Our shows don't have music part of the content.

We're more interested in the life and the stories of the artists and how they grew and how they got into what they were doing.

[theme music] As you know, a major part of life in the Ozarks is our rich musical heritage.

Over the years, the Ozarks has produced singers, songwriters, musicians of all kinds, many that have gone on to tremendous fame.

Many other Ozarks musicians have been satisfied to stay close to home and entertain us for generations in small venues, local establishments, garages, front yards, house concerts, and, yes, local proms.

The memories, the stories, they're priceless and the subject of a group of music aficionados that meet regularly to remember when.

On this episode of "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," we learn about Music Monday of the Ozarks.

My guests are Chris Albert and Robin Luke.

ANNOUNCER: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

And welcome to "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

I'm Dale Moore.

And as always, so happy that you are letting us spend some time with you as we talk about all things music today.

You know, I have the heart and soul-- I'm certain of it-- of a blues man or a country western singer.

The problem is I have the ability of a very bad karaoke singer.

But I love music.

I've loved it all my life.

And I know you do too.

So you're going to really enjoy our program today because joining me to talk about a program called Music Monday of the Ozarks are a couple of guys that are kind of the ringleaders.

They've started it.

And I'm so happy to join Chris Albert and Dr. Robin Luke.

Thanks for being on the program today.

Great to be here.

Thank you for having us.

You know what?

I've been looking forward to this for a long time because I am a music lover.

And I think that one of the things that really kind of makes us really proud to be in the Ozarks is that we have such a rich tradition of music everywhere you turn.

I mean that's-- this program here has spent a lot of time over the years talking about musicians.

So to find out now that there's an organization that actually kind of triumphs this with a group, I think that's fantastic.

Before we start, though, Chris, I want to start with you.

Let's get a little bit of information about who you are, where you're from, and what you-- what's the day job for you?

What do you do when you're not doing Music Monday?

Well, I'm originally from California.

Moved here in '66.

And I just started playing music and getting involved in the local industry here.

I was exposed to people like Michael Bunge and Jimmy Cotton Jim and all those gentlemen.

And there was a few little clubs that I went to, and I started listening to them and getting involved in that.

Then later on, I started working in clubs.

And next thing I knew, I helped organize the Finley River Rock Festival that made such a big deal here.

Yeah.

And so really, music is-- you've been music.

That's what you've done.

Oh, my whole life.

Since I was five years old, I started singing in the church, doing choirs, and then singing at school, madrigal groups and choral groups.

And I had a little folk group in California and started with the folk area that was going on, which started in the late '90s-- no late '50s, late '50s, '60s.

And so-- and then I have a recording industry.

I have a record label, two music publishing companies.

And I've done several CDs featuring a lot of the local bands and stuff like that.

My website actually says that we're here to promote and expose the world to what's going on in the Ozarks.

And recently, nominated for a Grammy.

Yeah.

Well, I'm being nominated for a Grammy.

I just released an album and through the Folk Alliance.

They offered it and said, yeah.

And I went, OK, so.

Dr. Robin Luke, let's catch up with you.

You and I go way back.

We've known each other-- ROBIN LUKE: We go way back.

-longer than either one of us want to admit.

Indeed.

So professor at the university, retired, in the music business, obviously.

Give us a real quick nutshell about the music business.

I'll make it as fast as I can.

[laughter] I was born-- no.

When I was 16, I wrote a song in Hawaii, because that's where we lived, and sang it at a variety show.

A guy came backstage, asked me if I wanted to make a record.

At 16, I said, sure.

And so he made hula records for the tourists.

So we recorded "Susie Darlin'" in a bedroom with a portable Ampex tape recorder and one microphone, overdubbed seven times.

And that's why it was so muddy.

Put it out.

It was number one for six months, thanks to one number-one DJ there.

And a honeymooning couple from Dot heard it, took it over to Randy Wood, the president of Dot, which is a big, international label.

And 3.5 million copies later, changed my life.

The rest is history, yeah.

ROBIN LUKE: Yeah.

All right.

Let's talk Music Monday of the Ozarks now.

What-- first of all, I guess, where did the idea come from to do this?

Well, it actually started-- three gentlemen got together and were discussing albums.

And that was Lloyd Hicks, Jim Wonderly, and Brian Fogle And they would go to The Dugout for lunch.

And they-- it was on a Monday.

And they would start swapping albums or talking about this album or which one they had.

Lloyd had one of the biggest album collections I've ever seen as far as the local area.

And so they started.

And then they restarted wanting to hear-- talking about stories.

And I guess they got tired of telling each other stories.

About when was this, about roughly?

About six years ago.

OK. OK. Six years ago.

Yeah, if you take COVID, where we weren't-- Yeah, OK. OK. Yeah, it was about six years ago.

OK.

So it's a fairly-- it's fairly new in the history of the Ozarks.

Yeah.

Of course.

OK. And then I think they contacted Robin.

Yeah, very, very shortly after their conversations at The Dugout, Brian called me, and he said, we're having this idea to start an opportunity to have a forum for music of all kinds.

And we wondered if you'd like to come in.

I said, well, sure, it sounds great to me because I didn't know that much about the history in the '60s and '70s here because I came in '84 to start the Marketing Department from scratch at Missouri State.

And so I said, it's great.

He says, well, good.

And he said, you're the first presenter.

And so I got kind of sucked into that.

And so we had our first meeting at The Dugout.

I think there were six or eight people.

CHRIS ALBERT: Yeah.

And, uh-- I think, in fact, I did.

I saw-- that was actually taped.

That was videotaped.

And that's on your website.

Yes.

I think the first-- The first one is.

And-- And I want to say that was December the 1st of 2014.

There you go.

Yeah.

Yeah, because I think I do have a copy.

Yes, I do have a copy.

ROBIN LUKE: Yeah, so that's nine years ago.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah, so-- My heavens.

Time flies.

[laughs] And then Lloyd called me up and said, hey, we're talking about the Rock Festival.

We want you to come in and do this presentation.

And that's when I showed up.

And we started talking about that.

I never got videotaped.

It wasn't a regular thing.

But the city manager, Burlison?

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

He said he wanted to get some stuff on the Springfield channel, I guess, they had, or a website that they had.

So he started coming in.

And they were really interested in getting Fools Face on tape and somebody else.

I forget who.

ROBIN LUKE: Can't remember.

Yeah.

But that's how it the video thing started.

And they had Ed Fillmore come in and start doing the video taping and stuff.

So that's what started the whole thing of taping this and getting it going.

And we'd have little meetings, talk about it.

And that's how we started getting going.

Yeah.

Well, what really happened, too, was it became more popular.

And pretty soon we had a crowd that was way too big for The Dugout.

And so we were invited to go to University Plaza in the John Q. Hammons room.

And we did that for a period of about three years.

And then when that property was sold, they decided that they were going to charge us money.

We didn't have any money.

We still don't have any money because we are, by the nature of the beast, A 500 and 501(c)(3) because-- Yeah, I was going to ask about that.

So-- OK. Well, we didn't want to charge anybody to come.

And our attorney actually suggested we become a 501(c)(3) because of the nature of the beast.

We wanted to bring people in.

We wanted everybody to have a great time.

And-- CHRIS ALBERT: And it would help us get grants if we had special things coming and all that good things.

And, you know-- but-- We took up a little collection with The Love Bucket only so we could buy a camera that Chris has been so good at doing all these presentations.

It's kind of like playing in a local club and putting a tip jar down.

Exactly, you know, just because we needed to build up.

And some of the board members chipped in some money.

And we finally were able to buy a high-quality-- CHRIS ALBERT: Camera, yeah.

--camera.

Let's talk about the early days because you mentioned the founding trio.

But the management, I mean, it's board-- you have a board now, right?

Who's on the board?

And what are the roles of the board members?

Well, the board is myself, Robin.

He's president at this time.

At this time.

We have Kurt Hargis, Mike Maples-- and these are all musicians or people who are part of the musicians-- Bob McCroskey, Miles Sweeney, who is a judge, and he played little guitar, and Mike Smith from here.

And I think that's pretty much-- That's about it, yeah.

I think that our rules of the road, so to speak, say we have to have a minimum of five.

And we're going to add to it as we see fit.

CHRIS ALBERT: Oh, John Sellers, he's on the board.

And Stormy Cox.

Yep.

ROBIN LUKE: There you go.

So that's it right there.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I looked, and I was really struck by the fact-- I mean, you're organized to the point that you're a nonprofit.

But I love your mission statement.

I'm just-- I'm just going to read it because it's long.

But it kind of speaks to everything, "to recognize, preserve, and promote the musical heritage of the Ozarks."

I love that.

And then, "to educate the general public about the musicians, songwriters, and others that have contributed to the musical heritage through the years" and "to encourage community interest and involvement in various educational activities that will perpetuate the rich musical traditions and sounds of the Ozarks."

How long did it take to come up with that?

A while.

I mean, boards being what they are-- Exactly, yes.

How did you how did you condense down to that?

It wasn't condensed.

We did a couple lines, and then we kind of broadened it that because we wanted to encompass a lot of what we do because we're not really-- our shows don't have music part of the content.

We're more interested in the life and the stories of the artists and how they grew and how they got into what they were doing.

You know, that's an interesting angle because, as I said, we've done several programs here on "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

And we touch on that, but you specifically have a mission statement that says, we want to talk about the musician as the musician, but we also want to look at a broader range of other people-- the roadies, the people that-- Exactly.

right?

The promoters.

And selfishly, we knew that we could get inside of them to relax and tell the audience some of the stories of being on the road in that because, frankly, they're hilarious.

Oh, yeah.

And they get-- everybody loves that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right.

Let's talk about the diversity of the guests that you have on.

I mean, you've got musicians, singers, songwriters, engineers.

But I know that you had, I think, John Richardson on, who was-- Well, he's going to be in September-- no, October.

DALE MOORE: He's coming up.

Yeah, October.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, the menu of what-- what are these-- where do they come from?

Anything musical.

We've even had the director of the symphony present.

And it was extremely interesting because a of us, you know, are old rock and rollers or, like, bluegrass.

That was a wonderful change of pace.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And then we had a lady from the opera who helped start the opera from Drury, you know, Miss Jackson.

She-- she told all about her singing career.

And I was amazed.

She had a recording from 19-- I think it was-- 30 or something that she did in Chicago that's just phenomenal opera singer and stuff.

And that's what we're finding.

I've always found that in the Ozarks, is there's so many people who are here that you don't know that are on a national level, regional level.

They live here.

They work here.

You would never know it.

And they're deeply involved in the music history and the productions of all this going on.

Well, our presenter just a couple of weeks ago was Scott Simon, who is very well known in the world as a producer, a songwriter.

He's the manager of-- CHRIS ALBERT: Tim McGraw, Faith Hill.

Tim McGraw, who you've heard of.

--and the son of Si, who and himself-- Janie has been on, his daughter.

And she told the story of Si and that kind of stuff.

You know, it's amazing.

You live in the Ozarks.

I'm lifelong.

I've lived here.

And you remember these names.

You've heard these names.

But when you really start to kind of, you know, reminisce about the impact and the power that these names have had, it's extraordinary.

And then you realize that the music business in this part of the world, it's not just about the past, but it's about what's going on now and what's happening going forward.

So as you think about, you know, Music Mondays and how it's evolved, you've stayed really true to your mission statement.

But what are some of the changes you think that have happened as you've gone along here that-- how has it evolved?

Well, basically, like you said, we started in a little restaurant.

And it's grown to that point.

And then we've taken on some of the people's talents that are on the board, like Robin's experience in the industry and his experience with just as a marketing person, helping and working that angle, I as a producer of albums and my experience in doing photography.

I worked-- when I lived in Dallas, I was doing my own TV show down there and working with some people down there and getting my feet wet to know a camera, know how the production end of it goes.

And then you have people like Curt Hargis, who's-- he knows all the history.

He was around.

But he owned a club.

And he's got his-- everybody on the board has got some kind of talent-- Mike Smith with his experience.

A lot to contribute.

Yeah.

There's a lot of talent there.

So describe your audience.

Who's your audience?

From here to there, you know, just all kinds.

And I think that's the thing that really kind of gives us a great deal of satisfaction because you've got very wealthy people and people that are really quite poor.

And they all come together.

And-- Music does that.

ROBIN LUKE: Yeah.

It's like I had a club in Reed Springs called Fernando's Hideaway.

And people knew.

Where it was a small-- but some nights we'd have older ladies with mink stoles that came from Kimberling, retired.

And then we'd have a few police officers from Branson.

And they said, we like to come here because nobody knows us, and it's a quiet little place.

And it's their little world.

And we'd have-- you know, John Hartford in or Brewer and Shipley.

But it just reminds me of that whole, where you get-- music is the universal law, as far as I'm concerned.

And it draws everybody, whether-- politically or whatever.

They all want to hear the stories.

And just like with you, they want to hear the history or the story of how that person got started or what got them to do what they wanted to do.

Larry Lee's got an interesting how he went through all these things and ended up as-- Brewer and Shipley-- Shipley came, and, you know, it was really wonderful to hear.

His-- "One Toke over the Line," Mike Brewer.

And, you know, we finally grew to a size where we actually had to find another venue.

And the Elks Club here, 409, have been so wonderful to welcome us to come.

And it is always on the first Monday of the month except for Labor Day or the 4th of July.

If it's on a Monday, we go to the next Monday.

But other than that, it's easy to remember, the first Monday of the month at 6:30.

Yeah.

And we'd love everybody in your listening audience to be our guest.

I should have asked the question how you wound up with Monday as opposed to a Friday?

Fantastic Friday Music.

Because that's what they started having their lunch, on a Monday.

And I don't know if it's because of Brian's schedule at that time-- you know, he's head of CFO or was-- and of his schedule.

But they met at The Dugout on a Monday.

And Monday was always-- in the music world, has always been the off night of anybody that's working.

DALE MOORE: Makes since.

Sure.

Sunday and Monday were their weekends.

Monday, they used to have jams, blues jams and jams at clubs.

And they still do.

But that was the time when musicians were basically not busy or you could access them, especially if you're having guests in the evening.

You know, I've had someone go, well, you know, it used to be in the daytime.

But I said, no, we're at night now.

Oh, OK, I can be there.

And they do it out of the goodness of their heart.

I mean, nobody gets compensated for this.

Yeah, sure.

So they find, well, this is a night we basically relax.

And Chris, for the large part, is able to schmooze them to come, and it's wonderful.

Well, I learned my craft as a promoter and was-- and an engineer and a record executive.

DALE MOORE: Once a promoter, always a promoter.

Yeah.

As an executive in the-- DALE MOORE: Oh, I've got a great idea.

Yeah, yeah.

ROBIN LUKE: He's got a way about him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And plus, I know all these people.

I mean, when I moved here in '66, I didn't know anybody.

But I've met so many in the industry around here.

Is the audience changing?

Is it-- I mean, is it-- has it-- One problem we have-- the hardest thing-- we have talked about it norm-- is trying to get the younger people to attend to hear these stories, especially the musicians because it's the way you learn.

When I was young and trying to get in the business, I would go hang out at the studio with Si just-- and Wayne just so I could learn or find out what's going on.

Yeah, Wayne Carson.

And then I'd sit around, and you'd hear the stories and stuff.

And that's how-- I know you have YouTube now.

And the young just think well, I know everything.

But it's-- One of my fondest memories when I worked at KWTO in the old rock house on Glenstone-- and I was there with Si Simon up on the second floor.

And there was-- you knew you were in a radio station, I mean, the big doors would-- you know, and they'd whoosh when they'd close.

And you had an engineer on the other side, so.

Well, that's interesting.

You know, getting people involved in-- I mean, you guys pretty much do this word of mouth.

You don't do a lot of marketing, do you?

I mean-- Well, you have a limited budget.

And we've got Facebook.

And we've got a website.

And I'm finding-- and we didn't have-- we kind of lost our email thing.

But thanks to Mike Carley, who's jumped in, I'm finding the email is the best thing right now.

Facebook is fine.

But you put it up there, and then, "fsht," it's gone.

Well, tell the listeners the website, how they can see what's coming up.

Oh, musicmondayoftheozarks.com.

Yeah, yeah, Music Monday of the Ozarks-- all one word-- dot com.

Right.

And it's got the video, all the videos.

We've done over-- well, now it's about 70 artist videos.

You know one of the things-- yeah, one of the things on your website that really struck me as really poignant is the Memoriam tab and all of the names.

And when you hit that tab, and you look at the list, and there's-- I don't know if there's hundreds, but there's so many names of people who have contributed to-- I mean, yeah, you've got Andy Williams on there.

Well, he lived in the Ozarks.

Right.

So of course.

I mean, you would think, well, he's a LA guy.

No.

Sure.

No, no, anybody who has-- anybody who has contributed to the music.

When I talk to people that ask me, and I said, if you've contributed-- and we just can't have everybody.

But you know, you have people who have made a name for themselves, and they've made it through the Ozarks, where they started or ended here.

It all ties in.

It's one of those kind of hooks.

But there's some tremendous names on there.

And, you know, when you think of musicians in that context, there's the obvious, but you do look at the other names, the Lou Whitneys and the other-- you know, I just-- I was struck by-- Well, Wayne Carson.

--Bob Heil-- Bob Heil, Bob Carr-- Wayne Carson.

So I saw him.

And those are big people in the industry, you know.

And there's people-- I can't even remember half the names on there because there's just so many of them that are on there.

And lately, I've been adding more and more.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

ROBIN LUKE: You mentioned-- DALE MOORE: --that's part of it.

--Andy Williams.

I remember doing a show in Hawaii with him in 1959.

And he was a warmup act on a rock show.

He had just broken away from the Williams Brothers.

And he came out with a song called "Butterfly."

(SINGING) You treat me mean.

You makin' me cry.

I made up my mind.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

So he comes bopping out with red shoes on stage doing that.

And I took him around the island because I lived there.

And we developed a friendship over a weekend.

And I'm saying this only to show maybe your listeners, and certainly ourselves, how what goes around comes around in the industry.

Because later, three or four years later, he was a monster.

He was doing Las Vegas.

And I was going up there.

And a lady friend I was with saw a big billboard, Andy Williams, coming to the whatever hotel tonight.

And she just went, oh, I love Andy Williams.

I love Andy Williams.

And so I called the hotel, and I said, can I speak to Andy Williams?

And she said, yeah, you and 2,000 other people.

And I said, well, would you send him a note, say that Robin Luke's in town.

And I'd love to see a show.

Well, he called back in five minutes and went, Robin, how are you?

He said, I got it all set up.

Don't come to the early show.

Always the late show is the best one.

And when I got there, the maitre d', of course, always puts out their hand for a $20 in those days, probably a $100 bill now.

And I just shook his hand.

And he looked at me in disbelief.

And I said, hi, I'm Robin Luke.

And he goes, Robin Luke, please come with me.

We go up, and he had put a table on the stage.

It was a two-tier stage.

And he puts the table with two bottles of champagne.

DALE MOORE: There you go.

And comes out, gives me a big hug.

So what goes around in the industry does go around.

Andy was a great guy.

We only got about two minutes left.

And this is what's beautiful about Music Mondays is hearing stories and reminiscence.

CHRIS ALBERT: Right.

That's exactly it.

ROBIN LUKE: And that's how it goes.

That's the whole purpose of it.

Before we get away, though, I want to just real quickly-- but all of the programs you've had, what are some of the really special ones?

You mentioned Scott Simon.

Scott Simon would be one.

Rodney Dillard, which we just had.

Then you can look back to Bob Mapes, who actually-- he's the one who built Branson, I found out by talking to him.

And then we have Larry Lee.

Great.

He does a really good story on The Dares and his life and everything like that.

And then Eddie Bedell, he's-- he tells the whole story about the Black music and how it affected the Ozarks and all that, talks about some players that I didn't even know-- Dallas Barkley and stuff.

So there's-- that's the other thing.

It's like a library.

Tom Waters did a great thing with The Weavers, you know.

So there's just-- there's just so much information on there.

And you're going to learn about the Ozarks and the music and the movers and shakers, not just-- A lot of diversity.

A lot of diversity.

CHRIS ALBERT: Oh, yeah.

Well, guys, thanks for doing what you're doing.

Keep it going.

Keep it alive.

Music Monday of the Ozarks.

And thank you.

And thank you for being on the program today, Chris Albert.

Thank you for having me.

DALE MOORE: Appreciate it.

Robin Luke, it's always good to see you.

Always good to see you.

Thanks a million.

CHRIS ALBERT: Thank you.

You stay tuned.

I'll be right back.

ANNOUNCER: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

Well, now you know.

You can remember when along with good friends and music lovers just like you at any Music Monday of the Ozarks.

Thanks again to Chris Albert and Robin Luke for being my guests.

And I'll see you again real soon right here on "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

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