Podcast - Songcraft: Ep. 77 - JOSHIE JO ARMSTEAD / Ep. 80 - WILLIAM BELL

Hi all,
"Songcraft: Conversations with Great Songwriters Podcast" is a bi-weekly music program.

Here's a great interview with Joshie Jo Armstead. 'Lots of great stories about her experiences in the music biz; being an Ikette [[her sister was briefly married to Ike Turner); working with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, working at Stax, etc.

Ep. 77 - JOSHIE JO ARMSTEAD [["Let's Go Get Stoned") Nov 28, 2017
Mississippi native Joshie Jo Armstead began her professional career as a vocalist, touring and recording as one of the original Ikettes behind Ike and Tina Turner. She later settled in New York City where she began working with the legendary duo of Ashford and Simpson, who first found major success as the songwriting trio of Ashford, Simpson and Armstead when Ray Charles’ recording of “Let’s Go Get Stoned” became a #1 hit. Soon after, Charles recorded their “I Don’t Need No Doctor” and Aretha Franklin hit the R&B Top 40 with “Cry Like a Baby.”

After Ashford and Simpson went to Motown, Armstead relocated to Chicago where she launched Giant Productions and established herself as one of only a handful of female record label owners and producers in that era. There she scored Top 10 R&B hits with Syl Johnson’s “Come On Sock it to Me,” Ruby Andrews’ “Casanova [[Your Playing Days Are Over),” Garland Green’s “Jealous Kind of Fella,” and Carl Carlton’s “Drop By My Place” while also releasing her own records as an artist for Giant Records and later Stax Records.

As a vocalist she has worked and recorded with Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, BB King, Quincy Jones and Burt Bacharach. As a writer she placed 16 songs on the R&B and pop charts. Her compositions have been recorded by a long list of artists, including James Brown, The Coasters, The Shirelles, Joe Cocker, Styx, Humble Pie, Joan Osborne, Ronnie Milsap, John Mayer, and others.
http://podbay.fm/show/955189341/e/1511833710?autostart=1

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Ep. 80 - WILLIAM BELL [["Born Under a Bad Sign") Jan 09, 2018
A legendary recording artist and songwriter for the Memphis–based Stax label, William Bell first found success with his own recording of “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” a song that would go on to be covered by Otis Redding, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Byrds, and others. He found chart success in the ‘60s and ‘70s with additional self-penned singles, such as the Top 20 hits “Everybody Loves a Winner,” “A Tribute to a King,” “Private Number,” and “Tryin’ to Love Two,” which hit #1 on the R&B chart and #10 on the pop chart. His Top 10 R&B hit “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” went on to be covered by Billy Idol as the Top 10 pop hit, “To Be a Lover,” and was reinvented once again when Jaheim sampled it in “Put That Woman First,” a Top 5 R&B hit and Top 20 pop hit in 2004.

In 2016 Bell returned to the re-formed Stax label to release This Is Where I Live, an album of primarily original songs that featured William’s own interpretation of “Born Under a Bad Sign,” which was originally recorded by Albert King and went on to become a blues standard that was named one of the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock & Roll” by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

A partial list of artists who’ve recorded titles from the William Bell songbook includes Lou Rawls, Percy Sledge, Big Mama Thornton, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Etta James, LaVern Baker, Dusty Springfield, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, Melissa Etheridge, Robert Cray, and Sturgill Simpson. Additionally, his songs have been sampled by Ludacris, Kanye West, and others. Bell was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. He was honored with the R&B Pioneer Award by The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, and the W.C. Handy Heritage Award from the Memphis Music Foundation. In 2016 the Americana Music Association honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The following year he earned his first Grammy award for This Is Where I Live, which was named Americana Album of the Year.
http://podbay.fm/show/955189341/e/1515457173?autostart=1
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Also, here's a link to the other episodes that includes interviews with Jimmy Webb, Jim Weatherly, Steve Cropper, Dan Penn, Siedah Garrett, and others:
http://podbay.fm/show/955189341
or
http://www.songcraftshow.com/shows/