Sometimes stories are better left untold and names better not mentioned. Not so with Wendell Gregory and Ken Tumlin of Odessa who were extraordinarily open and extraordinarily generous in regards to their old folk combo. They were genuinely nice people and though they were no longer performing together Ken and Wendell had maintained a friendship that came close to spanning a lifetime. I wrote about their singing group Friends of Mind in May of 2010 based on an afternoon interview and a series of emails (story HERE).
Wendell reminded me of a lazy teddy bear, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Just sweetheart of a man. Very laid back, a peaceful soul. His demeanor and voice were of the sort that put you at ease almost immediately.
What is heard here are a couple of the tunes that Friends of Mind recorded at the former AOK studios after the Insounds 45, but were never released. In fact until a transfer last year these songs had not been heard in quite some time.
"From Here To Sundown" is a Ken Tumlin original and gives us another opportunity to heae Ken and Wendell's voices together in a rather sparse setting. "But You Know I Love You" is the Kenny Rogers/First Edition hit and more like the sound an audience would have heard during a Friends performance. We get to here Friends member Marietta Weaver singing along here. And there's Wendell's ever present tambourine, which he joked about more than once. I don't think he understood how important it was to the Friends of Mind sound.
And once again... "Moving Through Your Mine"... so good. One of my favorite records to have ever come out of little ol' Odessa, Texas.
Thanks again, Ken. And my thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to Wendell's family. He seemed to be a heck of a man.
1 comments:
Ah, that's terrible news. Rest in peace Wendell Gregory, and thanks for the terrific music.
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