Still Rockin’ Through the Ages

By Art Connor
Williamstown, NJ VFW 1616 – April 6, 2002

We had a chance to talk with Charlie Gracie during the seventh anniversary celebration of The Saturday Night Jukebox back in April. Accompanied by his lovely wife Joan, Charlie opted to leave his Guild guitar at home, instead enjoying an evening of good food and music and reminiscing with some old friends. Ever the gentleman, Charlie did sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans who did stop by his table.

Celebrating his 50th anniversary in show business, Charlie released a new CD, I’m Alright, earlier this year on the Lanark Records label, which has received much critical acclaim. Fans of the early Rock and Roll sound will be delighted to hear that Charlie and his producer Quentin Jones have been able to capture that live band “retro-rock” feel. The CD cover shot even has Charlie and his guitar in a similar pose that he did almost fifty years ago, bringing everything back full circle.

So without further delay, The Saturday Night Jukebox is proud to present the Charlie Gracie Interview.

AC: We’re here with the “Fabulous,” the legendary and one of the true pioneers in Rock and Roll history — Mr. Charlie Gracie! Thank you being here tonight, I promise not to be too long. For our younger fans and listeners, can you give us a quick overview of how you got started in this crazy Rock and Roll business way back when?

CG: Well, this is story that goes back some fifty years. I’ve just celebrated my 50th year in the recording industry, and to commemorate that we have a brand new CD out called I’m Aright on Lanark Records. How I got started… Well, I was ten years old, my dad and I took a walk down to South Street in South Philadelphia and we were going to buy a suit. He had $15.00 in his pocket and he said to me, “Instead of the suit son, pick an instrument out and make something of yourself, I don’t want you work like a donkey like I did all my life.” I said “OK, dad.” So we got a guitar and I started taking lessons, and I became a musician and later on I began singing. I made my first record in late 1951, I when I was just entering high school. I was about 15 and half years old, and I guess as they say in the business, “The rest is history.”

AC: We have a lot of guitar buffs out there that want me to ask you about yours. Your guitar is very unique — a vintage Guild I think?

CG: That’s right it’s an X-350. I have the original guitar from 1957 and I have one from 1961 for a backup. Now the one from 1957 is more famous than I am because when we toured on the Rock and Roll packages with Alan Freed, with great people like Eddie Cochran, Bo Didley, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, we would sit back in the dressing room and play and trade each other’s guitars. So all the stars played my guitar. You know it was just wonderful back in those days.

AC: Now that’s some great history there. Who maintains these guitars for you? Do you do your own work?

CG: I do most of the minor work on them. Fortunately, even with traveling throughout the world as I still do today, I never had any major problems with it. A little minor things here and that I could do myself, if I do have some major work needed, there’s a fellow in Philadelphia that takes care of it for me.

AC: You don’t use any pedals or special effects of any kind when you perform, like wah-wahs or distortion (fuzz) boxes?

CG: I try to be a “purist.” Occasionally I’ll use an analog delay for echo or maybe a chorus pedal on a ballad. But I like to try and keep then music pure just as we started in the 50s with just bass, drum and guitar, a basic rhythm section — you know, just like early Elvis. And I still maintain that same stature today. Sometimes I do have a horn player or piano player with me.

AC: You have influenced so many guitarists, some really famous ones speak of you very highly and your unique sound.

CG: I’m going to tell you a funny thing — I never realized that I influenced anybody in my life until the last ten or fifteen years where I’ve met people and worked with people like Sir Paul McCartney, Van Morrison and Graham Nash. I mean it’s beyond my comprehension, that people like this looked up to Charlie Gracie. I still can’t believe it.

AC: That fantastic compliment from George Harrison in the late 90s about your “slap back” echo — he meant it! The Beatles were BIG fans of yours.

CG: Unfortunately, I never met George I’m sorry to say, God rest his soul. But it was so nice of him to mention Charlie Gracie in that magazine interview (Billboard, March 9th, 1996).

AC: Speaking of the Beatles, Paul McCartney actually recorded a song of yours a couple of years ago. How did that come about?

CG: That’s another funny story. I didn’t know anything about it until I was on tour in London that year. Matter of fact I still play there just about every year and throughout Europe. When I got off the plane, my agent said to me, “Charlie, Paul McCartney would like to meet you!” I was flabbergasted! After the show, I went back stage and there he was big as life. You know the guy is worth a Billion dollars — which is with a B! He’s world famous, loved by everyone of course who is a Beatles fan. So there he is and he says, “Charlie, I came to see you when I was sixteen years old.” We’re about five years apart in age you see, so he was still a kid about that time. Anyway he says, “You know I’ll never forget “Guitar Boogie” and your hit record, “Fabulous.” I’ve loved it so much I decided to record it and put it on my new album. (Run Devil Run, Paul’s homage to his favorite 50’s Rock songs that was released in 1999.) So that’s how it all came about.

AC: That’s fantastic! Now did you get a chance to play or jam with him?

CG: We never got a chance to play together officially, but we did do a few verses of “Fabulous” backstage for our friends and family. He’s touring right now and coming into Philly in a couple of weeks, so I think I might have the opportunity of seeing him once again and who know what may happen. Van Morrison asked me to open up for him in Vegas and Reno, maybe one of these days Paul will me ask me to open for him (laughing)!

AC: That would be so great to see. He needs a good lead guitarist.

CG: Well that would be one of the joys of my professional playing life, I’ll tell you right now.

AC: On your new CD, I’m Alright, you actually have Graham Nash (The Hollies, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Young) on it. Can you tell us how that came about?

CG: Well I cut this new album about nine months ago and was released on Lanark Records, and Graham being a good friend of mine offered to sing on it. I have another great story about Graham. We met about seven or eight years ago through a mutual friend, went back stage and Graham says “My sister and I came to see you in Manchester, England in 1957.” And I ask him if we had met and he says, “No, there were so many people there that night, I couldn’t get your autograph, but you threw a cigarette butt out.” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I was smoking Camels in those days and he opened his wallet, it was Camel cigarette butt over forty years old! Isn’t that an amazing story? And we became friends and he says to me, “Charlie, whenever you cut a new album, I’d like to do something on it. It’s payback time” I said, “What do you mean by that?” And he says, “If it wasn’t for you early Rockers, guys like me never would have become famous or became rich.”

AC: That’s right, before The Hollies (Graham’s first big group) started writing their own songs, they used to do all of the old rockers as did most of the early British Invasion groups.

CG: By the way, Graham is a wonderful, wonderful benevolent person and he is very talented. A great guy. He does a lot of charity work behind the scenes that people don’t hear about.

AC: Your producer on your new album, Quentin Jones, he’s a pretty good guitar player himself. How did that all come about?

CG: Yes he is. He also played bass on the CD too. Occasionally Quentin and I and the other fellows who cut the album will go out and play a few shows. We’ll be playing in New York soon and hopefully down around here in Philly. Quentin is a great musician and it was great to work with him on the new CD. We actually met a few years back and we just hit it off so well, we knew we had to work together someday.

AC: What has changed in the recording industry since that very first record you did in the early 50s, to recording your most recent one?

CG: The biggest change was “live” recording in the studio. Back then, everything was done live with the band or group. In those days it was only four track and then in the ’60s eight track came in. Now today, they have like a hundred sixty four tracks. The technology of today is just absolutely amazing. Even a little whisper can become a shout. Then when The Beatles came along in the 60s, the whole concept of recording changed and it’s been going downhill ever since (laughing)! I’m kidding, every generation has their own music and as it should be. But there was something unique about the sound of the late 50s and early 60s, that when you sang a song, everyone knew who the artist was and you could hum or sing along with it. Today, you shut that radio off on a current hit, you can’t even hum it after you hear it. It’s all electronics, it’s not “real” anymore.

AC: One thing I have learned by being a Mobile DJ myself and listening to all of the great songs growing up in Philadelphia, is that you have “hits” and you have “classics.” “Hits” are gone tomorrow and “classics” will last forever. Songs like yours, Elvis’, the great Motown sounds, The Beatles, these songs are still being played today and enjoyed by a whole new generation of fans.

CG: All the fellows that are here tonight, Danny and the Juniors, Billy Harner, The Dovells — when we recorded in those days, those songs, when you play them on the air today, they sound as fresh as when they were recorded, for some particular reason. And I think it was because we did it live. If we flubbed it, we rolled the tape again and did it again “from the top.” Today’s recordings you can sample and overdub everything, you don’t even need the musicians and to me that is sad.

AC: That kind of leads to my next question here — what makes the classic sound of Rock and Roll keep going strong even after all these years? (Ironically, Bob Seeger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” was playing in the background just as I asked Charlie this question)

CG: Well, of course the beat is and has been the most important thing in the early Rock and Roll songs. We were considered the “Dance Generation,” where people touched each other when they danced — The Jitterbug, The Bop, all of those great dances. But when Chubby Checker came out with “The Twist,” everyone became separated and they’ve been separated ever since. I love Chubby, but I’ll never forgive him for that (laughing)!

AC: What advise can you give to the young kids of today, who start to pick up a guitar, or a bass or piano, or even the saxophone, what’s the most important thing you tell them?

CG: Well, let me just say this to the young people — If nothing else, music is a good way to keep you out of trouble. That’s number one! Number two, it’s a great thing to have that musical knowledge, whether it’s vocally or instrumentally. You can always make some extra money for yourself and there’s always that potential of becoming famous, you never know when you come up with the right recipe for a hit recording or a hit album, or be the next superstar group. So I say, just go along and if you love it, don’t give up and just keep trying and trying, you never know when success could be right around the corner.

AC: Thanks again for doing this Charlie, I’m going to let you get back to your lovely wife and enjoy the rest of the show.

CG: Hey, it was my pleasure. It’s always fun to talk to the fans about the music. Tell everyone to keep listening and keep rocking!

For more information on Charlie Gracie and to purchase his CDs and his new forthcoming book — Rock & Roll’s Hidden Giant: The Story of Rock Pioneer: Charlie Gracie! Check out his website at: www.charliegracie.com

Special thanks to The Saturday Night Jukebox.

Still Rockin’ Through the Ages: The Charlie Gracie Interview ©2002 and ©2017 Art Connor. All rights reserved.