As a musician, recording engineer, and graphic arts teacher at Florence, Alabama High School, Randy Bruce is empowering a future generation with his wisdom, knowledge and passion for what he teaches, spawned by the glory days of The Shoals.
His classroom is unique in that it contains a recording studio where students have the opportunity to learn their craft, hands on. Every now and then he calls on long time musician buddies like Larry Byrom from Steppenwolf to pay the class a visit. Coupled with graphic design skills, students leave Randy’s class armed with a complete package of practical tools to pave the way for their future.
Randy’s father was a guitarist who once played a gig with Elvis in Sheffield, AL. His stepfather was a country musician, so it was no surprise that Randy was a drummer and songwriter by time he was eleven. Early influences include George Jones, the Gatlin Brothers, and Waylon Jennings. By age 17, the young artist had taken up guitar and singing, and he was completely blown away when he got to open one night for Waylon.
As a teenager, Randy and a buddy would often drive up to The Vapors, a fancy club in Memphis, where Louie Roberts, his friend’s uncle, performed. At show’s end, the two boys were introduced as his nephews and would get to sing. One weekend they arrived to find that Louie wasn’t playing because Elvis had booked the room for a private party the night before. Somebody at the party had burned a hole in the piano. Louie was hot, he called Graceland to complain, and he was told to come over. Talk about the right time and right place! Randy and his friend got to tag along. The piano situation was resolved, the pressure was off, and Elvis asked Louie to play a gospel tune on piano. Elvis remembered the elder Bruce, and once again Randy was in disbelief when he got to sing harmony with the king.
Over the years, Randy worked on demo sessions and had the opportunity to play with a number of greats including George Jones, Percy Sledge, and Tracy Lawrence. He also opened for acts like Johnny Rodriguez, John Anderson, Mel McDaniel, The Temptations, Tom T. Hall, Dr. Hook, Sawyer Brown, and John Berry.
After he was married and had a family, Randy occasionally played a session, but his greatest priority was spending time with his boys. Music took a back seat until his kids were pretty well grown.
He credits Nashville songwriter Billy Lawson for introducing him to Pro Tools, a computerized recording software that helped him get excited about recording again. Utilizing his gift, this engineer/teacher passed on the Pro Tools knowledge to legendary Muscle Shoals engineer, Gregg Hamm. Currently Randy is working as assistant engineer to Gregg on a project with a soulful new artist, Christian Turner, who has the Muscle Shoals Music Scene all abuzz.
Sherry Maves, 2006
Monday, February 7, 2011
A bit about us--Randy Higgins
Randy Higgins owner of RJK Video Productions has been involved in video production for over twenty years. He began his video career as a freelance cameraman in 1989. Since that time he has directed, produced, and edited all types of productions including television commercials, music videos, local cable television shows along with numerous stage productions. In April of 2008 he worked as the directors assistant on the set of the Bill Bellamy “Who’s Got Jokes?” show, a national cable television show featured on TV One Network. He is also credited as the co-producer for the pilot show “Chasin’ the Dream”, a new reality show to begin airing on a major cable network later this year. Randy is also the co-producer of the new Alabama Cable Network show “Alabama Music Connections”. In addition to his video production experience, Randy has also played roles in a number of stage productions including two roles in the play “Tom Jones” at the Birmingham Festival Theatre. He also appeared in the documentary film “Under this Skin” , directed by award winning film director June Mack. Randy lives in Sumiton Alabama with his wife Jolei, his daughter Kayla lives in Birmingham and is a student at Birmingham Southern.
A bit about us--Don Earley still keeps cable TV 'down home'
Birmingham Business Journal - by Gilbert Nicholson
Cable TV pioneer Don Earley is still blazing trails despite a disappointing setback.
In fact, he's come full circle. At a bank liquidation sale, Earley reclaimed assets he sold four years ago to now-defunct College Sports Southeast (CSSE) cable network.
Local mom-and-pop programming from his four low-power cable TV stations currently is distributed to some 450,000 cable households in Birmingham, Decatur, Montgomery and Anniston. In the Birmingham area alone, Earley's WOTM Channel 19 is available to 200,000 Charter Cable subscribers in 42 communities, reaching Jefferson, Walker, St. Clair and Shelby counties.
The cable companies like homespun shows such as youth football and People's Law School.
"It's unique programming you don't get on our competitors, such as satellite dish providers," says Bill Ferry, director of governmental relations for Charter Communications' Gulf Coast region. "What Don Earley does certainly adds to our channel lineup and makes a much more robust product for us."
Ever the innovator even as he contemplates retirement later this year the 60-year-old Earley has his sights set on a first for the state of Alabama: live broadcasts of regular season high school football.
High school, college sports
Starting in 1981 with the broadcast to 600 cable subscribers of Dora High School football, Earley and his family built a local production company into the Alabama Cable Network. At its apex in the late 1990s, ACN was beaming tape-delayed broadcasts of Alabama and Auburn football, basketball and other sports statewide via satellite.
Earley sold a controlling interest in ARN in 1998 to sports media executive Kirk Wood, who used it to launch Birmingham-based CSSE, the nation's first exclusive college sports cable network.
In summer 2001, after a financial partnership with HealthSouth fell through, CSSE went off the air.
Earley says he had no managerial responsibilities after he sold ARN to Wood. He insists he's not bitter and holds no animosity toward Wood or other CSSE executives for the demise of the networkWood did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Even in CSSE's early days, when the network's executives had plans for national expansion, he was all the while producing local cable programming aimed at the Gardendales and Hueytowns of the world.
In 1999, he and son Donnie set up a new studio in Hoover for a low-powered Montevallo station Earley owned, which he moved and renamed Channel 19 WOTM (for "Over the Mountain.") Earley also owned low-powered stations WJXS in Anniston and WYAM in Decatur; he later bought WMPV TV3 in Montgomery.
The strategy was to be local in the true sense of the word down to coverage of pee-wee football and distribute to local communities through big cable operators.
Earley's stations feature community beauty pageants, local law school classes, vacuum cleaner salesmen, church services, talk shows such as Bob Mosca's "Time of Your Life," and Snapper Lancaster's Central Alabama High School Sports.
And, of course, there are the infomercials. Revenue, which Earley declines to disclose, comes from commercials and selling air time to various individuals and businesses selling products.
He credits his expansive coverage of high school football last fall to Charter Cable's decision to double WOTM's presence in new communities within the last six months.
Every Friday night, using part-time contract employees, Earley dispatched three-man broadcasting crews to 17 high school football games. Cable companies such as Charter can send specific games to select communities. Alabama loves football, and Pelham, Tarrant, Fultondale and Midfield want to see their teams on TV, Earley says.
Meanwhile, after the demise of CSSE, Earley and partner John Connor Sr. bought the assets of the network at a bank liquidation sale last October. WOTM recently moved into the old CSSE studios on Lorna Lane near the intersection of Rocky Ridge Road and Lorna Road.
CSSE equipment, such as a digital servers and digital cameras, have put WOTM two years ahead of where it otherwise would have been, Earley estimates.
Keeping it down home
As he ponders his future, sitting in his office in the former CSSE headquarters, the only visible reminder of the network is a remote truck parked outside bearing the CSSE logo.
Although details haven't been finalized, Earley says he hopes to broadcast regular season high school football live this fall on his four stations.
"I'm not interested in doing college sports like Alabama and Auburn any more," he says. "It's just too competitive. I'm going to keep this low key and close to the vest. I want to do a lot of high schools and the small stuff."
He hearkens to the early days of what was then called Your Community Channel, when Earley at the time a sales agent for Burlington Northern railway reached 600 subscribers in Dora and Sumiton.
"We left that arena and went to something a lot bigger," he says. "Now we're back in that arena. I'll stay with what I know, and stay local."
Cable TV pioneer Don Earley is still blazing trails despite a disappointing setback.
In fact, he's come full circle. At a bank liquidation sale, Earley reclaimed assets he sold four years ago to now-defunct College Sports Southeast (CSSE) cable network.
Local mom-and-pop programming from his four low-power cable TV stations currently is distributed to some 450,000 cable households in Birmingham, Decatur, Montgomery and Anniston. In the Birmingham area alone, Earley's WOTM Channel 19 is available to 200,000 Charter Cable subscribers in 42 communities, reaching Jefferson, Walker, St. Clair and Shelby counties.
The cable companies like homespun shows such as youth football and People's Law School.
"It's unique programming you don't get on our competitors, such as satellite dish providers," says Bill Ferry, director of governmental relations for Charter Communications' Gulf Coast region. "What Don Earley does certainly adds to our channel lineup and makes a much more robust product for us."
Ever the innovator even as he contemplates retirement later this year the 60-year-old Earley has his sights set on a first for the state of Alabama: live broadcasts of regular season high school football.
High school, college sports
Starting in 1981 with the broadcast to 600 cable subscribers of Dora High School football, Earley and his family built a local production company into the Alabama Cable Network. At its apex in the late 1990s, ACN was beaming tape-delayed broadcasts of Alabama and Auburn football, basketball and other sports statewide via satellite.
Earley sold a controlling interest in ARN in 1998 to sports media executive Kirk Wood, who used it to launch Birmingham-based CSSE, the nation's first exclusive college sports cable network.
In summer 2001, after a financial partnership with HealthSouth fell through, CSSE went off the air.
Earley says he had no managerial responsibilities after he sold ARN to Wood. He insists he's not bitter and holds no animosity toward Wood or other CSSE executives for the demise of the networkWood did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Even in CSSE's early days, when the network's executives had plans for national expansion, he was all the while producing local cable programming aimed at the Gardendales and Hueytowns of the world.
In 1999, he and son Donnie set up a new studio in Hoover for a low-powered Montevallo station Earley owned, which he moved and renamed Channel 19 WOTM (for "Over the Mountain.") Earley also owned low-powered stations WJXS in Anniston and WYAM in Decatur; he later bought WMPV TV3 in Montgomery.
The strategy was to be local in the true sense of the word down to coverage of pee-wee football and distribute to local communities through big cable operators.
Earley's stations feature community beauty pageants, local law school classes, vacuum cleaner salesmen, church services, talk shows such as Bob Mosca's "Time of Your Life," and Snapper Lancaster's Central Alabama High School Sports.
And, of course, there are the infomercials. Revenue, which Earley declines to disclose, comes from commercials and selling air time to various individuals and businesses selling products.
He credits his expansive coverage of high school football last fall to Charter Cable's decision to double WOTM's presence in new communities within the last six months.
Every Friday night, using part-time contract employees, Earley dispatched three-man broadcasting crews to 17 high school football games. Cable companies such as Charter can send specific games to select communities. Alabama loves football, and Pelham, Tarrant, Fultondale and Midfield want to see their teams on TV, Earley says.
Meanwhile, after the demise of CSSE, Earley and partner John Connor Sr. bought the assets of the network at a bank liquidation sale last October. WOTM recently moved into the old CSSE studios on Lorna Lane near the intersection of Rocky Ridge Road and Lorna Road.
CSSE equipment, such as a digital servers and digital cameras, have put WOTM two years ahead of where it otherwise would have been, Earley estimates.
Keeping it down home
As he ponders his future, sitting in his office in the former CSSE headquarters, the only visible reminder of the network is a remote truck parked outside bearing the CSSE logo.
Although details haven't been finalized, Earley says he hopes to broadcast regular season high school football live this fall on his four stations.
"I'm not interested in doing college sports like Alabama and Auburn any more," he says. "It's just too competitive. I'm going to keep this low key and close to the vest. I want to do a lot of high schools and the small stuff."
He hearkens to the early days of what was then called Your Community Channel, when Earley at the time a sales agent for Burlington Northern railway reached 600 subscribers in Dora and Sumiton.
"We left that arena and went to something a lot bigger," he says. "Now we're back in that arena. I'll stay with what I know, and stay local."
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A bit about us--Gary Walker
Walker Publishing Company L.L.C., was formed in the year 2000 to publish and plug the well known country song writers in our catalog such as Charlie Craig (Wanted - Alan Jackson), Steve Wilkinson (26 Cents - The Wilkinsons), Jerry Cupit (Cupit Records), Ken Mellons (Juke Box Junkie), Aaron Tippin and others.
We also represent London song writer Marwenna Diame. She is one of the UKs most talented, progressive and versatile writers. Her writing bridges R&B, pop, rock and country almost effortlessly. Marwenna's music attorney Ms. Deborah Wagnon shares her esteem and heartfelt thoughts. In 2006 by Neatherlands Pop sensation Dana Winner, her song Beautiful Life served as the record title and Ms. Winnners World Tour theme.
Selected Client List 1995 - 2001...... Bering Strait (Russia) Lorrie Morgan (Nashville) Tony Brown (Nashville) Olivia Newton John (Australia) Dena Carter (Nashville) Jon Secada (Miami) Estefan Enterprises, Inc. (Miami) Shakira (Miami) Toby Keith (Nashville) Paramount Studios (California) Reba McEntire (Nashville) Lee Ann Womack (Nashville).
Walker Publishing Company is owned by Gary Walker who was raised in Flint, Michigan with close ties to his father's southern roots. He grew up listening to country greats like Buck Owens, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline. But by the early 60's it was Motown and the Beatles and by the late 60's and early 70's it was the Flint, Detroit and later the LA Rock & Roll scene. At Detroit's Grande Ballroom it was bands like Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Joe Cocker, Jethro Tull, MC5, and Savoy Brown. Flint and surrounding cities produced great artists/bands such as Bob Seger, Terry Knight and the Pack / Grand Funk Railroad, Question Mark & The Mysterians and Frost with Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes playing a local music festival from time to time. After graduating from High School and attending College in Pasadena California it was the LA music scene with legendary performances like Janis Joplin and The Doors on stage together in 1970 and Elton John in concert on his first US tour. After majoring in music in college and doing some singing and writing with different bands over the years. It was finally time to learn how the real music business worked and how the machine makes it's billions.
Now armed with a corporate background, two good lawyers, a financial backer and some "honest" hard working friends in the country music industry it was time to set out on a long journey. Most Independent Publishers are like mice that just patiently wait to grab a few crumbs that fall off the Music Giants table. It's hard work and as most of us know it's often with little to show for it. But once you have music in your blood it seems like you have to stay involved in one way or another. The music business will continue to change and evolve in the years to come and hopefully get better; sometimes putting yourself in the right place at the right time pays off.
We also represent London song writer Marwenna Diame. She is one of the UKs most talented, progressive and versatile writers. Her writing bridges R&B, pop, rock and country almost effortlessly. Marwenna's music attorney Ms. Deborah Wagnon shares her esteem and heartfelt thoughts. In 2006 by Neatherlands Pop sensation Dana Winner, her song Beautiful Life served as the record title and Ms. Winnners World Tour theme.
Selected Client List 1995 - 2001...... Bering Strait (Russia) Lorrie Morgan (Nashville) Tony Brown (Nashville) Olivia Newton John (Australia) Dena Carter (Nashville) Jon Secada (Miami) Estefan Enterprises, Inc. (Miami) Shakira (Miami) Toby Keith (Nashville) Paramount Studios (California) Reba McEntire (Nashville) Lee Ann Womack (Nashville).
Walker Publishing Company is owned by Gary Walker who was raised in Flint, Michigan with close ties to his father's southern roots. He grew up listening to country greats like Buck Owens, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline. But by the early 60's it was Motown and the Beatles and by the late 60's and early 70's it was the Flint, Detroit and later the LA Rock & Roll scene. At Detroit's Grande Ballroom it was bands like Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Joe Cocker, Jethro Tull, MC5, and Savoy Brown. Flint and surrounding cities produced great artists/bands such as Bob Seger, Terry Knight and the Pack / Grand Funk Railroad, Question Mark & The Mysterians and Frost with Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes playing a local music festival from time to time. After graduating from High School and attending College in Pasadena California it was the LA music scene with legendary performances like Janis Joplin and The Doors on stage together in 1970 and Elton John in concert on his first US tour. After majoring in music in college and doing some singing and writing with different bands over the years. It was finally time to learn how the real music business worked and how the machine makes it's billions.
Now armed with a corporate background, two good lawyers, a financial backer and some "honest" hard working friends in the country music industry it was time to set out on a long journey. Most Independent Publishers are like mice that just patiently wait to grab a few crumbs that fall off the Music Giants table. It's hard work and as most of us know it's often with little to show for it. But once you have music in your blood it seems like you have to stay involved in one way or another. The music business will continue to change and evolve in the years to come and hopefully get better; sometimes putting yourself in the right place at the right time pays off.
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