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   6 3 to New York for Aretha sessions only fueled his discontent. He began to weigh other options. Chips Moman had his own studio, after all, and that way he could call the shots to a great degree. Maybe that would be the answer for Jimmy. Gene Chrisman, Tommy Cogbill, and Spooner Oldham finished the session in one afternoon. “We did those songs and then went out to eat, then we went home,” Gene remembered . “It was a bumpy ride back”—so bumpy that Gene couldn’t concentrate on the book he was reading for being jostled. No matter. Sessions were booked back at American. Papa Don Schroeder was wanting to come in, and Sandy Posey needed a follow-up record. It was time to go home. Memphis was waiting. C h ap t e r 6 Soul Dance Number Three: Keeping It Real The importance of the New York Aretha session to Chips Moman and his friends cannot be overstated. It had proven that their backup work could be as effective behind a new star as it was with an established performer; it solidified their professional relationship with Atlantic ; and, most significantly of all to Chips—who still kept the perspective of the Georgia farm boy he would at heart remain—he had proven that he and Tommy Cogbill and Dan Penn could take on New York and meet its challenges on their terms. In addition, the success of “Do Right Woman” showed that his and Dan’s collaboration on “Dark End” was no fluke. From now on they would be boutique writers, with their names on a composition automatically garnering respect and prestige, even if the ensuing cut did not sell many records. Having hits was what the record business was all about, however, and the hitmaking potential of American Studios was beginning to be discussed in the industry. Because of the Wilson Pickett and Aretha sessions, R&B was considered the fledgling studio’s specialty; it was this side of the group’s music that had begun to interest both established producers like Fred Foster—who began sending some of the acts signed under the SS7 division of Monument to Memphis under the supervision of the famous WLAC disc jockey John Richbourg, better known as “John R”—and some of the newer producers upon the scene. Chief among the newcomers was Papa Don Schroeder. 6 4   S o u l Da n c e N u m b e r T h r e e : K e e p i n g I t R e a l Papa Don, of course, was making his reputation primarily with R&B acts. To Chips Moman, Papa Don seemed at home with the relaxed, easy Sam Cooke groove that Chips himself liked. To some of Chips’s musicians, Papa Don seemed to be, like many producers, a frustrated artist, and in fact Don had once recorded some singles for Vee-Jay under his given name of Gerald Schroeder. Hayward Bishop, who later worked extensively with Papa Don in Nashville, felt that Don’s radio background—a background he shared with Hayward—made him sensitive to good material and kept him in touch with what the public wanted. “There was one thing Papa Don could do,” Hayward reflected. “He could hear a good singer and a good performance.” Others simply remembered him as an amusing character, in a business not lacking in those. “He was always kind of a loud, flamboyant-type guy. Good guy,” said Stan Kesler, who later engineered a few of Papa Don’s collaborations with Tommy Cogbill in Nashville. “He’d get so excited when he was cuttin’,” remembered Jimmy Johnson, who had witnessed Papa Don’s enthusiastic reactions in Muscle Shoals. “A high-powered guy,” observed Dan Penn. “Very enthusiastic guy,” said Roger Hawkins. “He was always groovin’ with whatever was goin’ on,” noted the reticent and reserved Bobby Emmons about Papa Don’s behavior . Papa Don admitted that music, particularly R&B, was his passion, and throughout his intermittent career as a producer he would remain as thrilled as any fan about the sound of a great recording. Others recalled his cultivated charm—“a salesman,” both Bobby Wood and Hayward Bishop would say of him. “He seemed like he borderlined not being honest with you, but still he was a lot of fun to be around because of his enthusiasm,” observed Jimmy Johnson from his vantage point in the Shoals. “He was a smart guy, but you could see through it...

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