Heart to Heart

This week’s offering is a video someone sent me years ago and I just found it. Michael and I were finishing our “Shanghai Album”. During that time we did a show with someone, country music star and tv host Stan Hitchcock. I had met Stan when he and his band played a club called the Pub Mobile in Rolla, MO a few miles up the road from my home. I spent many an evening at that establishment because of the house band. I don’t remember the name but I sure remember the band members. They were the best of the best from Springfield, MO. The leader of the band, Lou Whitney, would bring up various singers, drummers, etc. to play with him. Lou played bass.

As members of our original band, mostly guys from Kansas City, Lou would always have someone we needed for the road…immediately.  And Michael and I did what every good traveling band does. We would steal them. The only mistake we made was not stealing Lou to play bass. In the long run that ended up being a good thing. While Lou was a good bass player he was one of the best music producers I have ever know. So rather than being an underpaid bass player with a band that spent too many days, weeks, years on the road he became an incredible record producer. And eventually the producer of our Shanghai album.

One night when I dropped in at the Pub Mobile a country band was playing. The leader was a fellow named Stan Hitchcock. Stan was a very cool guy and I invited him out to the house on his day off. We had a great time and became good friends. Later I would see him either hosting or playing on country music tv and when Branson became “Branson,” Stan became involved with a tv station that had opened there. And he invited us to be on his show “Heart to Heart” It was a good time and I always wished I had a copy of the show. And one day, out of the blue, someone sent me a tape of a piece of the show and I’m happy to share it with you. It contains a song, Indian Summer, and a lot of stories about the road that I think you might enjoy. At least it is proof positive that I once had hair. 

The tape is a VHS copy that I had digitized but, the video quality not-with-standing, I believe some of our fans might enjoy it. At least seeing that I really once did have hair. So here it is. Indian Summer…Heart to Heart. And I apologize for the quality. It’s all I have.

As a personal note, I always look for Jan in the audience when we would sing this song. If she wasn’t in the audience she would still be in my heart as we sang Indian Summer.