Some of Virginia's music greats: 1. T-Pain, 2. Gene Vincent, 3. The Harmonizing Four, 4. Patsy Cline, 5. August Moon, 6. Carter Family, 7. Pearl Bailey, 8. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, 9. Bruce Hornsby, 10. Link Wray, 11. The Statler Brothers, 12. Dave Matthews, 13. Wayne Newton, 14. GWAR, 15. Harold Lily Jr., 16. Missy Elliott (Illustration by Kristy Heilenday; click upper-right corner to expand image)
"Could this be real?"
Music fans were perplexed when the names of dearly departed musicians and singers were among those on the bill for the Virginia Famefest concert last year on Brown’s Island.
Some assumed that the roles of Virginia’s most legendary singers and musicians would be played by actors, or even holograms, and hoped they’d be pretty good. After surrendering mobile phones and other recording devices to event staff, the sizable crowd was understandably anxious. Some of us looked for the technology we assumed would be used to approximate the presence of beloved artists who, to the best of our knowledge, were no longer with us. Others milled about aimlessly as the morning portion of the concert ran slightly behind schedule.
Then, without preface, the voice of Maces Spring native June Carter Cash cut through the morning air like a scythe, leading the Carter Family band in a stirring performance of “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By).” Her voice was clear and strong. If this was a recording, it was one from Cash’s prime. You’d think that an artist showing up for a concert after passing away in 2003 would shock and awe an audience, but many appeared indifferent, at least at first. Perhaps they were there to see Jason Mraz or Dave Matthews Band?
The Carter Family exited the stage after a short set, having won over many of the disinterested with their harmonies and conviction, which have made the band — still performing today with newer members — a folk music mainstay for generations of fans.
If the Carters planned to overcome disinterest with sheer talent, the next act wasn’t afraid to shout to get the audience’s attention.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, despite her recent induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, wasn’t recognized by many in the audience, based on the polite response to the announcement of her name.
“That was unreal,” they whispered. “I don’t believe it. It can’t be,” said one. “Animatronics,” claimed another.
Tharpe soon won over the crowd with a studied confidence that defied them to find her less than compelling. Her flowing white evening gown and her Gibson guitar also made an impression. The former Barton Heights resident launched into rousing renditions of gospel songs she’d made popular like “Rock Me” and “Didn’t It Rain.” Yes, it was a gospel singer named Rosetta, who shopped at Thalhimers downtown, performed at the Mosque and created rock ’n’ roll.
While the sky remained clear, there were some tears and laughter in the crowd as Tharpe proselytized, bantered and flirted between songs. She didn’t want to leave the stage and said as much, adding, “But I got to go anyhow.”
After these performances, there was brief intermission while stagehands set up mic stands, moved monitors and tuned guitars. A group of music nerds and audiophiles were overheard confabulating near the stage. “Just like her,” they said. “That was unreal,” they whispered. “I don’t believe it. It can’t be,” said one. “Animatronics,” claimed another.
Illustration by Ross Allen
Country, Funk and Flair
If we all believed the old axiom that the only certainties in life are death and taxes, we were comforted by the realization that if the first part of the saying was looking iffy, the second was still ironclad. During The Statler Brothers’ set, among the casually dressed men, women and children in the crowd roamed undercover agents from the Internal Revenue Service, given away by their earpieces and holstered calculators. If any of the artists died with an outstanding tax bill, the Man was here to collect. The Statlers didn’t notice and kept with the gospel harmonies that have made them Staunton’s finest and one of country music’s most awarded acts.
The Statler Brothers’ performance, which followed a brief set from The Golden Gate Quartet, made plain their connection to gospel music. They were known as country singers, but it was their gospel foundation, evidenced by flawless harmony, that made them. It was also a reunion for the group, which featured only two brothers, had no one named Statler and disbanded in 2002.
Mutiny, led by one of the first Virginians inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Jerome “Bigfoot” Brailey, brought some funk and roll to the afternoon.
If any of the artists died with an outstanding tax bill, the Man was here to collect.
Brailey joined Parliament Funkadelic after a short stint as a session musician and co-wrote the group’s hit “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker).” His time with the band ended on a sour note, with Brailey walking off a tour bus in a snowstorm after a disagreement over finances. The name of his band referred to his turbulent time in Parliament, and if that wasn’t clear, he has some choice words for the band’s leader, George Clinton, on a song from his first album, called “Mutiny on the Mamaship.”
The drummer and former Brandermill resident performed some P-funk staples (“Cosmic Slop,” “Maggot Brain”) along with some jams of his own (“Funk ’N’ Bop,” “Lump”) before cutting his hand on the edge of a tom-tom. Bandaged but unbeaten, he left it all on the stage.
Major Harris, who, like Brailey, was born in Richmond, was the voice of the popular R&B group The Delfonics and enjoyed a semi-successful solo career. He strode onto the stage in an unbuttoned shirt with white tab collar, a few gold chains and vintage wire-frame glasses. His mid-sized afro was backlit as he made good use of his time, touching on songs from The Delfonics and closing with his hit “Love Won’t Let Me Wait” as cicadas chirped, almost in time.
Scat singing is a lost art, maybe because it sounds so easy to do that no one bothers to try. Ella Fitzgerald made it look effortless that night, improvising sounds like a jazz trumpeter as she riffed with different instruments and improvised lyrics. After her performance of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” backed by the Richmond Symphony, it really didn’t matter to the audience or the audiophiles within whether it was actually Ella or not. Whoever she was, she sounded good.
Fitzgerald, a native of Newport News, was a national treasure during her career, which spanned from the 1930s to the early ’90s. She acted in films, was a guest on television shows and did commercials, accomplishments that weren’t easy to come by for African-American women in her time. Today in Newport News, a theater bears her name, and there is a statute of her in the Yonkers, New York, neighborhood where she grew up.
She was a difficult act to follow, but the show went on.
A Duel and a Misdemeanor
While the stage was reset with a grand piano and a Hammond B3 organ facing each other for a double-header performance from R&B singer and pianist Stu Gardner and jazz legend Lonnie Liston Smith, more people crowded onto the island. Smith and Gardner are both sons of gospel singers who were born in Richmond, but outside of their instrument of choice, the similarities end there. Smith played behind jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders for years before realizing he needed some space and forming his own group: Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes. Gardner is a tried-and-true soul man, who recorded for both the Stax (“Stu Gardner and the Sanctified Sound”) and Motown (“To Soul With Love”) record labels before producing music for film and television shows in the 1980s.
A train slowly rattled the trestle near the stage as Gardner and Smith bowed and began their friendly duel of jazz and rhythm and blues. As the set continued, it grew dark and closer to the time that the headliners would be taking over the stage.
While Smith and Gardner and most who preceded them on the Famefest stage were born and bred in Virginia, some of the acts’ connections to the commonwealth weren’t always so clear.
Das EFX, a rap duo known for their pop culture references and artistic phrasing, and generally thought to be a New York outfit, were on the bill. During a brief set that featured all of their hits, rapper Krazy Drayz, a former Virginia State University student, recalled Das EFX getting their big break at a nightclub on Broad Street, where they lost a talent contest judged by their soon-to-be mentors, the rap duo known as EPMD.
Another greatly anticipated rap duo on this day of reunions and apparent resurrections was Clipse. The brothers from Virginia Beach were known for their rhymes about cocaine crimes over beats produced by fellow Virginians The Neptunes. But fans were only half-disappointed when Pusha T strode on stage alone, wearing a white T-shirt and designer Adidas sneakers. His twin brother, once known as Malice, had abandoned the group when the consequences of slinging criminal slang got too real. He’s known today as “No Malice” and has embraced Christianity. Pusha T held his own, touching on the group’s hits such as “Grindin’ ” and cuts of his own including “Hold On.” Recently, the rapper attempted to ignite a beef with rapper Drake over a dis track on Pusha’s new album, “Daytona,” released on Kanye West’s label. It was an attention-grabbing move that fizzled out when the Canadian rapper all but ignored the song.
If Pusha T’s content was too dark for the audience, things brightened considerably when rapper and singer Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott followed his set.
The Portsmouth native is known for her offbeat image and songwriting, since her debut in oversized sunglasses and a plastic-bag suit in her video for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” in the late 1990s. That would be the last time she fit into anyone’s bag, as her music crossed genres, and she defied stereotypes and expectations. She opened with “Sock It 2 Me,” and Elliott proved she still can, matching the steps of her younger dancers while singing and smiling. “We gonna get our freak on?” she asked the audience, most of whom recognized the question. “We know you like to get your freak on!” She was talking about her platinum single “Get Ur Freak On,” which sounded as futuristic as it did back in 2001, with production by her fellow Virginian and partner Timbaland.
Elliott left the stage with puddles of sweat and roars for her to return, but it would be a while before the crowd heard music again.
Pop and Putridity
After a considerable lull in the program, Brooklyn native Pat Benatar was found far from the main stage. One of the ATMs on the island was down, and Benatar, a former bank teller during her time in Richmond in the early ’70s, was using a knuckle-buster and paper receipts to dole out cash to hungry fans. She was eventually relieved and fired her way to the stage, hitting the audience with some of her best hits, such as “Shadows of the Night” and “Love Is a Battlefield,” as well as “If He Walked Into My Life,” from the record Benatar made while enlisted in a cover band in Richmond, “Coxon’s Army Live From Sam Miller’s Exchange Cafe.” That band, led by her then-husband, who was stationed at Fort Lee, didn’t join her onstage. Her current band features her second husband, guitarist Neil Giraldo.
Benatar’s set was followed a performance from Richmond-born songwriter Aimee Mann. Mann’s serene stage presence was the antithesis of the more energetic performers of the evening, but her sincerity compensated for a lack of dynamism. Her passion was evident when she revisited “Voices Carry,” the lone hit of ’Til Tuesday, the band she fronted in the 1980s when she became something of an MTV darling.
The subtlety of the Open High School grad’s solo work drew in the audience as her set continued, but it failed to prepare us for the spectacle taking the stage afterward.
GWAR, Richmond’s most disgusting rock band, which featured none of its founding members at one point, appeared at nightfall. In a day filled with a degree of morbid curiosity, the antics of this raucous outfit were almost unsurprising, which assuredly is never their goal.
Without a doubt, the band retained its usual level of offensiveness, as the front of the stage turned into a mosh pit, and blood spurted from various orifices on the band’s costumes. If it weren’t for their cover of Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls,” some in the crowd may not have recognized the majority of the set list, which included songs such as “Let Us Slay” and “The Private Pain of Sawborg Destructo.” Distance from the stage and lack of a mobile phone prevented a reporter from determining what incarnation of the band was performing, other than the obvious fact that it was probably the loudest.
‘Thank You for Dancing Tonight’
Later in the evening, under a small tent on a separate stage, a small audience sat before a jazz quartet. The Dave Matthews Band playing on the main stage at the other side of the island was audible, but not too distracting. The quartet’s pianist wore an applejack cap and was intently focused on his instrument as melancholy jazz flowed from his fingertips. A handwritten sign near the stage read “Master Wel.” This was the name the jazz musician and composer Weldon Irvine adopted in his later years, as he mentored hip-hop artists such as Talib Kweli, A Tribe Called Quest and Mos Def, who were influenced by his music and eventually hired him to play on their records.
A Hampton native, Irvine wrote the lyrics for what is considered the anthem of the civil rights movement, “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” and he was Nina Simone’s bandleader and pianist for some time. His solo albums (“Liberated Brother,” “Cosmic Vortex — Justice Divine”), some of which were self-released, are among the holy grail for jazz record collectors. He’s the subject of a documentary in the works entitled “Digging for Weldon Irvine.”
Far, far away from space jazz, Trey Songz was one of the few representatives of contemporary R&B on the bill. (Perhaps Chris Brown’s contract got lost in the mail?) The Petersburg native, who billed himself as the “Prince of Virginia” on his first mixtape, showed why he still rules with his fans. He greeted the crowd from backstage as his band played, teasing them by asking, several times, if they were ready. They should’ve been; a Songz concert is almost an annual event in Richmond. It was the most “adults-only” part of the ’Fest as Songz hip-thrusted, bumped and licked his way through his set list, which included the hits “Neighbors Know My Name” and “I Invented Sex.” His offstage behavior may have garnered the wrong kind of headlines in recent years, but onstage there is little Songz does wrong.
While he recently claimed to be at the nadir of his recording career, Mechanicsville native Jason Mraz still commands a huge following. The “Have It All” singer-songwriter, who's known for his chapeau and a positive attitude, didn’t disappoint the crowd full of teens and young adults. He stopped to savor the moment, openly pondering if he was worthy to share the bill with some of Virginia’s brightest talents. “Someone told me a while ago to stop questioning and start experiencing,” he said, over a few high-pitched squeals. “There are so many great artists out here. Everyone deserves acknowledgement. Thank you for dancing tonight.”
Illustration by Sarah Barton
A Missing Piece
The concert, it seemed, was over. We had seen some of the best Virginia ever produced or influenced, with the notable exception of Richmond’s own D’Angelo, who, despite being on the bill, was nowhere to be seen.
Before Mraz, the R&B singer might have been the biggest star the state had produced, with two acclaimed albums, a risqué video and a vigorous stage presence propelling him to exalted status before things fell apart around 2001. By 2014, he cobbled together a warmly received third album and toured the United States and overseas, without a stop in Richmond. Now D’Angelo appears to have returned to hiatus mode, this time without the mug shots and warrants. There’s still an audience for the 44-year-old, who was born Michael Eugene Archer, in his hometown, but the question remains: Will he come back to us?
The eventful evening was capped off by one last act: a reappearance of Skillz, the rapper known for his popular year-end rap songs, picking up a microphone left on the stage. He freestyled several verses about the day’s happenings, a cappella until a DJ put on The Whole Darn Family’s “7 Minutes of Funk,” a track by another band with Richmond connections. Skillz’s impromptu performance was nearly flawless, as he referenced events that happened only moments before and wove them into intricate rhymes. It was a thoughtful summation that not only solidified the extraordinary events of the one and only Famefest, but Virginia’s contribution to American music.
The men and women who shaped the sound of America and just happened to live in Virginia deserve recognition, and, collectively, they haven’t gotten it. This is partly our fault, but we can fix it; events like the Famefest need not be a dream. Virginia’s music and those who love it deserve a permanent place for commemoration and celebration. If we build it, they’re already here.
Worthy Performers
Not even a fantasy concert can pretend to feature all of Virginia’s greatest musicians and performers. It’s been a long time coming, and respect is due. Here’s more on some of the faces from our cover, just a few of the names to be considered for another Famefest.
The Harmonizing Four
One of the most influential gospel groups of all time was born and bred in Richmond. The gospel quartet known as the Harmonizing Four started in the 1920s and continued recording and performing into the 1960s.
The group achieved global praise and performed at the funeral of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Over the years, members came and went, but their sound remained distinct and revered.
Pearl Bailey
Brought up in the Bloodfields neighborhood of Newport News, Pearl Mae Bailey became a heralded actress and singer in the 1940s. Known for her exuberant personality and witty demeanor, she starred in an all-black version of “Hello, Dolly!” on Broadway and had her own television show in the early 1970s.
A Republican, she was appointed “Ambassador of Love” by President Richard Nixon in 1971.
August Moon
Richmond-based activist, singer and entrepreneur August Moon, aka Dickie Diamond, has led an intriguing life. Moon’s record labels put out quality soul music in the 1970s, and prior to that he was a performer in his own right, recording as “Mr. Wiggles.”
Songs such as “Homeboy” reference Richmond with pride and panache, two qualities he’s well known for.
Harold Lily Jr.
A Richmond native who’s penned songs for Alicia Keys, Luther Vandross and Beyoncé, Harold Lily Jr. has written and arranged for some of the most popular acts in contemporary R&B.
His father was an organist and choir director for more than 50 years in Richmond, and Lily has sung background vocals for Angie Stone and Anthony Hamilton.
Bruce Hornsby
A Williamsburg native, Bruce Hornsby’s first single, “The Way It Is,” recorded with his band the Range, was a multiplatinum seller that topped the charts in several countries. But Hornsby never became a huge pop star — instead he performed with the Grateful Dead for several years and brought bluegrass and jazz components into his own music, creating his own lane.
He still lives in Williamsburg, where he owns a radio station.
Link Wray
While he wasn’t born in the state, Link Wray left his mark on the commonwealth and on popular music with a distorted instrumental called “Rumble” in 1957. The song is considered a precursor to heavy metal, with its powerful beat and beautiful noise.
A former Portsmouth resident, he’s lived to see a younger audience begin to appreciate his work, but the guitarist's recent nomination to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame went unrequited.
Wayne Newton
Born in Norfolk, Native American Wayne Newton parlayed a few hit songs into an esteemed career as a Las Vegas entertainer. He’s also a pop culture icon who has made appearances in movies (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “The Hangover”) and television (“The Lucy Show,” “Dancing With the Stars”) that span decades.
Newton, aka Mr. Entertainment, continues to perform in Las Vegas.
