Interview With The Dynamites Featuring Charles Walker

Deep funk and super soul are having a resurgence in Memphis. Wild Bill's, at Vollintine and Avalon, has been hosting bands like the Memphis All-Stars and a packed dance floor on Friday nights for a while. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings tore the roof off the Hi-Tone to a capacity crowd last year.
Local deejays Buck Wilders and the Hook-up supported the trend with their soul- and-funk-infused monthly gigs at the Buccaneer, and more recently, their complete-with-vintage-film soul nights at the Hi-Tone Cafe. These parties have included guest deejays like Redeye Jedi of funk specialty label Memphix Records, the hip-hop group Tunnel Clones, and Scott Bomar, film score composer and member of the Bo-Keys.

Friday night, Shangri-la Records hosts an evening with the Nashville-based Dynamites featuring Charles Walker at The Hi-Tone.


Photo Courtsey of Bret Weaver

Bill Elder, a producer and studio manager at Dark Horse Recording in Franklin, Tenn., had been following the revival of vintage funk and soul and decided that he wanted to put together his own authentic band. Finding the musicians wasn't a problem; The Dynamites feature Tyrone Dickerson on B3 organ, Bobby Slacks on drums, Richard Griffin on alto/tenor saxophone, Freddy Holt on trumpet, Chris Patterson on percussion, Karl Wingruber on saxophones, Chris West on saxophones/flute, Donnie Medallion on bass and Elder (as Leo Black) on guitar.

It was finding the right singer that took a while.



Photo Courtsey of Bret Weaver

"The band was like two years in the making," Elder says. "I had this idea a long time ago and I was only going to do it if it was totally legitimate. I had to have the right front person."

Enter Doyle Davis, co-owner and manager of Nashville-based Grimey's record store, who's been playing deep funk on his weekly radio show on WRVU-91 Rock for the past eight years. He signed on to manage The Dynamites and set out to help find the perfect singer.

"Doyle is just really dialed in with pretty much all independent musical happenings in Nashville," says Elder. "There was an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame based on a CD called Night Train to Nashville, and Charles Walker, who is from Nashville, was featured on the record and played at the opening. One of the curators of that exhibit was talking to Doyle about his performance and a light bulb went off, and he knew that he was the guy we were looking for."

Charles 'Wigg' Walker spent the '60s and '70s in New York City, playing in Harlem clubs and recording for classic labels like Decca, Champion and Chess.

"I was doing pretty well in New York," says Walker. "I had a group called The Sidewinders and our home base was at a club called Small's Paradise."

Before that he was the opening act for James Brown and Etta James.

His recordings as "Little Charles & The Sidewinders" did attract a cult following in England's Northern Soul scene and earned Walker a spot in the footnotes of soul music history.

"Then some people from England wanted me to come over and do a show, and that's when it all started happening again," Walker says. His old records were selling and he got some press, and he spent some time in England and five years in Spain before returning to Nashville in 1993. Walker played clubs at night and recorded during the day with Allman Brothers keyboardist Johnny Neal. He also recorded Leavin' This Old Town, nominated for a Handy Award in 2000 for Comeback Album of the Year.

Elder asked Walker to front The Dynamites, and they played their first gig to a sold-out crowd in Nashville last fall. They've already released a 45 on Out of Sight, a label Elder and Davis have formed. The band plans to record their first full-length album in September.

"We want one foot planted firmly in the past," says Elder, " but we are also unabashedly looking forward to the future."


Photo Courtsey of Bret Weaver

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