Meet the Beckers. They have an "Offer You Can't Refuse"

You often hear of people moving to the beach to escape the corporate rat race. But, it's not often you hear of someone packing up the wagon and heading for blue water to escape a musical one. That's basically the story behind Tom and Michelle Becker, the award winning musical duo known as Latitude, and the force behind the Margarita Mafia and annual Trop Rock Music Awards in Key West.


Pedigreed musicians in their own right - Tom was once a member of the New Christy Minstrels and an established solo artist and Michelle was making a good living as a songwriter and singer in mid 90's Nashville when they got an offer from a resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to come spend the Summer performing there. While, for many, playing as many as eleven shows a week might not be called a "break from the daily grind", for the Beckers it was the down time in between working shifts that offered them a new perspective on life. "We were away from Nashville for an extended period of time...and found we didn't miss it!" That's how Michelle put it in a recent phone conversation I had with the dynamic duo. "We were really looking to make a change, we just didn't know it," she continues. "Coming here to the beach gave us some time to look at our lives, what we were doing, and decide that we needed to make the break." In the following interview, I spoke to them about their music, the Margarita Mafia, and the future of Trop Rock. You should know that, when you talk to the Beckers, their combined enthusiasm and energy means it's often difficult to separate the point at which one stops talking and the other starts. It's more like "layers of conversations"! That explains why many of their answers below are attributed to both Tom & Michelle.




At the time, it wasn't being called "Trop Rock". But, were you two playing that type of music back in the 90's and early 2000's?


Michelle" "Being in Nashville I was writing mostly for country artists. Some of the songs would now be called Trop Rock, I just didn't realize it at the time. I knew that the artists weren't 'getting' some of my material, and those songs I kept for myself".


Tom: "Later, when we moved to Myrtle Beach, we discovered Carolina Beach Music (Tams, Drifters, Chairmen of the Board, etc). I knew the artists, just didn't know all of their songs."


T&M: "After living here for a little while, we started writing new material. And, as I'm sure many artists who write and perform the type of music we do will tell you, we were influenced by the surroundings - the water, boats, beaches, etc. It wasn't long before we started attracting local Parrot Heads, who encouraged us to write even more of our own original songs. Then, a couple years later, we went down to Meeting of The Minds in Key West - not with any plans to play, just to see what it was all about - and that changed everything for us. We were introduced to a whole world of people and other musicians. So, it wasn't like BAM, we're now Trop Rock artists! It was more gradual. But, definitely a direction we moved in naturally. We find things work out if you'll just get out of your own way."




The term "Trop Rock" didn't come into popular use until just a few years a go, and you two were instrumental in coining that term...


T&M: "We were in Put-In-Bay, Ohio, at the Phlocking of the Phaithful a couple years ago. It was Sunday, the event was over, and a few of us were sitting around with some boat drinks talking about the music and how we could help it grow. Jerry Diaz was there, DK the DJ, and some others. We decided that one of the first things we needed was to come up with what to call the type of music we play - beyond just 'it's like Jimmy Buffett'. There were terms like 'Caribean Country' being used, but no one way to describe it. Nashville artists like Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, and others had the 'Muzic Mafia' ("Big & Rich termed the creative collective 'music without prejudice' - a place where saxophones and conga drums can peacefully coexist with fiddles and steel guitars", according to CMT.com - Fred) so we came up with 'Margarita M.A.F.I.A. MAFIA being an acronym for 'Musicians Artists Fans In Alliance'. That's really how that got started. It was a way to get everyone who does original music in this style on the same page, an umbrella. A high tide raises all ships."





From there came the Trop Rock Awards. When did you decide to start those?


T&M: "People had been pushing for some type of Trop Rock awards for years, to show people that there is such a large universe of this kind of music, lots of different people involved - and reward those people for their efforts and hard work. But, if you're going to do something like that, you need the people there who are going to receive the awards. Being that many of the people involved don't do this full time - they have other jobs and responsibilities - they can't just pack up and fly off to an awards show. Meeting Of The Minds in Key West was the one place that we knew we could have most of the artists and other important players in one place. We held the first one at Durty Harry's in Key West during MOTM and we've kept it going since."




And it keeps growing...


T&M: "Yes, it does. Because this is a song driven format, we added a category for "Songwriter of the Year" last year. With the popularity of house concerts, we added a "Best House Concert Venue" And, this year, we will have categories for small, medium, and large market radio stations - to recognize commercial stations like Southernmost Radio and Steven Youngblood's station in Panama City Beach (Trop Rock 1290 - Fred) that devote at least some of their weekly programming to this type of music. As Trop Rock expands, so will the Trop Rock Awards"




Are you still looking for sponsors to help with the costs of the awards show?


Tom: "Yes, we are. Anyone who is interested can go to the Margarita Mafia website (see below - Fred) and they'll find a link for sponsorship there."




You mentioned house concerts. There is no doubt they are growing in popularity, with new venues popping up all the time. Does Latitude do alot of house concerts?


T&M: "We're doing more all the time. As songwriters, we love doing them. It's a chance for people to hear the stories behind the songs. And, as far as the Margarita Mafia goes, any time we can help find new places for artists to play and get their music heard, that's a good thing. One thing we want to get across to people is that 'house concerts' don't have to be only in houses. They can be held in an apartment complex's club house (many of the Atlanta Trop Rock Alliance's shows are - Fred), any relatively quiet place where you can host a group of people. The Truman Shows in Northern Virginia started in the back room of a Mexican restaurant!"




Back to your band, Latitude, which has won a number of Trop Rock Awards for Duo Of The Year and, Michelle, for Female Vocalist Of The Year. Any new music you're working on?


T&M: "We are working on a new cd. In a perfect world, we'd have it ready for this year's MOTM. But, it's tough. We're so busy in the Summer - with at least one long road trip a month - and, in the Winter, we spend most of our time down in Southwest Florida. But, our studio is here. We already have some songs written and recorded, are working on some more and would like to have some guest artists play on them."




The name of this blog is "Beaches, Bands and BARS" so I always like to ask people about some of their favorite  beach side places to hang out and/or play. What are some of yours?


T&M: "Around here (Pawley's Island/Myrtle Beach, SC), we play most Thursday nights at a place called Creek Ratz. It's in Murrell's Inlet, on the Marsh Walk - in the middle of alot of restaurants and bars. It's a great place. And down near our Winter home, the Nav-A-Gator is one of our all time favorites. We bet you hear that from alot of Trop Rockers. It's just a quirky, fun place. We're professional musicians and we do this for a living. We play places that want to hear Jimmy Buffett and other covers and we're happy to do that. But, as songwriters, we also like any place that really support the artists - that encourages original music. We also feel as though we're ambassadors for Trop Rock and we have a responsibility to help introduce it to new people. Like here in Myrtle Beach. We play a place at Boardwalk on the Beach, a Buffett night. People who come there expect to hear Jimmy Buffett and we give them that. But, then we also slip in some of our own songs. Sort of an 'if you like that, you'll also like this.'"




And you do a yearly cruise...


"This will be the fourth one we have hosted - in February of 2012. The 'Aloha Cruise' and this year we're going to another one of our favorite places in the world - Hawaii. Sunny Jim is coming with us and will also be performing. There are only about nineteen cabins left. One of them has your name on it, Fred!"




What about "Back Home Again" - the John Denver Tribute show you do?


T&M: "We do about seven or eight John Denver Tribute shows a year - including one in September up your way, in Covington, Georgia! We have a great band - Jimi Pappas and some guys from Sunny Jim's band - and have alot of fun doing that. We actually just signed with a management company out of Nashville to help us promote that show."




I have this conversation all the time with people who live and love Trop Rock - just earlier this week talked to Jimi Papas and "DJ Jeff" about it...What is next for Trop Rock in general?


T&M: I think some times we get caught up in the big picture and long term goals, and that's important. But, at the same time, we have to look at what is right in front of us. I'd like to know that, twenty years from now, Trop Rock has grown and we're still part of it. But, the immediate goals need to be smaller. Production has got to get better for all the music - and we include ours. A professionally done, quality, syndicated radio show that could get on commercial radio stations around the country would be the next logical step. More commercial radio stations playing it - and then a weekly or monthly chart. But, for that, we as artists would have to be in the 'singles' mindset and we're not. We all release cds to outlets and say 'play whatever you want'. We talked about Beach Music and you know it - you lived here on the Carolina Coast and play it now as a dj. They have radio stations playing it, charts, magazines and newsletters devoted to it. We look at that as a model, as what Trop Rock could be. We also have to expand it outside of the Parrot Head world. We know Parrot Heads like Trop Rock, now we need to introduce it to other people  - people who like the beach, flip flops, etc - but don't even know this music exists, other than Jimmy Buffett or Kenny Chesney. That's why it's great when, at house concerts, people will bring friends and co workers out. And, then there is the question of age. We need to make sure we're cultivating the next generation of Trop Rockers - fans and musicians."






Thanks guys, and I'll see you in Georgia in September - and then in November in Key West!

For more information on booking Latitude or Back Home Again - A Tribute to John Denver, joining the Margarita Mafia, or on any of the people or places mentioned in this interview, please see the links below.


http://latitudemusic.net/

http://johndenvertribute.net/index.htm

http://margaritamafia.com/margaritamafia/

http://www.phip.com/MOTM.asp

http://southernmostradio.net/

http://www.troprock1290.com/troprock%20home.html

http://thetrumanshows.com/

http://www.creekratz.com/

http://s213659397.onlinehome.us/nav-a-gator.com/

Trop Rockin: Steven Youngblood gets Trop Rock on the air in PCB, John Friday escapes, Homemade Wine wins awards, & Robert Daniels sells some cereal.

Late 2009/early 2010 was a tumultuous time for Panama City, Florida singer/songwriter Steven Youngblood.  “Born with one foot in the water”, as he says in the title track to his “Guitars & Fishing Poles” cd, Youngblood was raised around sail boats and fishing. He picked up his first guitar at the age of eight and never looked back.  With the sand and sea of his coastal home as a back drop and musical inspiration from the likes of Jimmy Buffett and Eric Stone, Steven eventually found himself writing about subjects that were naturally near and dear to his heart - from laid back tracks like “Island Time” and “Cross On The Reef” to more upbeat tunes like “Picture Perfect Sunset” and the tongue-in-cheek “Hope My Ship Comes In”, all found on his debut disc. As he was wrapping up and getting ready to release that album in late 2009, doctors discovered a problem that would require some surgery. "I thought my voice was just getting kind of raspy from all the bar gigs I was playing." he says, "Turned out I had a lump in my throat that was pushing on my vocal cords!" The hospital stay took him off the road and it was several months before he could perform a full show again. At almost the same time, Youngblood, a radio engineer by trade, approached a floundering local AM station about the idea of putting Trop Rock on the air there. The owner agreed and Trop Rock 1290 was born (http://www.troprock1290.com/troprock%20home.html). Jimmy Buffett is a staple of the station, but most of the playlist is made up of Independent Trop Rock artists from across the country, mixed in with a variety of Island music and even North Carolina Shag tunes. The perfect accompaniment to a day at the Panama City Beaches. He continues to add new songs to the station all the time and plans to have an FM signal this Summer.  On the recording front, Steven has a new single he's working on called "Tan Lines", written by his good friend, Charlie Black, a Nashville songwriter with dozens of Number Ones to his credit. He hopes to follow that with another full cd some time next year. In the meanwhile, you can catch Steven (often with his wife Sandra on Steel Drums) playing watering holes all along the Redneck Riviera, from Joey's Oyster Bar, and Margaritaville in PCB to Fuddpuckers in Destin.  He's also a regular fixture at events for both the Panama City and Emerald City Parrot Head Clubs. www.stevenyoungblood.com or more info and upcoming dates (artists can also submit songs for Trop Rock 1290 there)

John Friday is a self–described "Tropical Balladeer and Displaced Pirate" who originally hails from Maryland.  The singer/songwriter's eclectic background includes a stint as a crabber on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as assorted attempts at college, studying subjects from biology to business.  After an injury ended his thirteen year Army career, Friday settled in the Naples area of Florida and started writing songs and performing in the local bars.  In 2009, he released his first full length cd, "Coastal Dreamin'", which included the rollicking ditties “Ain’t Missing a Thing” and “Rita’s Going Wild”, as well as a cover of the Little Feat classic, “Willin’”… "The last two to three years have been kind of a blur", says Friday - referring to all the increased activity in his busy schedule. In 2010, he was part of the talent line up for the "Puerto Los Somewhere" cruise to Cozumel - one of the first of what is now a plethora of Trop Rock cruises, and played a number of Parrot Head friendly festivals - including the Six String Music Songwriters Invitational in New Orleans (http://sixstringmusicnola.com/) and the patriotic Red, White & Tunes Festival in Southwest Florida (http://redwhiteandtunes.com/). He also made a trip to Hawaii to play for the Pau Hana Parrot Head Club and finished fourth (out of over 400) in the Landshark Lager Battle of the Bands in Nashville. Friday finished the year by releasing another full length cd, "Tropicalized".  In addition to the title track, which can be heard on Trop Rock music outlets like BeachFront Radio, the disc includes "Tennessee Whiskey/Jamaican Rum", co-written by well known Parrot Head songwriter, William Melton . He plans to expand his activities even further in 2011 with more House Concerts and festival gigs, both solo and with his band The Caribbean Connection. Asked where he thinks Trop Rock is going, John says "I want to honor the roots, which is Jimmy Buffett, but there's also more to it", adding, "I write about escapism - whether it's about escaping the snow or a bad relationship". He'll be heading up to New Jersey for the third annual Spring Fling (http://www.springphling.com/) in May, with stops along the way - including a House Concert for the Atlanta Trop Rock Alliance. http://www.johnfriday.com/

Formed around brothers Tod and Ryan Sheley, Homemade Wine began booking gigs as an acoustic act around their hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, back in 2008.  Older brother and percussionist Tod has a serious Trop Rock pedigree, as a founding member of  St. Somewhere (www.myspace.com/stsforever), as well as having played with well known Tennessee Trop Rock acts Tall Paul (http://www.tallpaul.com/) and Jake & The Half Conched Band (http://www.lifeonthegulf.com/ ).  Three years later, they are an award winning band with six members, a cd, and a touring van they spend ALOT of time in. "It's been a blast! We just got back from 27 days on the road", said the younger Sheley sibling at the time of this writing. "Mostly around North Florida and the Georgia/SC coast. We played for about 12,000 people at the Taste of Charleston and headlined St. Patty's in Savannah. But we also did some great gigs in places like Greensboro NC and Columbia, SC." The cd in question is "Music For A Salty Soul", which came out in the Summer of 2010 and includes some songs that had been floating around the Trop Rock universe in demo form (including my Ipod) for some time - the catchy country/caribbean "Take Me Down To The Tropics", New Orleans flavored "Sweet Adele", and the melancholy "Seeking Harbor". The cd also included "Her Kiss", the Number One Trop Rock Song of 2010 on BeachFront Radio's Top 40 (the cd also won "Album of the Year", Ryan won "Best New Male Trocker", and the group took home "Top New Trop Rock Band"). After a stop at the New Jersey Spring Phling the end of this month, Homemade Wine will head to Washington, DC to begin recording their second cd, which they hope to have finished by the end of Summer "I want to be done and home in time for football season!" says Sheley. http://www.homemadewinemusic.com/

Last but not least, what do commercial jingles, TV voiceovers, and Trop Rock have in common? Robert Daniels! Daniels is a professional songwriter (member of the Nashville Songwriters Association), and voice-over talent who splits his time between New York City and the sleepy southern coastal town of Murrells Inlet, SC.  When he’s not pimping breakfast cereal or taking you to the next commercial break, he and his acoustic guitar can be found performing Country, Blues, and Rock covers in cafes and nightclubs around the Big Apple. Two of his original compositions, "You Don't Have To Be In Mexico" and "Gotta Love a Girl Like That", have received airplay on numerous Trop Rock radio stations.   www.myspace.com/robertdanielsmusic