by Charly Mann

Woodstock was not the first great three day music festival; it was the University of North Carolina's Jubilee. Beginning in 1963 and continuing through 1971, Jubilee was a spectacular marathon of music, joy, and love that featured the top musical acts in the world at the peak of their popularity.

Crowd on McCorkle Place watching the second Jubilee, April 1964

It all started in the spring of 1963 when the Student Union wanted to bring the Four Preps, one of most popular groups on college campuses at the time, to perform free for the entire student body at Memorial Hall. The problem was Memorial Hall only held 1600 people and was way too small to accommodate everyone. The idea was hatched to have the concert outside under the trees on a stage in front of Graham Memorial. Soon the concept was expanded to become a three day open air party of music, dance, and film called Jubilee, with the slogan "A Salute Spring." The festival was held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 26-28. The stage was placed at the center of McCorkle Place not far from Franklin Street. Students and their dates were the only people that were supposed to attend, but there were no gates, security, or ticket takers, and many townspeople, including myself, then a 13 year-old boy with a passion for music, were also there. (I attended all but one of the nine Jubilees)

The Four Preps performing the first night of the first University of North Carolina Jubilee

From 2PM to around 10PM folk and pop-jazz groups performed on the main stage. The Four Preps concert on Friday attracted more than 5,000 people sitting on blankets almost as far back as the Old Well. On each day of Jubilee major motion pictures were shown for free at 6:30, 8:30, and 10:30 at Graham Memorial. At the close of performances on the main stage, the party simply got larger and expanded into five separate stages around campus where rock combos (a term used to refer to rock bands in the pre-Beatles days) performed almost until dawn. Those stages were in the Planetarium parking lot, in Y-Court, behind the Ackland Art Museum, in Steel Hall's parking lot, and directly in front of Graham Memorial. The headline act for the closing night was The Chad Mitchell Trio whose repertoire contained several songs that mocked right-wing thought and promoted integration. This was at a time when many businesses in Chapel Hill did not allow blacks, and the majority of the state and much of Chapel Hill was politically conservative.

Politcally irreverent folk group The Chad Mitchell Trio, final act of the first Jubilee

Beautiful coed enjoys Four Preps singing their hit song 26 Miles to Catalina

The first Jubilee at UNC was a huge success, and by the following Monday as bleary eyed students returned to classes, the student union began plans for a second Jubilee in 1964. Amazingly, the total cost for the first Jubilee was only $4,000. Jubilee become an annual tradition until 1971. For the next four years the concert continued to be held in McCorkle Place, and headline acts included The Serendipity Singers, Flatt and Scruggs, and Petula Clark in 1965, who chose Chapel Hill as the first place in America to perform her #1 song, Downtown.

James Taylor sings Carolina in My Mind, UNC Jubilee April 1970

As the University's enrollment increased and rock replaced folk as the preferred music on campus, UNC's Jubilee expanded into a major rock festival. In 1970 the event was held at Kenan Stadium and featured, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, then the biggest act in America with three top ten hits, as well as Grand Funk Railroad, Sweetwater, the Bar-Kays, Pacific Gas and Electric, and James Taylor, just months after the release of his Sweet Baby James album. The crowd particularly enjoyed his renditions of Fire and Rain and Carolina in My Mind. The highlight act though was Joe Cocker with his huge Mad Dogs and Englishmen ensemble that featured Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge. That year's crowd was far different than in 1963. Almost everyone was on some mind altering substance especially pot which permeated the air. LSD was also a popular drug of choice. The group that surrounded me enjoyed some amazing marijuana brownies. The UNC athletic department was unhappy with their football stadium being used in this manner, and in 1971 Jubilee was moved to Navy Field (which sits below Fetzer Field). That was the final year of Jubilee, and featured the Allman Brothers with Duane on lead guitar, Alex Taylor, Chuck Berry, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Spirit, and the J Giles Band.

Crowd at Kenan Stadium UNC Chapel Hill Jubilee 1970

By 1971, I recall many of those in attendance looked more like members of a motorcycle gang than UNC students or Chapel Hill hippies. This group was responsible for a number of fights, vandalism, and the serious injury of a security guard. That was enough for the administration and the Student Union, and Jubilee Music Festival at the University of North Carolina, perhaps the best outdoor music celebration of all time, came to an end.

 Duane Allman performing as the last act of the final UNC Jubilee May 1, 1971 (photo by Ric Carter)

by Charly Mann

In January of 1952, Dr. Isaac Taylor left his job at Harvard Medical School in Boston to become an assistant professor at the UNC School of Medicine. Ike and his wife Trudy, along with their four children, moved to the outskirts of Carrboro to a two story farmhouse off Old Greensboro Road near University Lake. The family was made up of three boys and one girl each born one year apart from 1947 to 1950. In birth order their names were Alex, James, Katherine, and Livingston. (An additional son was born later at Duke Hospital in 1952 – his name was Hugh).

Alex, James, and Kate with Livingston on Ike Taylor's  lap - June 1952 - Carrboro

From anecdotal information it seems that all of the Taylor children loved music from an early age and were somewhat precocious in their talent. For two of the kids, James and  Livingston, there was one contributing factor that may have put them on the road to musical stardom. It was the fact that the first song each leaned was the commercial jingle for Tube Rose Snuff. Liv says "I sang along in my crib with the Tube Rose Snuff commercial which was popular on the radio in the South…." James, as the recording you can listen to here claims, it was he, and not Liv, that was indoctrinated by this song. We can not say where the truth in the contentious controversy lies, but speculate that without their exposure to the Tube Rose Snuff song it is very possible that James and Liv might have followed their Dad into a medical career instead of becoming professional musicians.

James and Livingston Taylor's Tube Rose Snuff 

Lest you think that the snuff commercial dispute has created a schism between the two brothers, the additional interview you can listen to here, as well as a duet Livingston and James performing City Lights at Martha's Vineyard in 1981, indicate the rift has been healed.

For you snuff commercial fans I can tell you that when I was young, (I am the same age as Kate Taylor), I recall hearing the Tube Rose Snuff jingle many times on the Arthur Smith Show which was broadcast on WFMY, Channel 2, in Greensboro during much of the 1950's. Arthur Smith and his band, the Crackerjacks, would perform the song at least once every show. As I recall, the Smith show was actually taped in Charlotte and re-broadcast on WFMY. In addition the show was recorded for radio and broadcast from Durham.

Arthur Smith and the Crackerjacks - The group that sang the Tube Rose Snuff jingle

In 1970 Chapel Hill seemed to be at the epicenter of the music world as James Taylor's chart topping album Sweet Baby James brought national attention to our little town. While our village was certainly the incubator for many great singer-songwriter talents in those days, including Bland Simpson, Don Dixon, and Mike Cross, the one person everyone knew was destined for stardom was Decatur Jones. He reeked of charisma and talent, yet for some inexplicable reason the stars did not align themselves for Decatur, and his flame has largely faded from our collective memory. Former band mate, and long time Chapel Hill musician, Skip Via recounts for us the recording of Jones’ album that sadly was never released. If any of you have photos or additional memories of Decatur please contact us at chmemories@gmail.com.

Decatur Jones (center with orange t-shirt) and friends Coconut Grove, Florida circa 1982. (photo is by Wayne Sloop)

by Skip Via

In the summer of 1970, Chapel Hill native Decatur Jones assembled a group of local musicians and brought them to New York to record an album. Over the course of a week or so, we recorded 12 tracks in a small studio called Blue Rock Studios in Greenwich Village. All of the tracks were recorded as live takes with Decatur playing and singing in real time along with the other musicians. All of the songs were written by Decatur and arranged by the musicians that played them.

Decatur passed away several years ago at age 44. The album we recorded was never released.

Included here are two of the tracks we recorded with notes on the musicians.

Where Will You Be

Harlan Collins (known during high school as Paul) was living and performing in NYC at the time this recording was made and stopped in to record backing vocals on this track.

Decatur Jones: vocals, acoustic guitar
Jack Becker: double bass
Harlan (Paul) Collins: backing vocals
Corodon (Don) Fuller: piano
Jay Norem: drums
Skip Via: mandolin

Ode to Uncle Sam

The album's producer (name not remembered) brought in a "hot" bass player who was new on the NYC scene. He was a tall, thin, African-American who played excellent bass. Given the time of this recording and my memories of what he looked like, I like to think it was Stanley Clark. I have no proof at all--just my rock and roll fantasy, probably.

Decatur Jones: vocals, acoustic guitar
Unknown: electric bass
Corodon (Don) Fuller: exquisite blues piano
Jay Norem: drums
Skip Via: electric guitar

(Editor's note): Via claims that Corodon (Don) Fuller was possibly the finest musician ever to come out of Chapel Hill

.

by Charly Mann

Before there were Arrogance, Mike Cross, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, James Taylor, George Hamilton IV, or Kay Kyser, one man put the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill on the music map. His name was Hal Kemp, and he was as well known in the 1930's as Madonna, the Eagles, or the Dave Matthews band are today.

Chapel Hill's first Superstar, Hal Kemp

Kemp was driven for stardom at an early age. As a youth he learned to play the piano, trumpet, alto sax, and clarinet. In high school he even had his own orchestra. He entered UNC in 1922 and immediately joined the glee club, the school band, the University orchestra, the drama club, and two fraternities. He also started his own group, the Carolina Club Orchestra. When that group was not performing for some event, he also had a smaller seven-piece band that also featured Skinnay Ennis, a fellow student, who would go on to be one of the country's most well-known vocalists. Even in college, Kemp's Orchestra was so popular that during the summer breaks it would tour Europe.

When Kemp left UNC he formed his own professional orchestra that featured legendary trumpet player Bunny Berigan as well as Skinny Ennis on vocals.  He turned over the Carolina Club Orchestra to Kay Kyser, who would become a major music and movie star in the 1940's. Kemp's band played all over the United States and Europe, and recorded hits for several major record labels. Kemp died in late 1940 from complications of a serious automobile accident. Many suspect that had he lived, he would have been one the most popular bandleaders of the 1940's Big Band Era.

Skinnay Ennis at the microphone

It was while at UNC that Kemp made and recorded the arrangement of Hark the Sounds of Tar Heel Voices that we all know and love today, which included a coda of I'm a Tarheel Born. In honor of this great man, who many have long forgotten, I have remixed and enhanced the 1925 recording of this song for your enjoyment. Also included are two other of my favorite Hal Kemp songs.

by Arthur "Dan" Gifford

It's impossible for me to think of Alex Taylor without also thinking that there but for the grace of God go I.

In a 1950s Chapel Hill full of frat boys and others offering beer to kids, Alex Taylor and I started drinking before our teen years. He became an alcoholic, I did not. Just before Chapel Hill was hit with a 60s plague of street drugs that would kill the bodies and damage the minds of a number of friends, I went to Virginia Episcopal School and only heard the horror stories when I'd return to town during vacation breaks.  Against all that, it has often crossed my mind that had I stayed, "it coulda been me," as David Bowie said.

Alex Taylor who was a great singer, but never mastered an instrument, at his home at 618 Morgan Creek Road Chapel Hill

Maybe my escape from Alex' fate was providence. Maybe it was dumb luck, but whatever it was, I took a big hit in the gut on reading about his death at age 47 -- largely attributed to the effects of alcoholism, the stories said -- because some of my earliest happy childhood memories involved Alex.

We were born about two months apart and I first recall meeting him in kindergarten at The Little Red School House though my parents said we had played together earlier.

Alex' father and my mother were both UNC professors who practically worked in the same building in allied fields. My mother was Alice Gifford, the first professor brought on board the new UNC School of Nursing in 1950 and the person charged with obtaining its accreditation. Dr. Isaac "Ike" Taylor was a newly arrived professor of medicine at UNC who would later become the Dean of the Medical School. That connection aside, there were other social binders in play. Both my mother and Alex's father had strong Scottish ancestral links and Boston connections. My mother had grown up in Boston and was in the first Yale class that accepted women. That was a very big deal to both Alex's New England raised mother Trudy -- an early champion of women's equality -- and father, a Harvard Medical School graduate.

James Taylor left, Alex Taylor, and Kate Taylor with Alex Taylor's son Sweet Baby James - 1971 

In class, Alex and I were both hyper kids who probably spent more time sitting in The Little Red School House punishment corner than all the rest of the children there combined. We were also the cut-up bane of the parents who took turns collecting us at the end of the school day, an act we would encore during later years in such venues as Mrs. Bagby's social dance class at Chapel Hill Country Club and the bus to and from Durham Academy. Most of those disruptions involved our imitations of people, pop songs, rhythms and sounds, all of which got an early start at The Little Red School House.

On days when Alex' mother gathered him at LRSH, I'd sometimes go to his house and play until picked up by my parents and vice versa. We both lived in the country at that time, he because his parents, I would later hear, wanted to live in rural surroundings, we because it was affordable. The Taylors were far better off than most in Chapel Hill. They lived outside of Carrboro when they first moved to the area, a blue collar town then that most Chapel Hillians looked down on. As for us, we lived at what seemed like the other end of existence off East Franklin Street in a rented house above a marsh where Eastgate Shopping Center would be built years later.

Alex Taylor at microphone and James Taylor to his left on guitar as the Fabulous Corsairs in Chapel Hill 1964

That strip of higher ground was an old dairy farm owned by Seton Lloyd and his wife. They still grazed several cows that needed milking which Alex and I got to do under Mr. Lloyd's supervision while he sipped moonshine. Lloyd's main business was a Carrboro general store at 118 East Main Street that was chock full of used pick handles, horse collars, stuff the Union Army left behind and God knows what else, which included homemade whiskey on the sly. Mr. Lloyd was one of the few people in Chapel Hill that probably never had to buy gasoline since he could just exhale into his car's fuel tank. I suppose that's why Alex's and my parents declined his occasional kind offer to drive Alex home since he was "goin' that way anyhow."

Alex and I only saw each other a time or two each week during most of our elementary years since we attended our respective public schools, but we saw each other enough to pick up wherever we had left off before. That changed during seventh grade when we found ourselves on the same bus each day traveling from Chapel Hill to Durham. He attended Durham Academy on Duke Street while I went to a different private school a couple of blocks away on Duke. By that time rock 'n roll was about all that mattered to us and we were pumped for new sounds.

We found them by listening to the radio at night. Quite a few boys then twisted the AM dial when they were supposed to be sleeping to find the 50,000 watt signals that skipped in on the ionosphere when the weather got cold from hundreds or a thousand or more miles away. WKBW, Buffalo. WOWO, Fort Wayne, Indiana. WFAA, Dallas. WABC, New York were but a few of them. I think I was the first to "discover" Cousin Brucie and his odd, sing-song DJ delivery on WABC, tell Alex and then drive everyone crazy on the bus with our imitation, but the big find and fav was WLAC in Nashville.

This is Alex Taylor's first album With Neighbors and Friends released in 1971. It is his best album, and sadly no longer available.

This wasn't ordinary rock music from a far off city, WLAC spewed soul quenchers that neither Alex or I had heard before except in milder form on Durham's WSSB. "Daddy Rabbit" Bobbit and the others there were playing Frankie Lymon and Little Anthony and Micky and Sylvia before WKIX came along. Alex and I even visited "Daddy Rabbit" after school once when Alex accompanied me to my weekly choir practice at Durham's First Presbyterian Church. But WSSB's watered down stuff just wouldn't do once we got onto WLAC. It played the originals the music industry ripped-off and diluted to make commercial hits.

On that station, Hoss Allen, Big Hugh Baby and other disc jockeys played the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lead Belly, Slim Harpo, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Lowell Fulson, Little Junior Parker, The Spaniels and Sonny Boy Williamson from record packages put together by Ernie's Record Mart in Nashville that we could order for not much money. Whoaaa. What a world changer.

Alex Taylor of Chapel Hill at his creative and vocal prime

You gotta remember the times. This music was beyond the Elvis and Everly Brothers Kemp Nye hated and wouldn't sell. It was light years away from the the Bo Diddly many white adults said was only fit for juke joint colored people. It was in the class of the Gandy dancer chants I'd heard and tried to imitate to Alex and some others. That is to say, it contained the key to the soul that gave Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School band that extra something that the all white Chapel Hill High School band didn't get.

Alex did get it and he put it into his music. I only wish he'd gotten the acclaim he deserved and lived to enjoy it.

Dan Gifford is an Emmy winning investigative reporter who was also nominated for an Oscar for his documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement. He is also an actor who has appeared in the films Contact, Mad City, and Malcolm X, and television shows including The X Files and The Practice.

Pictures and music provided by Charly Mann 

by Charly Mann

There are many well known individuals who spent part of their lives living in Chapel Hill, but very few notable people who were actually born there. Perhaps the most talented of these people is Loudon Wainwright III, who was born on September 5, 1946 in Chapel Hill, exactly nine months after his father returned from serving in World War II. Wainwright left Chapel Hill soon after he was born and grew up in a wealthy and privileged family in Beverly Hills and Westchester County, NY.

Loudon Wainwright III, born in Chapel Hill, NC 9/5/1946

Wainwright's name is not exactly a household word. He is best known for the 1973 novelty song Dead Skunk, yet he is a highly respected serious songwriter and actor. He is also the father of three of today's most highly regarded singer-songwriters, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, and Lucy Roche. In forty years since his signing to Atlantic Records in 1969, Wainwright has released more than thirty albums, each one usually better than the last. He is also recognized for his movie and TV roles including his appearances on the M*A*S*H television series as the singing surgeon Captain Calvin Spaulding, as well as a big band singer in the Martin Scorsese film The Aviator.

Loudon Wainwright III with his son superstar Rufus Wainwright  

Wainwright's Chapel Hill and North Carolina roots have regularly surfaced throughout his remarkable career. In the 1980s he starred in the Broadway version of Pump Boys and Dinettes, the county rock musical which was written in Chapel Hill by Jim Wann, John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, and John Schimmel. He also delighted the many Americans who disliked North Carolina's conservative senator Jesse Helms with the irreverent song Jesse Don't Like It. (You can hear this song in the selections at the top of this article.) On August 18th of this year (2009) Wainwright released the greatest work of his career, a double album tribute to the legendary North Carolina country singer and banjo player Charlie Poole (1892-1931) called High, Wide, & Handsome. The album is simply exceptional and with the help of family members Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, Sloan Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and the Roches, he performs an array of great songs with arrangements that range from Gospel, Dixieland, old time country, to traditional parlor songs.

 
Loudon Wainwright's current album High Wide and Lonesome is a tribute to North Carolina country singer and banjo player Charlie Poole

by Charly Mann

We almost all love the music of the sixties. In fact it still seems to have replaced Muzak as our dominant background music. In Chapel Hill, to hear the music of the sixties usually meant listening to WKIX in Raleigh, because Chapel Hill's only station, WCHL, played only easy listening.

I have several recordings of "KIX" shows from 1961 through 1968, and in hindsight I am amazed by the high percentage of mediocre songs and long commercial breaks we had to endure before we got to hear a worthy song. (Thank you Steve Jobs for the iPod, where we can listen to thousands of great songs without a single commercial.) I’ve included a segment from  a WKIX broadcast in August 1964 with dee-jay Gary Edens. He went to UNC and worked weekends during college at WSSB in Durham. WSSB also played some rock, but was not as hip as WKIX, and its signal was not as easy to pick up on our AM radios. Edens went to work at WKIX after graduating in 1964. This was a pivotal year in rock history, as the British Invasion had started in February with The Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.  After this, British acts began to supplant American artists on the airwaves, and more and more acts also began writing their own songs.

Gary Edens at WKIX 1964

Charlie Brown was one of the original WKIX disc jockeys. His show was usually on from 6 to 9 PM weekdays evenings. The legendary, and still thriving, Nomads band from Chapel Hill did the theme song for his program. It precedes the excerpt of the Gary Edens show on our player.

                               WKIX's Charlie Brown - Then and Now

As a brief history lesson, you can study the charts of the top played songs on WKIX from 1961 to 1969 to see how much changed, but also see how much disposable music was still popular. Note particularly the top two songs in 1969, which many consider the pinnacle year of great rock music.

by Charly Mann

The rock and roll band era stated in Chapel Hill in the early sixties. While the members of these groups were white, most of their repertoire were cover songs of black artists like the Tams, Wilson Pickett, and The Drifters. The roots of this sound can be heard in much of the original music performed by Chapel Hill musicians over the last four decades. James Taylor, our most well known rock star, and singer-songwriter, has had as many hit songs that were covers of this 60's music as those written by him. They include Handy Man, How Sweet It Is, and Everyday. His two most recent albums, Covers and Other Covers (which was released on April 8th, 2009), are made up almost exclusively of the music of this era.

The common denominator of all these bands is Skip Via on guitar, bass, or dulcimer. Two of these bands, the Sands of Time and Bedpost Reunion, feature lead vocals by members of the illustrious Taylor family. Livingston and Hugh in Sands of Time, and Hugh in the Bedpost Reunion. According to Via, the Bedpost Reunion did some studio recordings. They used a recording studio that was located on Estes drive near where the main Post Office is today. He believes Jack Becker, Chapel Hill High School Class of 1970, may still have tapes of these recordings.

This is The Sands of Time performing at Guy B. Phillips Junior High School in Chapel Hill in October of 1966. Hugh Taylor is the lead vocalist

Skip Via, Fender Telecaster playing through a Fender Deluxe Reverb, David Hackney, bass, Biff Bream, guitar, Hugh Taylor, vocals.

Corodon (Don) Fuller, Mel Jones, vocals

The song you can listen to here is Hugh Taylor's rendition of The Tams classic What Kind Of Fool. It was one of the songs done by him in the Sands of Time. On this rendition his back-up singers are siblings Kate, Livingston, James, and Alex Taylor, who are also from Chapel Hill. lt is from his CD, It’s Up to You, which you can order directly from him at 508-645-3511. Hugh now runs the Outermost Inn in Gay Head, on Martha’s Vineyard.

Hugh Taylor

The Sands of Time photos were provided by Skip Via
 

by Charly Mann

Chapel Hill has a long history of producing great bands, but none can match the longevity and outrageousness of Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts. Throughout the sixties they were the most popular fraternity band in the country, and their fame and influence has stayed strong even after the death of Doug Clark in 2002.

Cover of their best album, from 1963, On Campus

Doug Clark started the group in 1955 when he was a student at Chapel Hill's segregated all-black Lincoln High School, which was actually located in Carrboro. The band was originally known as The Tops and then as the Doug Clark Combo in 1956. They performed primarily covers of 1950's rock hits. In early 1957 they added their version of the 1930's blues song Hot Nuts to their set list. The risqué nature of the song, and the rhythm and blues arrangement the band gave it, made it instantly popular among frat boys. From 1957 to 1963 they continued to improve their arrangement of Hot Nuts as well as add new verses to the song. The song became so identified with the group that by 1958 they were called Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts.

Doug Clark Combo 1956

Seeing the appeal of ribald material they soon built a repertoire of naughty songs. They quickly became in demand at fraternities and private parties up and down the East Coast. It was a novelty band because their material was never suited for the mass market, but they were also pioneers in how to be a successful college party band. They did something no other band did: made people laugh and smile throughout their entire show.

This is a picture the band autographed for me at one of their fraternity concerts in 1964

As a young boy of thirteen and fourteen I snuck into at least a half a dozen Hot Nuts shows between 1963 and 64 at various fraternities on Fraternity Court, including Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Pi Lambda Phi. All the members of the group were cordial. John Clark, the saxophonist and Doug's brother, was the most outgoing and charming member of the group. Doug on the other hand was always the quietest and most reserved. While I was not the only Chapel Hill youth crashing these gigs, I think I was the only one who enjoyed the music more than the beer which was always readily available. I recognized at an early age that alcohol interfered with one's ability to concentrate on music, and was used primarily as a quick way to reduce inhibitions between members of the opposite sex. 

The Hot Nuts 1963, left to right William "Chicken" Little, John Clark, Ralph Prince (vocalist), Doug Clark. Tommy Booth (piano), Walter Holmes, and Robert Tillman 

In 1963 the Hot Nuts recorded their best album, On Campus, in a New York recording studio. Even though the song Hot Nuts first appeared on their debut album, Nuts to You, the definitive version of the song, both musically and lyrically, appears in On Campus. The album also contains several of their most popular songs, including Bang, Bang Lulu, Roly Poly, Barnacle Bill, and the The Big Wheel. By the time this album was released it was not unusual for the group to perform for between 4,000 and 8,000 people. They had huge followings in  Atlanta, Dallas, and Baltimore, and also had regular gigs at universities throughout the North, South, and West, including the University of Texas, Yale, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, M.I.T., and the University of Virginia.  Each Spring Break they played to huge crowds at Daytona Beach. In 1963 and 64 they added  three female singers to the band, known collectively as The Three Cherries.

It should be remembered that at the time the Hot Nuts were most popular blacks were denied access to most hotels, movie theaters, and restaurants in much of the South. The band made their living playing for all-white fraternities. Few blacks were even admitted to the universities where they were performing, and some, like the University of Alabama and University of Mississippi, denied access to black students. Nevertheless, the Hot Nuts made a good living off the fraternity crowd. It is ironic that many administrations at southern universities decried and sometimes banned the Hot Nuts for their brand of music, but remained silent on the injustice of segregation at their schools.

Factoid: Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts recorded My Ding-A-Ling in 1961 for their first album Nuts to You. In 1972, Chuck Berry had the biggest hit of his career and his only #1 song with the same song.

Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts Discography

• 1961 Nuts to You (Gross)
• 1963 On Campus (Gross)
• 1963 Homecoming (Gross)
• 1964 Rush Week (Gross)
• 1965 Panty Raid (Gross)
• 1966 Summer Session (Gross)
• 1967 Hell Night (Gross)
• 1968 Freak Out (Gross)
• 1969 With a Hat On (Gross)

by Charly Mann

I’m a Tarheel Born, The University of North Carolina fight song was supposed to have been written and added as a tag to the University alma mater, Hark the Sounds in about 1928, however this postcard from 1908 makes me believe that the song must be much older. The lyrics to Hark the Sounds were written by a student, William Starr Myers, in 1896. The melody of Hark the Sounds is from a 1857 ballad called Annie Lisle. More than fifty other Universities use the same tune for their alma mater. Maybe UNC should think about coming up with a unique tune for their song.
 

by Charly Mann

Elizabeth (Nevills) Cotton was born at the railroad tracks between Chapel Hill and Carrboro in 1895. By the time she was eleven she was a sklilled guitarist and banjo player. She wrote one the best loved American songs, Freight Train, when she was about 15 and living on Llyod Street.

Like many black women at the time who lived in Chapel Hill or Carrboro, Elizabeth worked as a maid in the homes of white families. Well into the 1960s most Chapel Hill families had black maids working for them one or more days a week.

Elizabeth eventually left Chapel Hill, settling in Washington D.C., where she became a maid for Seeger family. This family inclued the great folksingers Pete, Mike, and Peggy Seeger. It was while playing guitar for them that her musical talents were finally reconized. She died at age 92, in 1987.

Included songs here are Elizabeth Cotton singing Freight Train and Going Down The Road Feeling Bad, as well as the best known version of Freight Train by Peter, Paul & Mary. By a wonderful coincidence on February 14, 1964, Peter, Paul, & Mary came to Raleigh to perform at Reynolds Coliseum. That night they performed Freight Train, as well as a flawless version of Going Down the Road Feeling Bad; a song that they sadly never recorded. Sitting one row in front of my sister and me at that concert was another Chapel Hill family, the Taylors, who had a number of children who would achieve a bit of notoriety in the music business.

This is our autographed program from the 1964 Peter, Paul, & Mary Reynolds Coliseum Concert

by Charly Mann

My Evening with Joni Mitchel and James Taylor

On Christmas Eve of 1970 I had just turned twenty-one and was managing the Record and Tape Center at 456 West Franklin Street. It was the largest record store in Chapel Hill history, and had a basement level that included a waterbed store as well as a high-end audio store. It had been a busy day for us, and I had been in the store since about 7:30 that morning. We opened at 10 AM and usually closed at 9 PM, but that night we stayed open until the last customer had finished shopping which was about 9:30. It was several degrees below freezing outside and I was eager to get home. I let my employees leave and started adding the day's receipts so I could place them in a deposit bag to drop off at the bank's night deposit window on my way home. As I was about to leave at 10:15 when there was a knock on the front door of the store from two bundled up people. Annoyed, I approached the door to say we were closed. As I got closer I noticed that the faces looked familiar. As I opened the door I saw in front of me James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, who were at the time the two most popular singer-songwriters in America. James' new album, Sweet Baby James, had been one of the top selling albums in the world since October, and Joni Mitchell's recent album, Ladies of the Canyon, had produced the radio hit, Big Yellow Taxi and her signature song The Circle Game, as well as the song Woodstock which was currently a top hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Joni Mitchell and James Taylor did their Christmas shopping at the Record and Tape Center on Christmas Eve 1970

James explained that he needed to do his Christmas shopping and pleaded with me to allow him to buy some records. Of course I was excited about having James as a customer, but it was Joni Mitchell who I was most in awe of for her magnificent songwriting and incredible voice. I let them both in and James began going through our extensive racks of records and shelves of prerecorded cassettes. He said he wanted to first get some classical recordings for his Dad and I showed him where they were located. I told him to take his time, and explained how the rest of the store was organized. I then locked the front door, and it was just me, Joni, and James inside. Joni looked a bit bored and I offered to take her downstairs to see the waterbed store while James searched for gifts.

The Record and Tape Center opened on West Franklin Street in early 1970. In 1971 a second location was opened in NCNB plaza in downtown Chapel Hill.

Most of the lights in the store were turned off, with just a few security lights left on. I told James to come downstairs when he was finished shopping and I would then ring him up. I was excited about spending some one on one time with my idol, Joni Mitchell. As I recall we both sat on a large waterbed in our darkened basement lit only by several black lights. The long day and the surprise of getting to meet Ms. Mitchell in such an unusual way contributed to me being particularly awkward. I suggested we listen to the new Matthew's Southern Comfort album (which included a cover of her song Woodstock). She seemed delighted and holding the album noted how she had written that song. For some reason, which I have yet to understand, I assured her that she had not written than song, and it had been written by Ian Matthews, the leader of that group. For the record, I have an almost an encyclopedic knowledge of music facts going back to almost 1900, and Joni Mitchell was someone I was especially knowledgeable about, even before she released her first album, so I immediately recognized my mistake. Ms. Mitchell did not argue with my faux pax and remained polite and talkative until James came downstairs to say he had finished shopping.

Joni Mitchell in 1970. James Taylor had been her boyfriend for the last several months of that year.

I walked Joni and James back upstairs to the front of the store where the cash register was located and rang up the records and tapes James had chosen to purchase. The total was more than $110, a huge amount in those days (the average price of an album or cassette was about $3.50). As I gave James his total he began fumbling for his wallet and started to look a bit embarrassed. He said he had forgotten his wallet, and asked if he could come in the day after Christmas and pay for his merchandise. Being in the Christmas spirit and hoping to redeem myself from my embarrassing statement to Joni I said that would be fine.

James Taylor in 1970 at time of the release of his album Sweet Baby James

Early Saturday morning Joni Mitchell came into the store and presented me a personal check for the merchandise James had bought. (I still have a copy of that check somewhere.) I did think it strange that Joni paid for the gifts James got for his family. She was all smiles and seemed to enjoy seeing me again. I asked what they did on Christmas day, and she said they went out caroling. I imagine the Taylors' neighbors on Morgan Creek Road were delighted and surprised to hear and see Joni and James singing  in their yards..

James Taylor painting done by Joni Michell in Chapel Hill over Christmas 1970

The following Monday Trudy, James's mother, came into the store and asked if I would like to display a painting Joni Mitchell had done of James over Christmas. I told her I would be delighted (ecstatic was more like it). She brought it in, and I placed it in the front window of the store for at least two weeksbefore she came to collect it. I am not sure what that painting would be worth today, but I am guessing at least several hundred thousand dollars.

The first song of the music playlist at the top of this article is a rare recording of Joni and James singing live together in 1970. The second selection is James singing Joni Mitchell's Christmas song River.

by Charly Mann

Of all the songs that I associate with Chapel Hill, Carolina In The Morning is the one that I think best captures its essence: beauty and romance.

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning,
No one could be sweeter than my sweetie when I meet her in the morning.
Where the morning glories
Twine around the door,
Whispering pretty stories
I long to hear once more.
Strolling with my girlie where the dew is pearly early in the morning,
Butterflies all flutter up and kiss each little buttercup at dawning,
If I had Aladdin's lamp for only a day,
I'd make a wish and here’s what I'd say:
Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning.

Indeed nothing could be finer than to be in Chapel Hill, and it is the one place most of us would wish to be at over any place on earth. German born, Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics to the song in 1922. His partner Walter Donaldson wrote the music. Over the years there has been debate about exactly which spot in Carolina the song is about, but I have always known it was Chapel Hill. After all UNC is Carolina, and Chapel Hill is UNC. And just as we all know James Taylor's Carolina In My Mind is not about South Carolina, Raleigh, Asheville, or Greensboro, the lyrics and sentiments of this song, only match a town with the dreamlike qualities of Chapel Hill.

 A butterfly fluttering up to kiss buttercups in Chapel Hill

Carolina in The Morning is from a 1922 Broadway production called The Passing Show, and was sung by future I Love Lucy co-star William Frawley (Fred Mertz). Marion Harris, one of my favorite early singers, made the first recording of the song, and is probably most responsible for popularizing it.

I have included six of my favorite versions of the song here for you to listen to including the one by Marion Harris. As a treat there is included a live "bootleg" version of Phish doing it acappella.

Marion Harris's 1922 recording of Carolina in the Morning made the song popular

I have long considered Kahn to be one of the ten best lyriscists of all time. Among his other timeless materpieces are, I'll See You In My Dreams, Ain't We Got Fun, It Had To Be You, Dream a Little Dream Of Me, Makin' Whoopie, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Side by Side, Yes Sir, That's My Baby, Love Me Or Leave Me, Guilty, and my sentimental favorite, Charly My Boy.

by Charly Mann

Kate Taylor is a 60 year old late bloomer. She is the middle child, and only daughter, of the remarkable Issac and Trudy Taylor family of Chapel Hill. Now 45 years after her career in the music business started she has released one of the best albums of all original material in the new millennium. The album is entitled Fair Time! and opens with two very memorable songs. The opening number, Soap Opera Life, sounds like a #1 country hit, particularly if Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift decided to do a cover. The next track, Things I Carry, is an instantly enjoyable affirmative rocking love song. Most of the album is an autobiographical record of her life starting with growing up in Chapel with her four brothers on the track, Sun Did Shine (On Carolina), but more accurately called Chapel Hill-Billies. Coinciding with the release of the album is a DVD biography of Kate entitled Kate Taylor: Tunes from the Tipi and Other Songs From Home that is beautifully filmed, produced, and directed by her daughter Liz Witham. Included in the film is some delightful color footage of UNC and downtown Chapel Hill from the early sixties. There is also an array of photos and film clips of the entire Taylor family growing up.

A 20 year old Kate Taylor

Kate Taylor was born on August 15th, 1949 in Boston, and grew up at 618 Morgan Creek Road in Chapel Hill on 28 acres of beautifully secluded land in a house that was designed by two of the most acclaimed architects of 1950s modern houses, George Matsumoto and John D. Latimer. She was named after Katherine Child, the head mistress of a school her mother attended in Boston. Every summer the family would leave Chapel Hill's heat and humidity to stay on the remote island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. It was a perfect place for  Kate and the rest of her clan, and all the Taylors would eventually make it their home. In the 1960s it was a bohemian paradise full of musicians, artists, and writers. The Taylors were all unconventional. Even their father, a respected academic, left his family and teaching position at UNC for two years, doing his service to his country by joining the Navy and being the resident doctor on a naval expedition to Antarctica. All of the Taylor children pursed music in favor of education from an early age, and all lived their late adolescent years as vagabonds.

Issac and Trudy Taylor's house at 618 Morgan Creek Road Chapel Hill, NC

Kate's older brother, Alex, was the only family member who passionately wanted to have a career as a singer, and he probably would have succeeded if he had not abused alcohol so much from an early age. James's surprise meteoric elevation to rock stardom in 1970 allowed Kate to showcase her own talents on her debut album Sister Kate, produced by James's friend and manager Peter Asher. The album is a masterpiece and tour de force of great songs, with back up musicians including Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, her brother James, J.D. Souther, and Bernie Leadon. After a brief career in music, Kate returned to Martha's Vineyard and met her soul mate, Charlie Witham , raised two daughters, and helped raise her stepdaughter. From 1976 to the present Kate has also pursued her interest in Native American art and culture. For several summers she lived with her family in a tipi on Martha's Vineyard.  She and her husband revived the ancient craft of wampum bead making which the native peoples once used as a means of communication.

Kate Taylor and her late husband Charlie Witham, with daughters Aquinnah, Aretha, and Liz Witham

In 1976 brother James produced her excellent second album, Kate Taylor.  This album features a duet with James of It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song), originally a 1962 hit for Betty Everett. This is the only top-forty single Kate has had in her career.  In 1978 Kate went to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record her third album, It's In There and It's Got to Come Out, produced by Barry Beckett and using the famed Muscle Shoals Sound rhythm section.  In 1999 her husband Charlie brought her and James together again to record a beautiful rendition of the Robert Burns 1788 poem, Auld Lang Syne, which was long ago made into song. It was subsequently issued on Kate's 2002 album, Beautiful Road.

Kate Taylor and her brother James Taylor October 1968, when James was recording his first album in London for the Beatle's Apple Records

The Taylor family is certainly the most noted and written about in recent Chapel Hill history. Even without James's celebrity status, Dr. Taylor's contribution as dean of the UNC medical school and the children's uniquely privileged and unconventional upbringing make all seven members of this tribe fascinating. It is noteworthy in Chapel Hill if even one child raised by a UNC professor does not attend college, but in this case all five did not. Also amazing is the array of musical talent that each of the five children have. There are debates among Chapel Hillians about each member's abilities, such as who had the best voice -- Alex usually wins this title, most gifted songwriter -- James hands down, best performer -- unquestionably Livingston, most balanced and underrated, and usually rated the second best singer -- Hugh, and for me the one I can never hear enough of -- Kate.

Kate Taylor and her brother Alex Taylor

Kate's new CD "Fair Time!" now available at katetaylor.com.
Amazon.com
CDBaby
iTunes

Kate's new DVD Kate Taylor: Tunes from the Tipi and Other Songs from Home now available at DocuTunes.TV.

1961

1. "The Twist"..........................................Chubby Checker
2 "It's Now or Never"..................................Elvis Presley
3 "Save The Last Dance For Me".........................The Drifters
4 "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"....Brian Hyland
5 "I'm Sorry"..........................................Brenda Lee
6 "Walk, Don't Run"....................................The Ventures
7 "You Talk Too Much"..................................Joe Jones
8 "Finger Poppin' Time"................................Hank Ballard and the Midnighters
9 "Diamonds and Pearls"................................The Paradons
10 "Only The Lonely"...................................Roy Orbison
11 "Volare"............................................Bobby Rydell
12 "I Want To Be Wanted"...............................Brenda Lee
13 "Stay"..............................................Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs
14 "Chain Gang"........................................Sam Cooke
15 "My Heart Has A Mind Of It's Own"...................Connie Francis
16 "Georgia On My Mind"................................Ray Charles
17 "Are You Lonesome Tonight"..........................Elvis Presley
18 "A Million To One"..................................Jimmy Charles and the Reveletts
19 "Poetry In Motion"..................................Johnny Tillotson
20 "Dreamin' ".........................................Johnny Burnette
21 "Mr. Custer"........................................Larry Verne
22 "New Orleans".......................................Gary "U.S." Bonds
23 "Theme From The Apartment"..........................Ferrante and Teicher
24 "He Will Break Your Heart"..........................Jerry Butler and The Impressions
25 "A Thousand Stars"..................................Kathy Young And The Innocents
26 "Devil Or Angel"....................................Bobby Vee
27 "Image Of A Girl"...................................The Safaris
28 "Please Help Me, I'm Falling".......................Hank Locklin
29 "Tell Laura I Love Her".............................Ray Peterson
30 "Exodus"............................................Ferrante and Teicher
31 "Mission Bell"......................................Donnie Brooks
32 "Wonderland By Night"...............................Bert Kaempfert
33 "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go"......................Hank Ballard and The Midnighters
34 "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".........................The Shirelles
35 "Kiddio"............................................Brook Benton
36 "Sailor (Your Home Is The Sea)".....................Lolita
37 "Yogi"..............................................The Ivy Three
38 "Alley-Oop".........................................Dante and the Evergreens
39 "Everybody's Somebody's Fool".......................Connie Francis
40 "Many Tears Ago"....................................Connie Francis




1962

1 "Mashed Potato Time".................................Dee Dee Sharp
2 "I Can't Stop Loving You"............................Ray Charles
3 "Twist and Shout"....................................The Isley Brothers
4 "Duke of Earl".......................................Gene Chandler
5 "Sherry".............................................The Four Seasons
6 "Roses Are Red"......................................Bobby Vinton
7 "The Twist"..........................................Chubby Checker
8 "Soldier Boy"........................................The Shirelles
9 "The Loco Motion"....................................Little Eva
10 "Do You Love Me"....................................The Contours
11 "Hey! Baby".........................................Bruce Channel
12 "The Stripper"......................................David Rose and Orchestra
13 "Big Girls Don't Cry"...............................The Four Seasons
14 "The Wah Watus!"....................................The Orlons
15 "He's A Rebel"......................................The Crystals
16 "Monster Mash"......................................Bobby "Boris" Picket
17 "Midnight in Moscow"................................Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen
18 "The One Who Really Loves You"......................Mary Wells
19 "Playboy"...........................................The Marvelettes
20 "Green Onions"......................................Booker T. and the MG's
21 "Stanger On The Shore"..............................Mr. Acker Bilk
22 "I Know"............................................Barbara George
23 "Peppermint Twist"..................................Joey Dee and The Starliters
24 "Johnny Angel"......................................Shelley Fabares
25 "Palisades Park"....................................Freddy Cannon
26 "Don't Hang Up".....................................The Orlons
27 "Slow Twistin' "....................................Chubby Checker and Dee Dee Sharp
28 "All Alone Am I"....................................Brenda Lee
29 "Ramblin' Rose".....................................Nat "King" Cole
30 "The Wanderer"......................................Dion
31 "You Belong To Me"..................................The Duprees
32 "She Cried".........................................Jay and The Americans
33 "Bobby's Girl"......................................Marcie Blane
34 "Sheila"............................................Tommy Roe
35 "Sealed With A Kiss"................................Brian Hyland
36 "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do".........................Neil Sedaka
37 "Let Me In".........................................The Sensations
38 "I Love You"........................................The Volume's
39 "Limbo Rock"........................................Chubby Checker
40 "What's Your Name"..................................Don and Juan
41 "Baby It's You".....................................The Shirelles
42 "Smoky Places"......................................The Corsairs
43 "Let's Dance".......................................Chris Montez
44 "Uptown"............................................The Crystals
45 "Surfin' Safari"....................................The Beach Boys
46 "Return To Sender"..................................Elvis Presley
47 "Twistin' The Night Away"...........................Sam Cooke
48 "You'll Lose A Good Thing"..........................Barbara Lynn
49 "Afrikaan Beat".....................................Bert Kaempfert
50 "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"...........................The Tokens

1963

1 "I Will Follow Him"..................................Little Peggy March
2 "Be My Baby".........................................The Ronettes
3 "He's So Fine".......................................The Chiffons
4 "Our Day Will Come"..................................Ruby and The Romantics
5 "Easier Said Than Done"..............................The Essex
6 "So Much In Love"....................................The Tymes
7 "My Boyfriend's Back"................................The Angels
8 "Hey Paula"..........................................Paul and Puala
9 "Fingertips Part 2"..................................Little Stevie Wonder
10 "Go Away Little Girl"...............................Steve Lawrence
11 "Blue Velvet".......................................Bobby Vinton
12 "Sugar Shack".......................................Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs
13 "If You Wanna Be Happy".............................Jimmy Soul
14 "Washington Square".................................The Village Stompers
15 "Walk Like A Man"...................................The Four Seasons
16 "Walk Right In".....................................The Rooftop Singers
17 "It's My Party".....................................Lesley Gore
18 "Candy Girl"........................................The Four Seasons
19 "Deep Purple".......................................Nino Tempo and April Stevens
20 "Foolish Little Girl"...............................The Shirelles
21 "I'm Leavin' It Up To You"..........................Dale and Grace
22 "Surf City".........................................Jan and Dean
23 "Hello Stranger"....................................Barbara Lewis
24 "Denise"............................................Randy And The Rainbows
25 "She's A Fool"......................................Lesley Gore
26 "Dominique".........................................The Singing Nun
27 "It's All Right"....................................The Impressions
28 "Donna The Prima Donna".............................Dion
29 "Surfin' U.S.A."....................................The Beach Boys
30 "You Can't Sit Down"................................The Dovells
31 "Tell Him"..........................................The Exciters
32 "Da Doo Ron Ron"....................................The Crystals
33 "The End Of The World"..............................Skeeter Davis
34 "Heat Wave".........................................Martha and The Vandellas
35 "Rhythm Of The Rain"................................The Cascades
36 "Baby Workout"......................................Jackie Wilson
37 "Blame It On The Bossa Nova"........................Eydie Gorme
38 "Blowin' In The Wind"...............................Peter Paul and Mary
39 "The Monkey Time"...................................Marjor Lance
40 "Up On The Roof"....................................The Drifters
41 "I Can't Stay Mad At You"...........................Skeeter Davis
42 "Puff The Magic Dragon".............................Peter, Paul and Mary
43 "El Watusi".........................................Ray Barretto
44 Then He Kissed Me"..................................The Crystals
45 "Cry Baby"..........................................Garnet Mimms and The Enchanters
46 "Sukiyaki"..........................................Kyu Sakamoto
47 "Mockingbird".......................................Inez and Charlie Foxx
48 "Ruby Baby".........................................Dion
49 "Can't Get used To Losing You"......................Andy Williams
50 "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight".................Barry and the Tamerlanes
 

1964

1 "Hello Dolly"........................................Louis Armstrong
2 "I Want to Hold Your Hand"...........................The Beatles
3 "She Loves You"......................................The Beatles
4 "Where Did Our Love Go"..............................The Supremes
5 "Chapel of Love".....................................The Dixie Cups
6 "Pretty Woman".......................................Ray Orbison
7 "Rag Doll"...........................................The Four Seasons
8 "A Hard Day's Night".................................The Beatles
9 "Everybody Loves Somebody"...........................Dean Martin
10 "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"................................Manfred Mann
11 "I Get Around"......................................The Beach Boys
12 "A World Without Love"..............................Peter and Gordon
13 "Do You Want to Know a Secret"......................The Beatles
14 "The House of the Rising Sun".......................The Animals
15 "Dawn"..............................................The Four Seasons
16 "She's Not There"...................................The Zombies
17 "Baby Love".........................................The Supremes
18 "Under the Boardwalk"...............................The Drifters
19 "Dancing in the Street".............................Martha and the Vandellas
20 "Twist and Shout"...................................The Beatles
21 "My Guy"............................................Mary Wells
22 "Leader of the Pack"................................The Shangri-Las
23 "Can't Buy Me Love".................................The Beatles
24 "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)"....................The Shangri-Las
25 "Java"..............................................Al Hirt
26 "Love Me Do"........................................The Beatles
27 "Please Please Me"..................................The Beatles
28 "Last Kiss".........................................J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
29 "You Don't Own Me"..................................Lesley Gore
30 "Time Is on My Side"................................The Rolling Stones
31 "My Boy Lollipop"...................................Little Millie Small
32 "Love Me With All Your Heart".......................The Ray Charles Singers
33 "Forget Him"........................................Bobby Rydell
34 "There! I've Said It Again".........................Bobby Vinton
35 "Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"...............Betty Everett
36 "A Summer Song".....................................Chad and Jeremy
37 "Ronnie"............................................The Four Seasons
38 "Because"...........................................The Dave Clark Five
39 "Since I Fell For You"..............................Lenny Welch
40 "Louie Louie".......................................The Kingsmen
41 "You Really Got Me".................................The Kinks
42 "Memphis"...........................................Johnny Rivers
43 "People"............................................Barbra Streisand
44 "Bread and Butter"..................................The Newbeats
45 "My Love Forgive Me"................................Robert Goulet
46 "Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying"................Gerry and the Pacemakers
47 "Walk On By"........................................Dionne Warwick
48 "I Only Want To Be With You"........................Dusty Springfield
49 "I Feel Fine".......................................The Beatles
50 "Wishin' and Hopin' "...............................Dusty Springfield


1965

1 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"......................The Rolling Stones
2 "Help"...............................................The Beatles
3 "I Can't Help Myself"................................The Four Tops
4 "Downtown"...........................................Petula Clark
5 "1-2-3"..............................................Len Barry
6 "Lover's Concerto"...................................The Toys
7 "Let's Hang On"......................................The Four Seasons
8 "I Got You Babe".....................................Sonny and Cher
9 "Come See About Me"..................................The Supremes
10 "Stop! In the Name of Love".........................The Supremes
11 "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"...................The Righteous Brothers
12 "Wooly Bully".......................................Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs
13 "Love Potion No. 9".................................The Searchers
14 "I Hear a Symphony".................................The Supremes
15 "Help Me Rhonda"....................................The Beach Boys
16 "I Feel Fine".......................................The Beatles
17 "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter"...........Herman's Hermits
18 "This Diamond Ring".................................Gary Lewis and the Playboys
19 "The Name Game".....................................Shirley Ellis
20 "Hang On Sloopy"....................................The McCoys
21 "Mr. Tambourine Man"................................The Byrds
22 "Yesterday".........................................The Beatles
23 "Get Off of My Cloud"...............................The Rolling Stones
24 "Eight Days a Week".................................The Beatles
25 "Ticket to Ride"....................................The Beatles
26 "I'm Henry VII, I Am"...............................Herman's Hermits
27 "Eve of Destruction"................................Barry McGuire
28 "I'm Telling You Now"...............................Freddie and the Dreamers
29 "Mr. Lonely"........................................Bobby Vinton
30 "Cara, Mia".........................................Jay and the Americans
31 "Taste of Honey"....................................Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
32 "Go Now!"...........................................The Moody Blues
33 "Unchanined Melody".................................The Righteous Brothers
34 "Like a Rolling Stone"..............................Bob Dylan
35 "Game of Love"......................................Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders
36 "Goldfinger"........................................Shirley Bassey
37 "The "In" Crowd"....................................The Ramsey Lewis Trio
38 "What's New Pussycat"...............................Tom Jones
39 "Back in My Arms Again".............................The Supremes
40 "My Girl"...........................................The Temptations
41 "Keep On Dancing"...................................The Gentry's
42 "She's Not There"...................................The Zombies
43 "I'm A Happy Man"...................................The Jive Five
44 "California Girls"..................................The Beach Boys
45 "You Were On My Mind"...............................The We Five
46 "Rescue Me".........................................Fontella Bass
47 "Goin' Out Of My Head"..............................Little Anthony
48 "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat".......................Herman's Hermits
49 "Bye Bye Baby"......................................The Four Seasons
50 "I'll Never Find Another You".......................The Seekers


1966

1 "The Ballad of the Green Berets".....................S/Sgt. Barry Sadler
2 "You Can't Hurry Love"...............................The Supremes
3 "Strangers in the Night".............................Frank Sinartra
4 "Good Lovin' ".......................................The Young Rascals
5 "Reach Out, I'll Be There"...........................The Four Tops
6 "Last Train to Clarksville"..........................The Monkees
7 "Cherish"............................................The Association
8 "We Can Work it Out".................................The Beatles
9 "Turn! Turn! Turn!"..................................The Byrds
10 "Monday, Monday"....................................The Mamas and the Papas
11 "(You're My) Soul and Inspritation".................The Righteous Brothers
12 "The Sounds of Silence".............................Simon and Garfunkel
13 "California Dreamin' "..............................The Mamas and the Papas
14 "Summer in the City"................................The Lovin' Spoonful
15 " A Taste of Honey".................................Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
16 "Born Free".........................................Roger Williams
17 "Lightning Strikes".................................Lou Christie
18 "Paint It Black"....................................The Rolling Stones
19 "See You In September"..............................The Happenings
20 "Red Rubber Ball"...................................The Cyrkle
21 "96 Tears"..........................................? And the Mysterians
22 "Hanky Panky".......................................Tommy James and the Shondells
23 "You Keep Me Hangin' On"............................The Supremes
24 "19th Nervous Breakdown"............................The Rolling Stones
25 "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' ".................Nancy Sinatra
26 "Winchester Cathedral"..............................The New Vaudeville Band
27 "Wild Thing"........................................The Troggs
28 "A Groovy Kind of Love".............................The Mindbenders
29 "Lil' Red Riding Hood"..............................Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
30 "Walk Away Renee"...................................The Left Banke
31 "Sloop John B"......................................The Beach Boys
32 "Nowhere Man".......................................The Beatles
33 "Well Respected Man"................................The Kinks
34 "Sunny".............................................Bobby Hebb
35 "When A Man Loves A Woman"..........................Percy Sledge
36 "Let's Hang On".....................................The Four Seasons
37 "Good Vibrations"...................................The Beach Boys
38 "Sunshine Superman".................................Donovan
39 "Paperback Writer"..................................The Beatles
40 "I Hear a Symphony".................................The Supremes
41 "Daydream"..........................................The Lovin' Spoonful
42 "Yellow Submarine"..................................The Beatles
43 "Uptight (Everything's Alright)"....................Stevie Wonder
44 "I Got You".........................................James Brown
45 "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35"..........................Bob Dylan
46 "Mr. Dieingly Sad"..................................The Critters
47 "Bang Bang".........................................Cher
48 "Mother's Little Helper"............................The Rolling Stones
49 "Devil With A Blue Dress On"....................Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels
50 "I Am A Rock".......................................Simon and Garfunkel


1967

1 "To Sir With Love"...................................Lulu
2 "Light My Fire"......................................The Doors
3 "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"......................Frankie Valli
4 "Happy Together".....................................The Turtles
5 "Groovin' "..........................................The Young Rascals
6 "The Letter".........................................The Box Tops
7 "Windy"..............................................The Association
8 "Georgy Girl"........................................The Seekers
9 "Little Bit Of Soul".................................The Music Explosion
10 "Respect"...........................................Aretha Franklin
11 "Ode to Billie Joe".................................Bobbie Gentry
12 "I'm a Believer"....................................The Monkees
13 "Somethin' Stupid"..................................Nancy and Frank Sinatra
14 "Apples, Peaches, Pumkin Pie".......................Jay and the Techniques
15 "Expressway to Your Heart"..........................The Soul Survivors
16 "All You Need is Love"..............................The Beatles
17 "How Can I Be Sure".................................The Young Rascals
18 "I Think We're Alone Now"...........................Tommy James and the Shondells
19 "The Happening".....................................Diana Ross and the Supremes
20 "Penny Lane"........................................The Beatles
21 "I've Been Lonely Too Long".........................The Young Rascals
22 "Ruby Tuesday"......................................The Rolling Stones
23 "Kind of a Drag"....................................The Buckinghams
24 "Jimmy Mack"........................................Martha and the Vandellas
25 "Reflections".......................................Diana Ross and the Supremes
26 "Love is Here and Now You're Gone"..................Diana Ross and the Supremes
27 "I Got Rhythm"......................................The Happenings
28 "Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"...................The Monkees
29 "Never My Love" ....................................The Association
30 "This Is My Song"...................................Petula Clark
31 "I Was Made to Love Her"............................Stevie Wonder
32 "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron"..........................The Royal Guardsmen
33 "Gimme Some Lovin' "................................The Spencer Davis Group
34 "Pleasant Valley Sunday"............................The Monkees
35 "A Whiter Shade of Pale"............................Procol Harum
36 "She'd Rather Be With Me"...........................The Turtles
37 "Soul Man"..........................................Sam and Dave
38 "Dedicated to the One I Love".......................The Mamas and the Papas
39 "It Must Be Him"....................................Vikki Carr
40 "There's a Kind of Hush"............................Herman's Hermits
41 "Bernadette"........................................The Four Tops
42 "Come Back When Your Grow Up".......................Bobby Vee
43 "The Rain, The Park & Other Things".................The Cowsills
44 "Gimme A Little Sign"...............................Brenton Wood
45 "Incense and Peppermints"...........................The Strawberry Alarm Clock
46 "Sock It To Me, Baby"...............................Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
47 "Baby, I Love You"..................................Aretha Franklin
48 "I Wanna Testify"...................................The Parliaments
49 "You're My Everything"..............................The Temptations
50 "Tell It Like It Is"................................Aaron Neville

1968

1 "Hey Jude"...........................................The Beatles
2 "Young Girl".........................................Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
3 "People Got to Be Free"..............................The Rascals
4 "Mrs. Robinson"......................................Simon and Garfunkel
5 "Love is Blue".......................................Paul Mauriat
6 "Beautiful Morning"..................................The Rascals
7 "Those Were the Days"................................Mary Hopkin
8 "MacArthur Park".....................................Richard Harris
9 "This Guy's in Love With You"........................Herb Alpert
10 "Simon Says"........................................The 1910 Fruitgum Company
11 "Honey".............................................Bobby #ccccccsboro
12 "Cry Like a Baby"...................................The Box Tops
13 "Born to Be Wild"...................................Steppenwolf
14 "Love Child"........................................Diana Ross and the Supremes
15 "Tighten Up"........................................Archie Bell and the Drells
16 "Stoned Soul Picnic"................................The Fifth Dimension
17 "Green Tambourine"..................................The Lemon Pipers
18 "Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)"...................John Fred and his Playboy Band
19 "Lady Willpower"....................................Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
20 "Harper Valley P.T.A."..............................Jeannie C. Riley
21 "Lady Madonna"......................................The Beatles
22 "Hello I Love You"..................................The Doors
23 "Light My Fire".....................................Jose Feliciano
24 "Valleri"...........................................The Monkees
25 "Turn Around, Look at Me"...........................The Vogues
26 "Woman, Woman"......................................The Union Gap
27 "Jumpin' Jack Flash"................................The Rolling Stones
28 "Hurdy Gurdy Man"...................................Donovan
29 "Little Green Apples"...............................O. C. Smith
30 "Midnight Confessions"..............................The Grass Roots
31 "Mony Mony".........................................Tommy James and the Shondells
32 "Bend Me, Shape Me".................................The American Breed
33 "Reach Out of the Darkness".........................Friend and Lover
34 "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay"..................Otis Redding
35 "Spooky"............................................The Classics IV
36 "Sunshine of Your Love".............................Cream
37 "Yummy Yummy Yummy".................................The Ohio Express
38 "Hush"..............................................Deep Purple
39 "Angel of the Morning"..............................Merrilee Rush
40 "Theme from Valley of the Dolls"....................Dionne Warwick
41 "Magic Carpet Ride".................................Steppenwolf
42 "1-2-3 Red Light"...................................The 1910 Fruitgum Company
43 "I've Gotta Get a Message to You"...................The Bee Gees
44 "Baby, Now That I've Found You".....................The Foundations
45 "Hello, Goodbye"....................................The Beatles
46 "Since You've Been Gone"............................Aretha Franklin
47 "Fire"..............................................The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
48 "The Horse".........................................Cliff Nobles and Company
49 "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly"....................Hugo Montenegro
50 "Classical Gas".....................................Mason Williams


1969

1 "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In".......................The Fifth Dimension
2 "Sugar, Sugar".......................................The Archies
3 "Honky Tonk Women"...................................The Rolling Stones
4 "Get Back"...........................................The Beatles
5 "Crimson and Clover".................................Tommy James and the Shondells
6 "Dizzy"..............................................Tommy Roe
7 "Jean"...............................................Oliver
8 "Build Me Up, Buttercup".............................The Foundations
9 "Touch Me"...........................................The Doors
10 "Hair"..............................................The Cowsills
11 "Sweet Caroline"....................................Neil Diamond
12 "Crystal Blue Persuasion"...........................Tommy James and the Shondells
13 "Everyday People"...................................Sly and the Family Stone
14 "Good Morning Starshine"............................Oliver
15 "In the Year 2525"..................................Zager and Evans
16 "I Can't Get Next to You"...........................The Temptations
17 "Love Theme from Romeo and Julliet".................Henry Mancini
18 "Proud Mary"........................................Creedence Clearwater Revival
19 "Spinning Wheel"....................................Blood, Sweat and Tears
20 "One"...............................................Three Dog Night
21 "Love (Can Make You Happy)".........................Mercy
22 "Traces"............................................The Classics IV
23 "You’ve Made Me So Very Happy"......................Blood, Sweat and Tears
24 "This Magic Moment".................................Jay and the Americans
25 "Worst That Could Happen"...........................The Brooklyn Bridge
26 "I Heard it Through the Grapevine"..................Marvin Gaye
27 "It's Your Thing"...................................The Isley Brothers
28 "A Boy Named Sue"...................................Johnny Cash
29 "Wedding Bell Blues"................................The Fifth Dimension
30 "Get Together"......................................The Youngbloods
31 "Easy to Be Hard"...................................Three Dog Night
32 "Little Woman"......................................Bobby Sherman
33 "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me".................The Supremes & The Temptations
34 "These Eyes"........................................The Guess Who
35 "Baby, It's You"....................................Smith
36 "I'll Never Fall in Love Again".....................Tom Jones
37 "My Cheri Amour"....................................Stevie Wonder
38 "Hooked on a Feeling"...............................B.J. Thomas
39 "Smile a Little Smile For Me".......................The Flying Machine
40 "Baby, I Love You"..................................Andy Kim
41 "Time of the Season"................................The Zombies
42 "Suspicious Minds"..................................Elvis Presley
43 "25 Miles"..........................................Edwin Starr
44 "Hot Fun in the Summertime".........................Sly and the Family Stone
45 "Love Me Tonight"...................................Tom Jones
46 "What Does it Take (to Win Your Love)"..............Jr. Walker and the All Stars
47 "Grazing in the Grass"..............................Friends of Distinction
48 "Bad Moon Rising"...................................Creedence Clearwater Revival
49 "Green River".......................................Creedence Clearwater Revival
50 "Only the Strong Survive"...........................Jerry Butler

The past is about to become the present. Come see the heartthrobs of 1960s Chapel Hill reunited for a one time event at the American Legion. Flashback to the voice of Carter Minor and other legendary Chapel Hill musicians including Don Sparrow, Skip Via, Mel Jones, Bif Bream, Jay Cole, Andy Preston, and JP Mitchell. We hope the surprise guests include several members of the Taylor family who were also part of this musical fraternity.  We understand at least one set will contain music of The Sands of Time band. 

Chapel Hill Memories plans to have a full article on the event in the coming months.

For more details on the history of these artists and bands see:
http://www.chapelhillmemories.com/cat/4/54