in Rock and Roll history. We are really looking forward to the publication. Paul has gone on to solo success and Tommy has had concentric success with his own material and since 1998 has also played bass with Guns and Roses. We'll post some more info as the story unfolds. If you are unfamiliar with the band, it would be a good time to check them out..

BigWater

BigWater pix... more below
Jack Jernigan Clayton Lancaster

Photos by Lily
More BigWater at www.playgroundrecordingstudio.com
www.myspace.com/bigwater1
and www.myspace.com/playgroundrecordingstudio