HOT SPRINGS — Keith Sykes probably has had to learn to say “no” to many a musician who has inquired about joining the fun at Sykes’ annual get-togethers in Hot Springs. But he was not about to turn down old pal and musical buddy John Prine when he said he’d like to play at this year’s show.
“I was telling John how I had interviewed Roger Cook at last year’s show,” Sykes said recently as he awaited the opening of the Ben E. Keith Foods show, put on by his old friend Rusty Mathis, general manager of Keith Foods. Sykes does his annual show to benefit the Tim Mathis Scholarship Fund in memory of Mathis’ late son. “And John just suddenly said ‘I want to do that.’
“So here we are, finishing up the plans for that. For years we had it during the racing season, but I wanted to move away from that, after figuring out that no one who came seemed to care about the races, except me.”
The Hot Springs festivities have been going on for 15 years or so, Sykes reckons. The location has evolved, starting on the top floor of the Park Hotel, and moving to the now-closed Majestic Hotel for a couple of years before settling in at the Arlington.
“We’ve had a really great response so far, with a lot of folks asking about John Prine, of course,” Sykes says. “I want to make sure people know this is not a John Prine concert, per se, but an in-the-round show, where folks will probably see John in a more intimate setting than anyone has ever seen him in for a number of years.”
Sykes met Prine through their mutual friend, Kris Kristofferson, who had gone to Chicago to see fellow singer-songwriter Steve Goodman.
“When John was invited to do some of his stuff, he got up and sang ‘Donald and Lydia,’ ‘Hello in There’ and ‘Sam Stone,’ and I think Steve and Kris thought they should just go ahead and find a different way to make a living after hearing John,” Sykes says, laughing. “When John moved to Nashville, he would come and visit me in Memphis and we became friends. He recorded some of my songs over the years, but it took about 15 years before we thought about writing together.
“I played him a song I was working on, ‘Everybody Needs Love,’ and within 10 minutes, he had written two more verses of it. I asked him how he ever came up with a classic like ‘Sam Stone,’ and he said when he was working in a post office, there was a little radioin the office, and it inspired him to write the line ‘Sweet songs won’t last too long on broken radios.’”
Sykes explained how he came to know the other performers at his festival.
Roger Cook: “He’s an Englishman who had his first songwriting hit in 1965 when The Fortunes recorded his ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles, I’ve Got Mine.’ He moved to Nashville in 1976 and had another hit when he co-wrote ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,’ a Coca-Cola jingle that became a hit single.”
Cook also wrote or co-wrote the following hits: “Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)” for The Hollies, “I Believe in You” for Don Williams, “My Baby Loves Lovin’” for White Plains, and “Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again” for The Fortunes (who had sung his first hit). His songs have also been recorded by Deep Purple,George Strait, Bette Midler, Elton John and Neil Diamond.
Richard Leigh: “I met him through Susanna Clark, Guy Clark’s wife. He’s had nine No. 1 hits, and is best known for ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,’ a Crystal Gayle hit in both country and pop charts. I got him onto my songwriter shows on Beale Street.”
Leigh also wrote “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” for Reba McEntire, “Cold Day in July” for The Dixie Chicks, “I’ll Get Over You” for Crystal Gayle, “I’m in Love and He’s in Dallas” for Marie Osmond, “Life’s Highway” for Steve Wariner and “That’s the Thing About Love” for Don Williams.
Larry Joe Taylor: “I met him through Jerry Jeff Walker and then Jerry’s guitarist, John Inmon, asked if I’d have a festival for Larry. For 23 years, he’s put on the Texas Music Festival and Chili Cook-off, and more than30,000 fans come out to hear mostly Texas musicians, except for some of us who are not. I’ve done it 11 times now and he also has cruises, which are great fun, playing shows and mostly hobnobbing with people.”
Jed Zimmerman: “He’s the youngest of us. He’s got a wicked sense of humor and his songs have been cut by some great folks, but not yet by any stars.”
Sykes produced the first two Zimmerman albums, Lose to Win in 2005 and Songs to Take Home in 2007. Zimmerman came to prominence on the Memphis singer-songwriter scene and now lives in Wimberly, Texas.
Sykes launched his recording career in 1969 with a selftitled album, then followed that a year later with 1 2 3. He then waited until 1977 to release The Way That I Feel and in 1980, hereleased I’m Not Strange, I’m Just Like You; two years later, he released another cleverly titled disc, It Don’t Hurt to Flirt. In 1993, he released It’s About Time (on John Prine’s label, Oh Boy Records). Advanced Medication for the Blues followed in 1998, Don’t Count Us Out in 2001, All I Know in 2004 , Let It Roll in 2006 and Bucksnort Blues in 2011.
Sykes first began coming to Hot Springs when Mathis booked him to play at The Sawmill, a legendary club that once brought folk singers and bands to The Spa City’s old train station.
Some of Sykes’ best-known songs have been recorded by Jimmy Buffett, including “Volcano” and “Coast of Marseilles.”Keith Sykes Hot
Springs Weekend, featuring John Prine, Richard Leigh, Larry Joe Taylor, Roger Cook, Jed Zimmerman
8 p.m. Friday; 10:30 a.m. Sat
urday “Bloody Mary Morn
ing” show with Jed Zimmer
man, Delta Joe Sanders
and special guests; 3 p.m.
Saturday, Sykes interviews
John Prine; 8 p.m. Saturday,
closing concert and finale,
all events in second floor
conference room at Arling
ton Resort Hotel & Spa,
Central Avenue at Fountain
Street, Hot Springs
$60
keithsykes.com to pre-or
der
(800) 643-1502 for Arling
ton’s special Keith Sykes
weekend rate
Weekend, Pages 35 on 05/31/2012