Vinyl Kings photos by Rick Malkin

A Conversation with Jim Photoglo (continued)

JP: And let me see, it's L, M--oh, Vince Melamed. Now, the thing about Vince is, not to play down any of his talents, but the thing that always seems to come to my mind first is: What a funny human being. He makes me laugh all the time. When we were both single, we used to hang out together and just entertain each other [laughs], creating characters and stuff and carrying on.

PM: That was really a funny team, you guys.

JP: But you know, again, his credits--he's accomplished as a songwriter. I mean, he's been recorded by Tina Turner and--

PM: Really?

JP: Yeah, he had Tina Turner come to his house in Hollywood and sing a demo that ended up making its way to a big compilation. You know, like Capitol Records did a compilation CD box set, and that recording got on there. It's a song called "Games," which I think has been recorded by Cher and all kinds of people.

PM: Man!

JP: But Vince wrote "Walk Away Joe" and--

PM: One of the best Country songs ever.

JP: Yeah.

PM: "What Mattered Most," he co-wrote. What an incredible song that is.

JP: And then again, you know, he's a guy who made a conscious effort not to be a session player when he moved to town. He just absolutely did not want to go that way, when he's got the chops to have done that. He wanted to concentrate on songwriting. But any time we do writers' shows, when we do in-the-rounds and people are just improvising stuff, you can always count on Vince to come up with an amazing texture, whether it's, you know, an accordion patch or an organ patch or something, he just comes up with this beautiful stuff in the background.

Vince didn't go the session player route but he went on the road. He was in Bobby Womack's band, he was his band leader and road manager in the early '70s. And he also toured with Buffet and with Glen Frey. And he's on the Eagles live record, man. I think it's on "New Kid in Town," they say, "That's Vince Melamed on the piano."

PM: Get out of here!

JP: Yeah, yeah. So Vince has accomplished a whole lot, also.

Now the next guy is Michael Rhodes. And, you know, what can you say about Michael? I mean, to say that Michael Rhodes is a bass player is like saying Einstein is a physicist.

PM: Indeed.

JP: That pretty much says it. The guy is like--he played on every record, has a very prestigious list of accomplishments. Well, you know: you did a thing on him last month. It's all right there in Puremusic. [see our interview with Michael]

PM: Right. I mean, is he our favorite bass player? He's my favorite bass player, of anybody I can think of.

JP: I think of him when I think of those guys like Jaco Pastorius, people who really brought something else to the instrument. It's way more than just a guy playing the low end and working a groove. He just channels some amazing stuff.

PM: What I maintain is that he brings a supreme attention to the instrument.

JP: Yeah. And he also has a presence on stage that's undeniable. He's got a lot of drive. He's just an amazing presence.

PM: Oh yeah.

JP: And then there's Harry Stinson. Harry is also very eclectic. You know, he co-founded Dead Reckoning Records. He was one of the very early guys to say, "Hey, you know what, there's a lot more going on in Nashville than just the things on Music Row." And they started that label, where everybody had a piece of it, all the artists had a piece of it. They took it all over the world, and kicked the doors wide open.

Harry is another one, man, he was burning up the studio scene as a background vocalist, and as a drummer. Mac McNally said about Harry, that his voice sounds like he's got a bunch of expensive EQ on it. It's perfect. His talent in that thing is so perfect. He's quick. His instincts are great. He's accurate as a laser. And his voice is totally transparent. You hear sound, but there's--he becomes the person he's singing with, you know?

PM: You just hear the note, you don't hear the person.

JP: Yeah. Man, he's brilliant. And he's a great drummer. He came to town and started working with Steve Earle in the mid 80s. He's from here, actually, he's from Nashville originally.

He's also an accomplished songwriter. He wrote "Wild Angels" for Martina. He and I had a song with Faith Hill called "You Give Me Love." So Harry has done a lot of stuff.

And that's the other cool thing: I have writing histories with half the guys in the band. Vince and I have successes as songwriters. Josh and I have successes as songwriters. I've written with Larry Byrom, although, you know, we haven't gotten things cut, and the same with Larry Lee.

I'm glad to know all of them.

PM: It's such an amazing bunch of dudes. I think we skipped Jim Photoglo, though.  continue

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