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Leon Roberts Jr. |
Leon Roberts, Jr. is from the Turkey Creek Brake out of Wisner, Louisiana. There are about 100 people in the area, 50 of them are Roberts. His mother is Miss Bertha and his father is, of course, Leon, Sr...who, incidentally, has never eaten in a restaurant!
He has been a roughneck on an oil rig, an iron worker and an alligator farmer...but now he wants to give up the easy life and try to get into the toughest business of all...the music business.
He started playing guitar when he was 14. Uncle Red Roberts showed him the open chord method of tuning. At first Leon used a Calamine Lotion bottle to slide from chord to chord. That's when he started making his own kind of music. It wasn't long, though, before Leon realized open tuning wasn't the key that would unlock the songs that were trying to break out of his soul. A friend, Lynn Stark, showed him a few more tricks and he was on his way.
Prior to heading to Nashville to see if anyone might be interested in any of the songs he had written, he had never been inside a professional recording studio and his singing experience before a live audience was limited to a few songs with Gene King at the Turkey Creek Brake Bar.
Now, he's preparing to face the ordeals of the entertainment industry the same way he's faced everything else he has ever tackled... scared to death!
Leon has no "heroes" in country music. He hasn't modeled himself after anyone. Never really listened to much country when he was growing up. He writes, plays and sings music that pours from his heart in a seemingly endless stream. He's a true original. The stuff legends are made of.
Here are just a few things people have said about Leon: "There's been nothing with as much raw talent and this kind of ‘real deal' Americana background in a long time"..."Leon has found what country music has been missing - fun"..."Finally, a country artist who isn't just another ‘Clone Ranger'."
Oh, by the way, Leon says if he ever makes any money in show business he's going to buy Miss Bertha a new trailer!
Leon In NashvilleLeon Roberts, Jr. appeared out of nowhere on the doorstep of Studio 19 in Nashville and asked the owner, Larry Rogers, if he would help him put together a recording session to demo some songs he had written.
Leon had heard that Larry helped arrange sessions for aspiring artists and songwriters, but Larry had no clue as to who had just walked into his studio...and into his life.
Usually in demo situations, Larry puts a band together, makes sure a good engineer is on hand and lets the artist "self produce" whatever he or she wants. The results are always professional sounding but only as good as the songs and/or the singer being demo'd. Most of the time Larry isn't at the studio during the sessions. He rarely gets involved in the proceedings.
The day of Leon's first session arrived. The musicians, Leon and the engineer, Dave Matthews, came in one by one. Larry had business to take care of so he, too, was at the studio, in his office, when the session was scheduled to kick off. This would be the first time Leon had ever recorded anything in a professional studio with 'class A' musicians and a top drawer recording engineer. Leon was just a good ol' boy that had written a mess of songs his mama had asked him to put on tape. He was nervous.
Nashville pickers and recording engineers are, without a doubt, the best in the world. They can take a song written by a gorilla and performed by a tone deaf orangutan and make the results sound pretty darned respectable. Given great songs and a powerful performer they can come alive and create magic on the spot.
The musicians gathered around this unknown from Turkey Creek Brake, Louisiana. He picked up his guitar and started singing the first song he wanted to record. His music, and soul, echoed off the studio walls, and the musicians, each of whom had been through thousands of country recording sessions, looked at one another with knowing smiles indicating that something new, cool and different had just blown into their lives. By the time Leon got to the end of his first ever professional run through, the pickers were playing along and had pretty much figured out what they were going to do. It happened almost as fast as in some old Elvis movie where the band, who had never met Elvis, miraculously seemed to know songs they'd never heard.
In the mean time Dave had been setting levels in the booth. All except for Leon's vocals. He directed Leon into the isolation booth, told him to sing and eased up the fader on his vocal track. Leon's powerful, soulful tenor came roaring out of the speakers, flew past Dave, out the door, bounced off the walls and wound up in Larry's office. Larry was on his feet instantly and on his way into the studio.
Larry Rogers is much more than a successful studio owner in Nashville. He's produced hits for several artists including Billy Swan, Rick Nelson, Shylo, Freddie Weller and Bill Black's Combo, discovered and made stars of Mel McDaniel and Charley McLain and set countless songwriters on their paths to picking up awards for songs they had written.
While it was Leon Roberts, Jr.'s voice that pulled Larry out of his office and into the studio, it was Leon's songs that pulled him further and further into the project. He eased himself into the producer's chair he'd used through hundreds of professional recording sessions and started making suggestions to Dave, to the musicians (on how to best showcase Leon's unique talents) and to Leon on how to finesse the microphone to insure that every nuance of his powerful performance was captured on tape.
As far as telling Leon how to attack a song, there weren't too many tips needed. These were his songs, written from his heart and delivered in a singing style only God could have created. One, two, three passes at the most and Leon had nailed the vocals. The toughest part was working with the band to come up with the musical settings needed to highlight the gem like quality of Leon's songs and vocals. The final luster was added as Larry carefully mixed the ingredients of each recording to give each master a diamond like sparkle that put Leon's best qualities front and center.
The results of this incredible recording session are now available through
Mr. Twister Recordscontact
Mr. Twister Records
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