Rocking Through the Decades: ARS Rodney Justo's Tales of Touring and Triumph

Arnold  00:00:00  You ever wanted to talk to a rock star? How about a country rock star? We're going to attempt to talk to one today from the Atlantic rhythm section on Saint Louis. In tune. Welcome to Saint Louis and tune. And thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston, who's laughing behind the microphone there.

Mark 00:00:40  I know.

Arnold  00:00:42  You know, I said country rock. Some people would say southern rock. But this particular group, when we get into this, they're really eclectic sounding. So I don't want to pigeonhole them. Yeah, it would be probably southern rock would have been more appropriate.

Mark 00:00:59  But I love the magic of radio. So just as a disclaimer, we're recording this live on the air and and we're just having.

Arnold  00:01:10  We're having fun.

Mark 00:01:11  And we're having trouble connecting with our guests. Yes.

Arnold  00:01:13  So we're going to you're going to see how professional we are.

Mark 00:01:17  Working that.

Arnold  00:01:18  Over the next.

Mark 00:01:19  Hour, folks. We're going to ad lib for an hour.

Arnold  00:01:21  Yeah.

Mark 00:01:21  But we're good at talking okay. We're good at talking. That's what my wife says. You just stop talking. Mark.

Arnold  00:01:28  Our return to civility, as we always do on the show, is drop a note in someone's briefcase or bag that encourages them to excel, or that lets them know how much you love them. What a simple way to give someone a boost. And it's unexpected, and it sets a positive tone for the rest of the day. I know, and I would really encourage parents to do that in their child's lunch bag, lunch box, whatever. Maybe even in the husbands or husbands in the wives. Sometimes you stick a note in the car. Yeah, or in their purse or in their wallet or whatever. As you grab some money out, you stick that note in there and then they won't be upset knowing that their money's gone. Now, kids haven't done that for parents, but that would really be good too.

Arnold  00:02:13  Gee, thanks for being great parents. You ever hear that one?

Mark 00:02:16  I have, and I shouldn't tell everybody this, but I will. But because I don't know.

Arnold  00:02:21  Where we're on internationally.

Mark 00:02:23  Yeah, we're an open book here. I had a girlfriend once and I liked her.

Arnold  00:02:29  You only have one girlfriend.

Mark 00:02:30  That's terrible. I know, and it was Christmastime, and we were putting all the ornaments and things away. And I went in the other room, and I scribbled a little note, and I stuck it in with all the the Christmas stuff. And I knew just the way things were going.

Arnold  00:02:46  I was going to break.

Mark 00:02:47  Up, that we weren't going to be together next Christmas. And it's unfortunate, but probably better because I'm much happier now. But anyway, so I just know. And I thought about it. I guess I'm still thinking about it. The next year I thought, boy, I got her back. Well, it.

Arnold  00:03:03  Wasn't an encouragement and courage.

Mark 00:03:05  Yes, it was a nice I left a very nice, sweet, loving note.

Arnold  00:03:08  It wasn't like, don't let the door bitch on the way out. Yeah.

Mark 00:03:11  No, it was like you've been mean and hateful to me. Yeah, yeah, whatever I have. That's very nice. I did, I left a note and I stuck it in there, and I put it in a spot that I knew when next Christmas came around, she'd be putting things up and she'd come across my note. So that's there.

Arnold  00:03:27  Very. You would be surprised, folks, at how many people do not write a note, like they'll send a card and maybe they'll just put their name on there. They won't even send a card. It's like a text or a hi, how are you doing? There was a teacher one time. She came into the office where I was principal and she was crying. I was like, this is after school. I said, what happened? And she said, the note that you sent, it was just. And I just had been in her classroom and was observing things that were going on, and I liked what I saw was just wrote a little note of encouragement, and she just she said, I've never had in my 22 years of teaching, I've never had somebody give me a positive note.

Arnold  00:04:11  I'm like, what?

Mark 00:04:14  That's I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. That's terrible.

Arnold  00:04:16  Everybody likes to get those.

Mark 00:04:18  Yes we do. We all like to get those.

Arnold  00:04:19  So drop a note in someone's briefcase or bag that encourages them to excel, or that lets them know how much you love them. Right now, we know that we have our we've connected with our guests. So some of you may recognize this music.

Music 00:04:34  Some. Of. You walked into the room that was to do in advance.

Arnold  00:04:55  I bet he's singing along.

Mark 00:04:57  Oh, I love it.

Arnold  00:04:58  Our guest is Rodney Justo, lead singer for the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Rodney, welcome to Saint Louis and Tune.

Rodney 00:05:04  Thank you very much. Looking forward to seeing you guys on the 28th.

Arnold  00:05:08  Yes. You're going to be here September 28th at the Family Arena with the R's is going to be here in in full regalia and going strong. We we are glad that you that we, you've joined us and that we made connections with you. I inadvertently at the beginning of the show, I, I said, if you'd like to talk to a rock star or a country rock star.

Arnold  00:05:30  And I was like, you know, really southern rock. And then I thought, as I've listened to you guys and you can't really pigeonhole the Atlanta rhythm section into any kind of genre, can you?

Rodney 00:05:41  There's so many years I've been trying to figure out if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It just depends on what they ask me and who's asking me and where we're playing, you know.

Arnold  00:05:52  Because you guys.

Rodney 00:05:53  Were southern rock band. Some days we're a classic rock band. You know, it's so I must I must tell you the truth that when we started out, we didn't know what to have, or we just wanted to cut records and hopefully have hits. You know, I think that the first few albums were more for lack of a rock n roll ish, and certainly red tape was as well. You never know what's going to be a hit and then it guides you. You know that's.

Arnold  00:06:23  True. I get blues, I get soul, I get some country vibe, I get jazz, and I like this description.

Arnold  00:06:28  Southern fried style. I like that. Yeah.

Rodney 00:06:32  There you go. Whatever the heck we are I don't know. I know that we managed to keep working after 57 years.

Mark 00:06:37  Is it because can I just say I want to age myself too much? I was a disc jockey in Saint Louis back in the 70s at caddy, the Rock of Saint Louis, and I remember when a lot of these songs were brand new and they first came out.

Rodney 00:06:55  So tell me about it.

Mark 00:06:56  I did, and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Can I just ask the writing where the name come from for the Atlanta Rhythm section?

Rodney 00:07:06  It was. The original deal was that we are Buddy Boy, who was our Svengali, if you will has wanted to open the studio to so that we could he could cut his own records and not have to go anywhere else to get it done. So to do that, you had to get some work. So the idea was to get some artists to come cut in the studio. And there was a what are we going to do for musicians? And but he said, well, I've got, you know, an Atlanta rhythm section, we got our own, which are we were all, you know, prepared to make records.

Rodney 00:07:45  We did work for B.J. Thomas and Billy Joe Royle and God knows another artist. So we got referred to as the Atlanta Rhythm Section. So when our own record came out. But he wanted to call it the Atlanta Rhythm Section that says, dude, that's like the worst name in the world. I hate it, and I don't think anybody in the band liked it. Now that I think about it, that's it. He's the lead dog in the pack, and we do what he tells us, you know?

Mark 00:08:11  So you were like a studio band.

Arnold  00:08:14  House band?

Mark 00:08:14  Yeah. Boston. Boston was that way. I think back in the day they were a studio band that broke out. Yeah.

Rodney 00:08:21  Yes and no. We were we were a studio. But people tend to think that we never worked on the road. We just hung around the studio and made records. That's not the case. Three of us were in the Candyman, which was Roy Orbison, the band, and we went all over the world with Orbison for years.

Rodney 00:08:41  Believe me. And then Jacob was in the classic four And we've got two local icons from the Atlanta area, and that's where these six of us came from. But believe me, we had we did the tortures of the road. And believe me, it was a lot worse than it is now. You know, now you have reservations. You show up at a hotel. In those days, you start driving. You looking for motels to say vacancy or no vacancy. And you take a you take a chance after driving all day. Now.

Arnold  00:09:17  For our our listeners that are not familiar with Atlantic Rhythm Section and Rodney, Justo, Rodney and the mystics backed up all major artists from 61 to 65. He was a member of the Candyman, as he said, had a top 40 hit. Georgia Pines was with edgy high fives, Noah's Ark, Beaver Teeth backed with Roy Orbison, Ray Stevens, Neil Sedaka bandleader. Like he said for B.J. Thomas, is there anything you've not done, Rodney?

Rodney 00:09:46  I've been pretty fortunate.

Rodney 00:09:48  It's been. I've had a strange life. But I've had a good life. I've had a full life. I've done just about everything I'd like. I would like to have more hits by myself as an artist. But like you do with what life gives you. You know what I mean?

Arnold  00:10:03  Yeah, I read an.

Rodney 00:10:04  I got no complaints. I think most people would like to be me.

Arnold  00:10:08  Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah. I read an interview that you did that. someone asked you if you had any regrets that you left Atlantic Rhythm section after a year, and you had put out the first album, but there weren't any hits. And you went to New York to do a solo career, but you also said, you know, you had a family and you had other portions of life that you wanted to do, especially with your career. And I think that's great, a great attitude that you have about that, because you can't go back and do it again.

Mark 00:10:36  No.

Rodney 00:10:37  It was very people thought I was crazy, but I had children.

Rodney 00:10:41  I had an overwhelming love for my wife, and I wanted to be home with my family, and I believe it was tough. I couldn't get a job. Nobody would hire me. I couldn't understand why. Of course, now I understand why. Because what? Why would they hire me to a job for $150 a week, dusting bottles and grocery stores? And I was scared to be a failure that never had a job. But I always tell people I was determined that I would never let anybody outwork me. And I still go by that credo today, actually.

Arnold  00:11:15  And getting the R. S together. And I know that you came back and and worked with them. I wanted to go back in time a little bit. You know, we talked a little bit about how the group began and that you guys were a studio slash house band, and you played with some major artists. Do you have a favorite story that you can tell us on the air about some of those major artists?

Rodney 00:11:39  I'll tell you a good story, okay? Especially now that I see him.

Rodney 00:11:43  He's. He's older and working, but he's such a sweet guy. And one of the acts I worked with when I was younger was the Four Seasons, and Frankie Valli and I went out after working. We went to a little diner late at night and he ordered cheese omelet, and he says, this is the best cheese omelet I've had since I left new Jersey. I'd never heard of a cheese omelet. I didn't know what the heck it was, but I thought it was so cool that Tampa had something as good as new Jersey. So I was really excited about that. And I told him, I said, Frankie, this is my last night with my band. What do you mean? Yeah. I'm leaving. I'm going to work with Roy Orbison. He says, you're going to work with the nicest guy in the business. Now, I had already known Roy for years, but I didn't even know he had that kind of Reputation among his peers. That was a nice thing, frankly, to say.

Rodney 00:12:42  And when Roy died, I picked up rolling Stone magazine. He was on the cover, and it said within the first paragraph, Roy Orbison was the sweetest guy in rock n roll. And I thought to myself, man, for a guy to have this kind of reputation for all these years, that's so complimentary because he really was a sweet guy. He was. I did a session with him one time and someone commented on his cufflinks. Yeah, thanks. Sure. He took the cufflinks off and gave them to the guy. Oh, wow. That's that's the kind of guy he was. He was a very sweet guy. So people always ask me, what? Did you learn anything from Orbison? I was like, I knew how to sing to begin with. But the way he treated people and the respect he gave to people in the time he talked to people. It was just he set the template for the way I thought it was supposed to be. When I see people that are, like, rude and don't talk to the audience, and I'll tell you, I don't normally tell this story, but we would do.

Rodney 00:13:52  We did a show with Sonny and Cher and Orbison, and we took turns being the headliner one night, Sonny and Cher with the headliner, and we're all hanging around backstage, and somebody from Cher's written who comes out and says, all right, clear this area out. Cher's not coming out until this area is cleared. Everybody's in that dressing room. And Roy very calmly says, I think Cher might be a little late for her show.

Mark 00:14:20  Oh, I love it. I love it.

Rodney 00:14:26  That was about as mean as he would get. And he he was beautiful.

Arnold  00:14:29  He had a fun time when he went over to England too, I understand. And he Wilson was playing with the Beatles. And there's. Why don't you. You know that story? Would you tell that one? Yeah.

Rodney 00:14:42  I wasn't there at one time. Roy was the either the first or maybe tied for the first guy to travel with his own band, and early on, he couldn't afford to take the whole band on these international trips.

Rodney 00:14:57  So he would take one person on each trip. And that Beatle trip he took, Bobby Goldsboro. And I remember Goldie coming back and telling me, he says, man, there's this band, or they're called The Beatles on Beatles. What a stupid name. This is a t like beat. All I said, that's pretty cool. So I knew about the Beatles well before most people did. In fact, Del Shannon came back and he also cut a Beatles song for Me to You, and he said, yeah, this is a Beatles record on. Oh, that name comes up again, but in England and much of Europe. Royals bigger than a star. Use a legend. Ironically, in the United States at that time, it wasn't. I could walk down the street with Roy Orbison. Nobody would know who he was as iconic as his look is now. Back then, nobody, nobody knew I could. I remember walking in Vancouver. We all went to see the Cincinnati Kid and we're walking along and nobody stopped us.

Rodney 00:16:05  Nobody said a word. You got five guys with long hair and Roy Orbison and dyed black hair and sunglasses, and nobody stopped us. Had no idea who we were.

Arnold  00:16:16  That's wild, that's wild.

Mark 00:16:18  These are wonderful stories.

Arnold  00:16:19  He helped you cut your single to Miss Brown, right?

Rodney 00:16:25  Yes. That was the Beatles playing the Sullivan Show on February 9th.

Mark 00:16:30  Remember the year they won.

Rodney 00:16:32  Oh, boy. This is nothing like the record. I'm getting ready to cut. I don't know about this. The next day, Ray Stevens was sweet guy. He took me to a Jerry Lewis recording session. And let me tell you, his recording sessions are like his live performances. He just kills it. And then the 11th, the next day was I cut my record knowing that I was not going to cut a hit record, but I don't care. I was I was appreciative, still am appreciative. And Roy was the producer, as it were. But Bill justice was the arranger and he was really doing most of the work.

Rodney 00:17:13  But I started singing and he says, Rodney, you sound a little bit too soulful. This is easy singing, more like Bobby Rydell so much sang it like Bobby Rydell. I just cleaned it up a little bit. Like I said I was. I knew I had no chance. The funny thing is, at one point Roy turned to my manager and he went smash! He thought my record was going to be a hit. I didn't feel it.

Arnold  00:17:41  Well, who were you?

Rodney 00:17:43  I was right. The most obvious considering my age. Elvis. When I saw the Elvis approaching. Whoa! What the heck is that, man? This guy. That's great. And he was only again, like, the next week on the same show. And I was at my aunt's house and said, what's this guy's name again? This is Elvis Presley. I'm thinking, that's a strange name, but Elvis, of course, I loved most of the R&B guys. I love Bobby Bland, I love Ray Charles.

Rodney 00:18:15  I like Bobby Darin because he was so versatile. I like Jerry Butler. I love Jackie Wilson. Those are the guys I really like. I wish I could sing like that, but I don't have the voice for him. My voice is too clear. So I would. I can't be an R&B singer. I wish I could because I love that kind of music. You know.

Arnold  00:18:35  That's interesting. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of Saint Louis and Tune. We're talking to Rodney Giusto, lead singer for the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and they're going to be performing September 28th at the Family Arena. You need to check that out, folks. There's some other groups that are going to be performing there, including Prairie League, Richie Furay and Firefall.

Mark 00:18:54  Oh my.

Arnold  00:18:54  So it's a great show. Check that out September 28th at the Family Arena. And Rodney, you wanted to be a drummer and then you you I don't want to say you fell into the singing, but you obviously had a great voice because that's a great story too.

Rodney 00:19:11  Yeah, I what happened there was my friend was playing this band and one day the drummer had something to do and he couldn't make the gig. So I filled in and I'm thinking to myself, yeah, I'm going to take this guy's gig. He'll have no idea what happened to him. I came back and I heard him playing on it. Oh, I'm never going to be as good as this guy. He's. He's just. I'm not. I couldn't practice enough to be as good as him. And ironically, the singer didn't show up for rehearsal, so I said, oh, I know that song. I'll sing it so you guys can learn it. And the guy says, you're not going to be the drummer, but you're going to be the singer. We're going to get rid of the guy we got. So that's how I literally became a singer as a kid. I sang on the radio.

Mark 00:20:05  I fell into it. It sounds like almost. Yeah, yeah, a lot of people work.

Mark 00:20:09  Years and years, Rodney. And you're just like, here I am. I'll take it.

Rodney 00:20:15  Yeah. I worked years and years. Yeah, right. You don't make.

Mark 00:20:17  Any. I don't want to take it away from you. Yeah, but I know, but the lead singer, it's a heck big shoes to fill tonight. Okay.

Rodney 00:20:25  That's good, a good gig. You mean you travel 60 miles? You make $7, you know?

Mark 00:20:30  Yeah. There you go. It's the big time.

Rodney 00:20:31  But it is work and you're getting paid. And it's laughable, almost, to think that you're getting paid. We hope they're having a good time. And you're meeting people in this girls and there's there's everything. Who wants who's going to walk away from that.

Arnold  00:20:45  So when did you take up guitar?

Rodney 00:20:48  Oh, please. When I left Candyman. I'm a guitar owner. I learned how to play in three weeks, and I never got any better. In fact, it was just like my golf game.

Rodney 00:21:01  How in the heck do you get worse at something?

Mark 00:21:04  How do you get that hall, that ball in that little hole?

Rodney 00:21:08  Yeah, I have guitars, okay. I got about 4 or 5 of them and I suck on every one of them. And I get worse all the time.

Arnold  00:21:17  As long as G and D7 and A. You're good. Yeah.

Rodney 00:21:21  Yeah, I'm good with a baby chords.

Mark 00:21:23  Yeah. Wow.

Arnold  00:21:25  That's all I know.

Mark 00:21:26  I love it. This is great. I'm a guitar owner, I don't, Rodney, I don't think I'll ever. That's good I like yeah, yeah that's.

Arnold  00:21:34  Yeah great. So Rodney who wrote I don't.

Rodney 00:21:36  Ironically I don't have drums.

Mark 00:21:39  That is ironic. Guitar is a.

Arnold  00:21:40  Little easier to carry around.

Mark 00:21:42  That's true.

Rodney 00:21:43  Yeah. Easier for me to get somebody else to carry on. Yeah. Okay. I am the laziest person when it comes to that kind of stuff. Even as a kid, I knew how to disappear when it came time to set up equipment.

Arnold  00:21:56  Especially sound equipment. You know.

Rodney 00:21:57  I had, like, arms of a snake when it came time to live things.

Mark 00:22:02  Well, late singers, that's how they are. That's. Yeah. Exactly. Right. Okay. Yeah.

Arnold  00:22:07  So Rodney with the group with the Atlanta Rhythm section who wrote most of the songs.

Rodney 00:22:13  I mentioned Buddy boy. Buddy boy was really in the band was put together accessories to be a vehicle for his songs. He was a songwriter. He wrote spooky. He wrote stormy, Every Day with You Girl. He had a hit with Sandy Posey, but he was the main guy, and he wrote all those songs with J.R. Cobb, who was his writing partner and also was in the classics for. So funny thing, I was on the road with the Candyman, were out in California, and Georgia Pines was starting to get a little action. And, Paul Cochran, our co-manager, called back to Atlanta and they said, what? Charleston went on it. Oh, beautiful. What? You're kidding me.

Rodney 00:23:03  The black slanted. Oh, this is great. And it is about five stations are all playing the record. I thought he was talking about my record. I was so excited. He was talking about spooky with the classics four. So all of a sudden I wasn't so excited. But I remember Dennis Yost coming up to me and he says, well, Rock looks like my next record is going to be spooky on Liberty. Oh, God. And buddy made me sing it like a sissy. They ended up having a hit with spooky. The other story is that they they've broken up. They had they had a number two record in the country and I had to get back together. Then they broke up again and they had stormy, but they broke up again. They had traces. So I discovered the key to life. Don't give a d---.

Arnold  00:23:57  Yeah. Or breaking up.

Rodney 00:24:00  Care. And they kept having hits.

Arnold  00:24:01  Breaking up gives you hits.

Rodney 00:24:03  Yeah. Not in my case, but that's another story.

Rodney 00:24:06  Hey.

Arnold  00:24:06  We're going to tune in a little of this.

Mark 00:24:10  Yeah. Oh, what a great song.

Music 00:24:12  Love it. Even when everything is getting kind of groovy. I call you up and ask if you'd like to go with me and see a movie. First you say no. Lots of plans for the night, and then you stop and say, all right. Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little girl like you.

Arnold  00:24:44  You know, I read this morning that the little River band is breaking up, and they're shutting down January 1st.

Mark 00:24:52  Yeah.

Rodney 00:24:52  And I was with the guitar player last night.

Arnold  00:24:56  Yeah, they apparently there is somebody I can't remember who is not up to snuff with the band, and I don't know whether it's performance wise or what the deal is. But my question to you, Rodney, is what are some of the the factors? I know there's some obvious factors, but what are some of the factors that go into bands staying together and breaking up. Why do some bands endure? And they keep going and they seem to get along in some bands.

Rodney 00:25:22  Great. Great question. I don't think anybody's asked me that one. I'll give you my opinion. There's a few reasons. One is financial, but certainly like in my case, that's why I left the band. I wasn't making any money and I had a daughter that had some health issues. And like I was every other like every other stupid musician, I had no insurance. So you got to pay these people that are taking care of your children. I said, if I'm going to be singing background records, I'm going to make some money doing it. That's why I moved to New York. So get back to your question. Finances are certainly a part of it. Then you have success or the lack of success where you want to be. What's a good word? Current, I don't care. I was so happy that Orbison had hits with the Traveling Wilburys because he was cold as ice man. He couldn't get arrested. He'd go to Europe and work within the United States. He was nothing.

Rodney 00:26:22  Here he is. He's relevant again. You want to be relevant so you don't have hits. That's another issue. And then there's one more issue, and that's personalities with the band. I'm sure you see it, I said. I'm sure. I assume you've seen the movie Spinal Tap. You know where the wives get involved and why he's playing this solo instead of you.

Mark 00:26:44  I love.

Rodney 00:26:45  That. Oh, the spotlight's on him a lot more than it is you.

Mark 00:26:49  Yeah, yeah. You know, that is stirring that pot, right? Yeah.

Rodney 00:26:55  I've got to tell you, and I promise you that I'm telling you the truth. We are pals. If we lived in the same cities, we would hang around each other. We could. We care about each other. There's no jealousy. We have a good. There are two things. I get it almost every day, guys. And that's one is you guys look like you're having a good time. And we are we do. We pull jokes on each other every night.

Rodney 00:27:24  Somebody's doing something to somebody. The other night just I turned around and Justin hit me in the butt with his base. I jumped about five feet and.

Mark 00:27:35  I went to.

Rodney 00:27:40  And then I sent him some roses, but that's enough.

Multiple 00:27:42  Oh, yeah. Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Rodney 00:27:49  also.

Rodney 00:27:50  The other is.

Rodney 00:27:51  I don't think we ever play dates where people don't come up to me and say, man, thank you so much. I just lived my entire college experience again. You know, I, I was dating this girl when this came out. And I always say this kind of stories. These songs are mean things to people. You don't get that so much now, because how are you going to be melancholy about a song that has 50 ways to say bitch? Okay, yeah.

Arnold  00:28:27  This will stick with Mark Langston of Saint Louis in tune. We're talking to Rodney Gusto. He's the lead singer for the Atlanta Rhythm Section. They're going to be performing September 28th at the Family Arena. And you've played there before, Rodney.

Arnold  00:28:38  But my question deals with this. Do you think there's competition amongst bands groups for fans when you were involved in the circuit at the time, were was there like a competition? Like a sports competition?

Rodney 00:28:56  Dude, I was very competitive even as a kid. I always when I was a kid, I felt like somebody was trying to take my Thunderbird from me. I can't let another band be better than me. I just can't do it. And it was war, No, not so much. We all have our thing, and I respect you. We'll work in this upcoming day with Pure Prairie League and Firefall. We're pals. We look forward to seeing each other. We'll probably stay in the same hotel. And after the show's over, we get together. I don't drink, but we drink and laugh and tell jokes and have a good time. We want everybody to do well. I think it has to do certain to a certain extent for maturity. If you're good, you just do your thing.

Rodney 00:29:49  When I was young, I would never, ever say that some other singer was good because then they might say, maybe he's better than me, Rodney. I would never do that. Now, I love to compliment other people to do a good job.

Arnold  00:30:06  That's important. That kind of goes with what we were talking about with our return to civility about encouragement. And like you said, maturity plays a large part of where you are in your life and the experiences that you've had. And when you see the enjoyment that fans are having from listening to the music and bringing them, you know, back to certain times that they identify with that song, that's a huge should be a huge thing of satisfaction to you.

Rodney 00:30:29  Yeah. You reach the point. If you think you're really good, let me put it this way. People ask me all the time if I'm nervous. Are you nervous? Were you fine? No I'm not. I know what I'm doing, and I don't mean that. I hope that doesn't sound obnoxious, but I do.

Rodney 00:30:46  I know what I'm doing. It's like people are. I was one of them. I didn't like public speaking. I hated it, and people would say, what do you mean? But you're a singer. You sing for lots of people. I say, yeah, I'm rehearsed. We've got everything down. We know what we're doing. When I get up and start talking, it's a different thing. I really started analyzing that, and I sort of think, why would a person not like public speaking? It could only be one reason is rejection. You think you're scared they don't like you or you don't know what the heck you're doing. So if you get to the point where you know what you're doing, what's the point of being scared? If you want to talk in front of 50 people, or you want to talk to 500 people, if you're not interesting, you're not interesting to 50. Not to mention the 500, right? So if you know what you're doing, it shouldn't be an issue.

Mark 00:31:43  Great advice.

Arnold  00:31:43  Yes. Great advice. And you in your career, you in New York, you didn't let barriers stop you. You got involved in singing jingles. You did some commercials. Talk about that a little bit. Because people I think they think I've got to sing on the stage. I've got to do X, Y and Z. And they were there tunnel vision on that, and they don't see the bigger picture.

Rodney 00:32:06  There are singers you've never heard of. That in the 70s would make at least a half a million a year missing, and probably made a million a year doing jingles. This is serious money. You could do a. I did a Coca-Cola commercial. $35,000. I sang on a couple of Coca-Cola commercials with Billie Joe Royle. But you can make money. Do you know who Ron Dante is?

Arnold  00:32:38  I do not.

Mark 00:32:38  Know.

Rodney 00:32:39  Okay. Ron Dante was. He's a. I don't even know him, but he's. He's sang for the Archies. He was a singer for the Archies.

Mark 00:32:50  Oh, my.

Rodney 00:32:51  The sugar. He is also now on the Happy Together tour. He is Howard Kaylan. He's singing with as Howard Caitlin. All the happy together to singing all those turtle rides. And he does a great job. He's also a brilliant record producer, so I hate to think of the kind of money run down there must have made doing sessions. I know someone that did jingles as all they did. The person that hired them to do the jingle lived in the building he owns.

Mark 00:33:27  Okay, well, wow. How's that? That's good. Yeah, yeah. That's good.

Arnold  00:33:34  Barry Manilow writing all those jingles for McDonald's and all that kind of stuff.

Rodney 00:33:39  He didn't make that kind of money doing those jingles because he wrote them and produced them. He didn't sing them. The singers make the money that the other guys are going broke. They they're not riding bicycle store, you know, but the singers make the money just the way it should be, I might add.

Arnold  00:33:57  Absolutely. So Now the difference now of touring.

Arnold  00:34:03  Now, you mentioned this earlier. You never knew when you were going to get a hotel. Now that's all set up for you and things are quite a bit different. But did you like to tour then and do you like to tour now? I guess you do, otherwise you wouldn't do it. I like.

Mark 00:34:16  That question.

Rodney 00:34:17  I'll tell you this. I have always loved working and traveling. It's it's believe it or not, it's all about the people you meet. And we met people, man, that means so much to us. People show up to some of our shows and they're so generous. It's great, I love it. I had some problems recently because I'm no spring chicken, but my health, Air Force were killing me. I found out I was, what's the word? Anemic. And it just the airports are killing me. I couldn't walk, I was just Exhausted man. Because it was happened is I wasn't making her blood. He's either not making it or losing it. So I had to take about a month off.

Rodney 00:35:09  But that's another story I love touring. Then put it this way I get on a plane many times. There's someone to meet me. They treat me really nice. I go sing, people give me money. More people treat me nice, and then I go home. what? What? Which one of those things would you give up?

Mark 00:35:39  Yeah, I don't think much of any of them. Yeah.

Rodney 00:35:44  Yeah. And like I said, we don't. We guys run to each other. We may meet at the airport, we may meet at the hotel. But when we see each other, we hugging each other. Hey, man, how you doing? What's happened with the kids? were happy to see each other. We're a great bunch of guys and wonderful musicians. I spend a lot of time talking about myself, but you get a guy like Steve Stone or guitarist who's been in the band for 40 years. Yeah. Our bass player had you tell me a band that the bass player is the most recognized guy in the band.

Rodney 00:36:20  That was us. We had Paul Goddard and people. When I came back with the band, they would say, you still got that fat guy playing bass, you know. Yeah, yeah. He's back with us. Yeah. You know, Justin took over for him. David Anderson, one of the other guitarists. He's an icon in Huntsville. He's he's a wonderful guy and a sensational guitarist. Our drummer played with Marty Balin. Oh, yeah, and we are. When I came back with a band, we were very fortunate. I came back and Paul Goddard came back and we had Dean dropped. Who's the keyboard players have to abandon his original now. Since then, the other two guys have passed away. So that leaves me. I'm like the last of the Mohicans.

Mark 00:37:08  last man standing.

Rodney 00:37:09  So yeah.

Mark 00:37:10  Yeah, yeah.

Rodney 00:37:11  You know, and that's okay. We keep it together. The band sounds great. Oh, and the keyboard player, we got a keyboard player when Dean passed, and, one time we were gonna play with that Christopher Cross, and we're going to back him up, and he.

Rodney 00:37:29  I spoke with him on the phone. He actually was. He has read. I was thinking like, you mean music? No words. sometimes we got a keyboard player who actually can read music. He reads music, he's can orchestrate. He does all that kind of stuff. He's a wonderful musician. Wow. And everybody sings. Actually, the bass player doesn't. He does sing adorable along with me when I don't mean the song, he just goes dawesville. That's it.

Arnold  00:38:01  Yeah, that was one of the things I think was a strength of you guys when you were the band with BJ Thomas is the quality of the musicianship was just outstanding. Everybody read music. They weren't playing by ear. And I think it's the other thing that people don't realize. Maybe they do. Those of us who are getting into the fall of our life and that there weren't backup bands or nobody carried a band with them, they just got the local group to to back them up.

Rodney 00:38:30  Yes, yes, yes, that's what I was getting started.

Rodney 00:38:35  There weren't pre Beatles. There was no such thing as bands. So they had his people at it and they would show up. Maybe they would have a drummer. The Four Seasons carried a drummer occasionally. Dion carried a guitar player. Who was Roy Carey guitar player at first. interesting. That was it. They might have one guy with them to help, but here's the deal. They all saying their hits, so maybe they have one hit. Maybe they have three hits. In rehearsal, those songs were going to work with a particular artist, let's say, that they all had quite a few hits. So we, we would learn his songs, but other than their heads, they all did the same songs. They'd do a Chuck Berry song, they'd do the twist, they would do a Bo Diddley song. Yeah. And that was it. So we didn't have to learn too many things other than the hits, because we all knew the other songs. And I've worked with all everybody who had a hit record in the 60s, just about.

Rodney 00:39:42  I worked with.

Arnold  00:39:44  Miss Arnold Stricker, with Mark Langston of Saint Louis, and we're talking to Rodney Justo, the lead singer for the Atlanta Rhythm section, and they're going to be performing at the Family Arena September 28th. And that's a great show that you need to get some tickets for. Folks. You can check on the Family Arena website and find out how you can do that. Firefall is going to be there. Pure Prairie League and Richie Furay also. And as we're listening.

Rodney 00:40:11  To, I'm looking forward to meeting Richie. I don't know him.

Arnold  00:40:15  Yeah, Richie, if you're right.

Rodney 00:40:17  Yeah, but I sure did love Buffalo Springfield. Yeah, they were so good. We loved that album.

Mark 00:40:23  Oh, yeah.

Arnold  00:40:25  Rodney, how do bands figure out these names like Buffalo Springfield? I'm looking at your band names. Noah's Ark, Beaver teeth. Yeah, the high fives.

Mark 00:40:36  Beaver. Teeth. Beaver. There you go. I don't think I've heard of these names come from.

Rodney 00:40:39  I'm not telling you how we got that.

Mark 00:40:41  Okay. Probably a good idea. I don't.

Rodney 00:40:46  Know how. That's a good question. I think they throw names around and that sucks. And they finally. Okay, y'all give in to this. Okay? You win.

Mark 00:40:56  Give in to it.

Rodney 00:40:57  How many band names do you hear that are pretty. Buffalo Springfield my understanding was that was a like a dragline. What do you call it? A farm machine called the Buffalo Springfield. Oh my gosh. What's the company that makes all these tractors?

Mark 00:41:13  Deere.

Rodney 00:41:14  Let's say John Deere.

Mark 00:41:15  John Deere.

Rodney 00:41:16  Right. It was Buffalo Springfield. It was a name on a like on a tractor.

Mark 00:41:20  And I don't know what.

Rodney 00:41:23  It's another name I would have picked though.

Mark 00:41:25  Hey, guys. Let's try this one. Yeah.

Arnold  00:41:29  Rodney and the mystics.

Mark 00:41:31  Rodney. Yes, yes.

Arnold  00:41:33  Where are you guys? Oh, mystical or.

Mark 00:41:36  I don't see that, but that's okay.

Rodney 00:41:38  It just sounded right.

Arnold  00:41:40  Yeah.

Rodney 00:41:40  There was a group.

Mark 00:41:41  Already.

Rodney 00:41:42  Called the mystics.

Rodney 00:41:43  Had a record by.

Mark 00:41:45  Yeah. Okay.

Arnold  00:41:46  Yeah, yeah.

Mark 00:41:47  I remember the mystics. I heard them.

Rodney 00:41:48  Going way back.

Mark 00:41:49  Guys. Yes you are. You're showing your age, Rodney. Yeah, I know.

Rodney 00:41:53  That this was way back when Betty White was jailbait.

Mark 00:41:56  Oh my gosh. Okay.

Arnold  00:42:03  Yeah. Marshall Tucker band. Oh, yeah. There was no Marshall Tucker in the group. It was the name of the guy on a door.

Rodney 00:42:10  Right? Lynyrd Skynyrd?

Mark 00:42:12  Yeah, there's another one.

Rodney 00:42:13  Yeah. My wife knew nothing about music. Was it nothing about bands?

Mark 00:42:18  Leonard Skinner was a football coach. Was one.

Rodney 00:42:20  Thing.

Mark 00:42:21  Was that wasn't Leonard Skynyrd a football coach or something that somebody high school, they claim? Yeah, okay.

Rodney 00:42:26  But then again, if you remember the. Hello, mother. Yeah. Hello, father.

Mark 00:42:31  Here I am somewhere.

Rodney 00:42:32  In that record. They mentioned a guy named Leonard Skynyrd.

Mark 00:42:36  No kidding. All right. Yeah, I'll have to go back and listen to that.

Mark 00:42:40  Yeah, I'll be darned.

Arnold  00:42:41  You're going to make us go back into the archives and look at that stuff.

Mark 00:42:44  Okay? That's okay.

Rodney 00:42:47  My wife told people who placed him there. Their reunion, their farewell tour. They've been farewell ING for five years. But regardless, she called a friend. Yeah, he's out on the road. He's playing with Skinny Leonard.

Arnold  00:43:01  Hey, skinny Leonard.

Mark 00:43:03  Oh my God. Who did? Allan Sherman did. Hello, mother.

Arnold  00:43:07  Do you remember? That was.

Mark 00:43:08  Legalising. Yeah, I remember him. It's been a long time.

Rodney 00:43:12  Listen to this. At one point, he's talking about Leonard Skinner.

Mark 00:43:17  We're going to have to listen to that and see. Yeah.

Rodney 00:43:19  Who knows if it's true or not.

Arnold  00:43:22  It's a good story.

Rodney 00:43:23  There's nobody to ask. That's right.

Mark 00:43:25  Now there's nobody.

Arnold  00:43:26  Else. So last question for you, Rodney, and we'll let you go. And I appreciate the time that you've given us, cause we're coming to the end of the end of our show here.

Mark 00:43:36  Can we call him tomorrow on the show tomorrow?

Rodney 00:43:41  What are they going to do, I think.

Multiple 00:43:42  Yeah.

Mark 00:43:43  All righty.

Arnold  00:43:45  So you've got some young kids who are really checking out music from the 60s and 70s and 80s. Quite a comeback, isn't it? Getting a comeback here. And they check out Atlanta Rhythm section, and they check your name out and they see what kind of career, the varied kinds of things that you've done and how you've endured over that time. And they come up to you and they meet you and they ask you, what advice do you give me, Rodney? What do you tell them?

Rodney 00:44:13  I tell them two things. First, I tell them, practice. There's no way you can do it without practice. It just doesn't happen. And the other thing is never pass up a chance to play with someone better than you. That's okay. And that, that that'll sum it all up. That's how you learn. That's how you challenge yourself. And most people if you show genuine interest.

Rodney 00:44:43  I don't care what it is. If you're winemaker and you really want to be a winemaker and you go to the best winemaker in the world, he'll tell you everything you need to know about making wine, because he's enchanted by the fact that you'd like what he's doing and you want to do it. Most people, and certainly musicians, are very eager to share what they know. I remember seeing Rick Derringer once we were playing part of a package tour, and it was the Byrds and Sam Isham and us and Shadows and Night, Billy Joe Royle, the newbies. They used to have those big shows back in the day, right? And I would see Rick Derringer backstage playing guitar with the guy from Sam Sham, the guy with the shadows of the night. It doesn't matter. Rick was playing with all these guys, and I'm saying, this guy is smart, man. He's learned how to play all kinds of music. And I said, this guy's going to be really good. And I was right.

Rodney 00:45:52  He says he's a sensational guitarist, but you need to be with people that are better than you. Now I must I'm going to say that things will be different now because you can go on YouTube and you can see guitar freaks. They'll play stuff you can't believe. Of course they can't work in a band. Yeah, but they have a technical ability to play and they have a way to learn things. You can get a tutorial. I'm surprised it's not a tutorial. They might be actually on heart transplants, just in case either one of you guys want to do a heart transplant. When the rain comes, when the radio goes upside down, you you do heart transplants?

Arnold  00:46:37  Yeah. I don't want to be the first, first patient.

Mark 00:46:40  Wrong.

Rodney 00:46:43  Give it a.

Mark 00:46:44  Shot. Yeah.

Multiple 00:46:45  Okay. Well, you know.

Rodney 00:46:48  Look at it this way. They're going to die anyway if you don't do it. Oh, what the hell?

Arnold  00:46:54  Are your. Are your kids involved in, in the music industry at all?

Rodney 00:46:59  One is she left today to go to school in San Diego.

Rodney 00:47:04  She sings like an angel and she wants to be on television. She just wants to show business career. And I have to feign interest. You know what I mean? Oh, isn't that wonderful? I'm not crazy. It's a tough business. She's very talented. There's no indication. There's no guarantee. I don't care how good you get, you'll be successful. I wish her the best. I have mixed emotions. I'm going to miss my granddaughter. She's a sweetheart. I tell people this. Mixed emotions. Like a mother in law going off of a cliff in your new Mercedes. Okay.

Arnold  00:47:41  Wow. If she has the tenacity that you had and the focus and the ability to keep things in perspective, she will be successful in whatever she does.

Rodney 00:47:53  Yes he does. She's like a straight-A student. She's one of the people who puts a lot of pressure on herself to do well. But you need it. She's focused. She's going to California. Please.

Mark 00:48:04  No kidding.

Rodney 00:48:06  You know, they have schools here, believe it or not.

Mark 00:48:10  Yeah.

Rodney 00:48:11  Well she's that one. Gave her what she was looking for. So. That she is. That's important. She left this morning.

Arnold  00:48:18  Oh wow. Oh yeah. I appreciate the time that you've been able to give us today. And it's been a fun conversation with you Rodney. And thank you.

Rodney 00:48:28  I'm very appreciative I'm very flattered. This is a great interview. You guys asked some great questions and kept it fun.

Arnold  00:48:35  Best of luck to you at the Family Arena on September 28th and folks, get your tickets. Thank you. Check that out. Yeah. Rodney. Justo. Thank you.

Rodney 00:48:44  Good time. We'll give a good show.

Arnold  00:48:45  I know you will. Thank you again, sir. Take care.

Rodney 00:48:47  Thank you. Be good to yourself.

Mark 00:48:49  Thank you Rodney. Bye bye. Thank you so much. All right.

Music 00:48:53  Sometimes it makes me crazy, but I would not change a thing. So lay down a backbeat. Drink up your trust and give some. Let's give it everything we got.

Music 00:49:13  Just one more time.

Arnold  00:49:16  Mark. They were. They were in the groove. I would say, gosh, the Eagles were. They were in this kind of southern rock style. And the Eagles struggled a little bit. Some of them wanted to continue that vein. Some of them wanted to go off a little bit differently. But when you listen to the Atlanta Rhythm section, it's man, you get some rock, you get some soul, you get some blues that play that one song. Gosh. What is that? No, that's.

Mark 00:49:49  We got spooky too. Yeah.

Arnold  00:49:52  It's just this eclectic kind of style that has a finger in all of the genres. And, like, we can do all of that. And I think one of the reasons they could is because they were a house band. They were a studio band. Right? And that's what they did for a living. Or you need the style. Okay, I'll play the style. You need that style to play that style. Yeah.

Arnold  00:50:12  And then they when they got on their own, they just put it all together.

Mark 00:50:16  I think they were underrated and they have withheld the test of time. Yes, they really have. People still look forward to hearing their songs, know their songs, remember their songs.

Arnold  00:50:25  15 albums.

Mark 00:50:27  Who knew that original material? I had no idea.

Arnold  00:50:31  Yeah, I didn't either until I was really preparing for this. But Rodney was the original lead singer. He and was one of the original founders of the group. And what a great honor to have the ability to talk to him and glean some real wisdom from somebody who's been in the industry and has lived it on the ups and the downs.

Mark 00:50:51  Yeah, he's a music business gem. Yes. Really is. Yes. Yeah.

Arnold  00:50:57  Wow, that was a fast hour.

Mark 00:50:59  Yeah it was. It went quick.

Arnold  00:51:00  It really did. And I hope that people will be able to check out the show September 28th at the Family Arena Pure Prairie League. Richie Furay and Firefall are going to be there along with the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and you'll be able to see Rodney put on a great show there.

Arnold  00:51:17  So enjoy that folks. That's all for this hour. Thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows at STL and tune.com. Consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Pod Chaser, or your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow. Thanks to Bob Birtwistle for our theme music. Our guest, Rodney Giusto, lead singer for the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and co-host Mark Langston. We thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. Saint Louis In Tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US radio Network. Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine for Saint Louis and tune. I'm Arnold Stricker. And. I.