About Louie Shelton

Over the past several decades you would have heard Louie Shelton's signature guitar riffs and solos on more hit records than any other session guitarist in history. While there are too many to mention, some of his classics include, Boz Scaggs' "Low Down", Lionel Richie's "Hello", Neil Diamond's "Play Me", The Jackson Five's "I Want You Back", "ABC" and "I'll Be There, The Monkees' "Last Train To Clarksville" and "Valerie". Some of the other artists Louie recorded with include John Lennon, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, The Carpenters, Joe Cocker, Kenny Rodgers, The Mamas & Papas, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and many others.


Some of the albums which Louie Shelton worked on and/or produced.




Not only did Louie play guitar on Seals & Crofts greatest hits, "Summer Breeze", "Diamond Girl", "We May Never Pass This Way Again" and "Get Closer", he produced their many Gold and Platinum albums. Some of Louie's other production credits include Art Garfunkle, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Dan Seals, Cory Wells (of Three Dog Night), Jane Oliver, The Southern Sons, Mother Hubbard and Nashville Guitars.

As a recording artist himself, Louie has released five albums to date. "Touch Me" , "Guitar", "Hot & Spicy", "Urban Culture" and "Nashville Guitars"

While successfully working within all facets of the music industry in Los Angeles for many years, which includes session guitarist, recording artist, record production, and composing and playing on countless movie scores and television shows, Louie had the opportunity of working closely with the great composers Henry Mancini, Dave Grusin, Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifron.

Synopsis

Synopsis
Backstage is the story of guitarist and producer LOUIE SHELTON, who after 5 decades of world class recordings and numerous multi platinum albums is now being publically recognized and inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame.

Backstage opens with Louis Shelton’s induction into the Musicians Hall of Fame, the curator and director introduce Louie as he is about to receive his award and as his guitar is placed into the Hall of Game. In this manner, the audience gains insight into the silent hero figure that has remained in the background for decades in a field where being in the spotlight is the burning ambition.

Backstage takes the audience on a journey behind the scenes of the music scene. It portrays Louis contribution on famous songs and gives an account of how these songs were written and composed. Account of how musical elements were created are accompanied by visuals of places relating to the song.

Musicians recall and elaborate on their collaboration with Louie using famous songs of that area as a trigger and (remember device) creating memorable moments on the film for the audience, as well as a background history to the song itself.

Backstage shows Louie Shelton as a character of great talent that always was highly respected by his colleagues, who, chose to stay in the background of the music scene.

Backstage explores Louis ability to adapt and adjust to the many various genres and styles of music and succeed in them all. Whatever he touched turned gold or platinum.

It’s a piece on the personal journey of the artist through the history of music, the creative process behind a successful song and the musical landscape itself from the 1950’s to today.

The man who played and recorded with artists such as Marvin Gaye and John Lennon, presents a fascinating story which in an industry known for excesses is a refreshing story to tell.

Set in various locations across the US and Australia, the perspective is backstage and behind the scenes and this will supported by the induction into Musicians Hall of Fame which adds to the historical and chronological sequence of events.

Backstage captures Louie’s musical journey and how he has recorded with much of the musical greats of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Louie’s career is of significant interest to the music enthusiast and reaches abroader audience with interviews which include key artists that Louie has recorded with or produced such as Seals and Crofts, Lionel Ritchie, Quincy Jones, Boz Scaggs, Art Garfunkell, and more.


Film Style
Louie Shelton presents as an unassuming, modest artist living quietly on the Gold Coast and continuing to perform and record on projects which are of appeal to him. It is possible to see him perform from time to time in small venues. With a little luck one could stumble onto a performance of one of music’s greats in downtown Brisbane or another location.

Interviews with artists and performers chatting in an informal interview format, the music industry at the time that the recordings occurred and Louie’s role in the music.

Locations will include, LA, Nashville and Tamworth, with interviews occuring in a number of settings.

Backstage story will be supported with historical footage and music of performances and recordings of the key artists as well.

Backstage will show some original never seen before footage from the 1960’s.

Impromptu material that may occur as a result of the filming.

A selection of Albums which Louie Shelton Played on or Produced

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Adam Miller Who Would Give His Only Song Away

Who Would Give His Only Song Away
Adam Miller
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Rockville Junction Lord Protect Me from My Friends

Lord Protect Me from My Friends
Rockville Junction
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Little Taste of Southern Fried

Little Taste of Southern Fried
Southern Fried
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Jack Daugherty and the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Seventy One

Jack Daugherty and the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Seventy One
Jack Daugherty Orchestra
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Tim Weisberg Hurtwood Edge

Hurtwood Edge
Tim Weisberg
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Bob Morrison Friends of Mine

Friends of Mine
Bob Morrison
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Tongue & Groove Presents Lynne Hughes Freeway Gypsy

Tongue & Groove Presents Lynne Hughes Freeway Gypsy
Lynne Hughes
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Guitar (12 String)

2009 Collection: Whitney Houston/My Love Is Your Love

2009 Collection: Whitney Houston/My Love Is Your Love
Whitney Houston
Louie Shelton - Performer

2009 The Carpenters 40/40

2009 40/40
The Carpenters
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Released upon the 40th anniversary of the Carpenters' debut album, 40/40 is a double-disc retrospective containing 40 tracks (hence the title). Compiled by Richard Carpenter and newly remastered, 40/40 largely covers familiar ground, running through all but one of their 20 Top 20 hits (the missing culprit is "There's a Kind of Hush") and plenty of other staples that have been reissued on compilations like this many times before.

2008 Revolutions in Sound: Warner Bros. Records - The First Fitty Years

2008 Revolutions in Sound: Warner Bros. Records - The First Fitty Years
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Producer

Unlike other labels subjected to exhaustive multi-disc retrospectives like this whopping ten-disc Revolutions in Sound: Warner Bros. Records -- The First Fifty Years, Warner Brothers never embodied a scene or sound: they've always embodied what a major label should be -- a dominant force that chronicles and dictates the sound of the mainstream. Coming out at the tail-end of 2008, when the influence of major labels is on a slow steady decline, Revolutions in Sound can be seen as a portrait of a time that's beginning to recede into the past: a time when there was such a thing as mass entertainment, when the pop audience all shared a common bond of hit records they either loved or rallied against.

2008 Al Kooper I Stand Alone/You Never Know Who Your Friends Are

2008 I Stand Alone/You Never Know Who Your Friends Are
Al Kooper
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Al Kooper is destined to be remembered mostly as an ace session player and bandmember (of the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears), not as a solo artist, despite the numerous albums he issued under his own name. But though this two-CD set covers only his earliest solo work, it could be argued that it's the best compilation of recordings he made on his own, though certainly not one that represents the scope of his career, whether done alone or with others. This Australian anthology presents both of his first two albums, 1968's I Stand Alone and 1969's You Never Know Who Your Friends Are, in their entirety, as well as five tracks from his third album (1970's Easy Does It) and a couple he contributed to the 1970 soundtrack The Landlord.

2007 John Phillips Jack of Diamonds

2007 Jack of Diamonds
John Phillips
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Although John Phillips record releases virtually ground to a halt after his 1970 solo debut album, he did continue recording intermittently in the '70s. The 13 tracks forming the core of Jack of Diamonds are an approximation of how a second Phillips solo LP might have sounded, pieced together from various sessions in 1972 and 1973. Phillips made a great contribution to mid-'60s pop/rock as chief songwriter for the Mamas & the Papas, and to be harsh, this batch of tunes is not only weak in comparison, but also finds him losing his central threads of stylistic identity.

2007 Gold: Soft Rock

2007 Gold: Soft Rock
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Producer

Hip-O's two-disc Gold: Soft Rock collection pull no punches in its attempt to re-create the heydays of '70s AM radio. All of the familiar Sunday staples are here like Dan Fogelberg's "Longer," "Sara Smile" from Hall & Oates, Player's impossibly smooth "Baby Come Back" and Seals & Crofts' soft rock anthem "Summer Breeze," but it's the effortless inclusion of contemporary cuts such as Godley & Creme's "Cry," the Moody Blues' "In Your Wildest Dreams," "Tempted" by Squeeze and even "More Than Words" by Extreme that sets this compilation apart from its lazy predecessors.

2007 Essential Teddy Pendergrass

2007 Essential Teddy Pendergrass
Teddy Pendergrass
Louie Shelton - Guitar

When Legacy put together The Essential Teddy Pendergrass for release in 2007, four years had come and gone since the Philly soul singer's hits had last been anthologized in double-disc form. So, is this really all that necessary? Yes, it is completely necessary. Unlike 2003's Anthology, released through The Right Stuff, The Essential Teddy Pendergrass does not cut off just prior to TP's mid-'80s switch from Philadelphia International to Elektra/Asylum.

2007 Essential Teddy Pendergrass [3.0]

2007 Essential Teddy Pendergrass [3.0]
Teddy Pendergrass
Louie Shelton - Guitar

When Legacy put together The Essential Teddy Pendergrass for release in 2007, four years had come and gone since the Philly soul singer's hits had last been anthologized in double-disc form. So, is this really all that necessary? Yes, it is completely necessary. Unlike 2003's Anthology, released through The Right Stuff, The Essential Teddy Pendergrass does not cut off just prior to TP's mid-'80s switch from Philadelphia International to Elektra/Asylum.

2006 Judee Sill Complete Asylum Recordings

2006 Complete Asylum Recordings
Judee Sill
Louie Shelton - Musician

2005 Gene Vincent Road Is Rocky: Complete Studio Masters 1956-1971

2005 Road Is Rocky: Complete Studio Masters 1956-1971
Gene Vincent
Louie Shelton - Guitar

No other Gene Vincent song title sums up his career so succinctly as "The Road Is Rocky." Vincent never had an easy time of things. He came crashing out of the gate with "Be-Bop-A-Lula," one of the epochal singles of early rock & roll, and for a brief moment it seemed that superstardom was within his grasp. Certainly, in the Blue Caps, powered by guitarist Cliff Gallup, he had a band that propelled him into the front ranks of rockers in 1956, and for a while they cut rockabilly with no peer, such as the frenzied "Race with the Devil." But this golden age was not only fleeting, it didn't produce much gold, at least far as the charts were concerned: as good as "Race with the Devil," "Bluejean Bop," and "B-i-Bickey, Bi, Bo-Bo-Go" were, they didn't turn into hits, and soon Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps started to fracture, starting with the crucial departure of Gallup.

2005 The Mamas & the Papas Complete Anthology

2005 Complete Anthology
The Mamas & the Papas
Louie Shelton - Keyboards

What's in a name? If you love mid-'60s folk-rockers the Mamas & the Papas, this four-volume U.K. Complete Anthology (2004) speaks for itself. The 101 selections run in excess of five hours centering on the vintage long-players If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966), The Mamas & the Papas (1966), The Mamas & the Papas Deliver (1967), The Papas & the Mamas (1968), People Like Us (1971), and The Monterey International Pop Festival (1971). For many, that gracious plenty would be sufficient. But the real icing (or cake for the hardcore fan) comes in the form of the nearly 90 minutes of hard-to-find material ranging from the quartet's debut as support vocalists for Barry McGuire, to rare singles, audio from a pair of television appearances, and a bevy of post-Mamas & the Papas entries from John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot, and Denny Doherty as solo artists.

2005 Come on Get Happy! The Very Best of the Partridge Family

2005 Come on Get Happy! The Very Best of the Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
Louiee Shelton - Guitar

The Partridge Family don't get much respect from the standard history of rock from the early '70s. Much like their fellow made-for-TV brethren the Monkees, their contributions are written off as pre-fab concoctions that are too trifling to be bothered with. If you fall in line with that kind of thinking you are going to miss one of the best pop acts of the era. Utilizing the cream of behind-the-scenes songwriters from Neil Sedaka to Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown, and the lush vocal harmonies of the uncredited (at the time) background singers, the Partridge Family's songs are solid AM pop, with hooks galore and a light but not saccharine sound.

2005 The Carpenters Chronicles

2005 Chronicles
The Carpenters
Louie Shelton - Guitar

To add to the myriad greatest-hits compilations, anthologies, and special showcases of the Carpenters' unique sound currently flooding the market, this three-CD long-box set may be misinterpreted as another greatest-hits showcase, but it is far from it. Chronicles is actually a repackaging of three landmark albums: Close to You, Carpenters, and A Song for You.

2004 What Is Hip?: Remix Project, Vol. 1

2004 What Is Hip?: Remix Project, Vol. 1
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Producer

If you want to make it onto the next volume of Warner's What Is Hip?: Remix Project (the cover here says "Volume One," so let's assume), here is the not-so-secret formula. Start with a trippy and serene intro that you'll put under the main tune later, then drop in the original song's intro so everyone goes, "oh, it's that song!" then lightly dust your radio staple with electronic beats and bleeps. You can use a line from the song's chorus and echo it over your hypnotic breakdown if you like, but whatever you do, don't mess with the original too much.

2004 Ultimate 5th Dimension

2004 Ultimate 5th Dimension
The 5th Dimension
Louie Shelton - Guitar

The 5th Dimension were just about the most successful harmony group of the 1960s and The Ultimate 5th Dimension is easily the most comprehensive single-disc collection on the market. It documents the heyday of the group, mostly their late-'60s tenure with Johnny Rivers' Soul City label and a few tracks from their '70s stay at Bell, and it focuses on their singles, their hit singles, that is. Each of the 20 songs here (the 21st track is a previously unreleased song, "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye") was a Top 35 hit or better.

2004 Krissy Nordhoff Thank Him

2004 Thank Him
Krissy Nordhoff
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar

2004 Renee Armand Rain Book

2004 Rain Book
Renee Armand
Louie Shelton - Guitar

2004 Quietime: Music to Reflect

2004 Quietime: Music to Reflect
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Guitar

2004 Quiet Christmas

2004 Quiet Christmas
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)

2004 In the Mood for Memphis

2004 In the Mood for Memphis
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Electric)

2004 Del Shannon Home and Away: The Complete Recordings 1960-1970

2004 Home and Away: The Complete Recordings 1960-1970
Del Shannon
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Of all the early rock & rollers, Del Shannon is the hardest to classify. He came on the scene a little late -- his first hits, "Hats off to Larry" and "Runaway," arrived in 1961, five years after rock & roll came crashing in, a long enough period of time where his music felt much, much different than the three-chord ravers of the first wave of rock & roll. He arrived during the peak of teen idol pop and was handsome enough to ride that wave, but he was older than Fabian and Ricky Nelson, scoring his first hits in his mid-twenties.

2004 Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970

2004 Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Producer

Following in the tradition of its previous series The Golden Age of American Rock & Roll (which documented the 1950s) and Chartbusters (tracking the 1960s), the U.K. reissue label Ace moves into the Me Decade with The Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970s. Its subtitle to the contrary, the first volume in the series actually focuses almost exclusively on Top 20 chart entries, documenting the autumn of AM radio's commercial heyday: sure, the pop hits of the 1970s have been maligned in many quarters, and novelties like John Sebastian's theme to the TV smash Welcome Back, Kotter and cheese like Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze" won't change naysayers' minds, but as these two-dozen songs prove, the decade was unmatched for the sheer variety of music that accessed the top of the charts, with hard rock, country-pop, disco and bubblegum pop all vying for commercial success.

2004 James William Guercio Electra Glide in Blue Original Soundtrack

2004 Electra Glide in Blue-Original Soundtrack
James William Guercio
Louie Shelton - Guitar

2004 Boz Scaggs Collection: Slow Dancer/Silk Degrees/Down Two Then Left

2004 Collection: Slow Dancer/Silk Degrees/Down Two Then Left
Boz Scaggs
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Slide Guitar

In 1997, Columbia released Collection, which combined the current CD releases of Slow Dancer, Silk Degrees, and Down Two Then Left in a cardboard slipcase box. There was no difference from the individual discs on the market; those discs were merely put in a box, which made it convenient for a fan who wanted to get all three discs at once. Seven years later, Sony reformatted all of their previously released Collections, moving away from the slipcased jewel boxes and introducing a book-styled box set, where the three CDs sit with the liner notes from the individual CDs thrown into the bottom of the box.

2002 Dan Seals Make It Home

2002 Make It Home
Dan Seals
Louie Shelton - Mandolin, Guitar (Electric), Producer, Digital Engineer

2002 Definitive Monkees

2002 Definitive Monkees
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar

This two-CD set, issued in Europe about a week before Rhino Records' expanded box appeared in America, resembles either a considerably expanded and upgraded version of the old Arista Records set Then & Now..., or a more entertaining successor to Rhino Records' 1998 Anthology. The disc, running just under 80 minutes and containing 29 songs, is for the listener who wants the hits and the best album tracks all gathered in one place, including ubiquitous numbers like the television series' second-season end credit track, "For Pete's Sake."

2002 Definitive Monkees [Bonus Disc]

2002 Definitive Monkees [Bonus Disc]
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

This two-CD set, issued in Europe about a week before Rhino Records' expanded box appeared in America, resembles either a considerably expanded and upgraded version of the old Arista Records set Then & Now..., or a more entertaining successor to Rhino Records' 1998 Anthology. The first disc, running just under 80 minutes and containing 29 songs, is for the listener who wants the hits and the best album tracks all gathered in one place, including ubiquitous numbers like the television series' second-season end credit track, "For Pete's Sake."

2001 David Cassidy Then and Now

2001 Then and Now
David Cassidy
Louie Shelton - Guitar

While both David Cassidy and the Partridge Family have been at least partially anthologized over the years, it remains a thing of wonder that nobody has yet sat down to compile the best of both into one all-encompassing package -- all the more so since Cassidy's personal appeal remains as high as any '70s icon could dream of climbing. Cassidy himself has toyed with his past on occasion, with releases ranging from a mid-'80s live hits album to the savage reinvention of "I Think I Love You," which so dignified his 1998 Slamajama album.

2001 The Monkees Music Box

2001 Music Box
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar

It's hard not to wonder why the four-disc Music Box even exists. After all, Rhino has not only released definitive reissues of all of the Monkees' studio albums, complete with bonus tracks, but the label has a series devoted to rarities (Missing Links), a single-disc greatest hits album, a double-disc anthology, and another four-disc box, Listen to the Band, which is excellent.

2001 Farzad Mirror of Emotions

2001 Mirror of Emotions
Farzad
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Producer

Farzad, an Iranian-born violinist who studied in the U.S. and settled there after the fall of the Shah, devoted a part of his first album, From My Heart, to treatments of themes from Persian folk music. He takes a more eclectic approach on his second, mixing in a bit of everything in an attempt to demonstrate the oneness of all music. His playing in particular betrays his classical roots, but the styles of the music range from jazzy and Latin to light pop.

2001 Christmas With Jim Horn

2001 Christmas With Jim Horn
Jim Horn
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Christmas With Jim Horn is a collection of Christmas standards performed by Jim Horn and his fellow contemporary jazz musicians. Like other Horn recordings, this is a mellow affair filled with fingerpicked guitar playing and keyboards. The arrangements are at times just too bizarre (his lounge salsa version of "The Christmas Song," for example), but for this genre this is better than average.

2000 Louie Shelton Urban Culture

2000 Urban Culture
Louie Shelton
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Producer

2000 Dash Crofts Today

2000 Today
Dash Crofts
Louie Shelton - Synthesizer, Guitar (Acoustic), Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Engineer, Drum Programming, Photography

2000 Nashville Guitars

2000 Nashville Guitars
Various Artists
Guitar (Acoustic), Producer

On Nashville Guitars, produced by noted session guitarist Louie Shelton (the Jackson Five, the Monkees), he contributes the up-tempo track "High Roller," accompanied by ten more tracks from some of the finest pickers in Nashville. Mark Casstevens contributes an acoustic picking masterpiece in "Cowtown," this from a guitarist who can be heard on albums by folks like Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, and Amy Grant. Reggie Young (Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds") shines at full luster on "Exit 209," an easy listening number, and Ray Flacke smokes the fret board on "Templar Treasure."

1999 Pop Music: The Modern Era 1976-1999

1999 Pop Music: The Modern Era 1976-1999
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Guitar

To commemorate the end of the century, Sony Music assembled the gargantuan 26-disc box set, Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack for a Century. The title was imposing, as was the idea behind it -- to chronicle the life of the oldest record label in the music industry. To be clear, Sony Music has not existed for 100 years, but the heart of its catalog, Columbia Records, was founded early in the 20th century. Sony acquired Columbia and its various subsidiaries in the late '80s, purchasing one of the richest catalogs in pop history, as the box set proves again and again.

1999 American City Suite: The Very Best Of Cashman & West

1999 American City Suite: The Very Best Of Cashman & West
Cashman & West
Louie Shelton - Guitar

1998 Dory Previn Mythical Kings and Iguanas/Reflections in a Mud Puddle

1998 Mythical Kings and Iguanas/Reflections in a Mud Puddle
Dory Previn
Louie Shelton - Banjo, Guitar (Electric)

You might have expected that British label BGO Records, in reissuing Dory Previn's early-'70s albums as twofers, would pair her debut album, On My Way to Where, with her second, Mythical Kings and Iguanas, and her third, Reflections in a Mud Puddle/Taps Tremors and Time Steps, with her fourth, Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign. But On My Way to Where wasn't released in England until after the others, and BGO bloody-mindedly decided to follow the British release schedule, first releasing a twofer of Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign with On My Way to Where, then following with this disc containing Mythical Kings and Iguanas and Reflections in a Mud Puddle (the second part of the album's title is not listed on this release).

1998 Louie Shelton Hot & Spicy

1998 Hot & Spicy
Louie Shelton
Louie Shelton - Synthesizer, Programming, Multi Instruments, Engineer, Drum Programming, Track Programmer

1998 The Monkees Anthology

1998 Anthology
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

Rhino's Listen to the Band box set was for the collectors, and their terrific 20-song Greatest Hits was for the casual fans. Their third attempt at a Monkees compilation, the double-disc Anthology falls somewhere in between. Over the course of an exhausting 56 tracks, all of the group's hits are hauled out again, with such fine album tracks as "She," "Take a Giant Step," "Your Auntie Grizelda," "You Just May Be the One," and "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round" added for good measure. On the surface of things, this seems like a good thing, but the set is padded out with lesser album cuts and latter-day tracks from their three reunion albums that makes Anthology more of a chore than a pleasure.

1997 The 5th Dimension Up Up and Away: The Definitive Collection

1997 Up Up and Away: The Definitive Collection
The 5th Dimension
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Electric)

The subtitle on this anthology is correct: this is truly the definitive collection of the 5th Dimension's music, including all the hits and most of the album cuts that anyone could want. The 20-bit digital mastering provides a crisp, bright audio experience, and the joyous harmonies bring back the positive side of the late-'60s/early-'70s era in which the songs were recorded. The megahits are all here: Jimmy Webb's "Up, Up and Away," Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Wedding Bell Blues," the Bacharach/David opus "One Less Bell to Answer," the beautiful "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All," and the Grammy-winning number one smash from the spring of 1969, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" from Hair.

1997 Frank Sinatra My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra [1 CD]

1997 My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra [1 CD]
Frank Sinatra
Louie Shelton - Coordination

Although there are many who feel that Frank Sinatra's greatest material was recorded in the 1950s, there are others who hold that his best studio singing really came during his time with Capitol and with his own label, Reprise, in the '60s and '70s. It is probably an unsolvable debate, but as this 24-track set of key cuts from his Capitol and Reprise years shows, Sinatra grew comfortably into his voice and phrasing during these years, learning to stay away from his limitations and work steadily toward his strengths, all with a clear sense of his public image.

1997 Boz Scaggs My Time: The Anthology (1969-1997)

1997 My Time: The Anthology (1969-1997)
Boz Scaggs
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar

In his liner notes to the double-disc, two-and-a-half-hour Boz Scaggs compilation My Time: The Anthology (1969-1997), Ben Fong-Torres writes, "There are those who, charting Boz's career, identify specific phases: rock and roll with [Steve] Miller; the early solo albums, which were as much country and blues, and pop and jazz, as they were rock; the Slow Dancer/Silk Degrees stage, of Boz as sweet soul singer; the nearly decade-long retrenchment and semi-retirement, and the return to rootsy blues and R&B in Some Change and Come On Home." Fong-Torres goes on to say that this is not an incorrect way to describe Scaggs' career, but that there is more unity than it would imply: "in every phase of his career, he has remained faithful to his musical instincts."

1996 The Hondells Vol. 2: 1965-1970

1996 Vol. 2: 1965-1970
The Hondells
Louie Shelton - Guitar

1996 Bread Retrospective

1996 Retrospective
Bread
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Retrospective is the definitive compilation of Bread, perhaps the definitive soft rock group of the '70s. If anything, it may be too comprehensive for most listeners. Covering the entire course of Bread's career, plus selected highlights from David Gates in the late '70s and early '80s, the compilation spans two very full compact discs. For those who want more than the hits but are unwilling to delve into individual albums, the collection is ideal.

1996 The Monkees Missing Links, Vol. 3

1996 Missing Links, Vol. 3
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Rhino treats the Monkees' catalog with a seriousness akin to the Beatles' Anthology series, but it's nonsense to pretend that the group's outtakes and rarities are deserving of such fanatical scrutiny. There are a lot more than anyone suspected, though, and Missing Links, Vol. 3 presents 24 more, again proving that the bottom of the Monkees' barrel has the same mixture of fun and boredom as hiding in a barrel as a stowaway.

1996 Neil Diamond In My Lifetime

1996 In My Lifetime
Neil Diamond
Louie Shelton - Musician

In My Lifetime is a triple-disc, 71-track box set spanning Neil Diamond's entire career, from his early Bang hits, through his heyday at MCA, to his latter-day adult contemporary hits for Columbia. Demos, alternate takes, and live cuts are interspersed throughout the box. Not all of Diamond's greatest songs are here, obscurities like "Two-Bit Manchild" would have been welcome, but all of the classics are present.

1996 Louie Shelton Guitar

1996 Guitar
Louie Shelton
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Engineer

This is a well-crafted album from longtime studio ace Louie Shelton. As the title suggests, the emphasis is on Shelton's guitar work, and this man can play. Though obviously tailored for the contemporary/smooth jazz market, Guitar has much more oomph than is typical in this genre. The arrangements are tight and consistently hold the listener's attention with a variety of textures and rhythms, and the guitarist displays dazzling technique across a broad stylistic range. He plays octaves à la Wes Montgomery and single-note runs that put most hot-shot rock guitarists to shame.

1995 The Monkees Greatest Hits [Rhino]

1995 Greatest Hits [Rhino]
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar

Twenty-song collection including all of their big chart hits, as well as key album tracks like "(Theme From) The Monkees" and "Mary, Mary," and the ace B-side "Goin' Down." The slightly more extensive Arista anthology still has the edge, due to the inclusion of two good cuts ("Take a Giant Step" and "She") that are somehow omitted from this Rhino compilation. On the other hand, if you're still in the market for just one Monkees album, this will do just fine.

1995 The Monkees Greatest Hits [Rhino Deluxe Edition]

1995 Greatest Hits [Rhino Deluxe Edition]
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar

This 20-song collection includes all of their big chart hits, as well as key album tracks like "(Theme From) The Monkees" and "Mary, Mary," and the ace B-side "Goin' Down." The slightly more extensive Arista anthology still has the edge, due to the inclusion of two good cuts ("Take a Giant Step" and "She") that are somehow omitted from this Rhino compilation.

1993 Art Garfunkel Up 'Til Now

1993 Up 'Til Now
Art Garfunkel
Louie Shelton - Producer

Art Garfunkel gives his "deepest thanks to Mitchell Cohen at Columbia for the concept of this album." But what is the concept? It contains everything from the original Simon & Garfunkel recording of "The Sound of Silence" (from their Wednesday Morning, 3 AM album) to tracks from previous Garfunkel solo albums, stray songs apparently intended for albums never made, movie and TV themes, a live performance, and even a comedy routine with Paul Simon called "The Breakup", you name it.

1993 Boz Scaggs Starbox

1993 Starbox
Boz Scaggs
Louie Shelton - Guitar

1993 Best of Joe Cocker [Capitol]

1993 Best of Joe Cocker [Capitol]
Joe Cocker
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Although Cocker's Capitol material wasn't as consistent as his A&M work, this compilation successfully distills the highlights, including the splendid "When the Night Comes," onto a single CD.

1992 Hitsville USA, Vol. 1: The Motown Singles Collection

1992 Hitsville USA, Vol. 1: The Motown Singles Collection
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Instead of following Stax/Volt's pattern and delivering an exhaustive box set containing all of their singles, Motown decided to limit their singles box, Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971, to four discs that concentrated on the hits. There are a handful of wonderful lesser-known songs here, such as the Contours' "First I Look at the Purse," but the main strength of the 103-track box is that it features all of the biggest songs from Motown's golden era in one place.

1991 The Monkees Listen to the Band

1991 Listen to the Band
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar

The very idea of a Monkees box set would have seemed inconceivable at any time before the 1990s, and probably still would to any label other than Rhino Records. Yet, this four-CD, 83-song compilation manages to justify itself very nicely, despite the existence of heavily expanded editions of most of the group's albums on CD, and the Missing Links volumes. Those individual CDs gathered together are for the true musical completists, whereas this is the documentary overview for the fan who wants five hours of fun and adventure.

1990 Atlantic Jazz: Singers

1990 Atlantic Jazz: Singers
Various Artists
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)

Spotlighting both jazz singers and R&B-minded vocalists on the jazz tip, Atlantic Jazz: Singers delivers a mostly generous and stunning mix spanning the late '40s to the mid-'80s. From the traditional jazz camp, top songbirds Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McCrae, Helen Merrill, Chris Connor, Peggy Lee, and Betty Carter all hit their spots in fine fashion. Showing they had also heard a few Ella Fitzgerald sides in their formative years, such R&B chanteuses as Ruth Brown, Esther Phillips, LaVern Baker, and Aretha Franklin roll out a smooth line or two as well.

1986 Lionel Richie Dancing on the Ceiling

1986 Dancing on the Ceiling
Lionel Richie
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Lionel Richie wasn't necessarily emboldened by the success of Can't Slow Down, after all, he had experienced huge success since the Commodores, but there is nevertheless a sense of swagger on its 1986 successor, Dancing on the Ceiling. This isn't entirely a good thing, since it means he indulges in silliness (the title track) and sappiness ("Ballerina Girl") in equal measure, seemingly without quite realizing how ridiculous either extreme is. Maybe that's because he still has a strong sense of popcraft, something that makes "Dancing in the Ceiling" stick in the head even if its lyrics are awful, something that makes "Ballerina Girl" work for a slow dance even if it is awfully sugary.

1985 Whitney Houston

1985 Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Louie Shelton - Performer

The legend of Whitney Houston began with this self-titled album. It marked her shift away from the experimental songs she did with the group Material and a move into heavily produced, very slick urban contemporary and adult pop. Although Houston had learned her craft working in New York nightclubs and singing in a Baptist church in Newark, she was steered into radio-friendly ballads that emphasized style over substance.

1983 Michael Franks Previously Unavailable

1983 Previously Unavailable
Michael Franks
Louie Shelton - Musician

1983 Lionel Richie Can't Slow Down

1983 Can't Slow Down

Lionel Richie

Louie Shelton - Guitar

On Can't Slow Down, his second solo album, Lionel Richie ran with the sound and success of his eponymous debut, creating an album that was designed to be bigger and better. It's entirely possible that he took a cue from Michael Jackson's Thriller, which set out to win over listeners of every corner of the mainstream pop audience, because Richie does a similar thing with Can't Slow Down -- he plays to the MOR adult contemporary audience, to be sure, but he ups the ante on his dance numbers, creating grooves that are funkier, and he even adds a bit of rock with the sleek nocturnal menace of "Running With the Night," one of the best songs here. He doesn't swing for the fences like Michael did in 1982; he makes safe bets, which is more in his character. But safe bets do pay off, and with Can't Slow Down Richie reaped enormous dividends, earning not just his biggest hit, but his best album.

1983 Lionel Richie Can't Slow Down [Deluxe Edition]

1983 Can't Slow Down [Deluxe Edition]

Lionel Richie

Louie Shelton - Guitar

On Can't Slow Down, his second solo album, Lionel Richie ran with the sound and success of his eponymous debut, creating an album that was designed to be bigger and better. It's entirely possible that he took a cue from Michael Jackson's Thriller, which set out to win over listeners of every corner of the mainstream pop audience, because Richie does a similar thing with Can't Slow Down -- he plays to the MOR adult contemporary audience, to be sure, but he ups the ante on his dance numbers, creating grooves that are funkier, and he even adds a bit of rock with the sleek nocturnal menace of "Running With the Night," one of the best songs here. He doesn't swing for the fences like Michael did in 1982; he makes safe bets, which is more in his character. But safe bets do pay off, and with Can't Slow Down Richie reaped enormous dividends, earning not just his biggest hit, but his best album.

1981 Sarah Vaughan Songs of the Beatles

1981 Songs of the Beatles

Sarah Vaughan

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1980 Seals & Crofts The Longest Road

1980 The Longest Road

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Producer, Soloist

Several unreleased songs were recorded during the sessions for THE LONGEST ROAD: "Another Night In the City," "Girls On the Beach," "Baby It's You," "Never Live Without Your Love" and "Can't Say No." "Never Live Without Your Love" was played in concert, however.
Recording Engineer - Jospeh Bogan; Mixed By - Louie Shelton; Assistant Engineers - Deborah Thompson, Brian Behrns, Bob Bullock, Michael Bell; Production Assistant - Johnnie Holmes; Technical Assistant - Bob Moore; Recorded at Dawnbreaker Studio; Mixed at Dawnbreaker Studio and Rhumbo; Mastered at A&M Records By Bernie Grundman; Dear Brian, thank you for your contributions, friendship and your spirit; Special thanks to Robin Rothman, Lenny Waronker, Ed Rosenblatt amd Mo Ostin for their continuing faith and support; Management - Marcia Day, Day 5 Productions; Photography - Luis Lizarraga; Art Direction - Peter Whorf; Design - Eddie Herch. Produced by Louie Shelton

1980 Jose Feliciano [1980]

1980 Jose Feliciano [1980]

José Feliciano

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1980 Boz Scaggs Hits!

1980 Hits!
Boz Scaggs
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Released in 1980, Hits! capitalized on the end of the decade as well as Boz Scaggs' commercial success from 1976-1980. That's not to say everything is here. The 1972 classic "Loan Me a Dime" is missing, as this concentrates on Scaggs' more radio-friendly efforts. From the pre-Silk Degrees era, "Dinah Flo" and "You Make It So Hard to Say No" are here. Not surprisingly, this set takes a few tracks from Scaggs' best-selling album Silk Degrees. While the sleek and funky "Lowdown" is no doubt here, the underrated "What Can I Say" strangely didn't make this overview.

1980 Jane Olivor Best Side of Goodbye

1980 Best Side of Goodbye

Jane Olivor

Louie Shelton - Arranger, Producer

Jane Olivor was a stranger in a strange land crafting albums in the '70s which never reached the potential of Love Decides, her Varese Sarabande compact disc released in 2000. The Best Side of Goodbye (1980) comes close with its sensitive settings for Olivor's thoughtful vocals. Producer Jason Darrow creates a subdued Barry Manilow-type production with the title track, while Michael Masser produces what is arguably the definitive version of his collaboration with Linda Creed, the George Benson hit from 1977 "The Greatest Love of All." Whitney Houston would take it to number one in 1986, but in Jane Olivor's care the song enjoys a different nuance, perhaps one that its co-creator had in mind to begin with.

1979 Paul Parrish Song for a Young Girl

1979 Song for a Young Girl
Paul Parrish
Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Producer

1979 Art Garfunkel Fate for Breakfast

1979 Fate for Breakfast

Art Garfunkel

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Producer

For his fourth solo album, Art Garfunkel opted to make a light contemporary pop record on the order of Breakaway, but for the most part the material was mediocre and the backup slick and unfeeling. "Since I Don't Have You" was an obvious choice for a singer who had scored with a similar '50s oldie, "I Only Have Eyes for You," but it was the album's only chart single, and Fate for Breakfast was as disappointing at the cash register as it was on the turntable.

1978 Seals & Crofts Takin' It Easy

1978 Takin' It Easy

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Producer, Horn Arrangements, Soloist

1978 Alessi Brothers Driftin'

1978 Driftin'

Alessi Brothers

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Producer

The Alessi Brothers are an American pop singer-songwriter duo, best known for their 1984 hit "Savin' the Day" And Also their 1977 hit "Oh Lori". The duo are identical twin brothers, Bill (Billy) Alessi and Bob (Bobby) Alessi (born 12 July 1953, Long Island, New York).
In 1977, they climbed to number seven in the UK Singles Chart with "Oh Lori", and in 1982 they reached number 71 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with "Put Away Your Love". This made them one-hit wonders on both sides of the Atlantic, albeit with different hits

1977 Seals & Crofts One on One

1977 One on One
Seals & Crofts
Louie Shelton - Producer


Produced by Louie Shelton and Charles Fox; music composed, arranged and conducted by Charles Fox; lyrics by Paul Williams; liner photo by Louie Lizarraga.
01. My Fair Share (Love Theme From One On One) 02. This Day Belongs To Me 03. Janet's Theme 04. John Wayne 05. Picnic 06. Flyin' 07. Reflections 08. Love Conquers All 09. It'll Be Alright 10. Hustle 11. Time Out 12. The Party 13. The Basketball Game 14. This Day Belongs To Me (Reprise)

1976 Dirk Hamilton You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right

1976 You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right

Dirk Hamilton

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Electric)

After moving to Los Angeles from Stockton, CA, Dirk Hamilton attracted the attention of Steely Dan producer Gary Katz, who in turn helped him sign a deal with ABC Records. The result, the Katz-produced You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right, is a quirky if occasionally misguided work, with moments of brilliance. Katz brought in a host of session pros, including Chuck Rainey, Elliott Randall, and Jeff Porcaro, all of whom had previously worked with him on various Steely Dan projects, to flesh out Hamilton's idiosyncratic, acoustic-based tunes. And while these great players are perfect for Steely Dan's sophisticated pop/rock, they don't really do much for the material here.

1976 Dirk Hamilton You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right [Bonus Track]

1976 You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right [Bonus Track]

Dirk Hamilton

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Electric)

This is a welcome reissue for this sumptuous 1976 set, an album that defines the softer side of the '70s. In fact, in one way or another, You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right showcases the whole spectrum of the rock arena that never quite rocked out. Here's Bruce Springsteen sneaking out of Asbury Park to skewer the "Little Big-Time Man," there's Bob Dylan reminiscing about a long gone love on "Wasn't That One Night Good," and isn't that the Rolling Stones dancing through "You Can't Always Get What You Want" in "Palova's Shoes"? And it's not just those artists' styles that Dirk Hamilton captures so adroitly, but their vocal inflections and lyrical tweaks to boot.

1976 Seals & Crofts Sudan Village

1976 Sudan Village

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Vocals, Producer

1976 Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees [Bonus Tracks]

1976 Silk Degrees [Bonus Tracks]
Boz Scaggs
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Slide Guitar

More than 30 years after the fact, Boz Scaggs' classic Silk Degrees still lives in musical-cultural language as his "disco album." For some who had been following the singer/songwriter's career since the late '60s when he left the Steve Miller Band and became an R&B shouter in the grand tradition of his home state of Texas, this was a sellout. Many others had either never heard of Scaggs or knew his work marginally at best because he'd released four previous albums under his own name, and Silk Degrees became his pop signifier. The real truth of Silk Degrees, and why in 2007 it sounds perhaps more revelatory than it did in its heyday, is that its songs, arrangements, and production feel timeless.

1976 Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees (Columbia)

1976 Silk Degrees (Columbia)

Boz Scaggs

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Slide Guitar

Both artistically and commercially, Boz Scaggs had his greatest success with Silk Degrees. The laid-back singer hit the R&B charts in a big way with the addictive, sly "Lowdown" (which has been sampled by more than a few rappers and remains a favorite among baby-boomer soul fans) and expressed his love of smooth soul music almost as well on the appealing "What Can I Say." But Scaggs was essentially a pop/rocker, and in that area he has a considerable amount of fun on "Lido Shuffle" (another major hit single), "What Do You Want the Girl to Do," and "Jump Street." Meanwhile, "We're All Alone" and "Harbor Lights" became staples on adult contemporary radio.

1976 Melanie Photograph

1976 Photograph

Melanie

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Quietly and with little fanfare, in 1976 Melanie made her strongest record in years. Photograph was written over a number of years; Melanie had been shoring up her strongest compositions and withholding them from her previous Neighborhood collections. Her new home at Atlantic brought in fresh players (many of the session musicians soon to be Toto), and the Edwin Hawkins Singers, who had made "Candles in the Rain" such a treat, were back on hand. But Photograph was very much Melanie's own victory, her material was a revelation, and more sophisticated than anything she'd ever accomplished before.

1976 England Dan & John Ford Coley I Hear Music

1976 I Hear Music

England Dan & John Ford Coley

Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar, Sitar

England Dan & John Ford Coley was an American pop rock duo composed of Dan Seals (born February 5, 1948, McCamey, Texas - died March 25, 2009, Nashville, Tennessee) and John Ford Coley (born John Colley, October 13, 1948, Dallas, Texas). The duo released eleven albums and nine singles in their career, and are best known for their 1976 debut single, "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight". This song was a #2 pop hit and #1 Adult Contemporary hit that year. After disbanding, Seals began a solo country music career which lasted throughout the 1980s.

1976 Seals & Crofts Get Closer

1976 Get Closer

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Vocals

Produced by Louie Shelton; Recorded at Dawnbreaker Studio; Engineering By Joseph Bogan; Sound Consultant – Michael Fraser; Cover Photography – Norman Seeff; Photography of Musicians on Sleeve – Louie Lizarraga; Art Direction & Design – Lockart; Guitar – James Seals, Larry Carlton, Louie Shelton, Ray Parker and Lee Ritenour; Mandolin – Dash Crofts; Keyboards – David Paich; Bass – David Hungate and Wilton Felder; Drums – Jeff Porcaro and Ed Greene; Tablas – Milt Holland; Electric Piano – Jope Sample; Alto Sax – Jim Horn; Background Vocals – Carolyn Willis, Merna Matthews, Shirley Matthews, Carl Carmichel and Donnie Shelton; Arrangement of “Get Closer” by Gene Page; Strings Arrangements on “Red Long Ago” and “Don’t Fail” by David Paich.

1976 Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart

1976 Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Most music fans showed no interest in this album when in it was released in 1976, it was most certainly their loss. Though lightweight and fluffy, this album ended up being the most consistent Monkees-related release since Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, the fourth Monkees album from 1967. With top-notch songs from the pens of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and even a few outstanding tracks from Mickey Dolenz, this album was destined to be a cult classic. Kicking off with the mid-tempo balladry of "Right Now," sung by Davy Jones and featuring a few Lennon-esque chord changes, it was obvious that this was not the latest Deep Purple album.

1976 Deardorff & Joseph

1976 Deardorff & Joseph

Deardorff & Joseph

Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar, Arranger, Guitar (Bass), Producer

Deardorff & Joseph were not widely heard or remembered, but that doesn't mean they were forgotten or even felt. Their 1976 debut became a cult item for collectors of soft Californian '70s pop, and it also marked the first time Jeffrey Comanor's "We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" was heard (a few years later, England Dan & John Ford Coley brought it into the Top Ten). At the time, the album was largely ignored, even if it was a first-class professional production firmly within the Californian commercial sound of the mid-'70s and featured musical support by such luminaries as Dan Seals, Jeff Porcaro and his brothers Mike and Joe, Dean Parks, Jim Horn, and David Paich.

1975 Seals & Crofts I'll Play for You

1975 I'll Play for You
Seals & Crofts
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Vocals, Producer

Produced by Louie Shelton; Horn and String Arrangements – David Paich; Vocals – Jim Seals and Dash Crofts; Guitars and Banjos – Jim Seals and Louie Shelton; Keyboards – David Paich and Jack Lenz; Drums – Ed Green, Jeff Porcaro on “Golden Rainbow,” Jim Varley on “I’ll Play For You”; Percussion – Antoine Dearborn; Trumpet – Larry Ford, Ron King, Paul Hubinon and Bobby Shew; Reeds – Bob Crosby, Jim Horn, Steve Leeds, Gebe Cipriano and Henry Sigismondi; Trombone – Dick “Slyde” Hyde, John Leys, Lew McCreary; Bass – Wilton Felder, Mike Porcaro on “I’ll Play For You” and “Castles In the Sand”; Slide Guitar – Ovid Stevens; Flute – Jack Lenz on “I’ll Play For You”; Arp Synthesizer – Jack Lenz on “Fire and Vengeance”; Engineers – Tom Knox and Joe Bogan; Second Engineer – Marcus Joseph; Studio – Dawnbreaker Studios, California; Special thanks to Jerry Spry; Art Direction and Design – Robert Lockart; Photography – Ivan Nagy.

1975 Seals & Crofts Greatest Hits

1975 Greatest Hits

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Producer

According to Billboard ratings, GREATEST HITS was ranked #38 among all albums charted during 1976.
Produced by Louie Shelton. Design and photography by Tom Wilkes Prod., Inc.
01. When I Meet Them 02. Diamond Girl 03. Hummingbird 04. Castles In the Sand 05. East of Ginger Trees06. I'll Play For You 07. Ruby Jean and Billie Lee 08. King of Nothing 09. Summer Breeze 10. We May Never Pass This Way (Again)

1975 Art Garfunkel Breakaway

1975 Breakaway

Art Garfunkel

Louie Shelton - Guitar

The second time around, Art Garfunkel turned to pop producer Richard Perry, who liked to record in studios rather than cathedrals and who replaced the angelic style of the first album with a lush pop approach. The result was Garfunkel's best-selling album. The title track and a cover of "I Only Have Eyes for You" reached the Top 40 (the latter topped the U.K. charts), though the most prominent song was the Simon & Garfunkel reunion single "My Little Town."

1974 T-Bone Walker Very Rare

1974 Very Rare

T-Bone Walker

Louie Shelton - Guitar

T-Bone Walker (May 28, 1910 — March 16, 1975 was an American blues guitarist, singer, pianist and songwriter who was one of the most important pioneers of the electric guitar. His electric guitar solos were among the first heard on modern blues recordings. He was ranked #47 in Rolling Stone magazine's Sept. 2003 list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

1974 Seals & Crofts Unborn Child

1974 Unborn Child
Seals & Crofts
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Producer

After a string of hits, Unborn Child was a mistake coming from the Seals & Crofts camp when it did. Blatantly anti-abortion, it did little to help their careers and nothing in the way of chart success. But one must consider that it does hold good music in its grooves, and with today's attitudes changing, perhaps this isn't as harsh as it first appeared to be.

1974 The 5th Dimension Soul & Inspiration [Bonus Tracks]

1974 Soul & Inspiration [Bonus Tracks]

The 5th Dimension

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

Not only was Soul & Inspiration (1974) the 5th Dimension's last outing on Bell Records, it served as the penultimate long-player to feature the original quintet of Lamonte McLemore, Ron Townson, Billy Davis Jr., Marilyn McCoo, and Florence Larue. Behind the scenes, band politics as well as the power structure at the record label ultimately led to a parting of ways between the 5D and their longtime producer Bones Howe. Even though the project is replete with good to above-average performances, it undeniably lacks the sonic cohesion that had become their collaborative calling card.

1973 Michael Franks

1973 Michael Franks

Michael Franks

Louie Shelton - Guitar

An enormously popular performer in the late '70s and early '80s, Franks performed folk/rock songs while in high school, then became a literature student at UCLA and a part-time performer. He taught undergraduate music courses in the early '70s at both UCLA and Berkeley, then provided scores for the films Count Your Bullets and Zandy's Bride.

1973 Lulu

1973 Lulu

Lulu

This pretty much forgotten effort by Lulu is a beauty. Though there is no single gem like "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby" from her New Routes album or "I Could Never Miss You More Than I Do" from her self-titled Lulu album on Alpha Records (this album on Chelsea/RCA is also self-titled), these tracks show the former Mrs. Maurice Gibb at the top of her game. "A Boy Like You," a cover of the Rascals tune with gender change, is over the top. The production by Wes Farrell is just magnificent. Hal Blaine's drums are bigger than usual, and everyone sounds like they are having a great time reinventing this Felix Cavaliere classic. "Groovin'" also gets the treatment, but it is, of course, more subtle. Lulu's voice is an engima in pop music.

1973 The 5th Dimension Living Together, Growing Together

1973 Living Together, Growing Together
The 5th Dimension
Louie Shelton - Guitar

For their eighth album of new studio material, the 5th Dimension were sticking to essentials while attempting to stay modern and relevant. As styles and trends in pop and R&B were becoming more flamboyant and expressive, Lamonte McLemore, Ron Townson, Billy Davis, Jr., Marilyn McCoo, and Florence LaRue Gordon remained as solid and somewhat predictable as ever. Living Together, Growing Together (1973) marked the "beginning of the end" for the vocalists reign of non-stop hits, although three of the album's 11 cuts would make it onto the charts.

1973 Marvin Gaye Let's Get It On

1973 Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

Louie Shelton - Guitar

After brilliantly surveying the social, political, and spiritual landscape with What's Going On, Marvin Gaye turned to more intimate matters with Let's Get It On, a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy. Always a sexually charged performer, Gaye's passions reach their boiling point on tracks like the magnificent title hit (a number one smash) and "You Sure Love to Ball"; silky and shimmering, the music is seductive in the most literal sense, its fluid grooves so perfectly designed for romance as to border on parody.

1973 Kenny Young Last Stage for Silverworld

1973 Last Stage for Silverworld
Kenny Young
Louie Shelton - Guitar

On the heels of David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, songwriter Kenny Young reprises the 1964 Drifters hit he co-wrote with Artie Resnick on this 1973 science fiction-styled album released by Warner Bros. It's an ambitious and effective project that comes with elaborate packaging and some help from Albert Hammond, Andy Kim, and the Drifters' Gerald Garrett. The remake of "Under the Boardwalk" opens up with what sounds like a transistor radio playing the familiar song.

1973 Judee Sill Heart Food

1973 Heart Food

Judee Sill

Louie Shelton - Musician

The second album Judee Sill made proved to be her last. A notoriously slow songwriter, this brief though enjoyable outing took its toll on Sill during its making, turning her back to her recently kicked heroin addiction and away from the desire to create more music. Instead of using an outside arranger for the strings (as she did on her previous album), Sill did all of the work herself. Her lack of formal training and the immense amount of orchestral overdubs certainly would have made such an outing a hardship for anyone.

1973 Judee Sill Heart Food [Expanded]

1973 Heart Food [Expanded]
Judee Sill
Louie Shelton - Musician

Sometimes myths become reality, or apocryphal tales bear enough weight to be documented as fact. Heart Food, Judee Sill's legendary, and up until now very rare, second and final album, was recorded and released in 1973 by Asylum Records when she was 29; she passed away six years later. Heart Food has been equated with Laura Nyro's classic New York Tendaberry, Essra Mohawk's Primordial Lovers, and Carole King's Tapestry as being a definitive moment in the work of female singer/songwriters. Part of this myth comes out of the reality that Heart Food has not been in print in more than 20 years.

1973 David Gates First

1973 First

David Gates

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Musician

First, David Gates "first" album away from Bread, begins with that distinctive voice and sound his band made famous when he was at the controls. On the initial track of this 1973 release, "Sailing Around the World," he sings "wish that I could start again." The problem here is that Bread had a groove, and a quick comparison is in order: Despite David Bowie's fame after splitting from the Spiders From Mars, rock & roll fans never felt the same way about that artist. So, too, with this soft rock maestro, and regardless of the on-key and in-control aspect of First, it's hard to get a handle on many of these nine original songs.

1973 Diane Kolby

1973 Diane Kolby
Diane Kolby
Louie Shelton - Guitar

1973 Seals & Crofts Diamond Girl

1973 Diamond Girl
Seals & Crofts
Louie Shelton - Guitar, Vocals, Producer

Seals & Crofts' highest-charting album, Diamond Girl went up to number four on the strength of its Top Ten title cut and the follow-up, "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)." A well-produced collection of songs ranging from the personal to the spiritual, this LP captured the twosome in their commercial and artistic prime. "Ruby Jean and Billie Lee" is an attractive autobiographical ballad written to the duo's wives.

1973 The Partridge Family Crossword Puzzle

1973 Crossword Puzzle

The Partridge Family

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Crossword Puzzle was the eighth LP from the Partridge Family, a multimedia, made-for-TV project that hit marketing pay dirt learning lessons from the success of the Monkees' manufactured origins, as well as the real-life pop/rock family the Cowsills. As a weekly prime time sitcom, The Partridge Family ran on ABC-TV from September 25, 1970, through August 31, 1974.

1973 John Hurley Children's Dreams

1973 Children's Dreams

John Hurley

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1973 Art Garfunkel Angel Clare

1973 Angel Clare
Art Garfunkel
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Garfunkel had a lot riding on his debut solo album, and Angel Clare, named after a character in Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, lived up to the heightened expectations for the man who had sung "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and other Simon & Garfunkel favorites. Garfunkel took no chances, issuing as the first single Jimmy Webb's "All I Know" which was arranged in a similar style to "Bridge" and made the Top Ten.

1972 Seals & Crofts Year of Sunday

1972 Year of Sunday

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Guitar (Electric), Producer

With their pleasant folk-rock sound, Seals & Crofts deliver an album's worth of material that is pleasing enough to listen to, but unfortunately, nothing seems to stick. "Paper Airplanes" "Sudan Village" and the title cut are all well worth of a spin, but one does come away from listening to Year of Sunday feeling as though they've just eaten cotton candy; sweet taste, but no substance.

1972 Jim Horn Through the Eyes of a Horn

1972 Through the Eyes of a Horn
Jim Horn
Louie Shelton - Guitar

1972 Seals & Crofts Summer Breeze

1972 Summer Breeze

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Vocals (background), Producer

Summer Breeze offered an unusually ambitious array of music within a soft rock context -- most artists tried to avoid weighty subjects in such surroundings (except, of course, CSN or Simon & Garfunkel, who could pretty much get away with anything). The title track is one of those relentlessly appealing 1970s harmony-rock anthems, in the same mode as the Doobie Brothers' "Listen to the Music" and appropriately ubiquitous on the radio and in the memory; the guitar (electric and acoustic) and vocal hooks are all well-nigh irresistible.

1972 Cashman & West A Song or Two

1972 A Song or Two

Cashman & West

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1972 Carpenters A Song for You

1972 A Song for You

Carpenters

Louie Shelton - Guitar

The duo's best album, and the place to start beyond the hits compilations. Up to the release of A Song for You, the Carpenters' success had seemed an awesome if somewhat fluky phenomenon, built on prodigious talent, some beautifully crafted pop sensibilities, and a very fortunate choice of singles, their albums Close to You and Carpenters, though they were top-sellers, both seemed just a bit thrown together.

1972 David Cassidy Rock Me Baby

1972 Rock Me Baby

David Cassidy

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Former teen idol David Cassidy's second solo album for Bell Records is an attempt at blue-eyed soul that, for the most part, works well. Rock Me Baby was more expressive than anything he was allowed to record on the Partridge Family sessions. These 11 tracks show off Cassidy's vocal range (and his personal taste in music), but there's nothing as catchy here as on the Partridge Family's albums; but, then again, that was the point.

1972 Partridge Family Shopping Bag

1972 Partridge Family Shopping Bag

The Partridge Family

Louie Shelton - Guitar

This classic title was the fifth long-player to be issued under the Partridge Family moniker. Issued in the spring of 1972, the platter respectably charted in the Top 20 and was the first of their LPs not to have entered the Top Ten, despite its release during the absolute height of the Partridge Family's television success in the early '70s.

1972 Partridge Family Christmas Card

1972 Partridge Family Christmas Card

The Partridge Family

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1972 The Partridge Family At Home with Their Greatest Hits

1972 At Home with Their Greatest Hits
The Partridge Family
Louie Shelton - Guitar

Although out of print, At Home With Their Greatest Hits (1972) was the first Partridge Family compilation and includes sides from their long-players: The Partridge Family Album (1970), Partridge Family Sound Magazine (1971), Up to Date (1971), and Partridge Family Shopping Bag (1972). This collection was issued at the height of the multimedia marketing phenomenon and two years before the ABC-TV prime-time sitcom, which ran from September 25, 1970, through August 31, 1974, would be canceled.

1971 The Partridge Family Up to Date

1971 Up to Date

The Partridge Family

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Up to Date (1971) quickly followed on the heels of the enormous success of both The Partridge Family weekly television program, which debuted on ABC-TV on September 25, 1970, as well as their eponymous self-titled long-player. In fact, some of the tracks used on this, the second album issued under the Partridge moniker, were actually left over from the prolific sessions that produced the first full-length platter.

1971 Lalo Schifrin Rock Requiem

1971 Rock Requiem

Lalo Schifrin

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1971 The Mamas & the Papas People Like Us

1971 People Like Us
The Mamas & the Papas
Louie Selton - Guitar

The Mamas & The Papas broke up in 1968, but they still owed an album on their contract with Dunhill Records (later absorbed by MCA). So, three years later, they reunited to make People Like Us and complete their obligation. The result isn't as bad as that scenario might suggest, though the songs have more in common with John Phillips's 1970 solo album than with the group's hits of the 1960s. But the release did not rekindle interest in The Mamas & The Papas, and this was their last new album.

1971 Al Kooper New York City (You're a Woman)

1971 New York City (You're a Woman)

Al Kooper

Louie Shelton - Guitar

This is the fourth solo album from rock and roll wunderkind Al Kooper. He congregates two very distinct bands, one in London and the other in Los Angeles, to accompany some of his most emotive compositions to date. This is ironic when considering the title track is a paean to the Big Apple. The UK aggregate consists of musicians from Hookfoot, including Herbie Flowers (bass), Caleb Quay (guitar) and Roger Pope (drums). The band were fresh from several collaborations with Elton John, most notably his third studio effort Tumbleweed Connection. The LA sessions included legends such as Carol Kaye (bass), Paul Humphries (drums) and Louis Shelton (guitar).

1971 Al Kooper New York City (You're a Woman) [Japan]

1971 New York City (You're a Woman) [Japan]

Al Kooper

Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar

This is the fourth solo album from rock and roll wunderkind Al Kooper. He congregates two very distinct bands, one in London and the other in Los Angeles, to accompany some of his most emotive compositions to date. This is ironic when considering the title track is a paean to the Big Apple. The UK aggregate consists of musicians from Hookfoot, including Herbie Flowers (bass), Caleb Quay (guitar) and Roger Pope (drums). The band were fresh from several collaborations with Elton John, most notably his third studio effort Tumbleweed Connection.

1971 Dory Previn Mythical Kings and Iguanas

1971 Mythical Kings and Iguanas

Dory Previn

Louie Shelton - Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

A year on from the debut, Previn's cupboard was still bursting with demons. This time out, though, she put her childhood anxieties on hold and dealt with more immediate concerns -- the quest for spiritual fulfillment and the simple need to find a healthy, loving relationship -- in a series of mostly dark, experimental folk ballads. The record bore a more muted sound than its predecessor, but lyrically it was as incisive as ever.

1971 England Dan & John Ford Coley Fables

1971 Fables

England Dan & John Ford Coley

Louie Shelton - Bass, Guitar, Sitar

The first track on Fables, "Simone" got some airplay on underground radio -- a paradox for Top 40 staples England Dan Seals and Jon Ford Coley, who found fame four years after this pleasant and well-constructed album on A&M was released. "Simone" is one of the more original titles on a disc that draws from the many influences in vogue at the time.

1971 Les Crane Desiderata

1971 Desiderata
Les Crane
Louie Shelton - Personnel

Although a respected television and radio host throughout the late '50s and '60s, Les Crane will perhaps best be noted for this long player which garnered the voice-over talent a Grammy for "best spoken word recording" in 1971. "Desiderata," however was not penned by Crane and its' origins have been the subject of much erroneously perpetuated mythology. While space prohibits an unexpurgated account, the author of the text is Indiana native Max Ehrmann (1972-1945) who, in addition to being a poet, was also a barrister.

1971 Cass Elliot

1971 Cass Elliot

Cass Elliot

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Cass Elliot's departure from ABC Dunhill Records and their bubblegum marketing of her was probably the greatest career move that this awesome vocalist ever made. RCA obviously had better things in mind for her, treating her with the same sort of care that they bestowed on Harry Nilsson. The company let this pair of world-class vocalists choose their own material and brought them together with great musicians and arrangers. The end result was possibly Elliot's finest solo album. She was certainly more comfortable with the material.

1971 Barbra Joan Streisand

1971 Barbra Joan Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Louie Shelton - Guitar

On her follow-up to the comeback album Stoney End, Barbra Streisand tried to do for (or to) Carole King what she had done the last time around with Laura Nyro, to redo her material in a similar manner and essentially hijack it (while providing a big jump in songwriter royalties, of course). This was not so easy to do in the case of "Beautiful," "Where You Lead," and "You've Got a Friend," however, since, unlike the Nyro songs, by the time Streisand got to these tunes, they were already on King's own chart-topping album, Tapestry.

1970 The Friends of Distinction Whatever

1970 Whatever

The Friends of Distinction

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1970 Otis Spann Sweet Giant of the Blues

1970 Sweet Giant of the Blues

Otis Spann

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Sweet Giant of the Blues is a solid record. Seemingly more accidental than intentional, the production is clean and separated. Yet it has a roomy quality that highlights the superb musicianship here. The set starts out with a fast and furious version of "Got My Mojo Workin'." Otis Spann's Delta-inspired voice shines over the group, which sounds very tight, and much like the Chess sessionmen. "Moon Blues" is a song highlighted with fuzz guitar leads and a '70s sound. The funky "I'm a Dues Payin' Man" is a refreshing change of pace on the album, while "Bird in a Cage" is a soulful instrumental.

1970 Seals and Crofts

1970 Seals and Crofts

Seals & Crofts

Louie Shelton - Bass

1970 Richard Twice

1970 Richard Twice

Richard Twice

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1970 Partridge Family Album

1970 Partridge Family Album

The Partridge Family

Louie Shelton - Guitar

This platter is the first of seven non-seasonal offerings from the pre-fabricated-for-television entity known as the Partridge Family. The idea took root in both the overtly marketing-oriented Monkees' multimedia project and combined it with the infinite storyline possibilities inherent in the honest to goodness pop/rock relations, the Cowsills. The Partridge Family ran on ABC-TV from September 25, 1970, through August 31, 1974.

1970 Gator Creek

1970 Gator Creek

Gator Creek

Louie Shelton - Vocals

1970 Al Kooper Easy Does It

1970 Easy Does It

Al Kooper

Louie Shelton - Guitar

This is the third solo effort from rock & roll wunderkind Al Kooper. Originally issued as a two-LP set, Easy Does It (1970) is a diverse album that reveals the layer upon layer of musicality that has become synonymous with the artist. He draws deeply upon his skills as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and equally engaging arranger. The extended run-time of the double album format likewise allows Kooper to thoroughly exhibit his wide-ranging and virtually mythical adaptability as an artist whose sheer talent defies the boundaries of genre or style.

1969 Eric Von Schmidt Who Knocked the Brains Out of The Sky

1969 Who Knocked the Brains Out of The Sky

Eric Von Schmidt

Louie Shelton - Guitar

1969 Louie Shelton Touch Me

1969 Touch Me
Louie Shelton
Louie Shelton - Guitar

1969 Monkees Present

1969 Monkees Present

The Monkees

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Like Instant Replay, The Monkees Present was an incoherent collection of pop and country-rock. Although most of the album was well produced but bland, Mike Nesmith's contributions, particularly "Listen to the Band," indicated that he was continuing to grow as a songwriter. After the record's release, Nesmith left the band to pursue a solo career.

1969 The Monkees Instant Replay

1969 Instant Replay

The Monkees

Louie Shelton - Guitar

By 1969's Instant Replay, it was all over but the funeral. Peter Tork had already left the fold and the songs were little more than disjointed solo vehicles for the remaining three, combined with older unreleased tracks from the vaults. This afforded far too much rope for schmaltzy Jones ballads, although Nesmith salvages the day once again with tasty country inflections on the wistful "Don't Wait for Me" and "While I Cry."

1969 Big Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 1

1969 Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 1

Big Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Two BluesWay albums recorded on consecutive days are reissued in full on this single CD. Big Joe Turner sings eight numbers while T-Bone Walker stretches out on seven; both mix together remakes of earlier hits with some newer material. While Turner is accompanied by an orchestra, Walker is joined by a crack studio group with some space allocated to the young tenor Tom Scott.

1968 Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?

1968 I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?
Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
Louie Shelton - Guitar

"I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?" went Top Ten in January of 1968, toward the end of Monkee-mania, and it's as splendid a pop tune about lovelorn insecurity as you'll find. The album titled after the hit is a real treat, and is up there with some of the better albums by the Monkees; the pair's ability to blend American bubblegum with British pop makes for a unique confection.

1967 Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart Test Patterns

1967 Test Patterns

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart

Louie Shelton - Guitar

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart never got much respect from the rock intelligentsia, being too closely associated with the Monkees before they were considered cool and also with the business end of the music business. Though based in the West Coast, they seemed much closer in origin and spirit to the Brill Building than to Haight Ashbury or the Sunset Strip. Their debut album, however, is a fairly bold creation given that it was recorded very hastily and rushed out to try and catch some of the commercial action that the duo's songs had helped stir up around the Monkees.

1967 More of the Monkees [Deluxe Edition]

1967 More of the Monkees [Deluxe Edition]

The Monkees

Louie Shelton - Guitar

The Monkees second album More of the Monkees lived up to its title. It was more successful commercially, spending an amazing 70 weeks on the Billboard charts and ultimately becoming the 12th biggest selling album of all time. It had more producers and writers involved since big-shots like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jeff Barry and Neil Sedaka, as well as up-and-comers like Neil Diamond all grabbed for a piece of the pie after Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the men who made the debut album such a smash, were elbowed out by music supervisor Don Kirshner.

1967 The Monkees Headquarters

1967 Headquarters [Deluxe Edition]

The Monkees

Louie Shelton - Guitar

After the release of More of the Monkees, on which the band had little involvement beyond providing vocals and a couple Mike Nesmith-composed songs, the pre-fab four decided to take control of their recording destiny. After a well-timed fist through the wall of a hotel suite and many fevered negotiations, music supervisor Don Kirschner was out and the band hit the studio by themselves. With the help of producer Chip Douglas, the band spent some time learning how to be a band (as documented on the Headquarters Sessions box set) and set about recording what turned out to be a dynamic, exciting, and impressive album.

1966 Monkees

1966 Monkees

The Monkees

Louie Shelton -Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

Before the dissolution of the independent reissue label Rhino Records, they were able to corner the market on all things related to the Monkees. This 21-volume VHS format box set gathers all 58 episodes of the Monkees' landmark television sitcom, their hourlong prime time 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee special, the first — and never before broadcast — version of Here Come the Monkees (pilot episode), and two short adverts for Kellogg's breakfast foods (one of the program's original sponsors). Producers Bert Schneider and Robert Rafelson's initial inspiration was to create a weekly made-for-TV version of the Beatles' Hard Day's Night.

1966 Monkees [Deluxe Edition]

1966 Monkees [Deluxe Edition]
The Monkees
Louie Shelton - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)

The Monkees' first album was a huge success, following on the number one single "Last Train to Clarksville." The Monkees spent 78 weeks on the Billboard chart including an astounding 13 weeks at number one. The record wasn't only a commercial juggernaut, it also stands as one of the great debuts of all time, and while the record and the group have faced criticism from rock purists through the ages, it stands the test of time perfectly well, sounding as alive and as much fun 40years later

Photo Slideshow of the Induction into the Musicians Hall of Fame

Recording and Productions Credits for Louie Shelton

1966 Monkees [Deluxe Edition] ~ The Monkees ~ Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
1966 Monkees The Monkees Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
1967 Headquarters [Deluxe Edition] ~ The Monkees ~Guitar
1967 More of the Monkees [Deluxe Edition] ~ The Monkees ~ Guitar
1967 Test Patterns Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart Guitar
1968 I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite? Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart Guitar
1969 Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 1 Big Joe Turner/T-Bone Walker Guitar
1969 Instant Replay The Monkees Guitar
1969 Monkees Present The Monkees Guitar
1969 Touch Me Louie Shelton Guitar
1969 Who Knocked the Brains Out of The Sky Eric Von Schmidt Guitar
1970 Easy Does It Al Kooper Guitar
1970 Gator Creek Gator Creek Vocals
1970 Partridge Family Album The Partridge Family Guitar
1970 Richard Twice Richard Twice Guitar
1970 Seals and Crofts Seals & Crofts Bass
1970 Sweet Giant of the Blues Otis Spann Guitar
1970 Whatever The Friends of Distinction Guitar
1971 Barbra Joan Streisand Barbra Streisand Guitar
1971 Cass Elliot Cass Elliot Guitar
1971 Desiderata Les Crane Personnel
1971 Fables England Dan & John Ford Coley Bass, Guitar, Sitar
1971 Mythical Kings and Iguanas Dory Previn Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
1971 New York City (You're a Woman) [Japan] Al Kooper Bass, Guitar
1971 New York City (You're a Woman) Al Kooper Guitar
1971 People Like Us The Mamas & the Papas Guitar
1971 Rock Requiem Lalo Schifrin Guitar
1971 Up to Date The Partridge Family Guitar
1972 At Home with Their Greatest Hits The Partridge Family Guitar
1972 Partridge Family Christmas Card The Partridge Family Guitar
1972 Partridge Family Shopping Bag The Partridge Family Guitar
1972 Rock Me Baby David Cassidy Guitar
1972 Song for You Carpenters Guitar
1972 Song or Two Cashman & West Guitar
1972 Summer Breeze Seals & Crofts Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Producer
1972 Through the Eyes of a Horn Jim Horn Guitar
1972 Year of Sunday Seals & Crofts Guitar (Electric), Producer
1973 Angel Clare Art Garfunkel Guitar
1973 Children's Dreams John Hurley Guitar
1973 Crossword Puzzle The Partridge Family Guitar
1973 Diamond Girl Seals & Crofts Guitar, Vocals, Producer
1973 Diane Kolby Diane Kolby Guitar
1973 First David Gates Guitar, Musician
1973 Heart Food [Expanded] Judee Sill Musician
1973 Heart Food Judee Sill Musician
1973 Last Stage for Silverworld Kenny Young Guitar
1973 Let's Get It On Marvin Gaye Guitar
1973 Living Together, Growing Together The 5th Dimension Guitar
1973 Lulu [1973] Lulu
1973 Michael Franks Michael Franks Guitar
1974 Soul & Inspiration [Bonus Tracks] The 5th Dimension Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
1974 Unborn Child Seals & Crofts Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Producer
1974 Very Rare T-Bone Walker Guitar
1975 Breakaway Art Garfunkel Guitar
1975 Greatest Hits Seals & Crofts Producer
1975 I'll Play for You Seals & Crofts Guitar, Vocals, Producer
1976 Deardorff & Joseph Deardorff & Joseph Bass, Guitar, Arranger, Guitar (Bass), Producer
1976 Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart Guitar
1976 Get Closer Seals & Crofts Guitar, Vocals
1976 I Hear Music England Dan & John Ford Coley Bass, Guitar, Sitar
1976 Photograph Melanie Guitar
1976 Silk Degrees (Columbia) Boz Scaggs Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Slide Guitar
1976 Silk Degrees [Bonus Tracks] Boz Scaggs Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Slide Guitar
1976 Sudan Village Seals & Crofts Guitar, Vocals, Producer
1976 You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right [Bonus Track] Dirk Hamilton Guitar (Electric)
1976 You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right Dirk Hamilton Guitar (Electric)
1977 One on One Seals & Crofts Producer
1978 Driftin' Alessi Brothers Guitar, Producer
1978 Takin' It Easy Seals & Crofts Guitar, Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Producer, Horn Arrangements, Soloist
1979 Fate for Breakfast Art Garfunkel Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Producer
1979 Song for a Young Girl Paul Parrish Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Producer
1980 Best Side of Goodbye Jane Olivor Arranger, Producer
1980 Hits! Boz Scaggs Guitar
1980 Jose Feliciano [1980] José Feliciano Guitar
1980 Longest Road Seals & Crofts Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Producer, Soloist
1981 Songs of the Beatles Sarah Vaughan Guitar
1983 Can't Slow Down [Deluxe Edition] Lionel Richie Guitar
1983 Can't Slow Down Lionel Richie Guitar
1983 Previously Unavailable Michael Franks Musician
1985 Whitney Houston Whitney Houston Performer
1986 Dancing on the Ceiling Lionel Richie Guitar
1990 Atlantic Jazz: Singers Various Artists Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)

1991 Listen to the Band The Monkees Guitar

1992 Hitsville USA, Vol. 1: The Motown Singles Collection Various Artists Guitar
1993 Best of Joe Cocker [Capitol] Joe Cocker Guitar
1993 Starbox Boz Scaggs Guitar
1993 Up 'Til Now Art Garfunkel Producer
1995 Greatest Hits [Rhino Deluxe Edition] The Monkees Guitar
1995 Greatest Hits [Rhino] The Monkees Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar
1996 Guitar Louie Shelton Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Engineer
1996 In My Lifetime Neil Diamond Musician
1996 Missing Links, Vol. 3 The Monkees Guitar
1996 Retrospective Bread Guitar
1996 Vol. 2: 1965-1970 The Hondells Guitar
1997 My Time: The Anthology (1969-1997) Boz Scaggs Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar
1997 My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra [1 CD] Frank Sinatra Coordination
1997 Up Up and Away: The Definitive Collection The 5th Dimension Guitar (Electric)
1998 Anthology The Monkees Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
1998 Hot & Spicy Louie Shelton Synthesizer, Programming, Multi Instruments, Engineer, Drum Programming, Track Programmer
1998 Mythical Kings and Iguanas/Reflections in a Mud Puddle Dory Previn Banjo, Guitar (Electric)
1999 American City Suite: The Very Best Of Cashman & West Cashman & West Guitar
1999 Pop Music: The Modern Era 1976-1999 Various Artists Guitar
2000 Nashville Guitars Various Artists Guitar (Acoustic), Producer
2000 Today Dash Crofts Synthesizer, Guitar (Acoustic), Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Engineer, Drum Programming, Photography
2000 Urban Culture Louie Shelton Guitar, Producer
2001 Christmas With Jim Horn Jim Horn Guitar
2001 Mirror of Emotions Farzad Guitar (Acoustic), Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Producer
2001 Music Box The Monkees Guitar
2001 Then and Now David Cassidy Guitar
2002 Definitive Monkees [Bonus Disc] The Monkees Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
2002 Definitive Monkees The Monkees Guitar
2002 Make It Home Dan Seals Mandolin, Guitar (Electric), Producer, Digital Engineer
2004 Collection: Slow Dancer/Silk Degrees/Down Two Then Left Boz Scaggs Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Slide Guitar
2004 Electra Glide in Blue Original Soundtrack Guitar
2004 Hit List: 24 Hot 100 American Chartbusters of the 1970 Various Artists Producer
2004 Home and Away: The Complete Recordings 1960-1970 Del Shannon Guitar
2004 In the Mood for Memphis Various Artists Guitar (Electric)
2004 Quiet Christmas Various Artists Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
2004 Quietime: Music to Reflect Various Artists Guitar
2004 Rain Book Renee Armand Guitar
2004 Thank Him Krissy Nordhoff Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar
2004 Ultimate 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension Guitar
2004 What Is Hip?: Remix Project, Vol. 1 Various Artists Producer
2005 Chronicles The Carpenters Guitar
2005 Come on Get Happy! The Very Best of the Partridge Family The Partridge Family Guitar
2005 Complete Anthology The Mamas & the Papas Keyboards
2005 Road Is Rocky: Complete Studio Masters 1956-1971 Gene Vincent Guitar
2006 Complete Asylum Recordings Judee Sill Musician
2007 Essential Teddy Pendergrass [3.0] Teddy Pendergrass Guitar
2007 Essential Teddy Pendergrass Teddy Pendergrass Guitar
2007 Gold: Soft Rock Various Artists Producer
2007 Jack of Diamonds John Phillips Guitar
2008 I Stand Alone/You Never Know Who Your Friends Are Al Kooper Guitar
2008 Revolutions in Sound: Warner Bros. Records - The Firs Various Artists Producer
2009 40/40 The Carpenters Guitar
2009 Collection: Whitney Houston/Whitney/My Love Is Your Love Whitney Houston Performer
Tounge & Groove Presents Lynne Hughes Freeway Gypsy Lynne Hughes Guitar, Guitar (12 String)
Friends of Mine Bob Morrison Guitar
Hurtwood Edge Tim Weisberg Guitar
Jack Daugherty and the Class of Nineteen Hundred and Seventy One Jack Daugherty Orchestra Guitar
Little Taste of Southern Fried Southern Fried Guitar
Lord Protect Me from My Friends Rockville Junction Guitar
Who Would Give His Only Song Away Adam Miller Guitar

Musicians Hall of Fame Press Release

NASHVILLE, October 14, 2009 – The Musicians Hall of Fame celebrated with a room full of industry admirers, peers, and contemporary stars on Monday night, as the crowd gathered in force to salute the 2009 class of virtuosos inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame on Monday, October 12 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

Legends Chet Atkins, Billy Cox, Dick Dale, Charlie Daniels, Fred Foster, Victor Feldman, Paul Riser, and band TOTO all became members of the prestigious club that already includes Booker T. & The MGs, The Crickets, Duane Eddy, Al Kooper, The Memphis Horns, The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Billy Sherrill, The Nashville A-Team, The Blue Moon Boys, The Funk Brothers, The Memphis Boys, The Tennessee Two, and The Wrecking Crew.

The late, great guitar legend, Chet Atkins, received tribute from contemporary guitar master and country artist, Steve Wariner, who was joined by longtime Atkins sideman and composer, Paul Yandell. The two played an enchanting tribute to some of Atkins better known tunes and compositions. The award was accepted on Atkins behalf by his daughter, Merle Atkins Russell.

“I know my father would be so happy to know that he is in the company of old friends, and so many musicians that he admired so much,” she said. Celebrated King of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dale, known through the decades for his enthusiastic manipulation of the guitar amplifier, and the namesake behind the “Showman Amp,” created especially for him by guitar and amplifier Guru, Leo Fender, rocked the house into euphoria, bringing them to their feet, with his energetic and volume pumped performance. It was apparent that Dale was having the time of his life, interacting with audience members and taking the audience on a musical ride that had many jumping up and down at their seats. Dale is best know for his rendition of “Misirlou,” a tune that gained a new generation of fans when it became the hit song behind Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1994).

Longtime Dale friend, Al Jardine original Beach Boys member, performed a rousing, audience accompanied version of “Help Me Rhonda,” a song on which he sang lead, prior to inducting the guitar great into the Hall of Fame and turning over the microphone to him for his emotional acceptance speech. The evening continued to gain intensity as Jimi Hendrix longtime friend and bass player, Billy Cox, took the stage to lay down the beat, paying tribute to Hendrix while showcasing his own musical prowess and expertise. Country star, Charlie Daniels, not only had the crowd in amazement with his stellar guitar playing but continued to take them to the top with his hit, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, showcasing his fiery fiddle playing and paying tribute to his current band as the best of his entire career.”I’m probably the best taken care of artists in the music industry,” he said, as he also said thank you to his staff, road crew and all others involved in daily operations.

Cox and Daniels together on stage was also a homecoming of sorts being that Cox once played in Daniels band, after he was no longer playing with Hendrix. It was apparent that the two were having the time of their lives. Former Allman Brothers guitarist, Dickey Betts, joined forces with Daniels for Bett’s, “Southbound,” to which the two traded licks and tossed melodies back and forth in a tour de force of guitar playing.

Producer Fred Foster, a man who played an important part in the careers of such luminaries as Roy Orbison, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and others, was honored via video message from a thankful Dolly Parton. “”I’m sorry I can’t be there in person,” she said in the message, “but it’s your own (damn) fault: you made me famous!” Kristofferson also paid homage via video to the man with whom he co-wrote one of his biggest hits, “Me and Bobby McGee.” Blues rocker, Tony Joe White, paid tribute to Foster with his self-penned, “Poke Salad Annie,” prior to handing Foster his statue.

Motown legend and 2007 inductee, Bob Babbitt, a member of the famed Funk Brothers, presented the award for Paul Riser and accepted for him in his absence, sharing stories and experiences about Riser and his brilliance as an arranger.

The evening capped off with progressive rockers TOTO (David Paich, Steve Lukather, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro), taking the stage with good pals Rascal Flatts, to perform a medley of some of their biggest hits, including ‘”Rosanna,” “I’ll Be Over You,” “Hold the Line,” and “Africa.” Rascal Flatts stated their thrill with being able to induct original band members, with Jay DeMarcus saying, “My entire life, I’ve been a Toto fanatic!” The evenings MC honors rotated between Union Gap’s Gary Puckett and Steve Wariner, with Gary Puckett bringing
the crowd to their feet with his performance of “Woman Woman.”

The event was sponsored by BMI, Hilton, Union Station, Gretsch, Nashville Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, and U.S. Imprints.

This was the 3rd Annual Musicians Hall of Fame show. Inductees are nominated nationally by the Musicians Union who has a membership of over 90,000 as well as a stellar list of other music industry professionals.

Musicians Hall of Fame Induction 2009