T.G. Sheppard - Timeless

T. G. Sheppard's newest album is a departure from the country music that made him famous but his wonderful voice is, without a doubt, right at home singing classic songs from the 40's and 50's. Timeless is not just the name of his new album, it is also an appropriate adjective to describe one of the most talented and handsome icons to ever grace a stage.

When it comes to music, Sheppard has never limited himself to one genre; in fact, he has never limited himself to any one facet of the music business. His job repertoire within the industry is as diverse as his musical successes and his refined country sound is a sophisticated marriage of pop and blues with just the right amount of country heart and soul. To date he has twenty number one hits and during one streak in the eighties, he had fifteen consecutive songs in the top ten.

Although he is clear about the fact that his roots are firmly planted in country music, Sheppard has reached a place in his career where he has the luxury of doing what he wants and this is a project that he has wanted to do for a long time. The idea to do this album was born of happy memories of his childhood home and watching his parents dance around the living room as these delightfully romantic songs played on the radio. It is a labor of love for him and, in his words, a chance to "stretch musically." He candidly admits that this particular music appeals to his romantic side and he is confident that there is an audience who shares his passion for the true classics. He is so confident, in fact, that he produced the album, selected the songs and assisted with the musical arrangements. The end result is a marvelous collection of lyrically wonderful songs, artistically arranged and brilliantly sung.

The depth and breadth of this project is best illustrated in the fearless song selection. There are some songs in our culture that have become one artist’s signature song. "Everybody Loves Somebody" was Dean Martin's and "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" is certainly synonymous with Tony Bennett but Sheppard was able to arrange them in a way that was fresh and unique and he easily made them his own. This speaks volumes about his amazing talent and illustrates his keen insight into the music.

The entire album, from first song to last, is simply splendid. It was impossible to pick a favorite but his rendition of "Smile" was one of the best I've ever heard and I loved "As Time Goes By" and "When I Fall In Love."

For decades Sheppard has been classic country and now he brings new class to the classics. For easy listening, inner peace or just a plain ole musical feel good massage of your spirit; do yourself a favor and give this CD a spin. Kudos to T.G. Sheppard for a divine nostalgia trip for those of us old enough to remember these songs and for having the heart and resolve to introduce them to a new generation. When it comes to Timeless music and great artists ... thank God for encores.

T.G. Sheppard
The Man and His Music

T. G. Sheppard appeared recently at the Branson Mall Theater performing a concert of his greatest hits. That was the first half of the show. The second half was devoted to some of T.G.’s all-time favorite music of the forties and the fifties. What atreat it was, and how different it was to hear a 30 year veteran of the Pop-Country music circuit do something so seemingly on the edge of his character.

Whoa! Did I say out of character? Let’s re-think that for a minute. Perhaps it was not out of character for him. Sure sounded good and T.G. has charisma, plus stage presence, to burn. Tell you more about that later.

Bill Browder is the nephew of the late great Rod Brasfield of the Grand Ole Opry. Bill took piano lessons until he was in his mid-teens, then he ran away from home and settled in Memphis. He struggled through many years of playing for the big dogs in the business and opened for many others. Bill became a friend of Elvis Presley and that eventually led to Elvis buying Bill a tour bus and encouraging him to step out on his own.

While in Memphis, Bill came across a song written by Bobby David and tried to market it to several labels. None of the labels, in a year and a half wanted it, so Bill, being the kind of guy that he is, decided to cut a demo of it himself. He went to Nashville, after hearing some sage advice, and recorded it with Motown, who was trying at that time to establish themselves into the country music field. In 1974, Motown released it on their newest label, Melodyland, and the darned thing took off and by the beginning of the following year, was number one on the charts. That was the beginning of the star rising for Bill Browder, who then changed his name to T. G. Sheppard.

The T.G. actually stands for whatever you want it to. In the beginning, T.G. said that it stood for “The Good.” Get it? The Good Sheppard.

Well, back to the ranch. The music that T.G. recorded was “Devil in a Bottle.” That song took off to not only top the country charts but went on to make the Pop charts as well. T.G. had his tour bus, compliments of Presley and was off and running as a Pop-Country star.

Over the following 30 years, T.G. Sheppard amassed a collection of hits that would make even the biggest crooner in the business envious. When talking to T.G. it is noted that he does not like the way some of the cross-over music has turned out, because a lot of it in recent years, has lost any identity of country. Some of it is unidentifiable, some of it cannot be understood.

When T.G. sings Pop-Country cross-over, you know without a shadow of a doubt exactly what you are listening to. The familiar country chords are there, the staggered country runs and the music just plain sounds country with a simple touch of modern chording. Also I would like to mention that the words he sings can be understood. Anymore, that is saying something. The music he sings has a message, and that too can be understood. My kind of music.

Just because his music is classified as Pop-Country cross-over, does not mean that it is necessarily bastardized music. It simply means, in his particular case, that the song had such an appeal that it was picked up by the pop-cultists as well as the hard core and middle-of-the-road  country enthusiasts. Therefore, it is called Pop-Country. I suppose we could call it Country-Pop or for that matter, Pop goes the Country. Catchy, huh?

Now, let’s go back to the Branson Mall Theater and pick up T.G.s concert. The house lights dimmed, the curtain rose, the band started playing and then T.G. entered from house left. His appearance, call it stage presence, if you will, literally filled the performance area to over-flowing and could almost be bodily felt. The man has a smile and a way about him that draws people to him. The entire audience, which by the way was a filled-to-the-rafters group, was drawn to him from the moment he entered the stage until his exit. The essence, the memory and the ghost of Bill Browder, from long, long ago was guiding T.G. Sheppard and the audience loved every minute of it. After the concert, T.G. was in the mall atria signing autographs and the line was nearly out the door, of people waiting to meet and greet the man himself. T.G. Sheppard was in his element, loving it and loving the people too.

Before, I said that the first half of his concert was filled with his hits and the second half was forties and fifties music. That is true. Many times I heard the remark, after his performance, that he could have filled the entire concert with his hits. That too is true. What T.G. Sheppard did was so different and so visionary, that many did not understand the second half of the show with him performing older songs, made famous by other recording artists. To be quite truthful and frank, had I not spoken to him earlier about it, I would not have understood it either.

Well it is like this. I spoke to TG prior to his concert. Actually, I spoke to him earlier that same morning. He and Kelly Lang, his long time girlfriend, were in his dressing room and we had a very good talk. T.G. grew up listening to the music his folks listened to and has always had the desire to sing the old songs that he grew up with. His folks, it seems, not only listened to the music, but danced to it as well. The man is a true romantic at heart. He picked only the classic love songs of his parents era and with his self-described, “labor of love,” gave us a performance filled with the passion he must have surely felt when he heard the same music as a young man watching the way it affected his parent’s lives.

Well, T.G. has paid his dues, earned his stripes and is in a position where he can do pretty well what he wants to do. So, to make a long story bearable, he not only performed half of his concert doing the old love songs he grew up with, but he recorded an album for Destiny Row, called “Timeless,” that has those same songs on it. Incidentally, that album goes in the record stores this month.

OK, let me put into perspective what I have said thus far. T.G. Sheppard is a 30 year veteran of the stage and recording studio. He is an astute businessman, having learned a lesson or two along the way. He puts on a heck of a show and is one great showman. Next time he is in town you will want to catch his act. It is well worth it.

A pop-country balladeer brings country back to the country

This Randolph County town (Pop.: 2,661) might not seem the likeliest place for an encounter with country music greatness.

As the house band runs through a couple bars of the Carl Perkins number "Honey Don't" at the movie theater reincarnated as Liberty Showcase, the other establishments fronting Fayetteville Street remain darkened after 5 on Saturday. That includes Big A Auto Parts; the Downtown Grill, which limits itself to a lunch and breakfast business; and First United Methodist Church, which won't open its doors for at least another 16 hours.

The touring bus, a 45-foot late-model diesel Prevost Coach, idles in the gravel parking lot behind the theater with a mounted satellite television flickering behind the driver's seat. Presently TG Sheppard's entourage arrives in a pair of pickups after dining at a local steakhouse.

The man whose teenage years were steeped in the fertile country, soul, gospel and pop sounds of Memphis in the late '50s and who released his first rock and roll record in 1966 looks as good or better than his publicity photo. His feathered hair is parted down the middle and he wears a monochrome dress shirt open two or three buttons down. The effect is "Miami Vice," the television police drama that coincided with the countrypolitan or urban cowboy era that gave Sheppard some of his 20 No. 1 hits.

He steps inside the bus, fiddles with the thermostat and then takes a seat on the long couch near the front.

"Most of the guys have been with me twenty-five or thirty years," he says. "We kind of like waking up every day in a different city. We watch a lot of satellite TV, watch a lot of satellite movies and we sleep a lot. We do a lot of our traveling at night."

Sheppard speaks in a measured, enunciated Mid-South locution, with a degree of warmth and personal engagement that stays true to his impoverished western Tennessee roots yet demonstrates how far he has traveled in his 62 years. His interest quickens when the subject of classic country ballads arises.

"The lyrics were paid more attention to," he says. "Today people are more into the sound; they want that driving, rollicking sound. The songs were more romantic…. Today's country, it's more about life. Back in the seventies and eighties it was more about the heart and relationships."

Sheppard's working on an album of duets with artists like Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs and Barry Gibb ("one of my dearest friends"), but he doesn't harbor any illusions that his new recordings will chart, saying, "I'm not going to say I don't want another hit, but if I'm really pumped up I'm probably going to be disappointed."

As an artist who worked in music promotion before his own recording career took off he has another angle. He recently shot the pilot with the Oak Ridge Boys and Larry Gatlin for a television program called "TG Tonight." He says, "I want to bring country back to the country."

While he no longer entertains thoughts of going into politics, Sheppard notes that he has campaigned for both Presidents Bush and President Clinton at various time, and he recently had dinner with Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford, although he publicly backed his opponent, Bob Corker.

"I think it's time to make a strategic move to get our troops back home," he says, "because I think we're in the midst of a civil war in Iraq. I don't want to see anyone else killed. It needs to be a strategic exit."

The night before in Cambridge, Md. he had met a young veteran with both legs amputated just below his waist who told Sheppard that the US cause in Iraq is just, and so he does not advocate a hasty withdrawal that would squander that which has been paid for in blood. And yet he insists that it's time to change tack.

"It has now come to a time to let them fight their own civil war," Sheppard says. "There's nothing wrong with monitoring the situation and sending medical supplies because a lot of innocent people are caught up in it. Everybody's realizing the people have spoken and they want changes. I'm just a concerned American. I'm not a concerned Republican or a concerned Democrat."

An hour or two later he's onstage, and a thrilled murmur ripples through the crowd, which is disproportionately female and middle aged to elderly. Sheppard walks to the lip and smiles with pleasure, surprise and the faint hint of recognition.

"I've known some painted ladies that sparkled in the light," he sings. "Country girls that loved a lover's moon."

Performing his hits accompanied by an electric guitarist, bass player, drummer and keyboardist, Sheppard brings his appreciative audience country music with a pop sheen, a set of masculine recitations with soulful flourishes and rhythmic oomph. A succession of women timidly approach the stage with digital cameras and Sheppard mugs for them, embraces them, and in one instance takes the camera and shoots a photograph of himself with woman - all the while singing his songs.

Later he takes a break and answers questions fielded from the audience. In response to one Sheppard talks about Kelly Lang, whom he describes as "the love of my life." "Since we were here last we have been battling cancer," he says. "Thanks to the Lord she's come through it."

A female audience member asks if his initials stand for "too good," to which he responds that his parents expected a girl whom they planed to name Thelma Grace, "so I got the initials, but not the estrogen."

Through it all Sheppard keeps the mood light, leavening the romance of his music with humor.

"I sing a lot of sexy songs, and right away you think I fool around," he admonishes the audience. "I don't fool around. I get right to it."

To comment on this story, e-mail Jordan Green at jordan@yesweekly.com
Photo courtesy of Jordan Green