Glenn Steinkamp attended college to become a mapmaker.

He went off the grid to audiotape between 100 and 150 country and rock concerts in his native Missouri. Steinkamp began recording shows in 1984 when he smuggled a small portable tape recorder in Kansas City, Mo. to record T Bone Burnett. He continued to audiotape other concerts including many Grateful Dead shows.

In 1990 he hooked up with videographer John Caspermeyer and they began recording the Skeletons country-rock-soul band, a sonic jewel from Springfield, Mo. Steinkamp had the audio and John handled the video. Once in a while, Steinkamp would bring along a home VCR and later a portable DVD recorder. This enabled Steinkamp and Caspermeyer to have their own video masters.  

Glenn Steinkamp, amateur recordist.

This subculture is a catalyst for the rare concert footage you see in our 45-minute extra chapter of “The Center of Nowhere” DVD-Blu-ray, edited in chronological order by Jon Sall:

* Morells at the Blue Note in Columbia, Mo. (Sept. 10, 1983)

* Skeletons at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, Mo. (April 9, 1991)

* Skeletons at Wood House Concert in Clayton,  Mo. (Nov. 9, 2007)

* Skeletons at Euclid Records, St. Louis (April 16, 2011)

* Skeletons Reunion Show at Lindberg’s in Springfield, Mo., “Waitin’ For My Gin to Hit Me” only (Sept. 16, 2011).

A warm toast to Steinkamp and Caspermeyer. Band members Lou Whitney, Bobby Lloyd Hicks, and Jim Wunderle are no longer with us, but now I can sit in my living room, crank up the television set and relive the unfiltered joy of one of the most underrated bands in America.

The extras begin with Whitney dealing “30 Days in the Workhouse” in Columbia, Mo. The country song about social justice is Whitney’s loose adaptation of a Leadbelly ballad. Whitney updated the lyrics from the folk-blues master and became a staple of the Morells-Skeletons sets. But they never recorded it.

Eric Ambel covered it on his superb 1998 “Roscoe’s Gang” (Enigma Records) project that was recorded at Whitney’s studio in Springfield with guests Syd Straw, Peter Holsapple, Skid Roper, and others. The song deals with petty thefts like stealing pumpkin pies.

Whitney sings, “I got thirty days in the workhouse, don’t you shed no tears. Cuz’ if I’d been a Black man, they’d give me thirty years.”  At the Blue Note, Whitney punctuates the end of the tune by saying, “Think about it.”  And this was 1983. Sadly timeless.

The Mississippi Nights segment catches the Skeletons at their zenith. The band’s gang vocals are in full force on Donnie Thompson’s “Outta My Way” (used by Chicago stripper Seka in her early ‘90s performances) and the group is fueled by the double keyboards of Joe Terry and Kelly Brown on a fierce version of Thompson’s power-pop chestnut “Devil in Me.”

For pure fun, there’s the in-store at Euclid Records in St. Louis, Mo. Whitney goofs around with host/music fan Beatle Bob before the Skeletons pay homage to Springfield songwriter Wayne Carson with his Box Tops hit “Soul Deep” and then launch into a spicy version of Junior Walker and the All-Stars “Pucker Up Buttercup.”

The Skeletons, from left: Donnie Thompson, Joe Terry, Lou Whitney, Bobby Lloyd Hicks and Kelly Brown. (Provided photo.)

In 1990 New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles raved when the Skeletons headlined Maxwell’s in Hoboken, N.J. (With Dave Alvin as opener.) Pareles wrote in part, “…The Skeletons don’t take themselves seriously, they shrug away rock heroics and undercut romance….But they make every song strut and kick, whether they’re bouncing through bubble gum or twanging and harmonizing on country-rock.”

Steinkamp first saw the Morells in 1980 while living in Kansas City, Mo. “They were such a fun band to hear live,” he said in a recent conversation from his home in St. Louis County, where the Meramec River meets the Mississippi River. “Always a good time live. I saw them at Parody Hall a lot in Kansas City.”

Steinkamp, 62, studied cartography at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) in Springfield, Mo. and then found a job in Kansas City, Mo. “I always liked maps,” he said. “I did cartography for 33  years at the Defense Mapping Agency (at the Aerospace Center) in Kansas City, Mo.. I started out making paper, charts, and maps. We wound up mapping most of the world digitally.” Steinkamp moved to Washington, D.C. for a while and then returned to St. Louis with the agency.

Caspermeyer—who prefers to be under the radar–met Steinkamp through mutual friends. A keen Bob Dylan fan, Caspermeyer had been recording shows since the early 1970s. Caspermeyer shot the 1983  Morells Blue Note video before Steinkamp entered his orbit. Steinkamp also was a radio host/programmer on KDHX-FM in St. Louis between 1989 and 2004.  “They had an overnight show on Wednesday,” he recalled. “I’d get there at 3 a.m., play records and then go to work at 6 a.m. I had a vintage country-western show on a Tuesday morning and turned it over to the guy who is still doing it. He does a great job.” Steinkamp also recorded shows from Joe Ely, Los Straitjackets, and the Tail Gators that were later broadcast on KDHX.

Caspermeyer shot the 1983 Morells video before meeting Steinkamp. “He lent it to me,” he said. “It was a nice shot because nobody was standing in the way, no heads to avoid. That’s why I picked that one  (for ‘The Center of Nowhere” physical release.). John and I recorded the Skeletons at Mississippi Nights (in 1991) when the Skeletons opened for the Elvis Brothers. Typical deal, we lugged suitcases of our junk down, headphones, did the recording. It took the whole night. We did that a lot back then. John would get more elaborate over time and do more  cameras.  Sometimes I’d mic the stage. I recorded DAT (Digital Audio Tape) for a while. About ten years ago I got a hard drive recorder. The Skeletons were always very accommodating and very gracious. The club owners were cool as long as we stayed out of the way.”

The archivists captured some great shots, especially of Donnie Thompson’s appointed guitar solos in the Skeletons. “If we were at a festival we’d find a couple of other people to run cameras,” he said. “But when you’re familiar with the music you know where you ought to be. I was mostly concerned with getting a good audio sound. It was a team effort.”

Steinkamp also gave some of his Off Broadway (St. Louis club) concert audio to Skeletons-Morells fan Tom Taber of Albion, N.Y. Taber was as obsessive about this music as I am. He self-produced a series of limited edition live CDs. I bought his “Instant Happy!!! (The Symptoms/Skeletons/Morells Story–102 Songs About Food, Cars, and Drinking)” at Euclid Records in St. Louis in one of my 30 something trips from Chicago to Springfield to work on the documentary. I’m especially sentimental about Disc 4: The Morells at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, Ill. Sept. 16, 2000, a night that wound down with Ben Vaughn’s “Growin’ a Beard” and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”

Steinkamp’s sound board (Courtesy of Glenn Steinkamp)

Steinkamp is proud of capturing the Sept. 16, 2011 reunion show in the Skeletons’ home town of Springfield. The ensemble checks in with a cresting version of Ronnie Self’s “Waitin’ For My Gin To Hit Me.” Besides the core Skeletons, guests include Springfield songwriter-producer Nick Sibley and Springfield rock vocalist Jim Wunderle, best known for his work in the early 1980s Springfield band Dog People. Wunderle would die a year later at the age of 59.

“The reunion show was the grand finale with Donnie,” Steinkamp said. “He maybe played with them one other time after that. (Lou Whitney’s audio engineer) Eric Schuchmann ran the sound for that. I got a nice feed from him. I had a little mixing  board, John had a couple of cameras set up. The band got back together with Mark Bilyeu. The band kept going strong.”

Bobby Lloyd Hicks, 1947-2017

Bobby Lloyd Hicks, 1947-2017

“Bobby” Lloyd Hicks.

What a great name, what a great man.

Bobby Lloyd Hicks–it sounded like he came from somewhere big and dusty, like Texas, an old Kansas City steakhouse or a Gary Cooper western. But no siree Bob, the modest Mr. Hicks was born in 1947 in tiny Marshalltown, Iowa, where in 1852 future Baseball Hall of Famer Adrian “Cap” Anson became the first European born in the farming community.

And Mr. Hicks was an ace of hearts.

He was the drummer-vocalist for the Skeletons/Morells/NRBQ and about 63 other bands, including the Ozark Mountain Daredevils where revolving members are known as “Sparedevils.” Mr. Hicks died early Sunday in his adopted home town of Springfield, Mo. He had been fighting lung disease.

Springfield mayor Bob Stephens named Jan. 22, 2017 as Bobby Lloyd Hicks Day in Springfield and that night the local music community turned out in force for a benefit-tribute concert at the Fox Theater in Springfield to pay back for Mr. Hicks’ goodwill towards Springfield arts. In the more than quarter century that I’ve been documenting the far-reaching Springfield  music scene, Mr. Hicks was a reliable vessel for history, insight and networking, He always returned calls and e-mails, even last week. He always smiled.

In the 1980s and 90s the Skeletons and Morells gained attention in Rolling Stone magazine and other national media outlets because their engaging sound was a hybrid of the mystical flotsam and jetsam in Springfield, the birthplace of Route 66. Mr. Hicks was the loyal time keeper that revealed a spirit with no musical prejudice. How do you describe the music he played to someone who never heard it? Beach Boys/Ramones/Dictators/Waylon Jennings/The Box Tops/Swingin’ Medallions/Monkees/Sonny & Cher and that is only a beginning. The beat goes on and on.

The deep musical well was not lost on Grammy winning singer-songwriter Dave Alvin, who had kept in touch with Mr. Hicks over the last few months. In 1991 Alvin hired the Skeletons as the touring band behind his “Blue Boulevard” album. By 1993 Mr. Hicks was playing drums alongside iconic rhythm and blues saxophonist Lee Allen on Alvin’s “Museum of Heart” record. From 1993 through 2006 Mr. Hicks and Skeletons keyboardist Joe Terry were part of Alvin’s Guilty Men band.

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“ I can throw anything at them and they can play it,” Alvin once told me. “When we did that (1998 North American) Bob Dylan-Joni Mitchell-Dave Alvin) tour, Joni had Brian Blades playing drums, who was just amazing. His brother plays in Spyboy with Emmylou Harris. Those are the two best drummers I’ve seen in a long time and I’d put Bobby right with them.”

“A lot of drummers don’t understand harmony. Bobby understands music theory. I don’t. And (the late) Donald Lindley (Alvin, Lucinda Williams) and Bobby were two of the best guys ever for understanding what it takes to be a song—different from just coming up with a drum part–to actually listen to the song, listen to the lyrics.”

Over the years, under the considerable charms of late Skeletons and Morells bassist-producer Lou Whitney, Mr. Hicks, keyboardist Joe Terry, keyboardist Kelly Brown, guitarist D. Clinton Thompson, harmonica-vocalist Nick Sibley and others became Springfield’s own “Wrecking Crew,” playing behind the likes of Eric Ambel Scott Kempner, Andy Shernoff (The Del-Lords), Robbie Fulks, Jonathan Richman, Syd Straw, Boxcar Willie just to name a few.

Mr. Hicks moved to Springfield in 1965 to become a music teacher. His father William Herschel Hicks was raised in the Ozarks by Mr. Hicks’ grandfather, an itinerant preacher. During the summer the family would travel from Iowa to the Springfield area to see family and enjoy the pristine lakes.

William Herschel Hicks managed the Kresge department store in Marshalltown. When Mr. Hicks was two years old William Herschel and his wife Genevieve gave their son a children’s record player from the store.

The deal was done.

“The fascination of those spinning disc and the sound coming out of  the box,” Mr. Hicks told me several years ago. “My Mom said I was on my knees all day. Then I’d take my records to bed. It was those (children’s) Golden records but my parents had a lot of ’78s. Big Band stuff and the crooners. We had a lot of novelty records too, for some reason.”

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Bobby Lloyd Hicks, courtesy of NRBQ

This is probably why Mr. Hicks would sign holiday greetings, “Merry Christmas Cousin and a Happy Doodle-ee-dee!”

Mr. Hicks did not recall hearing African-American rhythm and blues and soul music in Marshalltown. “Black people all lived in one little neighborhood in Marshalltown,” he said. “When we got in hight school we discovered WLAC (AM, nighttime rhythm and blues out of Nashville, Tn.) Wolfman Jack and all of that.”

The family had a Grand piano in the living room. Genevieve was an accomplished pianist and Mr. Hicks’ two older sisters took piano lessons along with Mr. Hicks. “But the Beatles changed everybody on what was fun to play,” Mr. Hicks explained. “In fourth grade I went to play drums. We had a little band in high school called the Cooties. We played high school dances and stuff.”

Mr. Hicks always remembered the first two albums he bought: Sandy Nelson’s “Let There Be Drums” and the Jose Jimenez comedy LP “The Submarine Officer.” He laughed, “I don’t know which one had the biggest influence on me. But both of them did.”

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His parents were very religious. “They would rarely go to dances and movies,” Mr. Hicks said. “They would complain every time I bought a rock n’ roll ’45, ‘You’re throwing your money away!’ that kind of thing.”

Later, behind the parental scenes, Mr. Hicks idols became jazz drummers Joe Morello (Dave Brubeck) and Louie Bellson. “Gene Krupa of course,” he said. “I admired those guys but by fourth grade you’re thinking you need real big sticks and rubber pads. I never had jazz chops. Bossa nova came along in the early ’60s and that was fun and easy to play. But I’ve never had a good left hand. It was February, 1964 when the Beatles came out. Everything changed that night. In fact, in early 1964 we had a little folk group that won second place in competition at Grinnell (College in Grinnell, Iowa). The top three finishers got to do a spring concert with the Gateway Trio from San Francisco. In the meantime the Beatles had come on Ed Sullivan. So when we came back with our ‘folk group’ we had drums, Beatle jackets and we did ‘She Loves You.’ The judges were aghast.”

In a deep folkloric drawl, Mr. Hicks loved to tell stories of the late 1960s rock music scene in Springfield when anyone could be a star. Mr. Hicks’ measured manner and gentle country grin made him something of a Mark Twain character. He found that small town dreams were always approachable in Springfield.

“Oh yeah, to have a ‘45 here was a big deal,” he said. His best pal through the 1960s was local soul-saxophonist Mike Bunge. “He had a band with horns, steps and suits, kind of like Bob Kuban and the In-Men (the St. Louis outfit who had the national 1966 soul hit with “The Cheater),” Mr. Hicks recalled. “They were called Lewie and the Seven Days. And there was only six of them”

Mr. Hicks enrolled at Southwest Missouri State University to obtain a teaching degree, but music got in the way. “It was a vibrant music scene in the late 1960s,” he said. “A lot of bands.  No DJs. There was an atmosphere. In college it was mandatory to take two years of ROTC. So no guy in this town could grow hair over their ears. The first band I was in was Lord Mack and the Checkmates (band names were even awesome in the 1960s).  We made a contract where you can’t play with other bands,  you have to make practice several times a week. And we buried way down there, ‘Cannot cut hair for the contract year.’ I took this to the ROTC commander and he signed a little paper that said I didn’t have to cut my hair.. So there was only three of us on the entire campus of 3,000 that had long hair. I got stopped all the time by student officers. I’d have to get out my wallet, show them the paper and they’d get pissed.

“It was fun even though Viet Nam was looming overhead.”

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The Skeletons fax a record deal. From left, Bobby Lloyd Hicks, Joe Terry, Lou Whitney, D. Clinton Thompson, Kelly Brown.

Mr. Hicks played Animals, Beatles and Rolling Stones covers. “Then I saw Lewie and the Seven Days,” he said. “I thought, ‘Yeah, this is where it is at. Really tight.’ And they were managed by Si Siman and Si booked our band too.”

“Si” Siman was a conduit for the Springfield music scene. He started the “Ozark Jubilee” television show in 1955 on ABC-TV. The Ozark Jubilee was the first television show in America to feature country-western music. The show was broadcast live on Saturday nights from the  since-razed Jewell Theater in downtown Springfield. Patsy Cline,  Johnny Cash and Webb Pierce all appeared on the Jubilee. Rockabilly singer Carl Perkins made his television debut on the Jubilee.

“Mike and I would get out of theory class and go hang out at Si’s  office,” Mr. Hicks recalled.  “Every day. (Late Springfield songwriters) Ronnie Self and Wayne Carson would come in We’d read Billboard magazine. They had a mono recording studio upstairs. Ronnie and Wayne recorded a lot of demos there. The radio station (KTWO-AM), “Keep Watching The Ozarks” was there.” Siman was the station’s vice-president.

Carson and Self wrote for the Earl Barton Publishing Company, also co-founded by Siman. Self wrote the Brenda Lee hits “I’m Sorry” and “Sweet Nothin’s,” and his “Waitin’ For My Gin To Hit Me” became a Skeletons staple, while Carson was Barton’s biggest success penning the Box Top hits “The Letter” and “Soul Deep,” the late Gary Stewart country hits “Drinkin’ Thing” and “She’s Acting Single (I’m Drinking Double)” while co-writing the Elvis Presley smash “Always On My Mind,” also a hit for Willie Nelson.

Mr. Hicks was going to school.

Dave Alvin was sold on Mr. Hicks’ musicology while recording his acclaimed 1994 acoustic album “King of California.” “I didn’t have money in the budget to have Bobby on the whole sessions,” Alvin said. “We at least got him out for a couple days of vocal harmonies because he is such a great singer. We had gone through two or three great drummers, Donald Lindley being one, that could not come up with a drum part to ‘King of California” We cut that track live with the exception of the drums. Bobby walks in the studio, He’d never heard the song. He plays this drum part that is absoultely genius. And that was it. I feel this way about the Morells and Skeletons: if they weren’t living in Springfield, if they were living in Nashville or Los Angeles, they’d all have been session guys making major money.”

Between 2013 and 2015, Mr. Hicks was  drummer for the fine  pop-rock band NRBQ. When he was off the road with the Q, he gigged around Springfield. In the fall of 2014 I drove in from Chicago to see Mr. Hicks play 1950s-60s country music at  Luttrell’s Auction and Live Music Barn on the north side of Springfield, There was little money in this gig. Mr Hicks promised this would be a memorable experience and he delivered.

Auctions started in the small, rickety barn in 1955, making it the oldest auction house west of the Mississippi River. Leona Williams, former wife of Merle Haggard was an occasional guest vocalist.  If  you liked the joyful old RR Ranch in downtown Chicago, you would love Luttell’s Auction and Live Music Barn.

Bobby Lloyd Hicks and the auction house band, 2014 (photo by Rene' Greblo)

Bobby Lloyd Hicks and the auction barn band, 2014 (Photo by Rene’ Greblo)

During my visits, the auction barn band featured Ozark Jubilee steel player Roger Blevins and country jazz guitarist Jerry Menown, sort of an Ozarks version of Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant.. “I bring the rock,” Mr. Hicks told me after the show. He even sang a sterling version of the 1954 La Vern Baker hit “Tweedle Dee,”

Mr. Hicks smiled and said, “ We play from 7 until 9. They like to get home early so they can go to church the next day. When these guys take a lead you have to smile because they still got it. Fat chords. Swing stuff. It’s a joy to do it. My older brother lives in Detroit and came out for a show. He said, ‘Man, this is a time warp.’ People applaud anybody’s solo. It’s like a Porter Wagoner show from 1963.

“It’s still unfiltered here.”

One of Mr. Hicks’ many gifts was to hear such purity even through the static of contemporary culture. Commitment and honesty always helped Bobby Lloyd Hicks recognize the American beat. That is no small thing.

Visitation for Bobby Lloyd Hicks is 5-7 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, 1947 E. Seminole St. in Springfield. A celebration of life begins at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the funeral home.

Welcome to our rodeo.

We started filming the first installment of our “Songs of Unsung America” travelogue/music series in the summer of 2014, a few months before the passing of our dear friend and spirit animal Lou Whitney. Like William Burroughs, we’ve been cutting and pasting nearly 25 hours of interviews.  This week we send  the first chapter off to our editor.

Our working title for this doc is “Sinceriously, Springfield.”

The Lou Whitney Chapter (thanks to Jamie Ceaser for the bulletin board).

The Lou Whitney Chapter (thanks to Jamie Ceaser for the bulletin board).

Jaynie Siman Chowning showed us some of her father’s correspondence with the bigwigs in New York and Nashville when he was promoting his 1950s Ozark Jubilee television show. He signed off, “Sinceriously Springfield, Si Siman.

Our first chapter is on Springfield’s evocative sense of place that rolls from the Ozark hills to Springfield Style Cashew Chicken. Subsequent chapters will feature The Skeletons/Morellls, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, the late Ronnie Self (worth his own documentary), late singer-songwriter Wayne Carson, present day stuff like Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin along with Ozarks religion and Route 66.

We’ve done this with hope and heartstrings.

We’ve spent nearly $70,000 of our own money to tell this story.

Here’s what Lou Whitney told us in the late summer of 2014: “Why do things work out the way they do? Far as being a mouthpiece of Springfield, well, I have organizational skills. I’m not afraid to talk to people. I’m pretty good at booking a band, which is like if you’re in a band with Donnie Thompson, Joe Terry and Lloyd Hicks, what it winds up is you have pity for the people that don’t book you. It’s almost like okay, I’m sorry you didn’t get it.

“One of these days you might remember this.”

The Morells

The Morells

 

Our mission is to see this through.

The thank you list is already profound and appreciated: Producer Jamie Ceaser, cameraman Tom Vlodek, sound man Rene’ Greblo and editor Brent Hannigan.

Our Springfield friends: Lloyd, Donnie, Cecelia Ellis Havens, Nick Sibley, Abbey Waterworth,  Dale Wiley and the generous folks at the Moxie Cinema.

Our St. Louis archivists: John Caspermeyer and Glenn Steinkamp.

Our fiscal sponsor, Chicago Filmmakers-

Chicago friends Bruce Dinsmor , Chris Ligon, Heather McAdams and Bob Roth.

And our Nashville friends: Michael McCall at the Country Music Hall of Fame and David Wykoff.

Rene' Greblo photp

Rene’ Greblo photo

And last but not least, just some of our on camera subjects who gave their time: Dave Alvin, Eric Ambel, Beatle Bob, Hosea Bilyeu, Mark Bilyeu, Jaynie and Randle Chowning, Philip Dickey, Robbie Fulks, Mike “Supe” Granda.

Also: Merle Haggard, Scott Kempner, King Clarentz Brewer, Brenda Lee, David and Wing Leong, The Luttrell Auction House Barn Band, Mary McBride, Dan Penn, Vance Powell, Annette Sain and the Ralph Foster Museum and the Beverly Hillbillies truck, Andy Shernoff, Vicki Self, Syd Straw, Scott Siman and Geoff Steele.

No Beyonce’. Rest easy Alan Jackson.

Please stay tuned and feel free to share your thoughts, memories and ideas.

Sinceriously,

Dave and Jamie