Mailing with John Parker Compton

John Parker Compton was the main man of Appaloosa a band hailing from Boston. In 1969 they released their sole album, a beautiful piece of folk produced by Al Kooper. In the interview John talks about his past, the present and the future.

Robert Pally: When did you hold the first time a guitar in your hand?

John Parker Compton: The first guitar I held in my hands was a 3/4 size nylon string Goya guitar that my mother kindly bought me when I was 14 to study classical guitar.

RP: Did you grow up in a musical family?

JPC: My mother and father were both artists, so this set the stage in our household for artistic expression. My younger sister Chrissy studied piano at a high-brow classical conservatory. Later she began studying dulcimer from a super talented and beautiful girl named Carol Langstaff. After our father died, my mother added two wonderful people to our household - two elderly women who were definitely angels put here on earth: Ruth V. Jones and Miss Nash. (Ruth was a descendant ofFrederick Douglas, the brilliant abolitionist) Both women had a reassuring old world vibe that made them a joy to be around. Ruth Jones would come and cook dinner on Wednesdays
and Fridays and Mish Nash would come every other Saturday night to baby-sit. Both Ruth and Miss Nash were incredible piano players and seemed to know every hymn ever written. After dinner they would sit at our piano and play spirituals like "There Is A Balm In Gilead" "The Old Rugged Cross" etc. My sister and I loved these evening performances.

RP: When did you start to play?

JPC: I began studying classical guitar when I was 14 - but found the structure of classical guitar too rigid and
promptly moved on to folk music.

RP: What was the first song you could play?

JPC: The first song I learned to play was Elizabeth Cotton's "Freight Train."

RP: What was the first song you wrote and when was that?

JPC: I wrote my first song in '66- a little ditty called "Pairs."

RP: In what bands did you play before Appaloosa?

JPC: I formed my first band "The Shades" in the 9th grade ('67) - we would play our version of "Love Potion #9" for hours. My school friend Henry Weyner had a nifty Silvertone electric guitar which had the amplifier in the guitar case! Then in '68 at boarding school I formed a band called "Bacchus." We convinced the school's principal to let us fix up an old gardening shed as an afternoon credited work project - and used the space for rehearsals. We played 50% blues standards like "Backdoor Man" and "Seventh Son" and 50% originals.

RP: Have you released any albums or singles before the Appaloosa record? If yes, can you tell me more about it?

JPC: In early '68, Robin Batteau (violin) David Reiser (bass) and I recorded two songs "Rosalie" and "Downtown Row" at a recording studio in Boston called Petrucci & Atwell. The owners , much to our surprise liked the recording so much that they offered to print a 100 singles. We got the single put in the jukebox at one of Cambridge's hot destinations -
Tommy's Lunchonette, where my sister worked. That was a thrill!

RP: When did you form Appaloosa?

JPC: I formed Appaloosa in '68 with my school mates Robin Batteau (violin) and David Reiser (bass) and David Batteau
(cello). Gene Rosov who was a friend of the Batteaus and going to Harvard University at the time eventually took over on cello.

RP: How did you come up with the name Appaloosa?

JPC: David Reiser Appaloosa's bass player came up with the name one day.

RP: How did Al Kooper get involved?

JPC: We met Al Kooper by chance. We were stiitng in a lounge area waiting to talk to someone at Columbia Records in New York City and I said to Robin Batteau (violin) "Let's play a song for the secretaries." Al Kooper happened to walk by and stopped and listened for a moment and then said, "How would you like to make an audition tape tonight?" We said "Yes" not knowing who he was.

RP: How long before did you have the songs of the Appaloosa album?

JPC: The songs for the Appaloosa album were written in the winter and spring of '68. We performed them in the summer of '68 at the outdoor concerts in the Cambridge Common every Sunday afternoon. It was a wonderful feeling performing these songs with Robin Batteau on violin in front of a large and appreciative audience in the glorious outdoors. We had been performing the songs for about a year before we recorded them for the Appaloosa album.

RP: Did you have a clear vision of how the songs should sound before you entered the studio?

JPC: We wanted to record the songs with the same feel that we felt when we performed them live outdoors. We began talking with two producers: Lou Merenstein who produced Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks' and Al Kooper. We went with Kooper because of scheduling. I think Kooper did a masterful job.

RP: How good did the album do?

JPC: The Appaloosa album was played on WBCN FM the big radio station in Boston and that was good enough for us.

RP: Why wasn't there another album?

JPC: We had no manager at the time and I decided to move to California.

RP: Why did the band split?

JPC: In '70, Robin Batteau (violin) and his girlfriend and I drove in a 3 car caravan out to the West Coast, leaving 50% of the band on the East Coast.

RP: Why was the Appaloosa album never re released?

JPC: Al Kooper told me back in the early '90s that Columbia was planning to reissue the Appaloosa album. I talked with Columbia and their Legacy reissue division over a period of 2 years but nothing ever happened. Then, Steve Berkowitz, A&R gave an O.K. for a third party to reissue the album via a deal with Sony Music Special Products division - however the proposed deal hinged on a minimum number of CDs for the initial printing - and prohibited the sale on Amazon.com etc. I tried to help things along and personally sent out sealed Applaoosa LPs to about 50 companies in the USA and Europe. Nobody ever replied.

RP: After your album under the name Appaloosa you recorded one with Robin Batteau. How came that together?

JPC: Robin Batteau's girlfriend was going to college in Claremont, California. One day we drove into Hollywood and
I had a "sign" that things were going to go well when we stopped at a stop light and I looked at the car on our left and there was Donovan! We went to Columbia and met Eddie Mathews, A&R and played him a new song and he said,
"Let's make a record." He hooked us up with a Columbia producer named Abner Spector who produced the mega hit
"Sally Go Round the Roses." Then we met Jim Messina (Loggins & Messina, Poco) was recording in the studio next door and Jim kindly offered to add some lead guitar on a few tracks and then Jim invited Randy Meisner (Eagles) to play drums on a few songs.

RP: What are Robin and David Batteau doing in theses days?

JPC: Back in the '80s Robin started performing with David Buskin (Buskin & Batteau) and recorded a few beautiful albums. Both Robin and David also started moonlighting at a jingle factory in New York City. Low and behold, Robin turned
into one of America's most successful jingle and subsequently bought an estate in Connecticut so I'm told. Over the years, Robin has recorded with Nanci Griffith, Bill Staines, etc. I consider Robin the world's best violinist. Nobody has his style. His brother David is a singer/songwriter in L.A. His website www.davidbatteau.com tells his incredible career of pitching songs to all of the stars.

RP: Soon after you released your solo album "To luna". Again a change. How came that together?

JPC: Robin Batteau and I came back East in '71. We drove up to Woodstock, New York and our car broke down on a cold wintery night and we ended up at the Cafe Expresso. We played some songs for Paul Butterfield who was sittng next to us at the bar and a producer named Peter Edminston who had worked with Pearls Before Swine. Peter called me a few weeks later and suggested that we do a record together. Robin ended up moving on and so it became a "solo" project. I was fortunate to met two incredible session men living in Woodstock at the time: Harvey Brooks (bass) [Dylan, Tim Hardin, etc.] and Billy Mundi (drums) [Mothers of Invention, Fred Neil, etc.] Bill Eliott who I had met in Cambridge graciously came out and played keyboards.

I started playing with a band of musicians at various clubs in Cambridge and Boston. The emphasis was on live performaance. We would play a few times a week - at restaurants and bars.

RP: Why did you stop to release albums after that?

JPC: I got married and settled down.

RP: Looking back now which is your favorite album and why?

JPC: Al Kooper's production on Appaloosa makes it my favorite album.

RP: What did you do from 1971 'til 1995, when you released a new record?

JPC: I played in bar bands from '71 - '79 - and got married in '80. I would often get together with my longtime friend and lead guitar player Bob McCarthy and play guitar on our respective porches - but it wasn't until '95 that I felt like recording again.

RP: Why did you start to play and write again?

JPC: Someone showed me an Ovation guitar - I bought one and loved the sound.

RP: Your older material was very folky. The new material is more bluesy. Was there something that triggered that?

JPC: It was a fluke. I wrote and recorded a bunch of new songs specifically trying to get an "Appaloosa sound" and I played them for people and nobody liked them. I had put a lot of time and effort into the project - so I just said "That's it" and hung my acoustic guitar on the wall and got out my electric guitar, tuned it to D tuning and the songs started to flow. Two of my favorite musicians are Jimmy Reed and Lightnin' Hopkins, so hence the new bluesy material.

RP: Your new songs "Our fathers grave" is very touching. When did you write it and what had happened?

JPC: I wrote the song a few weeks ago. After meditating one night, I started realizing how important it is for me to try
and honor the father that I never knew. (My father died from polio when I was 5) One of the ways to do this is visit his gravesite. My mother never mentioned my father's name after he died. So I thought I'd write a song to help keep his memory alive.

RP: The songs on your new album are very basic. Do you try to say more with less?

JPC: One of the wonderful aspects of poetry is that it is based upon the reality that one can «say more with less». Your question is really an observation that the blues and folk format is America’s musical version of the Japanese haiku.
My first introduction to «saying more with less» was a blues record that my step-brother gave me by one of the great poets of our time: Jimmy Reed. A great example of the way that Jimmy Reed used poetic skills was the way he used them to address slavery and segregation in his classic song «Big Boss Man.» In just a few phrases Jimmy Reed says it all - and not only that - he makes us feel better: «Big boss man, don't you hear me when I call? Big boss man don't you hear me when I call?! No, you ain't so big - you just tall that's all!»

RP: Many of them are a kind of sad. What there something special that triggered that?

JPC: I caught a Public Television program one evening with the great poet/lecturer/written/activist Robert Blye. His message was «Go into the pain.» The great singer/songwriter/poet Paul Simon gives similar advice saying that you can write about it - you just have to have the guts to do it and figure out how to write it. I like the challenge aspect that Blye and Simon refer to. The title track «Like a Dog» on my new CD was inspired by a «sad» event - or rather a stupid event or challenging event.
I was denied a job that was rightfully mine by my own relatives! What better way to speak back and tell your side of the story than a song?!

RP: When you write songs today has there something changed compared to when you started? (Importance of the lyrics, for example)

JPC: My songs have always been built around the lyrics. My first songs such as «Tulu Rogers» and «Pascal's Paradox» were actually first written as poems (at boarding school) I think of all my songs as poems first, songs second.

RP: What do you work when you don't play music?

JPC: I am a building contractor specializing in renovation projects.

RP: What is VMC Disc?

JPC: VMC Disc is a record company I started. "VMC" are our daughter's initials.

RP: What is the name of your daughter?

JPC: Vanessa Michelle. I wrote a song on 'Compton & Batteau' called "Essa Vanessa" (based on the title of a poem by some english poet that I studied in boarding school) and then after our daughter was born I wrote her a song that is on my 'Mother of Mercy' CD aptly titled "Vanessa" that features my friend Eugene Friesen from the Paul Winter Consort on cello. Vanessa is an incredible piano player and cellist. I wish I could convince her to join my band.

RP: What music do you release on VMC?

JPC: Only music with my DNA. (smile) If I ever get my career off the ground - there are plenty of people to sign. My longtime friend Barbara Holliday in my opinion, is the best female blues singer I know. Check her out at
www.mp3.com/barbara_holliday.

RP: What are your future plans?

JPC: I met a blues singer named Roy at the Club Les Deux Maillot in Paris who said, "Go to London." As soon as my new CD is finished, I am going to take Roy's advice and go to London and put a trio together and take the band to the best performance hall I know: the Paris Metro.

For more information, visit John's homepage at http://www.vmcmusic-films.com

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