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ARTIST Biography Information and Discography: QUICK Bio version Alan Cassaro (aka Alan Leatherwood) "Lon Leatherwood" became Al’s performing name in late
1965,a stage name created by
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Alan's best
friend and co-producer during the Sixties, Bob Scherl. Upon forming
the folk-rock duo, "Leatherwood and Lisa", Alan dropped the "Lon" moniker
and just went by his last name. In 2008, after 40 years using the
"Leatherwood" stage name, Al decided that it was time to just get back to
basics and become plain old Al Cassaro again. BIOGRAPHY: The LONG version
THE ODYSSEY BEGINS: The Early Years
Alan was born as Alan Cassaro in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944, and was raised as the son of a career army officer. He lived through out most of the United States and Europe during the late Forties and early Fifties. Alan first became interested in singing when he was pretty young. He was living in Lawton Oklahoma in 1954 and attending WOODROW WILSON elementary school. Alan's music teacher was so impressed with his singing that she invited him to sing a solo during a farewell tribute concert to country singer Hank Williams, who had recently died. Alan received high praises for his heart felt performance of "Kawliga", one of Hank's current hits at the time of his death. Alan was eight years old. As Alan tells it, "My teacher said that I had the loudest voice in the class, and we didn't use any microphones for the concert. I think that's why she picked me to sing a solo it was more a matter of volume rather than talent".
But Al always returned to Cleveland with his mother and sister for a year or two to live at his grandparent's house whenever his father was given a "hardship" tour to places where the family couldn't follow. Alan started taking an interest in the early rhythm and blues that Alan Freed had dubbed "Rock and Roll”, which he was playing on his nightly radio show in Cleveland. Alan liked the music, but he didn't really become a die-hard music fan until he first heard "MYSTERY TRAIN", by Elvis Presley, one night in the mid Fifties on an all night radio show. After hearing Elvis, Al begged his mom for a musical instrument, and he soon got his first guitar. Often, he made home recordings of his singing to send to his father, who was stationed in Korea at the time.
In late 1957, Al's father moved the family up to Massachusetts, where Alan first started playing in bands and with his friends outside out of school. "I lived in Westford, then Littleton, for about three years, and those were among some of the best years of my life, there were many great friends, and the music was wonderful. We were all jammin'"
All of this moving around meant that Al was always the new kid in a school, and every two years or so, it would start all over. Alan found early on that the only "friends" that didn't disappear, were the ones he had in his record collection. The family would move, and the old friends would be gone, but not the ones in his record collection. So, over the years, his record collection, and music became the one true reality he could always count on.
Record number one:
"Hawaiian Rock and Roll" Al's launching pad 1959-1963
In late 1959, Alan moved on to Hawaii with his family. Alan did his last two years of high school at Leilehua, while his family was stationed at Schofield Barracks. Towards the end of his senior year, he recorded his first professional session for a local record company. He had been given an audition by a local performer, "MASAKO", who was the big band singer who sang at the popular tourist attraction, the Hawaiian Village "Shell Bar", on a nightly basis. (Connie Stevens, the actress, had popularized the club by playing the role as "Cricket", a singer in the Shell Bar on the TV show, HAWAIIAN EYE, but Masako was the actual singer in the club during the period that the show was a hit). MASAKO thought Alan was good, and she told him, "You look like Ricky Nelson", so she took him to Rene Paulo, a popular jazz piano player who was a successful recording artist on the islands. Rene listened, liked what he heard, and then he presented Alan to the people who ran Mahalo Records, the same label that he recorded for. Mahalo set up a recording session, with Dick Jensen producing. The band for the session was a high school pickup band who Alan had never worked with before, so it was a long session that went late into the night.
By the time the record was actually released, Alan had graduated from high school, and had started attending his first year at the University of Hawaii, where he had joined the school's theater group, at which time he had snagged a small role in the play," DAD OH DAD, MOM'S HUNG YOU IN THE CLOSET AND I'M FEELING SO SAD". (Note: Beau Bridges, son of the actor Lloyd Bridges, was also in the same theater group at this time.)
The first record was issued nationally under the performing name of "LANE CASSARO", on the Honolulu based MAHALO records label in 1962, a Buddy Holly styled rocker titled "HICKORY DICKORY DOCK" b/w "LOVE ENDED LONG AGO". "The guy's who ran MAHALO dreamed up that name, it wasn't my idea. They wanted something like "Tab" or "Fabian", something catchy, and they came up with "Lane". But, I thought it was kind of dumb. I hated Fabian. I still do."
The record made the local radio charts and was a respectable hit in the Hawaiian Islands, and as a result, "Lane" performed on several local Honolulu TV music shows. The flipside was a slow doo-wop ballad, of which Alan says, "It's got to be one the worst performance ever recorded, and I've always hated how it came out. I was exhausted when we did it. I'd blown my voice out on "Hickory Dickory Dock", and the group couldn't play the song right. It took us a couple of hours to get it on tape, and it was all live, no overdubs. Plus the guy's were singing harmonies too while they were playing. What a mess. By the time it was over, I could barely talk. I always thought I sounded like I was being strangled. When I got my copies of the record, I took a bottle opener and gouged out the record, so no one would ever be able to play it. Unfortunately, there are still copies out there, and I saw someone selling it on Ebay for thirty dollars. Oh no".
Following the success of "Hickory Dickory Dock", Mahalo Records had planned to record a follow-up to the record, but Alan's dad had reached retirement age, and the entire family soon returned to the States. "I was really disappointed. I had written more than 20 songs that might be used as a follow up to my record, and the people at MAHALO liked one of them a lot, a song called "CHANCE". But, we never got to record it." (Note: Many years later, Alan did eventually record the song, for his Ohio Moon vinyl album, "BLUE SUEDE HEART", issued as "Alan Leatherwood" during the 1980s.)
CLEVELAND: Integrity Records 1963-1965
But, Hawaii had started the musical fire, and there was no stopping now. Having returned to Cleveland by 1964, Al and Bob Scherl formed INTEGRITY RECORDS, one of the earliest independent labels operating out of Cleveland, Ohio. Although it became quite fashionable in the 70s and 80s for artists to form their own indie labels, Al and Bob were way ahead of the pack at this early date, breaking new ground for many who would later follow. Bob had been Alan's best friend in elementary school, and they had stayed in touch while Alan was in Hawaii. As "ALAN CASSARO", two singles were issued on the INTEGRITY label, "BLUE LIGHTS" b/w "WHY DON'T YOU EVER THINK OF ME". And the follow up, "GOTTA GET TO MOBILE" b/w "SONG OF A FOOL", with influences such as Del Shannon, The Ventures, Tommy Allsup, Eddie Cochran and Rick Nelson all blended in to the mix. The backup band on a lot of the tracks was the current lineup for Tom King's group, "Tom King and The Starfires", which featured Jimmy Fox on drums at the time (note: Jimmy later formed the successful group "The James Gang").
The label was deactivated when Bob Scherl was drafted in 1965. Luckily, Bob was stationed right in town, and the two were able to continue working together on other projects. Al and Bob produced and worked with other Cleveland acts during the Sixties, including THE MISSING LINX, MONA LOWE and SHERRY STARLYN. The LYNX had been discovered by Billy Bass and Oscar Fields, two aspiring promoters, who asked Bob and Al if they would develop 4 original songs in the studio and produce them as well. The MISSING LYNX had one 45 issued on one of Bob Crewe's labels, although it wasn't any of the songs that Al and Bob had written and produced. But it was these studio demos that led to their deal with Crewe. This also helped kick off Billy Bass's career, who soon quit his day job at the record store to become involved in the music business full time. Later on, Billy Bass would become a very popular radio personality in Cleveland, and then later on, as a promoter on a national level. SHERRY STARLYN did a cover version of Alan's song, "BLUE LIGHTS", and it was produced and released on SUNBURST Records, another small Cleveland Indie label, by CARL MADURI, who later went on to produce numerous hits such as MAUREEN McGOVERN's "THE MORNING AFTER, and WILD CHERRY'S "PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC WHITE BOY".
Another Ohio group, THE HUMAN BEINZ, included one of Al's original songs, "THIS LONELY TOWN" on their top selling hit album during the 60s on Capitol, "NOBODY BUT ME" (as well as being re-recorded for a live performance on their "The HUMAN BEINZ: LIVE IN JAPAN" album, which was recorded in the 80s).
These years were very productive years for Alan on every level, as an artist, writer, producer, performer, and indie label operator. During this period, Al did a lot of concerts and shows and shared billing with other popular performers of the period, such as Jack Scott, Tommy Roe, The Ventures, Ray Steven's, Lou Christie, The Supremes, Chuck Berry, etc.
NEW YORK CITY: OLD TOWN RECORDS
In early 1965, Alan made a quick trip to New York City to see if he could pick up a contract with a major label based on some of the masters he and Bob had produced before Bob got drafted. Alan also wanted to record at the famous Bell Sound Studios, as well as to pitch some of his original songs to Gene Pitney and his manager, Aaron Schroeder, most notably a song titled "YESTERDAY'S CHILD". Unable to get an appointment with Pitney, Al decided to remix a few of his own songs whose raw tracks were done at Cleveland Recording, but not finalized to Al's satisfaction. While remixing one of the songs, "PRETTY GIRL YOU'RE LYING" at Bell Studios, Hy Weiss, of OLD TOWN RECORDS came into the studio and introduced himself. After listening for a while, the cigar chomping Hy Weiss said, "I like that song. It sounds like a hit. Maybe I could make it hit for you." After talking for a while, Al and Hy negotiated a deal. It was to Alan's advantage. Hy would issue the record, and if it didn't sell a hundred thousand copies, all rights to the song and master tape would automatically revert back to Alan. That seemed like a very fair arrangement to Alan.
OLD TOWN Records released "PRETTY GIRL YOU'RE LYING" b/w "MAKE BELIEVE". Surprisingly, "MAKE BELIEVE" received rave reviews, a "Pick Hit" rating in BILLBOARD Magazine, as well as the SPOTLIGHT pick of the week in CASHBOX Magazine, which was their highest recommendation for only one 45 per issue. (Note: The Beatles had an early single out that received a lukewarm rating at the bottom of the same page in CASHBOX.)
Unfortunately for Alan, the BRITISH INVASION, led by the Beatles, and the flood of new releases from England was about to blow most American performers off of American radio for the next year, and that prevented Al's record from gaining any exposure when it was actually released six months later. "I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND" by the Beatles came out at about the same time of Alan's release. It was during this time that many long time top selling American artists disappeared from the charts altogether, never to be heard from again. The long held stranglehold on the radio charts by DICK CLARK's squeaky-clean-sweater-boy styled "TEEN IDOL" era had abruptly come to an end, almost overnight.
THE Great FOLK SCARE OF THE SIXTIES
After hearing most of the new English groups, Alan decided that he'd "already done that". Yes, it was rock and roll again- but it had been more fun the first time around, so Alan turned towards the new direction he was already in the process of discovering- acoustic folk. Alan had always liked the folk styling of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, but Al's own song writing had been evolving in a similar fashion to that of many new writers, such as Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Eric Andersen, Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, Hamilton Camp, and a host of others. This was the less traveled road, and for Al it was a much more interesting challenge versus trying to compete with the British Rock. Of course, later on, Alan got to love the Beatles, but when they first hit the scene, it all seemed like it was just such superficial "Mop-Top" bubblegum.
In 1965, Alan went to a "HOOTENANNY" one night (now referred to as "Open Mike" nights) where he did some Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, and Gordon Lightfoot songs on the acoustic guitar. The audience went crazy, and that started a new creative phase that would last for the next 12 years.
On the way over to the HOOTENANNY in the car, Bob had suggested to Alan, "Italian Folk singers ain't happening Al, you need a new name, something more 'folkie' sounding. How about, 'Blind Lemon Al', or maybe 'Big Tiny Little? No, no, that's already taken" Al and Bob were cracking up, coming up with one "folk ethnic" name after another. Bob finally talked Al into calling himself, "LON LEATHERWOOD". Bob had seen the name "Leatherwood" on a soldier's nametag during his own basic training in the army, and he remembered thinking that it "looked real cool in print". The "Lon" name was also chosen because Bob liked "Lon Chaney", the silent movie actor. And the play of the double "L"s in each word was based on the characters out of SUPERMAN COMICS (Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Lori Lemur, etc.). It was all a gag, just a name change for a one-night gig in a coffee House. However, that night's performance turned into a three-year steady job, because Alan was invited by the owners of the club to become the regular house act. The club was FARAGHER’S BACK ROOM, and many national folk artists played there during the Sixties. So, although it started out as a joke, Alan decided that the name "Leatherwood" had brought him good luck, and that's when it became his "official" new stage name. The "Lon" name was dropped a little bit later when Alan formed the close-knit harmony based duo, "LEATHERWOOD and LISA" (1965-1975). "Lisa was a wonderful harmony singer, and a gifted solo artist as well, whether it was on blues or ballads. Bob had first brought her over to my house for an audition when she was just fifteen, and I thought she was terrific. Before she became "Lisa", she had been dubbed "MONA LOWE" by Bob Scherl. Bob produced a session with her at Cleveland Recording, with the BASKERVILLE HOUNDS (TULU BABIES) on instrumental backing. She had also sung harmony on some of my rock tracks before I went to New York City. In fact, she sang harmony on the original master of "PRETTY GIRL YOU'RE LYING", which would eventually be released on OLD TOWN, but with her chorus parts removed. Her chorus part was great, but it was a little too loud in the mix, and my lyrics were overshadowed in the last part of the song. I tried to remix it up at Bell Studios, only to find that her voice had originally been blended with mine during the mix down, and it would be impossible to turn her down in the mix. This was a 3 track tape, which was state-of-the-art at the time. I was in the process of going back to an earlier 3 Track master we had done, before it had been bounced over to the second three track recorder, with the chorus part mixed in at that point. . It was during this mix down that Hy Weiss had come into the studio. He heard it without the chorus, and he liked it enough to put it out that way. At any rate, she was a super singer." Bob Scherl dubbed her "Lisa", so the duo's name would still follow along the double "L" theme from SUPERMAN comic's characters.
Thus began a relationship that would last for ten years. The duo eventually traveled and performed throughout the States and Canada at Colleges, Coffeehouses, and clubs. The duo's music drew from a mix of contemporary folk, blues, rockabilly, the songs of Gordon Lightfoot, Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Jackie Dee Shannon, Donovan, The Buffalo Springfield, Aretha Franklin, the Everly Brothers- as well as many original songs written by Al. "Our goal was to achieve a tight knit harmony, with the hopes of approaching the wonderful qualities of the Everly Brothers who we both admired very much." The duo shared billing with a variety of popular Sixties and Seventies artists. Some of them included Tim Hardin, The Youngbloods, Blood Sweat and Tears, Hamilton Camp, Bob Gibson, NRBQ, The Blues Project, Flatt and Scruggs, Marty Robbins, Charlie Louvin, Willie Dixon, The James Cotton Blues Band, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Tim Buckley, Jim and Jean, Emmy Lou Harris and Gram Parsons, Bobby Bland, etc. Reviews always complimented them for their "eclectic" and diverse musical viewpoint.
HOLLYWOOD or bust: NIK VENET (Nick Venet), Capitol Records.
When the FARAGHER’S gig finally came to an end in late 1967, Alan decided that the duo should move out to Hollywood to try to get a record deal. Within a few weeks of living in LA, Kim Fowley, producer and writer, arranged an audition with Nik Venet at Capitol Records. Nik was working with FRED NEIL, The STONE PONIES, and HEDGE and DONNA, all folk artists. But, Nik had been around for years, and he himself had started out by producing a number of the original rockers.
As Alan tells it, "I really liked the FRED NEIL Records on Capital, and I specifically went to Hollywood hoping that I would be able to coax the man who had produced those records, Nik Venet, to produce us. I still think that the Fred Neil records had just about the best audio mixes I've ever heard, very natural and full. It was just excellent on every level. The musicians were so great. I still listen to Fred's records on a regular basis. Fred started out as a rockabilly singer back in the Fifties, long before he thought about joining the booming "folk scare" of the Sixties. He even wrote a song for Buddy Holly ("Come Back Baby"), as well as "Candy Man" for Roy Orbison. He even played lead electric guitar on Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover". But even now, hardly anybody even knows who he is"
During this time, Alan and his singing partner got married. Unfortunately, the deal with Nik Venet fell through after a year of development. It seems that Capitol wasn't satisfied with the sales of the Folk records Nik was producing, and they told Nik to curtail any projects that weren't marketable on Top 40 Radio. Fred Neil never made another record, although those Capital releases are considered to be among the best acoustic albums ever recorded. Nik took Linda Ronstandt out of the STONE PONIES and produced a pop hit with her, "DIFFERENT DRUM". HEDGE AND DONNA was dropped from the label. Nik was originally intending to record an album with the duo, but after a year of development, and one session in the studio, all of it came to an abrupt end. Disappointed, the duo returned to Cleveland.
Al's duo soon wound up touring on the "NATIONAL COLLEGE COFFEE HOUSE CIRCUIT" after auditioning for Fredana Management out of NYC, who had sent talent scouts to Cleveland in search of acts they could put on the road. The duo gave their audition at LA CAVE, where they often played; it was one of the popular clubs in Cleveland, and it was well known through out the United States as a popular folk venue for the top artists in the field, as well as blues and rock artists as well. (During the audition, Jimmy Fox, drummer, came in to the club with Glen Swartz, later of the band "Pacific, Gas and Electric", and told Al that he was starting a new group. 'Hey, Al, you want to sing in my new group?"' Al asked him, 'What are you going to call the group?' Jimmy said, 'The James Gang'. Al responded, "Well, no, I'm in to this folk thing right now, but good luck with finding a singer.'
It has been rumored that Bob Gibson, folk singer, was a part owner in the club. It can be argued that the folk boom of the Sixties was launched primarily as a result of the recordings made popular by PETER, PAUL and MARY, which was greatly inspired by Gibson's solo work, as well as the work he did with Hamilton Camp, GIBSON/CAMP. In fact, the entire folk movement was largely orchestrated because of a connection between a club called the GATE OF HORN, in Chicago, and the partial ownership by Albert Grossman, artist manager of such acts as Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Gibson/Camp, Ian and Sylvia, etc. Albert used Peter, Paul and Mary to bring exposure to the new songs of his other acts, such as their recording of Bob Dylan's "BLOWING IN THE WIND", and then Gordon Lightfoot's "FOR LOVING ME", etc. It was a winning formula, and it helped enlarge the folk movement in a hurry, as each new artist became known. (Later. Grossman would also manage Jimi Hendrix, Blood Sweat and Tears, Janis Joplin, Crosby Stills and Nash, and many others.)
NASHVILLE: another rung on the ladder of fame
During the college circuit period that lasted for several years, Al's duo made an appearance at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Gary Scruggs, son of Earl Scruggs, was a student in the audience, and after the show, he took the pair around town, which included a backstage visit to the Grand Ole Opry. Alan decided to visit a few of the publishers during the week that they were booked at Vanderbilt, and so he began making the rounds of a few song publishers in town. After playing some tape demos for one of the publishers, Norris Wilson at Gallico Music told him, 'you guys sound really good. You ought to consider coming to Nashville, I think you'd do well here''. As Al discovered that afternoon, Norris not only ran several publishing companies, but Norris had also been the backup harmony singer on many of John D. LOUDERMILK’s recordings for RCA. This impressed Al a lot, because John D. has always been one of Al's favorite artists. Al and Norris sat there on the floor with two guitars singing and swapping all the old songs they knew, and it went on for a couple of hours.
Remembering their disappointments in Hollywood, Alan wasn't sure that he wanted to make the move to Nashville quite yet. However, while he was still in town, he walked over to the offices of Waylon Jennings, where he met Tommy Jennings, Harlan Howard, and Don Davis. Waylon was still an up and coming star at that point, not nearly as big as he would become a few years later. Alan played a few of his songs for Tommy, who said, "Waylon is looking for some good songs, although RCA isn't letting him choose his own material yet. But that one song you wrote is right up Waylon's alley". And with that simple meeting, Tommy signed up "MY KIND OF FREE" with Baron Music, Waylon's publishing company. Tommy said, "Now listen Al, I'll hang on to this for a year, and if Waylon isn't able to do it, I'll give it back to you. The only thing anyone has in this town is their songs and their name, so I won't tie it up just to pad our cataloge". And Tommy kept his word.
Al felt like his day out on Music Row had produced some very encouraging results, and at the end of the week when their gig at Vanderbilt was over, they headed back to Cleveland, where Alan went on a song writing binge for the next year.
MARTY ROBBINS:
At one point, country artist, MARTY ROBBINS, invited the duo to come down from Cleveland to record four songs. "I had sent Marty a bunch of original songs in the mail in the hopes that Marty would record them. Actually, we were sending out tapes all over the place at that time, just trying to get some songs recorded by other artists. I wasn't looking for a record deal. I thought establishing myself as a writer first would be the better way to go. At any rate, we were waiting on one prospective production deal with Dann Penn, the Memphis producer, who had told us he would like to record a session with my partner as soon as he found the right material for her to sing. Of course, Dan is one of the great record producers and writers, ("Do Right Woman", "The Letter", "Cry Like A Baby", I'm Your Puppet", "Dark End of the Street." etc.). But it had been a year since we had heard from him, and I was starting to think that he had lost interest. At any rate, Bill Johnson at Marty's office had listened to our songs and he played the demos for Marty. Marty called us up and offered to produce a session with us. I said, "Well, that's great, but we were actually hoping that you'd do the songs yourself." Marty said, "They are very good songs, but I feel they should be recorded by a younger artist:" This offer came as a complete surprise, but it was an opportunity, so we agreed to do a session for Marty Robbins. And wouldn't you know it, just one day after Marty called us, Dan Penn called and said, "Hey, I've finally found the right song." I said, "Where have you been? We've been waiting all year to hear from you." I told Dan about Marty's offer and Dan said, 'Well, I've got the greatest respect for Marty, he's a great singer, but can he actually produce a record?' "But we decided to go with the Marty Robbin's offer, only because Dan's call came one day after Marty called us. Flipping a coin would have worked just as well."
We drove down to Nashville, with our friend, Paul Penfield, who had written some of the songs, and played on the demos as well. My Volkswagen engine blew up in Covington, Kentucky, and after a lot of hassles, we finally got to Nashville the evening before our session." Marty and Bill Johnson produced four songs, "Girls Were Born to Cry", "My Kind Of Free", "Cherokee Woman", and "We're Just Friends". Featuring Marty's own regular session band, Grady Martin, Buddy Harmon, Bill Purcell, Henry Strzlecki, and Spider Wilson, and Paul Penfield. Paul Penfield, was the featured guitarist on 3 of the songs, which he had also written".
Marty Robbins also included the duo singing Al's song, "My Kind Of Free" in a film that he starred in and produced called "COUNTRY MUSIC STORY". He invited them to give a guest performance at the Ryman Auditorium, home of the original "GRAND OLE OPRY." That performance is included in the film, which was released in 1972 by Universal Pictures. It is their only filmed performance that exists today, and it occasionally shows up on various TV stations around the country. Al has never seen the movie. "They show it out west and in Canada, but it's never shown up here in Cleveland".
Marty Robbins decided not to renew his own contract with Columbia Records, after having recorded for the label for many years. During an after hours jam session at Marty's office, Marty had confided in Alan that he was disappointed in Columbia for not having promoted his version of "Lord You Gave Me A Mountain" as a pop record. Instead, they had promoted it as a country record, and as a result, Frankie Laine had the bigger pop hit version. Marty had a lot of big hits in the pop field during the Fifties, and he felt that his version of this song should have been on the pop charts instead of Laine's. Alan told him, "Marty, your version is great, and so is Frankie Laine's. But you wrote it, and it's been a hit on both charts. That sounds like a real success story to me". But Marty didn't see it that way. So, Marty quit the label."
"After we did the session, we had come back to Cleveland, having been assured that Marty's office would be presenting the tapes to various labels around town. And wouldn't you know it, I blew another engine in my car on the way home. We had to rent another car, and tow our VW back to Cleveland. In other words, we had to spend all the money that Marty had paid us to do the session and the movie. But I was confident that Marty's company would be calling us soon with some good news concerning our session tapes, which had turned out really great sounding."
But month after month went by, without any news. Finally, almost a year had passed. "I heard Marty's new record on the radio, 'Walking Piece of Heaven', and I decided that I would call him. Marty got on the phone. I made some small talk, and then I asked him if anything was happening with our session, and Marty told me, 'Well I've been busy, I'm with MCA now'. I told him that I'd just heard his new record on the radio. Then I asked him if he had played the tapes for anyone in town and Marty said, "Well, I was thinking about playing it for Chet, but, you know, Grady Martin's playing lead guitar on it, and Chet's a guitarist too. Chet might not like it, because they're all kind of competitive with each other.' That didn't make much sense to me. "Well, have you played the tapes for anyone?" Marty didn't mention any names. "I told him that if he had lost interest in the project he really should have let us known, just as a simple courtesy. I reminded him that we hadn't been looking for a recording deal in the first place, and that he had approached us. Marty was hemming and hawing, and it was obvious that the conversation was going nowhere. As a parting gesture, Marty told me that he would sign the master session rights over to me and that I could do whatever I wanted to do with the tapes, and he wished me. "Good Luck." I hung up the phone, and that was the end of that. I was really disappointed. And although Marty's company assigned the master rights to me, I was never actually able to obtain the tapes from Columbia, where they were stored. At one point I called Marty's company and asked if we could have the publishing rights back to the songs that Paul and I had written. Jimmy Farmer, one of Marty's people, told me that we could have the publishing rights back, but only if we reimbursed them for the money they had spent on the session, five thousand dollars. Of course, I couldn't afford to do that. To the best of my knowledge, in all these years, no further efforts have ever been made by Marty's company to present the songs to any other artists for consideration. I still listen to Marty's records. He was a great artist, and he certainly deserves to be a legend. But, I'll never understand why Marty never followed through on our project, particularly after giving us such a big build up. It was very demoralizing."
"Miss Audrey"
While living in Nashville, the duo played the clubs around town, and out of town as well. One night, during a break at "Ireland's", a popular Nashville club, the waitress came over and told Alan that a customer wanted to buy him a drink. Al said, "Well, no, I'm going outside for my break." the waitress said, "Go on over stupid, it's Audrey Williams, Hank's widow. She comes in here all the time, but she never asks to talk to the entertainers." Al went over to the table and there she was, the former wife of Hank Williams. Al sat down, and Audrey said, "Hi, I'm Audrey Williams. I like your songs, and I like your singing". Alan was dumb struck, but he managed to mutter, "Thanks. It's a pleasure to meet the person who was the inspiration for all those wonderful songs." Audrey smiled. The waitress brought them both drinks. She had a friendly smile, and was still quite attractive. Her blonde hair framed her face and she wore a silver tiara shaped headband that rose from the middle of her forehead. It was surreal, as a small beam of light shone down from an overhead ball in the room, directly on to her face. She looked as though she had a halo around her as the light reflected off her golden hair and tiara. Everything else in the bar was completely dark, and the only thing Al could see was Audrey William's face. They both sat there quietly, just looking at each other without saying a single word. The mood was finally broken when the waitress reminded Alan that it was time to go back onstage. Audrey gave Alan a parting smile and said, "It was a pleasure to meet you." When Alan got back to the stage, his singing partner asked, "What was that all about?" And Alan said, "I don't know, but I think I just met an angel."
The BUDDY HOLLY CONNECTION
"Even after we moved to Nashville, we still did some occasional work for the Coffee House Circuit. It was always a welcome relief for me to get out of Nashville and get back to singing for the college audiences again. They were hip and they always appreciated and enjoyed what we were doing. I knew that we were doing something right, in spite of the struggles we were experiencing in the Nashville business community."
During one such college tour while performing at Texas Christian University in Lubbock Texas, Alan had the good fortune to meet Buddy Holly's parents and brother, Larry Holley. " On a whim, I had looked up the Holley's phone number in the Lubbock phone book and asked Mr. Holley if I could stop by a for a visit. Mr. Holley told me that Buddy's fans occasionally stopped by the house, and that he might be able to visit with me for about half an hour." But as it turned out, Alan wound up spending the entire afternoon at Buddy's parents home. Alan had brought his guitar along with him to the house. Just for the fun of it, Alan sang a few songs of Buddy's for his parents. This brought tears to Buddy's mother’s eyes. She told Alan, "I hated the movie they did on Buddy. They made it look like we didn't support Buddy's music. That's not true. I was so disappointed. In fact, I helped Buddy write 'LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO LOVE'. I came up with the lines, "Drunk man, streetcar, foot slipped, there you are".
After Alan had been there for about an hour, Buddy's older brother, Larry, went to the closet and pulled out a guitar and said, "Waylon Jennings was in town a few weeks ago and restrung Buddy's old acoustic guitar. It hadn't been played since Buddy died, and Waylon was the first to play it in all these years. Waylon told us, 'A great guitar like this should have strings on it'.
"Would you like to play it, Al? You'll be the second person to play it since Buddy died."
As Alan remembers, "My hands were trembling as I picked up Buddy’s guitar and I held it, looking at it, feeling the fret board, looking at the lightly tanned leather covering wrapped around the body of the guitar, and the name that Buddy had hand carved into the leather covering, back in high school shop class, according to what Larry was telling me. I knew this was very special moment, something that would only happen once in my lifetime, and never again. It was like touching a holy relic. Larry told me to play something, and I started to sing again, but no sound came out. I was really nervous, just holding the guitar. I cleared my throat, and began to sing another song of Buddy's, my voice trembling and quivering from the sheer adrenalin that was rushing through me. My fingers felt numb as I pressed down on the chords - I felt dizzy and light headed. Gradually, I regained control and my voice got steadier as I sang. And then I heard a tiny voice in my head telling me, 'Hey, this is what it's all about dummy, get a grip on yourself", and I suddenly stopped, and started all over by hitting an "E" chord, and I launched into a pretty aggressive version of "Not Fade Away". And it got better and stronger as the song went on. The new strings on the guitar were jangling, and it sounded great. I was stamping my foot on the living room floor, and everybody in the room was smiling. And all the time that I was playing and singing, I was thinking,
"It doesn't get any better than this."
"It doesn't get any better than this."
After Al finished, Larry was grinning and he said, "You know Al, when I listen to you sing, I can actually hear my brother singing, Buddy's in you." This flustered Alan, and he told Larry, "Larry, I really appreciate that, but I wasn't even doing my Buddy impression, I do a pretty good imitation, would you like to hear it?" Larry said, "No, no. What I mean is I can hear Buddy in your singing. He's in you. I've never heard that from anyone else, none of them. Lot's of people get the hiccups and the style, but they don't get the feeling. You're just about the best I've ever heard for capturing Buddy's essence, Buddy was real head strong, stubborn, and even a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes. I suspect that you're the same way".
Buddy's father said in a very quiet voice, "Al, you've got something that Buddy's fans would really like. I've been looking for a project to take to Norman for a few years now, and if you're interested, I would like to take you down to meet Norman Petty in Clovis and see what Norman thinks. Perhaps you could record an album of Buddy's songs that you've been singing here today."
Mr. Holley continued, "We've had our problems with Norman over the years, but all in all, he was a good producer and engineer, and he really did help Buddy become successful. Would you be interested?" Al was quite surprised by Mr. Holley's reaction and offer, and he only thought for a few seconds before making a snap decision. "Mr. Holley, I would love to do a tribute album to Buddy someday, but right now I'm working on a deal in Nashville with Monument Records to do my own songs. In fact, Tommy Allsup (Buddy's former lead guitarist) played on our demos for Monument. But I really want to make it on my own first. I've been working on developing my own sound and style, and as much as I've always loved Buddy, I wouldn't feel right if I did it on Buddy's coat tails".
Larry Holley smiled and said, "I told you that you remind me of Buddy. He would have probably said the same thing". Of course, in hindsight, Alan regrets not taking Mr. Holley up on his offer. "I was pretty dumb not to accept the offer. Heck, it would have been fun to audition for Norman Petty, even if nothing came of it" Mr. Holley invited me to go to dinner with the family, but I felt that it was time to leave. They walked me out and we were talking in the yard. Mr. Holley said, "You know, we had some tapes that Buddy was working on before he died, but someone took them from the house. I don't know who it was, if it was a fan, or somebody that we knew. We used to have it on a tape recorder, and we would occasionally play it for the fans. But, then one day it was gone. It was a number of songs that Buddy had never recorded, such as the Ray Charles song, "Drown in My Own Tears". I'm mentioning this to you, just in case you ever hear anything about it when you get back to Nashville."
As I was leaving the house, all three of the Holleys were standing in the yard, smiling and watching me leave. The last thing Mr. Holley said to me as I was leaving, "And do me a favor, Alan. Try to stay away from those drugs. So many young musicians are taking up with drugs these days. " I said to Mr. Holly, "I never take anything stronger than pop. But of course, Pop will take just about anything." He looked at me kind of funny, and with that, I was gone.
A few months after I got back to Nashville, I was recounting the story of my visit to the Holley's home to Roland Pike, a writer at Combine Publishing. But he was also a Texan, and a former friend of Buddy's as well. I told him about what Mr. Holley had told me about the missing tape of Buddy's demos that someone had taken from the house. Roland said, "Hell, I know who took the tapes." I asked him who it was. Roland said, "I can't tell you, they're friends of mine." I told him that I promised that I would never tell anyone, and that I just wanted to know. He made me swear an oath that I wouldn't say a word and expose him, because it might have negative consequences for him. And then he told me. I couldn't believe it. It was a person who had been very close to Buddy. Roland had asked that person why he took the tape. And that person said, "Well, I figure that it 's about time to put an end to legend of Buddy Holly. No more tapes, no more legend." Of course, he had taken the tapes before the movie starring Gary Busey had been issued. The legend will never end, missing tapes or not.
And I honored my promise to Roland, I never said a word to anyone about it. But Roland Pike died in a fire during the late 70s, and I no longer felt honor bound to keep his secret. I immediately wrote everything that he told me in a letter, and I sent it off to Larry Holley. Larry didn't write back, but I'm sure he was pleased to get the information. It was either a revelation to him, or more than likely it just confirmed some of his own private suspicions.
Charlie Rich: The Silver Fox
Returning to Nashville, the duo was eventually signed to a long-term contract with the Charlie Rich Organization, as writers, and as artists in development for recording projects. Henry Strzlecki, who had played electric bass on the session that the duo had recorded for Marty Robbins a couple of years earlier, had become the new head of "Talent Development" for the Rich Organization. He played SY ROSENBERG, Charlie's manager and co-owner of the Rich Company, the old Marty Robbins' produced session, and Sy told him to "Sign them up." In fact, the Charlie Rich Organization sent Charlie's private plane to Nashville to fly the duo down to Memphis for the signing. "So, in the end, it seems that the Marty Robin’s session did do some good for us, but that was only because of Henry Strzlecki. He had remembered how well that session sounded. I liked Henry a lot"
But a few months after the first recording session, an event happened that would end their relationship with the Rich organization, and ultimately, their marriage as well. This was the final "crash and burn" episode for the pair, which could not have been anticipated by anyone concerned.
Charlie showed up a little bit drunk at the Country Awards Annual Award Show, where as "COUNTRY ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR", he was supposed to present the award for the next year's winner. Jokingly, he lit the envelope on fire, which announced John Denver as the next year's "COUNTRY ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR." Charlie laughed and put out the fire, read John's name, and said, "Hell, he ain't country." While the show was playing a videotaped acceptance speech pre-recorded by John Denver, the people who produced the show tried to forcibly drag Charlie off the stage. Charlie may have been drunk, but he hadn't been hostile until they grabbed him. During the scuffle, it is said that he stabbed someone in the hand with a pencil, which horrified the audience, which was comprised almost entirely of Nashville executives and performers. The national television audience saw none of this, because they cut to a commercial after Denver's acceptance speech for the award. Charlie went into an alcohol detox center that night, and within a few weeks, the Charlie Rich Organization announced that they were ceasing all outside projects, as they scrambled to salvage Charlie's career. Just a few months earlier Sy Rosenberg had turned down an offer for several hundred thousand dollars for Charlie to sing on a national automobile ad campaign. But now, in light of the bad publicity from the awards show, all of Charlie Rich's bookings had been canceled. His career ground to a sudden halt.
Charlie recovered just fine, but for all practical purposes, that event marked the decline of his successful career. Charlie eventually had some hits again, but his glory days were behind him.
As Alan tells it, "I had always loved Charlie Rich's music, all that Sun and Smash stuff he did. But Billy Sherrill at Epic had him grinding out some real schlock, stuff that Charlie didn't enjoy doing. I think that Charlie drank because of the pressure of "fame"; he was introverted, quiet by nature, and shy. I don't think he ever cared about being famous. He just loved playing music, blues and jazz mostly, and he was happiest playing it in a small dark lounge somewhere. Nashville was turning Charlie into a hit machine, and Charlie couldn't adjust to all the attention. Charlie also loved be bop and gospel music. Charlie once told me that a song he had written and recorded for RCA years earlier, "ROSANNA", was originally intended to be recorded as "HOSANNA", which was written as a gospel song. Instead of "Rosanna, back in the arms of my love", Charlie's original lyrics were, "Hosanna, back in the arms of my Lord." RCA asked him to change those few words, in order to make the song more commercial, and acceptable to a broader audience. I told him it would have been great to hear it in its original form, and that he should seriously think about doing a remake."
"Personally, I was almost happy for Charlie when he walked away from the whole show, although it also meant the end of our deal with the company. Charlie Rich wasn't just my boss, but he was also one of my idols. Charlie let Sy Rosenberg run the business, and he was always just himself, just a nice man that I looked up to and admired for the musical contributions that he had already made, long before he became a success as a country artist. No greater musician, writer, or singer has ever walked the planet. I still feel that way, and I wish he were still around making music. He was getting back into it when he died a few years ago. "
NASHVEAL: So Long, GOOD LUCK, and GOODBYE
At about the same time the Charlie Rich deal went sour, so did the union of "Leatherwood and Lisa", both professionally and maritally. "Too much stress, too many bad breaks, too many false starts, we just ran out of steam. My partner had asked me years earlier if I could get her to Nashville, and I told her that I would. And at least I'd done that much. But, in the ashes of our latest deal gone bad, we fell apart too. So, one day I packed up my car, and I headed out to Los Angeles to check out some business opportunities that my friend Bob Scherl was setting up for me. My partner stayed in Nashville."
" It was about a year after I left that the real whammy hit me, something I could never picture happening. They stole my name. After the break-up, Monument, and later, Epic, released several records by my ex partner, but with my performing name, 'Leatherwood', as her new last name. Just to set the record straight, for all the years that we'd worked together, I was most definitely 'Leatherwood', and she was 'Lisa'. I felt that the name was my intellectual property, which was established for me by my friend, Bob Scherl. I had copyrights and songs published under that name before we ever become a duo. I protested about it in a phone call to her. We were still friends at the time and had stayed in touch on a regular basis. I told her I couldn't believe that she would take on my name as her own. She told me that she had been "advised" that there wasn’t anything I could do about it, because I hadn’t ever trademarked the name, and that it was "up for grabs" if she wanted to use it. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She got upset and felt that I should have been happy that her career was going so well. I said, 'Of course I'm happy about that, but it's my name, not yours.". She decided that it was time to end the phone call and she said, 'Don't ever call me again.'"
" And I didn't. That was over thirty years ago, and in all the years that have passed since then, I've never shaken off the feeling of having been mugged. Imagine someone ripping off a piece of your body. I don't know how you recover from someone stealing your name, even if it's just a stage name. I don't care whether you call yourself 'Bob Dylan', 'Pee Wee Herman', 'Hole', or 'Elvis Hitler' - a stage name is unique and special. I had such a bad feeling about this that I never went back to Nashville, except once, to record some songs for an album I was working on."
"And then, along came another group that called themselves, "THE LEATHERWOODS", sometime during the 80s. It was frustrating, and I felt like it was getting real crowded in that "club". Yes, I should have trademarked my name, but I never had the big bucks it takes to do that. "
"It was a simple matter of pride that I kept on using it as long as I have, although it's always felt tainted since then. Of course, the music business is a tough business. The only thing a person has is their talent and their self-image. Nashville is a town where performers line up to dive into that big machine, just to be ground up and spit out like little musical sausages, most of whom are never heard of again, eventually. Actually, I felt like a rat on a treadmill the whole four years I spent in Nashville. Ultimately, they not only stole my songs, but they stole my name as well. There were a lot of great people in Nashville that I'll never forget, people who helped me out when the times were tough. But, in the end, that town dined on my soul for lunch."
Cleveland, Aug 16, 1977
After returning to Cleveland from Los Angeles, Alan resumed performing again as a solo, and as an occasional member of Danny Dickerson's outlaw country group, "The Northfork Express".
In 1977 on August 16, Elvis Presley died. This was a pivotal event that convinced Alan that it was time to sit down, take stock of where he had been, and maybe start thinking about setting some new goals. "What a shock. Elvis was the original reason I started playing music. Around this same time punk music was getting popular. A little later, I saw the BLASTERS on New Wave Theater on Cable TV playing traditional rockabilly music. And then the STRAY CATS came along. The media was calling this 'alternative music'. The stuff was so old it was new again. It was time for me to get back to some basic roots. For the previous ten years, I had played their game, hoping that someone would hand me a record deal on a silver platter. I think I got close a few times, but I was never quite able to grab that brass ring".
Alan launched MOON RECORDS in 1978, with the idea of going back to playing "Roots" music. "I became an indie again, just like I had been in the early days, when I was having a lot of fun." Alan later amended the label name to "OHIO MOON", in order to avoid confusion with Cordell Jackson's reactivated Memphis based MOON label, a label that she had started in 1956. Although her label was out of business at the time that Al started MOON, Miss Jackson had gotten a career boost from several appearances on the Dave Letterman show, and she had also done a series of Miller Beer commercials with the Stray Cats. (Yes, she's the elderly lady who takes a guitar solo of her own, and "shuts down" Brian Setzer; a very funny commercial) There's also another MOON label out there associated with Regaee music. "Technically, the label is now called "OHIO MOON", but we still refer to ourselves as "MOON". I made the change to accommodate Cordell, we had a long talk on the phone after she contacted me, and she was a very nice lady - a very cool person, a real pioneer. I haven't seen her on TV in the last few years, and I only found out recently that she died"
Alan occasionally performs in the clubs around Cleveland, but more of his time these days is spent in the studio working on a variety of projects, not only for himself, but with others as well, mostly the musicians who have been nice enough to play on most of his recordings. "Everybody I work with is a creative universe unto themselves. They're all really good, and different. They're a pretty weird assortment of personalities, and I like that. It keeps me interested. I work with some of the older guys, and some younger people too, who are still pretty new to playing music."
Al's CD, "Rock, Bop, Folk, and Pop - featuring, "Remember the Alamo, Volume 1", was the first project ever released on CD. Alan has many boxes of his old tape recordings stored in a room in the basement. Notebooks of unfinished compositions, and works in progress, line the walls. For the last couple of years, Al has been transferring the old tapes over to the computer.
2008! GHOST TRAIN A new CD, but an old name
In March of 2008, Ohio Moon issued Alan's new "GHOST TRAIN" album. But this one is by "Alan Cassaro", the name that he hasn’t used professionally since 1965. "When I issued my first CD a few years ago, "Rock, Bop, Folk, and Pop" some of the older fans and collectors came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I remember your old "OLD TOWN" record that you did, and that’s who you really are. What’s with this "Leatherwood" routine?' On another occasion, I was doing a show with the legendary folk artist, Eric Andersen, and he told me, "Alan Leatherwood? That sounds like the after shave lotion, HAI KARATE."
"While I was recording "GHOST TRAIN", it suddenly dawned on me that the old name has become a "ghost" too. It’s hard to try to explain all of this, or why it took so long to figure it out. It's like a fog that has lasted for years, but I think it's finally lifting. Although it's a tribute album to some of the original rockers, I selected some of those great old songs because they actually have a very personal meaning for me as well."
"So where does that put me now? Better late than never, I'm happy to be myself, and there’s even one plus that I didn’t anticipate, I actually feel CLEAN again. I'm finally shaking off the rest of that old Nashville dirt. There are projects that Bob Scherl and I were putting together when he died. Looking up some of the links to people who helped me out in the beginning of my career, I was surprised to see that most of them are gone now. I guess, they’re riding the "Ghost Train" too. But, I've got a lot of great musicians from the Ohio and Pittsburgh area working with me on my projects these days. They're all very creative people, all unique, and very independent. They wouldn't know how to grind out a perfect little musical sausage if their lives depended on it. So, we try to have fun and do the best we can with what we have."
LIFE GOES ON: Still rockin' round the Ant Farm!
Alan got remarried years ago to a wonderful girl who is a not in the entertainment field, but someone who is, "very normal, steady and sane- not like an artist at all. I entertain people by writing and singing songs, but that's pretty easy. She actually does things for other people, on a day-to-day basis, hands on, by taking care of the elderly and infirm as a professional in the health care field. I respect her more than I'd ever be able to express, except maybe in a song- just for her strength and steadfastness. I've even got three grandkids now, and they're all great, two little girls and a boy. The boy is just starting to learn how to play guitar now. So, Look out"!
(Original Biographical notes by Bob Scherl, updated by Alan Cassaro, 2008)
(NOTATION: *) The saddest part of
this biography is that
Bob Scherl died
in Los Angeles in February of 1999. He was only 54 years old. Alan and Bob were in the process of compiling several
projects together when Bob was hospitalized with heart failure, which
ultimately led to his passing six months later. Bob did have the foresight to
send Al all of their old master tapes, and plans are being made for some other
releases in the near future. Bob Scherl compiled and wrote most of the
information contained in these notes prior to his illness. Bob actually made a
living WRITING liner notes for a few years, when times were slow. Alan and Bob
made music together, and dreamed about changing the record business someday.
Bob did pretty well in the music business through his own associations
with Mercury, Specialty, Scepter and Vanguard Records, companies where he ran
their respective national music promotion departments. Bob produced
albums by Mississippi John Hurt, Billy Boy Arnold and dozens of others blues
artists, which was his great passion. Bob also worked closely for Ike and
Tina Turner during the Seventies in a management capacity, shepherding
their careers through a major period and Comeback, following the NUT
BUSH CITY LIMITS release, which Bob helped produce. Bob also produced a
critically acclaimed Tina Turner Country album, which was considered a
major departure but creative breakthrough for Tina. Bob was also
an avid movie buff, particularly of the old horror flicks. As a collector, he
had an outstanding poster and movie still collection from the old movies, and
quite often he leased these posters out to be used in commercial films ("Fade
To Black", "Haunted Honeymoon", etc.) Anyone who knew Bob Scherl misses him a lot.
BURMA SHAVE!!