About one year ago we posted Exploring The American Explorer Series, an in-depth overview of an almost-forgotten Elektra/Nonesuch series from the 1990s which sought to shine a spotlight on some American musical artists whose contributions were under-regarded or near-forgotten. As usual, we got some feedback from our regular followers.
However one Anonymous comment stood out:
“The American Explorer Series of the early 90s at Elektra was the product of the best intentions of the label's leadership to revitalize deserving American artists coupled with the extraordinary skill and ability of the A&R staff at the time to deliver on the vision. Profit motives and the bottom line were NOT a factor in this mission!”
We were intrigued by this remark and queried the writer for more details, which subsequently did follow via email. It turned out that one of the actual people involved in the American Explorer Series, Elektra A&R man Peter Lubin, had reacted as he was pleasantly surprised to see that some people still remembered that series fondly!
During the year emails were exchanged and the idea of doing an interview with Peter started to grow and ultimately materialized in a Zoom meeting with Koen last December. He somehow managed to convert the rambling but highly informative and entertaining chat into a more coherent text. The results were shared with Peter and after loads of emails and revisions a fully-illustrated 27-page PDF had become a reality!
As everyone involved was rather pleased with the results, we continued on to the next phase of the project: a brand new “Fantasy” American Explorer Series with full input from Peter! He took this challenge very seriously and subsequently presented us with a massive master list of 84(!) potential candidates that could possibly qualify by meeting the criteria to ‘bring forgotten artists back into the spotlight’. Even so, that list scared the sh#t out of us. Where to start??!?
With Peter’s guidance, we began living out the "fantasy" of being hard-boiled A&R men making critical decisions for the good of the record label as well as for the benefit of the listening public at large. This too required plenty of time as we took the mission seriously indeed. Some of the artists hadn’t recorded anything in years and it seemed too far-fetched to “revitalize” them, while others were disqualified owing to their citizenship (this is the ‘American’ Explorer Series, after all!) or a variety of other factors. Some, sadly, passed on during the time it took to bring this project to fruition.
We then hemmed and hawed about how we could approach compiling the music to accompany the interview. Finally it was decided to simply find the most recent recordings by each artist on the list and choose an appropriate song from that material. This rule applies in many but not in all cases.
Jonder took the lead and presented us with compilations of potential songs. Unlike some Tesla dude who enjoys wielding a chainsaw, we very slowly fine-tuned the number of chosen songs.
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Jon’s original concept for the blog still stands—we post CD-length compilations—so there was the task of paring the material down to two volumes. All that remained was the running order of the tracks, which we created with an eye towards offering the best possible listening experience.
Koen submitted artwork for the front and back covers, and capped it all off with this introduction. ;-)
We let Peter have the final word: “I think this evokes the spirit of the original undertaking as well as the fantasy that we set out to conjure!”
For your reading and listening pleasure (and musical education) we proudly present…
Fantasy American Explorers Volume 1: Staxability
Fantasy American Explorers Volume 2: Kentuckiana
A fully illustrated 27 page interview with Peter Lubin PDF
Link: https://mega.nz/file/DcFhlDAS#TNCY35cNd94IVnkOrXM5NwJhGCS82mxAFMzuL_gMG9s
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Can you think of any other music series from the past which you'd like to see revived?
Muchas gracias.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome Francisco.
DeleteThis is so wonderful! Thanks for putting this together!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it Nico.
DeleteBack in the day I had a double album that I sent away for - Warner Bros. Loss Leader Series: The Big Ball (1970). I know there must've been more.
ReplyDeleteYes Berni, quite a few more in fact: https://30daysout.wordpress.com/the-warnerreprise-loss-leaders-series/
Delete"Staxability" features the following performers from Peter's list of potential "American Explorer" candidates: CC Adcock, Jon Cleary, Ann Peebles, Candi Staton, Smokey Robinson, Marc Cohn, Dave Alvin, Al Kooper, John Medeski, Dennis Coffey, Maceo Parker, Phil Upchurch, and Steve Gadd.
ReplyDelete"Kentuckiana" features Arlen Roth, Matraca Berg, David Bromberg, Steve Wariner, Sam Bush, John Leventhal, Amos Garrett, Joel Paterson, Jim Kweskin, Stanton Moore, Teddy Thompson, Johnny A, Josh Ritter, Jim Campilongo, and Southern Culture on The Skids.
Through the cover songs that are included, we were also able to pay tribute to the songwriters Percy Mayfield, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton, Gus Cannon, Irving Berlin, Bob Dylan, Willie Dixon, Robbie Robertson, Allen Toussaint and (again) Smokey Robinson.
All of us are very happy with how these two sets turned out. Each one contains an hour of American musical idioms including blues, jazz, rock, New Orleans "swamp pop", funk, gospel, soul, country, folk, and bluegrass from some of our finest contemporary singers, songwriters and musicians. We hope you will enjoy the music as much as we enjoyed putting it all together!
Thanks Jokonky for this incredible undertaking & Koen for the Peter Lubin interview.
ReplyDeleteMy only query is, for a “series from the 1990s which sought to shine a spotlight on some American musical artists whose contributions were under-regarded or near-forgotten”, how are Maceo Parker, Smokey Robinson, Al Kooper, Dennis Coffey, David Bromberg, & Southern Culture on the Skids under regarded or near forgotten. The first three I mention are HUGE!!! and all I listed are “well known”. Just wondering about the criteria, not complaining about the comps, which are wonderful.
I guess when Mr. Lubin sez ‘bring forgotten artists back into the spotlight’ I was expecting, well, more forgotten than some of these.
As far as music release series, I was always fond of Enigma Records - Enigma Variations (there were only two, I believe) as well as an associated long running series CD Tune Up by The Album Network (of which there were nearly 30).
Thanks again for these two doozies.
It's a good question. The original series included Charlie Feathers, Arthur Alexander, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Guy Clark, The Kentucky Headhunters, Boozoo Chavis, Arthur Alexander, Fontella Bass, Johnnie Johnson, Vernard Johnson, The Five Blind Boys Of Alabama, and Eddie Palmieri. If we took a time machine back to the 90's, we might find that some of those artists were still well-regarded at that time. Johnnie Johnson had only recently re-emerged into the spotlight with his role in the Chuck Berry documentary, and Fontella Bass had walked away from popular music after she was denied a writing credit for "Rescue Me".
DeleteKentucky Headhunters had a country radio hit in 1989 with "Dumas Walker", and it doesn't look like they've ever really stopped. Peter suggested them again for this series (having forgotten that they were part of the first series). Alt-country became a thing in the mid 90's, so people like Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Guy Clark were starting to get their due.
Our original impetus was to ask Peter who he would consider as candidates for a new American Explorer series, if it were to be revived. As Koen mentioned, he gave us a list of almost 85 artists. Some of them were struck from the original list because they are still very active (e.g., Rodney Crowell and Marty Stuart), and others because they have retired or semi-retired from the music industry: Bettye Swann, David Allen Coe, Patty Loveless, Gladys Knight, Tommy James, Johnny Rivers and Stanley Clarke. (Tommy James hasn't retired, but his last record of new material was a Christmas album.) There are some big names there too.
Then we faced the question of what music to feature. A top hit from the artist's prime, or a more recent effort? We went with the latter. My opinion was that an American Explorer album made TODAY with John Sebastian (to use another example) would sound more like his 2021 collab with Arlen Roth than his hits of the 60's and 70's. But that 2021 album isn't very representative of his talent. Smokey won't soon be forgotten, but "Gasms" is his first album in almost 15 years, and he's still got it. Long answer, but that's how we got from where we started to these two hours of music. It's a mixture of big names who "still got it" and lesser known talents who deserve wider recognition.
Thanks for the in-depth answer. I wasn't denigrating the project or the two volumes in any way. I was simply wondering as to the thought process behind selecting the artists chosen. I appreciate your taking the time to explain in more detail what went into the selections. I might not KNOW the work that went into making these two compilations, but I can intuit how hard it was to create something as authentically reminiscent of the original project,
DeleteNo worries, Nathan. I didn't take your question as a criticism. You put a lot of thought and research into your blog (especially the monthlong series), so I just took it as an "inside baseball" inquiry from a friend who genuinely wanted to clarify. And you're right, some of the artists haven't really been forgotten.
DeleteAll of us take in a lot of music. And yet it surprises me how much I miss, partly because of the sheer volume of product that is released. I knew of Al Kooper, David Bromberg and Maceo Parker (three of the big names you mentioned) but had no idea that any of them had recently made records. While we were debating whether to include Dennis Coffey, the Burning Wood blog posted a collection of his songs and observed that Dennis has never been the subject of a career anthology.
I actually had the same reaction as you when Peter nominated SCOTS. Seems like they've done alright, but he feels that they deserve greater recognition -- and Peter's the one who knows people in the music industry, not me. (If you haven't heard SCOTS' version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy", it's really good!)
Great undertaking Jokonkies!!! Will dig into this. Funny you should ask as I was just listening to one of the "Your Choice Live" series of Verbal Assault this weekend which has become an old favorite again after ripping it long ago but I found out I was missing the one from the D.C. band Scream after reading a comment someone left about a song on it but I sure didn't need convincing having seen the band and ripped all their studio--loving the empathic subtle momentum of the songs back in high school and being an early Dischord fan. Would love to see this series revived again if they could really capture the songs the same way. Needless to say (even with no PC currently to do rips after several false buys--did connect late last week to a talented shop who can source for me) I got the last $40 vinyl from Germany last week for a fresh rip...can't wait to hear it! Thanks again. Cheers!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Your Choice live series -- and the Enigma comps that Nathan mentioned -- both featured some great music. Speaking of Scream, did you hear their comeback record, DC Special? It's really good, especially the title track. https://scream.bandcamp.com/album/dc-special
DeleteVisitors to the blog cannot POSSIBLY know the work that went into these two comps! I sat this one out, but Peter, Koen, & Jon expended Herculean effort and spent only slightly less time than it took to RECORD the tracks included! Which is obvious by the FANTASTIC result! BRAVO! And dare I say: ENCORE? :)
ReplyDeleteStinky, I totally agre, this was not done on a rainy afternoon. About nearly forgotten artists. I usually take a lot for granted. When, early eighties artists from the 50/60s or early 70s tried a comeback or modernized it didn't always turn out to be a continuation of a career. Often it was a one-time effort. Traveling Willburys gave a renewed (cut short by his passing) boost to Roy Orbinson's career, brought Dylan back. Now, Dylan seems never to have been away. However, in early 80s he was deemed an outdated artist, with his religion, stale-bread. And 7 years were a long time. Nothing compared with the 35 years gone by since.
ReplyDeleteElvis. In 2000 he was longer dead then the length of his recording career, now in 2025 he is longer dead, then hewas alive.
We now think different about artists, once almost completely forgotten. So I guess that a 90's effort to reignite interest was with a mindset, not ahead of its time. There were already ways to honour the oldies. From the 70s, with the great of rock n roll, blues, and jazz there were efforts to put get those greats back on their feet.
I fondly remember Haagse Beatnach where the beat bands of the 60s from The Hague were having a reunion.
This is a great effort of Jon, Koen and Peter. Thank You guys
Thanks Richard, I like how you put it in perspective.
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